Language Teacher Identity Tensions

“This timely collection of works addresses a key issue in language teacher education. In the volume, colleagues have engaged with language teachers’ identity development and tensions in a variety of contexts such as Australia, Hong Kong, Kuwait and the US. They have also explored how this identity issue can be approached and addressed in language teacher education programs with significant implications for language teachers’ professional practice, well-being and growth.”

Andy Gao, University of New South Wales, Australia

“Zia Tajeddin and Bedrettin Yazan have presented an impressive collection of papers that shed light on some real tensions in the construction, negotiation, and maintenance of language teacher identity. Connecting three key ideas – agency, emotion, and investment – is a welcome addition to contemporary discussions of identity in language teaching and teacher education. I am confident that graduate students, language teachers, and teacher educators will encounter many thought-provoking ideas between the covers of this book.”

Anwar Ahmed, University of British Columbia, Canada

“In this timely and much-needed volume, Zia Tajeddin and Bedrettin Yazan curated chapters that present novel research on language teacher identity tensions. Drawing our attention to the fact that teacher identity is not shaped in a linear and conflict-free manner, the chapter authors examine tensions in identity, emotions, ideology and agency as key factors in influencing teachers’ professional growth and practices. The book is a must-read for teachers, teacher educators, and school administrators around the world.”

Anna Krulatz, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway

“This volume brings together a burgeoning strand of research that foregrounds how teachers’ work in multilingual classrooms is intrinsically shaped by who they are in the world. Language is central to identity, but language is also a site of struggle. By centering the tensions that language teachers confront, Language Teacher Identity Tensions contributes to our understanding of how individuals’ lived experiences as language users, language teachers, and language learners form their professional identities.”

Peter Sayer, The Ohio State University, USA

"Examining recent developments in language teacher identity research, this book is an incredible source for researchers and teachers interested in better understanding the links between identity, emotion, agency and investment. As language classrooms are becoming increasingly complex environments, this timely volume presents data and critical commentaries on various aspects of language teacher identity to show how tensions arise and are addressed in practice."

Christina Gkonou, University of Essex, UK