Teacher identity refers to how teachers see themselves as teachers and how others see them as teachers. A teacher growth mindset refers to a teacher’s belief system that sees professional learning as a possibility, even in the face of challenges and disruptions. In this presentation, I outline what teacher identity means, and why it is important for teachers to know about their changing identities in the contexts in which they work. I also suggest narrative ways of exploring those identities – that is, to generate and understand teachers’ identity stories. I then briefly describe what mindsets are and share several stories told by teachers and teacher educators that reveal how their identities and their mindsets interconnect. I show how this interconnection does not always reveal a growth mindset or a belief in learning. To try to explain this situation, I present a professional development framework consisting of a number of interrelated mindset continua that aims to achieve, through teacher narrative inquiry, some sort of equilibrium or stability in the lives of hard-working teachers.
I first came across the concept of mindset (Dweck, 2006) a few years ago when I was designing a new graduate TESOL course on language teacher and learner identity. I was deciding which topics to include in the course and so embarked on a search of recent literature in the field. It is surprising just how large and varied scholarship on identity now is in TESOL and applied linguistics, drawing from social and psychological perspectives, from theories in general education, and even philosophy and economics. This reading helped me design my identity course, which consisted of 12 lectures over 12 weeks, and although I did not include a specific lecture on mindset, I was aware that the concept was lurking in the shadows of many of the topics that were included, such as identity in the classroom, identity and language learning, and identity and emotions.
Mindsets refers to people’s beliefs about various human attributes, including their abilities (Dweck, 2014). There are fixed mindsets, which is the belief that abilities cannot change. For example, if you’re not a very good teacher, there’s not much you can do about that. And there are growth mindsets, where people believe that learning and development is possible, even in the face of challenges and disruptions. For example, a teacher with a growth mindset will build strategies for working through problems in class, or work hard to develop skills to implement a new language testing regime.
Herbert-Smith (2023), referencing the work of Dweck (2006), lists a number of attributes of a teacher with a growth mindset. I particularly like three of these because they relate to my own conceptualization of teacher identity and I see clear evidence of them in my teacher education work. I observe a close relationship between teacher mindset and language teacher identity (LTI). LTI refers to how teachers see themselves as teachers and how others see them as teachers in the particular contexts in which they work. Mindset relates to who teachers are (their identities) as well as what they do (their practices) in these workplaces. The first of Herbert-Smith’s (2023) attributes of a teacher with a growth mindset is that they take responsibility for improving their practice. In terms of LTI, here we see a teacher who might be perceived as dedicated, a professional, as or even ambitious. This might also be an identity that the teacher would like to project to their learners and colleagues.
Teachers who take responsibility for improving their practice might also, and this is another of Herbert-Smith’s (2023) teacher growth mindset attributes, actively seek learning opportunities and new challenges. From my experience and current work in language teacher education, I see a number of ways in which these opportunities are taken up. One of these is continuing professional development (CPD), particularly self-directed professional development (Mercer et al., 2022). Teachers at their own initiative participate in, for example, CPD workshops, attend webinars and teacher conferences, and enrol in further formal study. For instance, many students in my identity course are teachers with some language teaching experience and desire to improve their practice and develop their careers by obtaining a further qualification. They want to grow. Another example of seeking learning opportunities is teachers engaging in research, and evidence shows that this certainly is a challenging endeavour (Shrestha et al., 2022). The teacher research movement has grown rapidly in recent years and reveals that teachers around the world are increasingly taking up the challenge, with appropriate support and mentoring often in place (Buğra & Wyatt, 2021).
In all of these activities—continuing and self-directed professional development, further formal study, teacher research—teachers frequently encounter setbacks and receive feedback that they might perceive as negative and discouraging. And they might make mistakes along the way. This relates to the third of Herbert-Smith’s (2023) attributes of a teacher with a growth mindset: teachers seeing setbacks and feedback as an opportunity to learn and grow their skills. This attribute, like with other aspects of a growth mindset, is very much forward looking; seeking future growth, learning, development. However, I have seen, both in my identity course, and in my interaction with language teachers in many other contexts (and the literature also points this out), that too much emphasis on growth and development, which could come from self or leaders, puts enormous pressure on teachers—with their busy professional (and personal) lives, their heavy workloads, and lack of time to fit everything in. One disastrous outcome could be the all too familiar ‘burnout’.
