EFL Teachers’ Professional Identity: A Narrative Study With Colombian Graduate Students
Identidad profesional de docentes de inglés: un estudio narrativo con estudiantes colombianos de posgrado
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15446/profile.v24n2.91744Keywords:
professional development, teacher education, teacher identity, reflective teaching (en)identidad docente, desarrollo profesional, enseñanza reflexiva, educación docente (es)
This paper reports a qualitative narrative study that explored the trajectories of English language teachers’ identities before and after their participation in a master’s program in English language teaching at a Colombian public university. After analyzing the data gathered through oral narratives and narrative interviews, results showed that teachers’ identities are part of an endless process nurtured by experiences at the academic, pedagogical, and personal levels. We found that such experiences were constantly cultivated and analyzed in the master’s seminars, which positively influenced the development of the participants’ identities by making them more reflective and critical practitioners. Most teachers reported developing higher levels of social commitment, critical-reflective engagement, and research-oriented practices due to their graduate academic experience.
Este artículo reporta los hallazgos de un estudio cualitativo narrativo que exploró las trayectorias de las identidades de profesores antes y después de su participación en un programa de maestría en enseñanza del inglés en una universidad pública colombiana. Tras analizar los datos recolectados mediante narrativas orales y entrevistas, los resultados mostraron que la identidad profesional es un proceso interminable, continuamente nutrido por experiencias académicas, pedagógicas y personales. Encontramos que dichas experiencias fueron constantemente cultivadas y analizadas en los seminarios de la maestría, lo cual influyó positivamente en el desarrollo de las identidades de los maestros al hacerlos más reflexivos y críticos. La mayoría de los docentes reportaron mayores niveles de compromiso social, envolvimiento crítico-reflexivo y prácticas orientadas hacia la investigación debido a su experiencia académica de posgrado.
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