Home Linguistics & Semiotics Language teachers’ narratives of professional experience in online class discussions
Article
Licensed
Unlicensed Requires Authentication

Language teachers’ narratives of professional experience in online class discussions

  • Amber N. Warren

    Amber N. Warren is an Assistant Professor in the Professional Specialized Studies Division at the University of Nevada, Reno. She researches how teachers’ sense-making around educational issues is socially and interactionally constructed. Some of her recent work can be viewed in journals such as Classroom Discourse, Linguistics & Education, and Journal of Education Policy. Address for correspondence: Professional Specialized Studies Division, University of Nevada Reno, North Virginia Street/Mail Stop: 0299, 89557, Reno Nevada, USA, Email: amberwarren@unr.edu

    EMAIL logo
Published/Copyright: April 17, 2020

Abstract

Language teachers’ narratives of professional and personal experience have been shown to support sense-making, problem-solving, and the forging of personal connections, as well as to aid in developing their identities as language teachers. As language teacher education increasingly moves online, examining how teacher-learners engage in the sharing of professional experiences through narratives in these spaces is of paramount importance. This paper traces narratives of professional experience across 1,089 discussion posts shared by 10 Master’s students throughout one graduate-level online course, analyzing participants’ forum discussions to understand the functions of these narratives for the teacher-learners engaged in the course. Findings demonstrate how narratives of professional experience served to warrant individuals’ claims about topics related to multilingual writing pedagogy and teaching multilingual learners in general, positioning them as competent experts, often by presenting narrative events as something experienced time and again. Finally, this study considers how narratives of professional experience produce and reproduce a particular view of teachers’ role in educating language learners, collaboratively building on one another to preclude alternative stances, even when making potentially controversial claims.

About the author

Amber N. Warren

Amber N. Warren is an Assistant Professor in the Professional Specialized Studies Division at the University of Nevada, Reno. She researches how teachers’ sense-making around educational issues is socially and interactionally constructed. Some of her recent work can be viewed in journals such as Classroom Discourse, Linguistics & Education, and Journal of Education Policy. Address for correspondence: Professional Specialized Studies Division, University of Nevada Reno, North Virginia Street/Mail Stop: 0299, 89557, Reno Nevada, USA, Email: amberwarren@unr.edu

References

Akkerman, Sanne F. & Paulien C. Meijer. 2011. A dialogical approach to conceptualizing teacher identity. Teaching and Teacher Education 27(2). 308–319.10.1016/j.tate.2010.08.013Search in Google Scholar

Alsup, Janet. 2006. Teacher identity discourses: Negotiating personal and professional spaces. New York: Routledge.10.4324/9781410617286Search in Google Scholar

Arminen, Ilkka. 2004. Second stories: The salience of interpersonal communication for mutual help in Alcoholics Anonymous. Journal of Pragmatics 36(2). 319–347.10.1016/j.pragma.2003.07.001Search in Google Scholar

Bamberg, Michael. 2006. Stories: Big or small: Why do we care? Narrative Inquiry 16(1). 139–147.10.1075/bct.6.17bamSearch in Google Scholar

Barkhuizen, Gary D. 2010. An extended positioning analysis of a pre-service teacher’s better life small story. Applied Linguistics 31(2). 282–300.10.1093/applin/amp027Search in Google Scholar

Barkhuizen, Gary D. 2016. A short story approach to analyzing teacher (imagined) identities over time. TESOL Quarterly 50(3). 655–683.10.1002/tesq.311Search in Google Scholar

Beijaard, Douwe, Paulien C. Meijer & Nico Verloop. 2004. Reconsidering research on teachers’ professional identity. Teaching and Teacher Education 20(2). 107–128.10.1016/j.tate.2003.07.001Search in Google Scholar

Benwell, Bethann & Elizabeth Stokoe. 2006. Discourse and identity. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.Search in Google Scholar

Choi, Eunjeong, Rachel E. Gaines, J. Hannah Park, Kyle M. Williams, Diane L. Schallert, Li-Tang Yu & Jeonghyun Lee. 2016. Small stories in online classroom discussion as resources for preservice teachers’ making sense of becoming a bilingual educator. Teaching and Teacher Education 58. 1–16.10.1016/j.tate.2016.03.015Search in Google Scholar

Donaghue, Helen. 2018. Relational work and identity negotiation in critical post observation teacher feedback. Journal of Pragmatics 135. 101–116.10.1016/j.pragma.2018.08.002Search in Google Scholar

Drew, Paul & John Heritage. 1992. Talk at work: Interaction in institutional settlings. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Search in Google Scholar

Edwards, Derrek. 1997. Discourse and cognition. London: Sage.Search in Google Scholar

Edwards, Derrek. 2007. Managing subjectivity in talk. In Alexa Hepburn & Sally Wiggins (eds.), Discursive research in practice: New approaches to psychology and interaction, 31–49. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511611216.002Search in Google Scholar

Edwards, Derrek & Jonathan Potter. 1992. Discursive psychology. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.Search in Google Scholar

