1 Identity Shifts of Content Area Teachers in the Early Stages of English as Second Language Professional Development Program by Jorkeno S. De Leon A project submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF EDUCATION with an emphasis in CURRICULUM AND INSTRUCTION WEBER STATE UNIVERSITY Ogden, Utah GSE 6970: Thesis August 12, 2024 Approved by: David Byrd _______________________________________ David Byrd, Ph.D. David Byrd (Aug 14, 2024 15:43 MDT) _______________________________________ Melina Alexander, Ph.D. _______________________________________ Shernavaz Vakil, Ed.D. 2 Abstract: Teachers continuously learn about their subject matter and develop teaching skills through coursework and professional development; therefore, their identity as professionals is constantly being shaped by new knowledge. Traditionally, professional development programs and coursework tend to focus on assets such as knowledge or competencies but forego helping students answer the question, “Who am I becoming as a professional?”. The present study examines the professional identity development of content-area teachers who are earning an English as a Second Language endorsement in an online professional development program. Using thematic analysis, the reflective writings, which were given in the professional development courses of seven participants, the researchers examine how, if at all, the identity of these teachers develop, as they focus on teaching English language learners in their classrooms. Findings indicated that, even with the short duration of the professional development courses, changes in professional identity occurred. Further, the change allows the participants to increase their effectiveness in working with English Language Learners. Keywords: identity development, reflective practice, professional development 3 Introduction Growing research has focused on teacher development programs when examining professional teacher identity (Evans, 2014; Van der Klink et al., 2017; Van Lankveld, 2017). Before professional teaching experience, pre-service teachers undergo rigorous training and exposure to teaching (e.g., fieldwork courses, capstone projects, and student-teaching and practicum). These experiences collectively shape their initial beliefs and perceptions about their identity as teachers (Pennington & Richards, 2016), specifically, content area teachers teaching English Language Learners (ELL). ELL content area teachers are instructors from different subject areas that support the learning of ELLs. They handle students who need individualized attention, come from diverse demographic backgrounds, and encounter difficulties with language learning experiences (Harris & Silva, 1993; Kayi-Aydar, 2015; Song, 2016). Teaching under these contextual circumstances could be challenging for content-area teachers. It may include emotional stress, lack of self-confidence, and fear towards the complex situations from their teaching experiences. However, the complexities of these social processes positively lead to an integral part of their professional development and teaching context (Kennedy, 2016). The complexities of content area teachers’ identities are rooted in various aspects. First, content teachers exposed to a new environment come from distinct cultural backgrounds, experiences, and beliefs toward diverse ELLs. This idea is supported by educators’ lack of cultural knowledge (Nelson & Guerra, 2014). Based on their pre-conceived understanding of ELLs, the lack of knowledge can affect how teachers linguistically communicate and approach culturally diverse students as they meet their target teaching goals. Second, fieldwork and the academic background of content area teachers play an important role in their readiness for ELLs. Teachers carry with them ideologies and theories that they have learned from the courses they 4 took in their respective Teacher Education Programs. Such experiences highlight important classroom policies and routines that were efficiently identified before their actual teaching process. Lastly, practicing content area teachers have unique identified experiences that practically create expectations and biases on instruction, classroom management, and assessment toward ELLs. Influences in these experiences can come from prior classroom experience, professional development experience, the roles they play in the school setting and the classroom teacher’s interaction within the community of ELLs (Oleson et al., 2014). This qualitative study aims to examine the experiences of seven content-area teachers involved in a Professional Development Program for an English as a Second Language (ESL) endorsement. The participants enrolled in the program went through a year of academic placement and have taken courses relevant to ELL student teaching. These courses in the program provide challenging opportunities to reflect on their teaching identity and experiences that could be influential in evaluating their professional identity (Vanassche & Kelchtermans, 2015; Zeichner, 2007). More so, the analysis of this paper will be derived from the initial application essay submitted by the applicants, including course tasks that involved initial and final reflective papers about their teaching philosophies. Overall, this study will examine potential changes in the participants’ teacher identity and understanding of how their experiences in the program influence their content area as they begin an ESL endorsement. Review