The Impact of TESOL Courses on Preservice Teachers' Emerging Teaching Identities

• In Event: Roundtable Session 13
  In Roundtable Session: Overcoming Fear, Fostering Understanding: Preservice Teacher Identity

Abstract

This multiple case study explores the effect of two Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) courses on four preservice teachers’ (PSTs) emerging teaching identities. Participants reflected on the impact of their prior experiences as students and TESOL coursework on their fledgling identities through individual interviews and assignments. The results of the study revealed that the four participants’ previous and current experiences as students have greatly impacted their burgeoning teaching identities. As a result of the TESOL Methods course, all four have developed a TESOL Toolkit/Toolbelt that set them apart from other teacher candidates and inservice teachers, prompting three of the four to position themselves as both more capable of working with English learners and other diverse learners.

Authors

• Cynthia Chasteen, University of Missouri

• Kim Hyunsook Song, University of Missouri - St. Louis