Evelyn., Berger & Simona Pekarek Doehler. 2015. Direct reported speech in storytellings: Enacting and negotiating epistemic entitlements. Text & Talk 35(6). 789–813. doi:10.1515/text-2015-0023. (accessed 26 December 2017).Search in Google Scholar

Farrell, Thomas S. C. 2014. Promoting teacher reflection in second language education: A framework for TESOL professionals. New York: Routledge.10.4324/9781315775401Search in Google Scholar

Flores, Maria A. & Christopher Day. 2006. Contexts which shape and reshape new teachers’ identities: A multi-perspective study. Teaching and Teacher Education 22(2). 219–232.10.1016/j.tate.2005.09.002Search in Google Scholar

Gaines, Rachel, Eunjeong Choi, Kyle Williams, J. Hannah Park, Diane L. Schallert & Lina Matar. 2018. Exploring possible selves through sharing stories online: Case studies of preservice teachers in bilingual classrooms. Journal of Teacher Education 69(3). 209–224.10.1177/0022487117714243Search in Google Scholar

Geertz, Clifford. 1988. Works and lives: The anthropologist as author. Oxford: Polity Press.Search in Google Scholar

Georgakopoulou, Alexandra. 2007. Small stories, interaction and identity. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.10.1075/sin.8Search in Google Scholar

Golombek, Paula R. & Karen E. Johnson. 2004. Narrative inquiry as a mediational space: Examining emotional and cognitive dissonance in second-language teachers’ development. Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice 10(3). 307–327. doi:10.1080/1354060042000204388. (accessed 10 April 2016).Search in Google Scholar

Gray, Bette. 2004. Informal learning in an online community of practice. Journal of Distance Education/ Revue de l’Enseignement à Distance 19(1). 20–35.Search in Google Scholar

Hammersley, Martin. 2007. The issue of quality in qualitative research. International Journal of Research & Method in Education 30(3). 287–305. doi:10.1080/17437270701614782. (accessed 9 July 2017).Search in Google Scholar

Harklau, Linda. 2000. From the ‘good kids’ to the ‘worst’: Representations of English language learners across educational settings. TESOL Quarterly 34(1). 35–67.10.2307/3588096Search in Google Scholar

Heritage, John C. & D. R. Watson. 1980. Aspects of the properties of formulations in natural conversations: Some instances analyzed. Semiotica 30. 245–262.10.1515/semi.1980.30.3-4.245Search in Google Scholar

Johnson, Greer C. 2006. The discursive construction of teacher identities in a research interview. In Anna de Fina, Deborah Schiffrin & Michael Bamberg (eds.), Discourse and identity, 213–232. New York: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511584459.011Search in Google Scholar

Kääntä, Liisa & Esa Lehtinen. 2016. Patterns of experience talk and argumentation in digital peer learning discussions. Language@Internet 13(2). Retrieved from:. http://www.languageatinternet.org/articles/2016/kaanta (accessed 4 January 2017).Search in Google Scholar

Kasper, Gabrielle & Matthew T. Prior. 2015. Analyzing storytelling in TESOL interview research. TESOL Quarterly 49(2). 226–255.10.1002/tesq.169Search in Google Scholar

Kayi-Aydar, Hayriye. 2015. Multiple identities, negotiations, and agency across time and space: A narrative inquiry of a foreign language teacher candidate. Critical Inquiry in Language Studies 12(2). 137–160.10.1080/15427587.2015.1032076Search in Google Scholar

Kayi-Aydar, Hayriye. 2018. “If Carmen can analyze Shakespeare, everybody can”: Positions, conflicts, and negotiations in the narratives of Latina pre-service teachers. Journal of Language, Identity & Education 17(2). 118–130.10.1080/15348458.2017.1415759Search in Google Scholar

Lasky, Sue. 2005. A sociocultural approach to understanding teacher identity, agency and professional vulnerability in a context of secondary school reform. Teaching and Teacher Education 21(8). 899–916.10.1016/j.tate.2005.06.003Search in Google Scholar

Lester, Jessica N. & Trena M. Paulus. 2011. Accountability and public displays of knowing in an undergraduate computer-mediated communication context. Discourse Studies 13(6). 671–686. doi:10.1177/1461445611421361. (accessed 4 May 2016).Search in Google Scholar

Lim, Hyun-Woo. 2011. Concept maps of Korean EFL student teachers’ autobiographical reflections on their professional identity formation. Teaching and Teacher Education 27(6). 969–981.10.1016/j.tate.2011.05.001Search in Google Scholar

Lucas, Tamara & Ana Maria. Villegas. 2011. A framework for preparing linguistically responsive teachers. In Tamara Lucas (ed.), Teacher preparation for linguistically diverse classrooms: A resource for educators, 55–72. New York: Routledge.10.4324/9780203843239Search in Google Scholar

Mudry, Tanya E. & Tom Strong. 2013. Doing recovery online. Qualitative Health Research 23(3). 313–325.10.1177/1049732312468296Search in Google Scholar

Mushin, Ilana. 2001. Evidentiality and epistemological stance: Narrative retelling. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.10.1075/pbns.87Search in Google Scholar

Page, Ruth. 2010. Re-examining narrativity: Small stories in status updates. Text & Talk 30(4). 423–444. doi:10.1515/text.2010.021. (accessed 13 June 2016).Search in Google Scholar