of Related Literature Professional and Teacher Identity Ashforth and Schinoff (2016) defined identity as the process of how an individual engages in sensemaking to the world as they form their collective experiences through affective, 5 behavioral, and cognitive processes. Similarly, Sachs (2005) said that “identity is the way that people understand their individual experience and how they act and identify with various groups” (p. 8). This means that identity can emerge and be formed in various professional fields. More so, professional identity is defined as an ongoing process that integrates a person’s collective professional experience and how they contextually put value and develop their perceived professional characteristics (Beijaard et al., 2004). In the teacher education domain, it is important to understand how teachers’ identities were perceived, explored, and developed to help them transition and shape their identities. Two important activities that influence teacher educators' identity development are first, ‘self-support’ activities where teachers develop reflective strategies, identify roles, and build a sense of self, and secondly, ‘community support’ activities where community involvement, teacher induction experiences, and professional development programs influence teacher identity (Izadinia, 2014). Contextually, understanding such support processes will identify and may address some gaps in teacher identity development (Rushton et al., 2023). Instructional methods of teachers, their subject content mastery, and how they teach in specific contexts influence teacher identity. Research on factors that affect teacher identity is emerging on development programs experienced by the teachers, teaching community environment, contextual teaching practices and relationships, and teaching and inquiry processes, including extensive reflection (Chong & Low, 2009; Farrell, 2016; Vangrieken et al., 2017; Van Lankveld et al., 2017). Collectively, the growth of the understanding of teacher and professional identity among programs and institutions are important factors in the continuous development of schools and teachers. 6 Professional Development Professional development (PD) is defined as a developmental process that aims to achieve growth in a specific professional field (Schwartz & Bryan, 1998) By and large, PD in the education field deals with the understanding of how teachers learn and translate their teaching knowledge from theory into practice to target students’ growth and development (Avalos, 2011). In the United States in general, research on contemporary approaches and best practices on PD is focused on content area, instructional processes, and the involvement of teachers in a professional learning environment and community (Borko et al., 2015; Desimone 2009; Desimone & Garet 2015). These studies highlighted the importance of observing emerging factors of PD and its effect on teachers and learners. In effect, PD aims to provide success for teachers in their classrooms by understanding the context of teachers involved within their school community, improving their content knowledge in the field, and providing meaningful processes for self-reflection and improvement (Harwell, 2003). Moreover, research on PD shows that when teachers’ knowledge and skills are improved, classroom instruction, curriculum, and standards become effective, impacting student achievement (Yoon et al., 2007). Such demand in PD entails continuous evaluation and context-based activities that will support teachers’ theory and practice. This means that such PD tasks are tailored to the needs of the teachers depending on the context in which they belong. A number of these activities are focused on resource and school needs, opportunities for active designing and planning of activities, engagement in the community, and support from instructors and programs involved (Bayar, 2014; Vangrieken et al., 2017). Generally, we can say that PD is a dynamic concept and an integral factor in teachers’ success specifically in their teaching beliefs, perceptions, ideas, and pedagogical practices. 7 Reflective Writing The role of reflection in the education field is often used as a tool to improve learning (Chang, 2019; Williams & Grudnoff, 2011). Anderson (2020) defined reflection as a “conscious, experientially informed thought that involves critical evaluation and problem-solving resulting in increased awareness and new insightful understanding” (p.480). This perception supports the purposeful mental processes that reflection offers. Reflection, therefore, is an integral part of the meaning-making of the unstructured ideas of complex learning when discerning their in-depth beliefs, ideas, and experiences (Moon, 2013). Through reflection, learners are motivated in discerning to participate in positive activities that promote a greater understanding of one’s selfknowledge. Reflective activities allow practitioners to re-examine field and professional experiences for discerning the appropriateness of context (Lee, 2005). Relatedly, Loughran (2002) also presented the idea of a “puzzling or curious situation” in which reflective activity presents actionable ways of “making the tacit explicit” when attempting to solve and act on situations or problems (pp. 34-35). There are a few ways to process reflective activity that help to organize thoughts, beliefs, and observations. Informal or formal journaling writing activities including recorded and analyzed