Traineeships abroad as spaces for shaping language teachers’ identity. The case of Englishspeaking teacher trainees in a Spanish context

  1. Mocanu, Vasilica 1
  2. Suárez Quevedo, Inelissa 1
  1. 1 Universidad de Salamanca
    info

    Universidad de Salamanca

    Salamanca, España

    ROR https://ror.org/02f40zc51

Journal:
Sintagma: revista de lingüística

ISSN: 0214-9141

Year of publication: 2024

Volume: 36

Pages: 89-103

Type: Article

DOI: 10.21001/SINTAGMA.2024.36.06 GOOGLE SCHOLAR lock_openRepositori Obert UdL editor

More publications in: Sintagma: revista de lingüística

Abstract

Traineeships abroad as spaces for shaping language teachers’ identity. The case of English-speaking teacher trainees in a Spanish context. This article explores the impact of a traineeship abroad on the personal and the professional identities of prospective Spanish teachers whose L1 is English and its implications for language educators. We examine datafrom a qualitative study based on semi-structured interviews with two teacher trainees fromIreland and the United Kingdom undergoing a traineeship abroad as language assistants at aSpanish university. The results show a positive correlation between a traineeship abroad and: 1)the restructuration of personal identities and 2) the further development of emerging languageteacher identities. In relation to personal identities, confrontation with cultural and linguisticdifference increases a sense of belonging to the nation state while in relation to professionalidentity development, a reinforcement of the willingness to become a language teacher ispositively impacted by the experience abroad.

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