Paulus, Trena M. & Jessica N. Lester. 2013. Making learning ordinary: Ways undergraduates display learning in a CMC task. Text & Talk 33(1). 53–70 (accessed 12 May 2015).10.1515/text-2013-0003Search in Google Scholar

Paulus, Trena M., Amber N. Warren & Jessica N. Lester. 2018. Using conversation analysis to understand how agreements, personal experiences, and cognition verbs function in online discussions. Language@Internet 15. Article 1. https://www.languageatinternet.org/articles/2018/paulus (accessed 9 January 2019).Search in Google Scholar

Pavlenko, Aneta. 2002. Poststructuralist approaches to the study of social factors in second language learning and use. In Vivian Cook (ed.), Portraits of the L2 user, 277–302. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.10.21832/9781853595851-013Search in Google Scholar

Pomerantz, Anita. 1978. Attributions of responsibility: Blamings. Sociology 12(1). 115–121.10.1093/oso/9780190927431.003.0010Search in Google Scholar

Pomerantz, Anita. 1984. Giving a source or basis: The practice in conversation of telling ‘how I know’. Journal of Pragmatics 8(5). 607–625.10.1093/oso/9780190927431.003.0016Search in Google Scholar

Potter, Jonathan. 2004. Discourse analysis. In Melissa Hardy & Alan Bryman (eds.), Handbook of data analysis, 607–624. London: Sage.10.4135/9781848608184.n27Search in Google Scholar

Potter, Jonathan. 2012. Discourse analysis and discursive psychology. In H. Cooper (ed.), APA handbook of research methods in psychology: Quantitative, qualitative, neuropsychological and biological, vol. 2. 111–130. Washington: American Psychological Association Press.10.1037/13620-008Search in Google Scholar

Sacks, Harvey. 1992. Lectures on conversation. Oxford: Blackwell.Search in Google Scholar

Savvidou, Christine. 2010. Storytelling as dialogue: how teachers construct professional knowledge. Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice 16(6). 649–664.10.1080/13540602.2010.517682Search in Google Scholar

Shin, Dong-shin & Hyun-Sook Kang. 2018. Online language teacher education: Practices and possibilities. RELC Journal 49(3). 369–380.10.1177/0033688217716535Search in Google Scholar

Sneijder, Petra & Hedwig F. Te Molder. 2006. Disputing taste: Food pleasure as an achievement in interaction. Appetite 46(1). 107–116.10.1016/j.appet.2005.10.002Search in Google Scholar

Stivers, Tanya. 2008. Stance, alignment, and affiliation during storytelling: When nodding is a token of affiliation. Research on Language and Social Interaction 41(1). 31–57.10.1080/08351810701691123Search in Google Scholar

Sutherland, Olga, Andrea V. Breen & Stephen P. Lewis. 2013. Discursive narrative analysis: A study of online autobiographical accounts of self-injury. The Qualitative Report 18(48). 1–17. http://nsuworks.nova.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1434&context=tqr (accessed 16 May 2015).10.46743/2160-3715/2013.1434Search in Google Scholar

Thomas, Lynn & Catherine Beauchamp. 2011. Understanding new teachers’ professional identities through metaphor. Teaching and Teacher Education 27(4). 762–769.10.1016/j.tate.2010.12.007Search in Google Scholar

Tsui, Amy B. M. 2007. Complexities of identity formation: A narrative inquiry of an EFL teacher. TESOL Quarterly 41(4). 657–680.10.1002/j.1545-7249.2007.tb00098.xSearch in Google Scholar

Varghese, Manka, Brian Morgan, Bill Johnston & Karen A. Johnson. 2005. Theorizing language teacher identity: Three perspectives and beyond. Journal of Language, Identity, and Education 4(1). 21–44.10.1207/s15327701jlie0401_2Search in Google Scholar

Vásquez, Camilla. 2007. Moral stance in the workplace narratives of novices. Discourse Studies 9. 653–675.10.1177/1461445607081270Search in Google Scholar

Vásquez, Camilla. 2011. TESOL, teacher identity, and the need for “small story” research. TESOL Quarterly 45(3). 535–545.10.5054/tq.2011.256800Search in Google Scholar

Wenger, Etienne C., Richard McDermott & Williams C. Snyder. 2002. Cultivating communities of practice: A guide to managing knowledge. Boston, MA: Harvard Business Press.Search in Google Scholar

Wilkinson, Sue & Celia Kitzinger. 2006. Surprise as an interactional achievement: Reaction tokens in conversation. Social Psychology Quarterly 69(2). 150–182.10.1177/019027250606900203Search in Google Scholar

Zembylas, Michalinos. 2005. Discursive practices, genealogies, and emotional rules: A poststructuralist view on emotion and identity in teaching. Teaching and Teacher Education 21(8). 935–948.10.1016/j.tate.2005.06.005Search in Google Scholar

Published Online: 2020-04-17
Published in Print: 2020-05-27

© 2020 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

Downloaded on 24.1.2026 from https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/text-2020-2063/html
Scroll to top button