events promote reflective thinking (Shandomo, 2010). Similarly, reflective writing activities for teachers provide opportunities for professionals to evaluate their growth, examining personal teaching beliefs and theories on educational practices (Calderhead & Gates, 2003). Ash and Clayton (2004) suggested a developmental framework of rigorous reflection. The process includes a) describing objectively the experience, b) analyzing under relevant categories of learning, and c) articulating learning outcomes (p.140). This framework allows teachers to use a cyclical process as they meticulously design learning outcomes, integrate feedback; and self- 8 reflect. Consequently, reflective practices by teacher practitioners benefit their teacher identity and positively impact their level of awareness, improving motivational and professional development (Farrell, 2016). Methodology Since the present study is descriptive, phenomenological research will be used to examine the underlying lived experiences of the participants encountering the same phenomenon (Creswell & Creswell, 2017). Through these descriptions, the study aims to build a network of themes that will explain the phenomenon through thematic analysis. The use of thematic analysis aims to analyze, describe, and organize the emerging codes and themes found within the data set (Braun & Clarke, 2012; Clarke & Braun, 2017). Deductively, the theory developed and the themes emerging in the study are derived from the data sources, analyzing its inter-relatedness in the existing phenomenon (Corbin & Strauss, 2014). Such phenomenon that the study would like to observe is the written text that the teacher participants accomplished as part of the ESL endorsement coursework activities and the emerged network of themes as the researchers analyze the relationship of the participants’ perceptions and teacher identity development through the data source texts. Research Design From the perspectives drawn from the related literature, this study focused on seven teacher-participants and their developing views on their teacher identity and perceptions as they examine their in-depth experiences through an ESL endorsement coursework. The thematic analysis method was appropriately chosen by the researchers since it aims to contextually examine the perspectives of different research participants as the study emphasizes their commonalities, differences, and unforeseen insights (Nowell et al., 2017) found in the research 9 data sources. This approach followed the rigorous process of thematic analysis that involves careful reading and rereading of text, organizing codes, analysis, development of themes, and interpretations of the aspects and factors observed in the phenomenon (Fereday & MuirCochrane, 2006). The data sources of the participants came from the coursework tasks from the series of their ESL Endorsement coursework. The study will analyze the teacher participants’ experiences and the emerging factors that contributed to their teacher identity and perception development. Participants There were seven participants focused on this study. They are concurrently taking a methods class and Second Language Acquisition (SLA) Theories and Implementation class. Below is a table defining the seven participants’ demographic profiles. Table 1 Content-area Teacher participants, their gender, and professional roles in their schools Participant Gender Current teaching or professional roles Emma F Elementary instructional coach Adam M Special Education teacher Amanda F Elementary teacher Jenny F Elementary ESL coach (No ESL Endorsement yet) Sophie F Secondary teacher Matthew M Secondary teacher Samantha F Special Education teacher Note. All participants are not yet endorsed for ESL teaching and pseudonyms are used throughout the paper. 10 Data Sources Three important data points will be observed for this study. Firstly, the participants’ application form, secondly, their initial philosophy paper, and thirdly, their final philosophy paper. Application As part of the application process for the teacher development program for an ESL endorsement, the teacher applicants completed an online application that includes demographic profile questions (e.g., teaching experience, institution involved, license information, etc.), including a short essay prompt answering the question, “What are your thoughts and beliefs about how best to meet the needs of English Language Learners (ELL) in your classroom? (Results from this data source are indicated as ‘app’.) Initial Philosophy paper This reflective paper was done during the first course of the ESL Teacher Development Program. Participants were asked to answer this question: “As educators, what general guiding principles help them shape their teaching and what are specific teaching philosophies they account for ELLs?”