Teachers (and teacher educators, and researchers) need to take care of their wellbeing. As they juggle their many roles and responsibilities, and as they try to make sense of their constantly changing identities, they should aim to seek some sort of equilibrium or stability in their professional lives. ‘Achieving’ or developing a growth mindset, in my opinion, means seeing mindset as a dimension (or a number of interrelated dimensions) along which we move back and forth over time. We are never stuck in one mindset. Sometimes we need to be cautious and withdraw a little from seeking growth and settle instead for coping with where we are at, and who we are as teachers, especially in the face of challenges and disruptions.
References
Buğra, C., & Wyatt. M. (2021). English language teachers collaborating in practitioner research and loving it. Educational Action Research, 29(3), 483-499. https://doi.org/10.1080/09650792.2020.1842778
Dweck, C. S. (2006). Mindset: The new psychology of success. Random House.
Dweck, C. (2014). Teachers’ Mindsets: “Every Student has Something to Teach Me”: Feeling overwhelmed? Where did your natural teaching talent go? Try pairing a growth mindset with reasonable goals, patience, and reflection instead. It’s time to get gritty and be a better teacher. Educational Horizons, 93(2), 10-15. https://doi.org/10.1177/0013175X14561420
Herbert-Smith, K. (2023, May 26). Growth mindset: The key to successful teaching? IRIS Connect. https://blog.irisconnect.com/uk/community/blog/5-attributes-of-a-growth-...
Mercer, S., Farrell, C., & Freeman, D. (2022). Self-directed professional development in ELT. Oxford University Press.
Shrestha, S., Laudari, S. & Gnawali, L. (2022). Exploratory action research: Experiences of Nepalese EFL teachers. ELT Journal, ccac029. https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/ccac029
Gary Barkhuizen is Professor of Applied Linguistics at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. His teaching and research interests are in the areas of language teacher education, teacher and learner identity, study abroad, and narrative inquiry. Originally from South Africa, he obtained his MA from Essex University in the UK and his doctorate from Teachers College, Colombia University. His latest book published in 2022 is Language Teachers Studying Abroad: Identities, Emotions and Disruptions.
Plenary Address
Teacher Mindset Stories: What Happens When Teacher Identity and Teacher Mindsets Meet?
Teacher identity refers to how teachers see themselves as teachers and how others see them as teachers. A teacher growth mindset refers to a teacher’s belief system that sees professional learning as a possibility, even in the face of challenges and disruptions. In this presentation, I outline what teacher identity means, and why it is important for teachers to know about their changing identities in the contexts in which they work. I also suggest narrative ways of exploring those identities – that is, to generate and understand teachers’ identity stories. I then briefly describe what mindsets are and share several stories told by teachers and teacher educators that reveal how their identities and their mindsets interconnect. I show how this interconnection does not always reveal a growth mindset or a belief in learning. To try to explain this situation, I present a professional development framework consisting of a number of interrelated mindset continua that aims to achieve, through teacher narrative inquiry, some sort of equilibrium or stability in the lives of hard-working teachers.
Workshop
Narrative Inquiry for Busy Teachers and Teacher Educators: An Introductory Workshop
Narrative inquiry involves gathering and constructing stories to learn about the experiences of language teachers and learners. Stories are central to narrative inquiry. In this workshop, we begin by discussing what stories are and then move onto a brief overview of some methods for collecting and analyzing stories in narrative inquiry. These methods are those that teachers (and teacher educators) can incorporate into their busy lives as practitioners. In other words, the aim is to explore opportunities for teachers to conduct narrative inquiry as ongoing, classroom-based teacher research. Workshop participants will have the opportunity, in pairs and small groups, to examine and interpret authentic language teacher and learner stories. They will also consider ways in which narrative inquiry can be embedded in their classroom practices. In sum, the interactive workshop will be an introduction to narrative inquiry for those who are interested in stories and how they can be used to explore their work environments in order to learn about themselves, their students, and the work that they do. Experienced researchers are also welcome!
