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alientotheprofessionalworldsofPolishteachers,presentingproblemswith
whichPolishteachersarenotalwayspreoccupied.Moreover,thereisdearth
oflongitudinalresearchonteachers’identitiesinwhichasubsetofthesame
teachersarefollowedovertime3.Suchlongitudinalresearchseemsneeded
becausechangesinteachers’identitiesmaybetemporary.Thisvolumeat-
temptstorectifythisgapand,throughthecategoryofteacherprofessional
identity,offersapictureoftheprocessofbecominganEnglishlanguage
teacherinPolandtoday.Theuseofthecategoryofidentitymeansthatthis
descriptionisnotmeanttofocusonformalororganizationalaspectsbuton
changestakingplaceinteacherswhichconcernthewaystheyinterpretbe-
inglanguageteachers.
InvestigatingtheprocessofbecominganEnglishteacherinPolandseems
evenmoreimportantifthequestionofwhotakesuplanguageteaching
studiesistakenintoaccount.Forthelastdecadeorso,ithasbeenthecase
thatmostcandidatesfortheteacherprofessionperceiveteachingEnglishas
apossiblechangeintheirsocialstatusoraninvestmentinthemselvesto
suchanextentthattheprofessionofanEnglishlanguageteacherinPoland
hasbecomeanoptionopentoalmostanyone.Inpractice,thismeansthatthe
studiesareincreasinglyselectedbyyoungpeoplefromsmallplaces,oflow-
erculturalandeconomiccapital,whohavefailedtobeadmittedintoother
moreelitistfieldsofstudy.Theymaynotdesireinearnesttobecomelan-
guageteachersbutratherwanttomaximizethegainsofbeingateacher,that
islearnanotherlanguageandbeentitledtoteachit.Clearly,theyareprod-
uctsoftheirtimesinwhichnormativemotivationalreasonshaveyieldedto
neoliberalstrategiesofmaximizationofprofits.Inthislight,approachingthe
issueoflanguageteacherprofessionalidentityfromtheperspectiveof
teachers’experiencesandvoicesseemstobetimely.
Thepresentbookisbasedonaresearchprojectconductedoverseveral
yearsthatinvestigateslanguageteacherprofessionalidentitydevelopment.
ItaimsatprovidinginsightintotheprocessofHnovice-serviceteachereduca-
tion”,atermborrowedfromFarrell(2015)4,whichembracesteacheredu-
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tity,therearetwonotablerecentcontributions(Gabryś-Barker,2012andCiepiela,2013),
thelatterentirelydevotedtoteacheridentity.
3Havingwrittenthisbook,Ifoundthattworeportsdescribinglongitudinalstudieson
thedevelopmentofidentitiesofforeignlanguageteachershadrecentlybeenpublished
byBarkhuizen(2016)andRuohotie-Lychty(2016).
4AccordingtoFarrell(2015,p.5),thetermHnovice-serviceteachereducation”includes
Hsecondlanguageteacherpreparationprogrammesandcontinuesintothefirstyearsof
teachinginrealclassrooms”.
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