. (Indicated below as ‘IP’.) Final Philosophy paper This is a culminating activity for their Second Language Acquisition (SLA): Theories and Implementation class. Drawing from their language learning experiences and the SLA literature readings from the course, participants will reflect on their beliefs on SLA, ELL methods, assessment, and influences impacting ELLs to create their philosophy of teaching statement. (Indicated below as ‘FP’.) Data collection procedure and analysis 11 The data sources were collected at the beginning and during the course work of the participants. Note that there are more courses to accomplish as the participants complete the ESL endorsement program. The researcher provided printed copies of the data source papers for analysis purposes. After examining and reading the application forms and papers multiple times, the researcher identified emerging themes related to SLA and ELLs. When analyzing the text from the data sources, the researcher provided analytic notes to examine statements and ideas that build connections and relationships in the text (Creswell & Creswell, 2017; Sargeant, 2012). Using a thematic analysis processes, the comments and ideas presented in the text were then organized and categorized. Such categories were identified as emerging themes found in the data set. This process followed a recursive process to refine the categories that emerged from the text. The following themes surfaced in the data that support changes in their teacher identity and perspectives are the following: (1) Methods and Instructional Strategies in ELL classrooms, (2) Experiences and Beliefs on how to support ELLs, and (3) Socio-Cultural aspects of ELLs. For each of these themes, the study highlights the common factors in the text contributing to the theme and was categorized in the analysis of results. Results The analysis presented shared experiences in the participants’ classroom instruction and methods. This entails most of their realized effective instructional strategies among ELLs, assessments, and the appropriate methods and practices done in their classrooms. The classroom engagement, language integration, and how they design assessment and curriculum supported their understanding of their teacher identity roles. Contextual engagement and language integration 12 Language communication and appropriate activities in ELL classrooms seem difficult at first as Matthew initially shared: “It’s hard to feel like I’m meeting their needs daily and I want appropriate tools that will help my students learn better in my class” (app). Later, Matthew particularly shared his realizations on how important verbal scaffolding is as he writes: I plan on improving my verbal scaffolding by stressing high-frequency words and slowing down my speech that is sometimes too fast. Additionally, I need to clarify the definition and usage of words in context more often. I also plan on adding more realia to my Physics courses, which help students better connect with and describe what we’re learning (FP). He also mentioned that these realizations were reflected in his past teaching experience when he offered materials to students on both English and their primary language as students were beginning to learn conversational English. This validated his identity as a teacher and provided a sense of fulfillment when considering his methods for ELLs. Engagement in the ELL classrooms is also a common issue participants reflected on. Sophie wrote: I keep students engaged by incorporating culturally responsive content, student choice, and movement into lessons (FP). Moreover, Adam also shared his experience when implementing methods to engage students and improve their second language acquisition skills, and he writes: Our students didn’t necessarily have to learn Spanish, but we started using words in Spanish for all students when learning calendar skills and words during science. This helped include the other students in learning a new language as well as embracing other students that come from a household with different primary language (IP). 13 In addition, Sophie also shared how important classroom practices and routines are in building connections among ELLs. She writes: I greet each of my students by name each day; I spend extra time allowing them to share their personal connections to content, even though it may delay the lesson; and I opt for the hallway atonements as opposed to immediate office referrals as a way to preserve the rapport and relationship I work so hard to establish (IP) The participants realized that relationships with their students are factors in becoming an effective teacher. The implementations and choices they made in class affect their perspectives of a developed teacher and if they have made an impact on ELLs in particular. Intentional design of curriculum and assessment As part of the participants’ collective experience, an emerging realization of the intentional designing of curriculum and lesson approaches was observed when teachers evaluated their in-depth content knowledge and reflected on how they could bridge the gap in the learning processes of ELLs. Evidence of this principle was observed in Adam and Jenny’s writing. Adam: In my most recent years of teaching, I focused on the academic portion but could improve in providing ample opportunities for these students to develop communicative competence. (e.g., short phrase association, nonverbal communication, cognates) (FP). Jenny: Using picture cards, anchor charts, or any other type of visual support to help students associate pictures in words. To assist students with social communication, meaningful speech is assisted through the use of gestures or total physical response (FP). Jenny had a more detailed shift in her identity as she wrote earlier, “Learning about strong strategies that work for all students will keep them in the classroom” (app). The strategies shifted 14 from an abstract approach to more concrete instructional methods. In general, both participants recognized that the intentionality of the instruction in addressing the learners’ needs impacts the learning in their