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Imagined Identities and Imagined Communities: Colombian English Teachers’ Investment in Their Professional Development
Las identidades y comunidades imaginadas: la inversión de los docentes de inglés colombianos en su desarrollo profesional
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15446/profile.v25n1.99248Keywords:
English teaching, imagined community, imagined identity, investment, teacher professional development (en)comunidad imaginada, desarrollo profesional docente, enseñanza del inglés, identidad imaginada, inversión (es)
English teachers’ professional development responds to individual needs and societal discourses about teaching, learning, and language use. This paper reports the findings of a case study that explored the factors that increased or limited the active and committed participation of nine Colombian teachers of English in professional development programs. Findings suggest that English teachers are invested in their professional development if they may develop three imagined identities—as proficient English speakers, ELT experts, and ICT competent users—and their affiliation to an imagined community of “bilinguals.” The teachers’ journey to the imagined identities and the imagined community is full of conflicting emotions amidst the socio-political context of their work and the country’s language education policies.
El desarrollo profesional de los docentes de inglés responde a necesidades individuales y a discursos sociales sobre la enseñanza, el aprendizaje y el uso de la lengua. Este estudio de caso exploró los factores que incrementaron o disminuyeron la participación activa y continua de nueve profesores de inglés colombianos en programas de desarrollo profesional. Se encontró que los docentes de inglés invierten en su desarrollo profesional si pueden desarrollar tres identidades imaginadas —hablantes competentes de inglés, expertos en la enseñanza del inglés y usuarios competentes de las TIC— y afiliarse a la comunidad imaginada de “los bilingües”. El trayecto hacia las identidades imaginadas y la comunidad imaginada está lleno de ambivalencias generadas por el contexto sociopolítico de su trabajo y las políticas lingüísticas educativas del país.
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