“The reality of teaching is that…we don't get our own classroom”: Language teacher identity through intra-action and subjectivity

• In Event: Negotiating Identity and Pedagogy: Exploring Language Teachers’ Roles and Experiences Across Multilingual Education Contexts

Abstract

While teacher identity is often framed as a set of traits that support retention and effectiveness, we argue it is co-constituted through dynamic relations. Through the lens of post-structural intra-action and subjectivity, this qualitative paper explores language teachers’ becoming - not just being. Drawing on four interviews with K–12 world language educators, we ask: What (world language) teachers do (language) classrooms make? We highlight five focal moments of world language educators as they engage multiple teaching environments for this study. This paper contributes to explore and understand teacher identity as dynamic and resistant, opening possibilities for transformative praxis in education.

Authors

• Ziqi Li, University at Buffalo - SUNY

• Timothy Monreal, University at Buffalo - SUNY

• Erin Kearney, University at Buffalo - SUNY