classrooms. These experiences reflected their perceptions of their teacher identity as they formed their understanding of what makes the learning process of ELLs more meaningful, leading them to success. As teachers and educators, the participants highlighted a few important roles of assessment in their ELL classrooms. Samantha writes: Assessment has been a significant advocacy on my part as a Special Education teacher to be very careful in assessing or even diagnosing ELL students who are not making enough academic progress in a time frame set by the school as a special education student candidate. If we are not careful, we are stigmatizing students with a label they should not have (FP). She recognized the importance of assessment as a make-or-break evaluation tool for her learners. This was a consistent philosophy she always believed in. Initially, she wrote: “ELLs are entitled to equitable education same as their English-speaking peers” (IP). Such perceptions support the importance of the effects of assessment on ELLs’ motivation, confidence, and success in her classroom. Similarly, Amanda also expressed her realizations on how to efficiently use the ELLs’ language proficiency assessment results to guide instruction and further assessment. She writes: Using the students’ actual test results to guide the assessment of these ELL students will help you as a teacher to be able to find out what they know. For example, knowing that a student is low in the writing portion of the language proficiency test could lead you to test them orally or let them represent their thinking through pictures (FP). 15 This shift manifested early on and was reinforced as she went through the PD. She wrote prior: “To meet ELLs’ needs, you have to start at their level and be ready to understand what they know” (app). The process of deep diving into assessment with ELLs provided a context shift in their views on how to contextually use assessment and create evaluation tools in their classrooms, and subsequently inform their professional identity. Content area teachers came from various academic backgrounds, teaching experiences, and beliefs. Their understanding of supporting ELLs stemmed and was influenced by these experiences and perceptions. Emerging themes of empathy and self-reflection were observed in the analysis as a factor in their teacher identity. Empathy and Reflective Self Most of the experiences shared by the participants stemmed from their interactions with ELLs, their existing school environment, and their social context in learning. A particular lens observed in their writing was their empathy toward students’ situations. Such a scenario triggered empathetical responses from participants, and consequently some acts of resolutions towards the arising issues observed. Look into Emma’s sharing about beliefs on ELL as she writes: Over the years, I had many co-workers make abhorrent comments about what our students cannot do, why their parents just do not care, and what the future of our students was going to be. The attitude and beliefs of the above statements were unfounded. I have found working with my ELL population is so rich and rewarding. I would like to thank all the teachers that told me what our students could not do… Challenge accepted! Now that I am working with other teachers and working more closely with our ELL 16 population, I take every opportunity to celebrate the work that is going into dispelling our bias and beliefs in others (IP). Emily developed concrete ways of what she initially believed in: “I love to incorporate new ideas and would love to learn more about how to help my students put their best foot forward” (app). Some of their beliefs were guided by their experiences towards ELLs’ context and how they perceive them. Samantha writes: As a teacher, I must cultivate relationships and be culturally responsive to my ELL and MLL students. Some of our ELL students might have “migrated-related” trauma and need non-judgmental support from teachers and school staff. As a teacher, I must ensure that my students’ primary languages and cultures are valued, supported, and developed in my classroom (IP). In another context, specifically in an assessment situation, Jenny writes: There is a lot of language growth that happens beneath the surface, and it is important for teachers to not assume anything by looking at a test score or by observing a child who is constantly silent. This concept has helped me assess the assumptions I make as a teacher and has helped me become more compassionate and understanding of students who are language learners (FP). Such a shift was reinforced by her initial belief that “ELLs deserve to be in an environment where who they are and what they already know is embraced” (IP). Their experiences with the ELLs’ context and scenario inside and outside of the classroom are some existing factors the participants feel challenged. They aim for a resolution regarding the issues that may bridge the gap in ELLs’ learning situations. The empathy factor 17 towards these considerations changed perspectives and somehow identified their professional stand and identity towards ELLs. The participants’ collective experiences in their schools showed the importance of the socio-cultural aspect affecting ELLs’ learning. The support from school, home, and community in the learning development of ELLs is an integral understanding of the participants’ teacher identity. Equitable access, Home, and Community As