Thus far this section has briefly reviewed research on teacher knowledge and teacher beliefs. It is considered in my research that these bodies of research have fundamentally contributed to the establishment of the professional aspects of teacher identity. The reviewed literatures provide me with a theoretical foundation of teacher knowledge and the impact of previous experience and teacher education programs on the development of teachers’ professional beliefs. The following section will take into the concept of teacher identity, which is drawn from the reviewed literature on teachers’ knowledge and belief, as well as teachers’ …show more content…
It has been argued that there are close relationships among professional identity, classroom practice, teacher knowledge, beliefs and attitudes. Teacher professional identity is regarded not as fixed or unitary but rather multiple, fragmented, and prone to change (Beauchamp and Thomas, 2009). Also, “teachers’ professional identities are manifested in their classroom practice” (Coldron and Smith, 1999). (Cooper and Olson, 1996) emphasized that professional identity is multifaceted, multi-layered, and dynamic. And it is the historical, sociological, psychological, and cultural influences that shape the development of teacher identity.
Studies embarked on teacher identity have found a close connection between identity formation, practice and experience, that identity is constructed from lived experience through participating in particular communities Wenger (1998). Sack (2005: 15) advocates this …show more content…
It is clear that teacher identity gains crucial role in the professional development of both teachers in their profession and pre-service teachers. A common theme drawn from the section is that teacher identity is dynamic, contested and it shifts over time under the influence of a range of factors both internal to the individual. Teacher identities is actively constructed through interactions with others and expressed in context. The following section shifts the focus on the identities of language teachers. By pointing out some different viewpoints of language teachers’ identities formation from teacher identities in general, the following section also reviews theoretical frameworks used to investigate language teacher identity, as well as the key issues and