Teacher education and the development of teacher identity

Abstract

This chapter reports on a study of teachers' professional identity development, which took place in a Sudanese English as a foreign language (EFL) teacher education program. The socio-political and economic discourses are influential forces that drive pre-service teachers to construct certain identities. Language and social theorists argue that identity is discursively constructed. Utilizing available technology to aid in the process of developing language proficiency would help expedite and produce positive outcomes. The use of mobile phone technology is booming in Sudan, and there are a large percentage of college and secondary school students not only using mobiles, but also accessing the Internet through them. This technology could, therefore, be utilized to enhance the pre-service teachers' language proficiency. The findings of the current study also suggest that practical steps need to be taken to attract students to the profession of teaching. The most salient measure would be to improve the economic status of EFL teachers.