English Teacher Identity and the Teachers' Ideas on Bilingualism

This book focuses on the professional identity of English teachers and their thoughts revolving around their own bilingualism. I thematised the nine recorded interviews and regrouped topics on adult bilingualism and English teacher identity. I used narrativity as a framework to analyse the contribution of stories as building tools for both professional and linguistic identity. The study shows that both bilingual and professional identities are dynamic phenomena assuming and discarding elements throughout a teacher¿s life. Typically, the teachers simultaneously did and did not perceive themselves as bilinguals, even if they used the language daily in a variety of registers. Thus, most of the interviewed teachers revealed to perceive their bilingual identity as a paradox; furthermore, they had multiple views and layperson¿s definitions for ¿a bilingual¿.