Document Type : research paper
Authors
1 Ph.D. Candidate, Department of TEFL and English Literature, Payame Noor University, (PNU), P. O. Box 19395-4697 Tehran, Iran
2 Professor Department of TEFL and English Literature, Payame Noor University, (PNU), P. O. Box 19395-4697 Tehran, Iran
3 Professor Department of Foreign Languages, Kharazmi University, Tehran, Iran
4 AAssociate Professor Department of TEFL and English Literature, Payame Noor University, (PNU), P. O. Box 19395-4697 Tehran, Iran
Abstract
The empirically-validated link between teachers’ professional role identity and explicit manifestations of teacher efficacy has resulted in a burgeoning literature on educational programs/settings influential in teacher identity formation. In an attempt to expand on this strand of research, the present study explored how taking part in an academic multi-faceted teaching practicum may contribute to professional role identity construction/reconstruction among Iranian EFL student teachers. To this end, 45 third-year undergraduates majoring in teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL) were traced throughout a two-year (four-semester) teaching practicum held by Farhangian University, Iran. Based on a concurrent triangulation mixed methods design, the participants’ identity was gauged at five different time points: At the outset of the practicum and after every practicum semester. The quantitative data were gathered through the repetitive administration of a standard Likert-scale questionnaire developed based on Farrell’s (2011) tripartite model of professional role identity. Coincident with the surveying process, the qualitative data were gathered through a semi-structured interview held at the beginning of the practicum and four integrative reports developed by the participants at the end of every practicum semester. Within-group comparison of the survey data in tandem with content analysis of the qualitative data based on the focus framework revealed that the multi-faceted practicum helped the student teachers strike a balance in their identity as a manager and a professional. Additionally, the results called into question the contribution of the practicum to acculturator identity development. The influential role of a multi-faceted practicum in promoting professional role identity among student teachers calls for an investment of cost and time to exploit the full potential of practicums of the same quality.
Keywords
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