Abstract
Teacher training involves a wide range of missions, especially at the stage of transitioning a trainee teacher into a teacher. While much attention has been paid to what is required of by the trainee teacher to be qualified as a teacher, not much has been paid to looking at the trainee teacher himself or herself in terms of what he or she thinks and does in the real classroom to empower himself or herself to be a teacher in particular discourses across the classroom landscape. Drawing on the sociocultural view of identity, this paper presents, but not limits, the concept of teacher identity as an ongoing process constructed, negotiated, and maintained primarily through discourse. The theoretical concept is then exemplified with a case study of a trainee teacher of English. Preliminary data from interviews and classroom observations provide insights into the teacher’s perceptions and practices towards what she meant to be recognised as a teacher. The paper calls for more attention to be given to viewing identity construction in relation to classroom discourse on the part of not only teacher educators but also trainee teachers themselves to facilitate the process of teacher training.
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