![Sample our Language & Literature journals, sign in here to start your FREE access for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5941/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Language-Literature.jpg"})
ABSTRACT
This comparative study examines the learning trajectories of two groups of Mexican novice language teachers, three locally raised and educated ones and three repatriates from the USA. The study makes use of a combination of retrospective life-history research and the analysis of academic documents to look at the interrelationship between teachers’ identities and their degree of investment in academic and professional activities. The analysis revealed marked differences in the ways in which these two groups of teachers’ identities have been developed. While the locally educated teachers have constructed strong and articulated identities as a result of a stable family context and smooth transitions in their lives, the development of their returnee counterparts’ identities has been characterized by fragmentation due to the little, or lack of, stability in their home contexts as well as the complex and painful transitions in their lives. The paper discusses the impact that these differences have on participants’ degrees of investment in educational and work-related opportunities available to them in their contexts. Implications for researchers, language teacher trainers and applied linguistics academic program administrators are provided.
El estudio compara las trayectorias de aprendizaje de dos grupos de profesoras Mexicanas de lenguas, uno compuesto por docentes formadas social y académicamente en México y el otro por jóvenes nacidas en México, llevadas a los Estados Unidos desde su infancia, y repatriadas a México previo al inicio de sus estudios universitarios. La investigación utiliza una combinación de historias de vida y análisis documental para abordar la interrelación entre la identidad de las profesoras y el grado de compromiso hacia las actividades académicas y profesionales. Los resultados revelan marcadas diferencias en la formación de las identidades de estos dos grupos de profesoras. Mientras que las profesoras formadas exclusivamente en México han construido una identidad sólida y articulada como resultado de un entorno familiar estable y transiciones regulares en sus vidas, el desarrollo de las identidades de las profesoras repatriadas ha sido marcado por la fragmentación debido a la poca o nula estabilidad en su seno familiar así como las complejas y dolorosas transiciones que han experimentado a lo largo de sus vidas. El artículo analiza el impacto que estas diferencias tienen en los niveles de compromiso de las participantes hacia las oportunidades académicas y laborales que se les presentan en su entorno. El trabajo concluye con una discusión de las implicaciones que los resultados tienen para los investigadores, mentores de profesores de lenguas y administradores de programas académicos.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to acknowledge the support provided by Universidad Autónoma de Tamaulipas. They also wish to thank the Editor of this journal and the anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments on earlier versions of this paper.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes on Contributors
Alberto Mora holds a Doctoral degree from the University of Exeter, United Kingdom. He also holds a Master's degree from the University of Texas Pan-American, USA. He currently works at Universidad Autónoma de Tamaulipas, México. His research interests include language teacher education and critical issues in TESOL.
Paulina Trejo holds a Doctoral degree from the University of Exeter, United Kingdom. She currently works at the School of Education in Universidad Autónoma de Tamaulipas, México, where she teaches in the undergraduate program in applied linguistics. Her research interests include professional development and formation of identity.
Ruth Roux holds a Ph. D in Second Language Acquisition / Instructional Technology from the University of South Florida. She is currently the director of the Social Research Center at Universidad Autónoma de Tamaulipas, México.