PRE-SERVICE TEACHERS’ VOICES ON ACTIVITIES FOSTERING PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY: FINDINGS FROM INDONESIAN ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHER EDUCATION

Abstract

Plethora of studies have widely been conducted to investigate pre-service English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers' professional identity construction during their learning trajectories of becoming a teacher. However, their voices on activities contributing to the construction of their professional identity remain underexplored. The aim of the present study was to address the gap by exploring pre-service EFL teachers' voices on activities they believed to contribute to their teacher professional identity construction. Employing a qualitative study, nine pre-service EFL teachers were interviewed. Semi-structured interviews guided by an interview protocol were conducted to collect the data. Meanwhile, a thematic analysis was employed in the data analysis. The findings of the study revealed four activities that pre-service EFL teachers believed to bolster their professional identity construction; those were actual on-site teaching practices, internship, sharing sessions, and presentation practices. Additionally, the pre-service EFL teachers’ voices on how these activities shaped their professional identity as aspiring English teachers were reported. Implications were offered highlighting how teacher education programs should design their programs and activities to foster stronger teacher professional identity construction among pre-service EFL teachers.