Agency and Positionality in Rural Social Space: Conceptualizing Rural Multilingual Teacher Identity

• In Event: Leadership, Collaboration, and Professional Identity in Rural Teaching

Abstract

Teacher identity development often focuses on the importance of community context but tends to overlook rural communities, especially in preparing Multilingual Learner (ML) teachers (Parton, 2021; O’Neal et al., 2008). Rural educators with solid identities are school leaders, feel more fulfilled, and are likelier to stay (Seelig & McCabe, 2021). Given the rise of multilingual students in rural areas (Lowenhaupt & Camburn, 2011; Coady, 2020), examining the professional identity, agency, and positionality of rural ML teachers is vital. This conceptual paper proposes a model of rural multilingual teacher identity, incorporating research on teacher identity (Clandinin & Connelly, 1995), positioning theory (Davies & Harré, 1999), and practice theory (Bourdieu, 1977) within the context of rural social space (Reid et al., 2010).

Author

• Kaycee Rogers, University of Wisconsin - Madison