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ABSTRACT
This article discusses the identity development and professional engagement of two short -term novice EFL teachers who completed a short initial teaching education course. These native -speaker teachers had predominantly extrinsic motivations for teaching EFL and, following their CELTA course, indicated that they felt a lack of legitimacy as teachers. Once in -service, whereas one case reveals that a weak sense of identity can negatively influence the extent of professional engagement, the other suggests that a strong sense of teacher identity can be constructed in -situ, with high levels of engagement. Shifts in motivation were found to play a significant role in ongoing identity construction and professional engagement, signalling interconnected relationships between these three concepts.
KEYWORDS
Novice EFL teacher, CELTA, teacher identity, identity development.
1. INTRODUCTION
Demand for English teachers around the world remains high, with many different routes into the profession attracting a diverse population. Following an increase in private language teaching institutions worldwide since the 1960s, many parallel teacher preparation programmes have been developed, catering to those who wish to gain certification in language teaching to teach in the private sector. Internationally recognised examples of such programmes include the Cambridge Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults (CELTA) and the Trinity Certificate in TESOL (CertTESOL), which provide intense teacher training across a much shorter timescale compared to, for example, university -based programmes. Naturally, the time constraints inherent to these courses curtail the depth and breadth of content covered. Freeman (2016, p. 187) defines these parallel routes as alternatives to nationally established and recognised teacher certification systems, explaining that they use training designs, or routes, that differ from those embedded in tertiary institutions.
Whilst national teacher preparation programmes are closely aligned with governmental guidance and national policies and are therefore contextually-bound, the aim of short initial teacher education courses (henceforth, SITECs) is to equip teachers with a knowledge base which can be applied regardless of geographical location. This means that language teachers trained through SITECs can be considered a more transient population, theoretically able to apply their skills anywhere, unfettered by geographical constraints. Indeed, while many prospective teachers may have more customary motives such as a love of the subject, or economic or social reasons (Dörnyei & Ushioda, 2011), English teaching, with...