Teacher Identity and Investment : First Year Language Teacher Students Investing in Their Future Profession

Abstract

Professional identity is central in understanding the socially embedded and personally experienced character of teachers’ professional development. Particularly in the early stages of identity construction, we need to focus not only on the past and present but also on the images of the future in order to support identity construction during education. This study investigates how student teachers approach their future work as language teachers and how they perceive the ways in which they can invest in their futures. As part of a broader project, data were collected from 61 student teachers during the first semester in the language teacher education programme and it comprised visualizations of student teachers’ future work and verbal descriptions of factors facilitating or hindering the dream of their future profession. The focus here is on the verbal descriptions. Becoming aware of student teachers’ future goals and the ways in which they are planning to reach their dream provides valuable insights into the processes needed to support student teacher development.