Abstract
In the post-pandemic “New Normal” time, language teacher identity (LTI) emerges as an important issue in the development of language education to strengthen understanding of professional development and teacher education processes. Since the important role that professional identity plays in teachers' beliefs and everyday practices, language teacher identity is defined as an effective category of sub-identities that can be in accordance with each other. Up to now, not many research studies have investigated how these multiple identities are formed and negotiated by teachers as they develop professionally. LTI innovative expansion and revitalization of the knowledge base of language teacher education, LTI work, and its dissemination can also be considered as an advantage for developing field professionals; specifically, in the post-pandemic “New Normal” epoch when teachers have to combine traditional teaching methods with technology-based approaches in which, the appeal to tradition is in the contrast with the appeal to novelty.
TopBackground
The background of this chapter provides perspectives on LTI in sociocultural environments and through the buildup of personal identity, professional development and language teacher education, and the presentation of the construct of the LTI.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Interdisciplinary: relating to more than one branch of knowledge, or involving two or more academic, scientific, or artistic disciplines.
“New Normal” epoch: A period in which an economy, society, etc. settles following a crisis (e.g., the COVID-19 outbreak) which is different from the situation prior to the start of the pandemic.
Translanguaging: a pedagogical process of using more than one language within a classroom lesson with language learners’ linguistic resources to make sense of contextual meanings in interacting with other people.
Low Context Culture: A low-context culture is the one that communicates information in direct, explicit, and precise ways. The United States of America is a country that has a low-context culture.
High Context Culture: A high-context culture is the one that uses communication focusing on not the words, but heavily on nonverbal communication, and on implicit and underlying contexts, meaning, and tone in the message. Japan, China, and Vietnam, etc. are countries that have a high-context culture.
Sociocultural environments: a community’s trends and developments in changes in attitudes, behavior, and values in society, which are closely related to population, lifestyle, culture, tastes, customs, and traditions.
Language teacher identity: the way language teachers see themselves and understand who they are in considering the relationship between their teaching and the teaching and learning communities they are in.