Ana Sofia Pinho

Plurilingual awareness and intercomprehension in the professional knowledge and identity development of language student teachers

Abstract The study reported in this article is part of a research project which intended to attain a more comprehensive understanding of the growth and transformations of the professional identity and knowledge of a group of four future language teachers, as they expanded their awareness about plurilingualism and intercomprehension. Based on a central question: Are the student teachers able to develop a different self-image as language teachers based on a plurilingual conception of language teaching? Phase 1 of the research project focused on the language student teachers’ professional discourse. The developing representations about plurilingualism, intercomprehension and themselves as language teachers were analysed. The conclusions helped to conceptualise Phase 2 of the project and reflect upon the Language Didactics curriculum.

Redefining professional identity: the voice of a language teacher in a context of collaborative learning

Following a narrative and biographic approach, in this study, we present the case of an in-service language teacher and her professional learning trajectory in the context of the project ‘Languages and education: constructing and sharing training’. This project aimed at the construction of a collaborative teacher education context for learning and transformation of experiences, views and practices in language education, and involved teachers, teacher educators and researchers. Based on a single case study, the analysis tries to disclose the teacher’s discursive displacements as hints of professional transformation while she reinterprets the learning taking place in the collaborative education process. The signs of change are visible in the way she constructs meanings regarding her professional identity, re-identifies her mission as a language teacher and reconsiders her professional identity. Finally, we reflect upon how collaborative teacher education scenarios may foster teachers’ personal professional learning and renewed self-images.