Pre-service Teachers’ Beliefs about Their Imagined Identity: An Ethnographic Inquiry

The concept of imagined identity is rooted, firstly, in sociopolitical studies, and then utilized in identity research in the language teaching and learning realm. Imagined identities refer to identities which are constructed in the teacher’s imaginations about the relationships between one’s self and other people and things in the same time and space that they nevertheless have virtually no direct interactions with. Accordingly, the current study set out to analyze ۴ student teacher perspectives about their imagined identity. Two semi-structured researcher-designed interviews ranging from ۲۰ to ۳۰ minutes at the beginning and end of teacher education program with each participant were conducted. The participants were also asked to write down some reflective notes and diary based on their personal observation and evaluation of each session of teacher education program. The codification of the current data represented that one of the basic concern of the pre-service teachers was how to communicate effectively with their students in English language and English classroom and accordingly building a proper rapport. Another area of potential difficulty for the student teacher lied in the status quo of their current level of language proficiency and the ideal level. Furthermore, decision making on a crucial moments of teaching needs improvisational competence gained through years of experience. Teacher autonomy, action research and sociocultural issues were also significant for the participants.

کلیدواژه ها:

: Imagined identity ، Pre-service Teachers ، Teacher Beliefs