THE PRACTICE OF ORAL PRODUCTION CONCERNING THE CONTINUING EDUCATION OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHERS AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY

The scope of the present study is to comprehend the professional identity of a group of English Teachers. The research sought the answer to the following question: How does the mastery of the speaking aspect of the English Language influence teacher’s professional identity? The choice of the topic arose during a continuing education course offered by the authors of the present work, whose partakers were EFL teachers. The research took into consideration both, experiences observed during the continuing education course and relevant data collected with the help of an open questionnaire, which participants answered at the end of the course. Contemporary literature also supported the conclusions concerning teacher’s professional identity and its close relation to two important factors: the way teachers perceive themselves and how others see them. Regarding the English Language Teacher professional identity, the participants of the research stated that professionals from this area are not as valued as they should; in their opinion, the lack of oral fluency of most teachers is a key factor on the existence of a professional misrepresentation. Results have shown that, for them, oral fluency is essential for academic and social recognition of their profession. All participants stressed the need of continuing education in terms of oral practice, due to the lack of opportunity of practicing the English Language daily. They also pointed that teachers with limited-fluency tend to avoid the use of the target language in order to “hide their deficit” on EL; on the other hand, teachers that are fluent in English “feel safer and with self-steam”. We have concluded, from our research, that the oral fluency is indeed important for the constitution of English Language teacher’s professional identity, exerting a positive influence on it. On the other hand, the fact of not being fluent in English Language contributes for the so called “teacher’s professional identity crisis”. 

MEMORIES AND TRAJECTORIES: IMPLICATIONS IN THE IDENTITY CONSTRUCTION OF THE PROFESSIONAL LANGUAGE

Teachers, as professionals, carry out an essential role in the process of the social change. For this purpose, the process of teachers’ formation are deserving highlighted in the research field of Applied Linguistics, aiming to enhance the work of language professionals. In this term, the current paper seeks to investigate the previous knowledge of the students of Letters Course at Unioeste, subjects of this study, about teaching career and professor’s identity constitution.  Simultaneously, it is discussed some implications between the educational trajectory and these students’ Professional choice, considering that it is found in the initial stage of this formative process. The adopted methodology consists of a qualitative approach from memorials, seeking to stand out the conceptions and representations of those subjects about constitution of the teacher. Among some characteristics that stand out in the narratives regarding teacher identity, are the complexity of teaching, like the profession, as well as the diverse teaching practices and 'transgressive'.