Presentation Schedule
Becoming Teachers: Professional Identity Trajectories in Initial Teacher Education (106060)
Session Chair: Yung-Ho Huang
Sunday, 12 July 2026 09:55
Session: Session 1
Room: UCL Torrington, G10 (Ground Floor)
Presentation Type:Oral Presentation
This study explores professional identity trajectories of preservice EFL teachers through a longitudinal qualitative narrative approach with a gender-sensitive analysis. Drawing on narrative inquiry (Barkhuizen, 2021) and research on emotional labour and identity negotiation in language teaching (Gkonou & Miller, 2021), the study examines how professional identities evolve and how gender operates as a structuring and mediating dimension. The corpus comprises 13 preservice EFL teachers enrolled at a Chilean public university. Each participant took part in two in-depth narrative interviews conducted at different stages of their initial training. Data were coded and analysed using Atlas.ti following a six-axis analytical matrix: (1) changes in teaching conceptions, (2) shifts in self-perception as teachers, (3) transformations in relation to gender, (4) narrative tensions and contradictions, (5) phenomenological interpretation of experiences, and (6) projections and sense of agency. Findings reveal four different identity trajectories: (1) reflexive consolidated identities, characterized by stable vocational agency; (2) identities in progressive empowerment, marked by initial insecurity and gradual affirmation; (3) critically tensioned identities, where gender, and authority generate sustained vulnerability and politicized agency; and (4) exploratory identities, defined by ethical orientation but limited consolidation. Across trajectories, gender operates not merely as an individual attribute but as a structural force shaping recognition, authority, emotional labour, and professional legitimacy, which resonate with the tension-laden nature of teacher identity construction (De La Barra Van Treek et al., 2025). The study contributes a typological and conceptual model of identity trajectories, offering methodological and theoretical insights for teacher education programs.
Authors:
Erika De la Barra Van Treek, University of Santiago, Chile
Sylvia Veloso Ponce, University Of Santiago, Chile
Soffia Carbone Bruna, Universidad Mayor Chile, Chile
About the Presenter(s)
Dr Erika De la Barra is a University Assistant Professor/Lecturer at Universuty of Santiago Chile in Chile
See this presentation on the full schedule – Sunday Schedule
Conference Comments & Feedback
Place a comment using your LinkedIn profileShare this Presentation
Comments
Powered by WP LinkPress