Introduction: Identity, Transdisciplinarity, and the Good Language Teacher

TLDR

The concept of a good language teacher is increasingly scrutinized amid globalization and accountability demands, emphasizing the importance of teachers’ linguistic and personal histories for effective learning. This issue investigates how language teaching constitutes identity work and evaluates the extent to which a transdisciplinary approach informs language teacher identity. The authors review identity research in SLA and applied linguistics, highlighting methodological advances such as narratives and discourse analysis, and examine the DFG’s transdisciplinary framework across macro, meso, and micro levels to deepen understanding of teacher identity. The contributors demonstrate that a transdisciplinary approach is productive and desirable, advancing the agenda by integrating multilingual and translingual classroom realities, teacher investment in learners’ semiotic repertoires and inclusive environments, and teachers’.

Abstract

What constitutes a “good teacher” and “good teaching” has come under much scrutiny in an age of globalization, transnationalism, and increased demands for accountability. It is against this evolving landscape and the pathbreaking work of the Douglas Fir Group (DFG, 2016) that this special issue engages the following two broad questions: (a) In what ways is language teaching “identity work”? and (b) To what extent does a transdisciplinary approach to language learning and teaching offer insight into language teacher identity? We begin this Introduction with a discussion on identity research in second language acquisition and applied linguistics, and then address innovations in language teacher identity research, exploring how this work has been advanced methodologically through narratives, discourse analysis, and an ethical consideration of research practices. We then consider how the transdisciplinary framework of the DFG, and its focus on macro, meso, and micro dimensions of language learning at the ideological, institutional, and classroom levels, respectively, might contribute to our understanding of language teacher identity. In the final section, we argue that the host of complementary theories adopted by the six contributors supports the view that a transdisciplinary approach to language teacher identity is both productive and desirable. Further, the contributors advance the language teacher identity research agenda by taking into consideration (a) how teacher identity intersects with the multilingual (Higgins and Ponte) and translingual (Zheng) realities of contemporary classrooms, (b) the investment of teachers in developing the semiotic repertoires of learners (Stranger–Johannessen and Norton) and a socially inclusive learning environment (Barkhuizen), and (c) the emotions (Wolff and De Costa) and ethical practices (Miller, Morgan, and Medina) of teachers. Central to all articles in this special issue is the need to recognize the rich linguistic and personal histories that language teachers bring into the classroom in order to promote effective language learning.