EXPLORING THE INFLUENCE OF TEACHERS’ CONSTRUCTION OF PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY ON THEIR PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT NEEDS

Abstract

This study aims to explore the influence of teachers’ professional identity construction on their professional development needs. Interviews were conducted to gather the data for the study. This qualitative study has been adopted throughout the research. To gather the relevant, eight English language teachers were selected purposely. Charmaz’s Grounded Theory was used as a possible framework to analyse the data. The results of the study reveal that teacher’s knowledge of the subject matter, like grammar items, vocabulary, and effective communication skills are essential factors in the teachers’ professional development. The data further reveals that teachers’ professional development pertains to their involvement in the development of subject matter knowledge and teaching skills which are essential constructs in their professional identity construction. The interview data also reveals that there are dynamic connections between teachers’ professional identity and their professional development needs. The data further indicates that teachers' subject matter knowledge and their pedagogic skills are key elements in which their influence and connections are noted. It can be noted from the data that English teachers honored their linguistic knowledge and pedagogic skills to shape and construct their professional identities as teachers. The result of the study may help MoE and researchers who want to conduct on similar studies. Based on the findings of the study, it was suggested that English language teachers want further development programs.