teachers, one of their major roles in school is to communicate and collaborate with parents on the learning processes and developments of ELLs. The support coming from home is an integral factor in understanding the potential learning considerations the ELLs contextually had. Emma and Samantha highlighted important context on parents as a contributing factor in their teaching-learning experiences. Emma: I feel that the partnership with our Dual-Language immersion parents has improved more than our General Education classrooms. I would like but teachers and parents to see the value that they have on our community. Our parents are such a wealth of resources, and their support is just as important to the success of our students. (FP) Samantha: I always make my parents feel welcome at school and in my classroom. I connect them with our Family Engagement Center, where they can get other resources, even if they have questions and concerns regarding supporting their students’ education. (FP) Both Emma and Samantha highlighted the importance it brought to their teaching when collaborating with parents. Adam also added some actionable strategies to involve parents 18 through progress communication (e.g., positive phone calls at home, and sending messages in their first language at home). Indeed, involving parents invites support groups, inclusivity, and enriching context among learners’ development. These lived experiences of the teachers convey underlying considerations as to why home and parents are emerging teacher identity factors viewed by the teachers in their learning discourse. Another emerging factor in the school community would be the important policies and programs that influenced their understanding of how to support their ELLs. Jenny discussed how the effect of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) influenced the demands for student success. She writes: The effects of NCLB of 2001 influenced both me and many educators who worked in low-economic status schools with at-risk students to solely focus on test scores and not on students’ learning. (FP) Emma and Matthew also supported some ideal programs in schools that they found effective when supporting their ELL community. Emma: Latinos in Action is one of our most popular programs. This is where we have our High School come into our school to tutor our students for four hours a week. Peer support can help students by promoting ethnic identity exploration, and helping newcomer Latino immigrants adjust to allow students to reach their full potential (FP). Matthew: To increase students’ feelings of being valued and belonging, I also want to encourage my students to feel recognized for being bilingual by encouraging them to apply for a seal of biliteracy in addition to graduating (FP). Collectively, the programs and policies in their communities affect how they immerse students in the program and effectively develop and support their ELLs’ progress in school. The 19 sense of support among and within the home and community contributes to their changing teacher identity and perceptions towards ELLs. Discussion The study examined the experiences of seven content-area teachers involved in a Professional Development Program for ESL endorsement. The existing phenomenon observed through the analysis of the reflective writings of the participants showed their perception and understanding of their roles as they perceived their teacher identity. The content-area teachers’ experiences with the difficulties of forming their teacher identity were supported by Izadinia’s (2014) concept that teachers’ lack of self-knowledge on how to do instruction, how to engage in research, and how to build their professional connection yielded to challenges and obstacles in their classrooms. The findings suggest that content-area teachers in the ESL program and those who identified appropriate methods that will suit the context of the ELLs through various methods, classroom practices, and language integration have impacted their teacher identity. More so, the immersion of reflective practice through their philosophy papers supported the importance of reflection over their pedagogical practices (Farrell, 2016). In the study, participants who intentionally identified appropriate language integration and context-based assessments helped them develop practices that aid their instructional processes with their ELLs. Such processes may affect and benefit their philosophy, principles, and practices as they discern and develop their teacher identity. Indeed, capitalizing on teachers’ professional development is growing research in the education field to support the methods and development of teachers. In effect, the understanding of the teachers’ identity and professional development are explicitly identified. The findings supported the idea of Borko et al. (2010) that immersing teachers in effective professional 20 development can direct important values and beliefs in their professional and teacher identity development. Based on the participants’ classroom engagement and experiences, the findings shared realizations and understanding about their teacher identity. The participants’ empathy towards ELLs’ context and continuous self-reflection provided ways to consider their ELLs’ needs and discern how to support their ELLs’ learning. Similarly, past research analyzing important factors observed when supporting teacher identity and development provided support among teachers and PD programs (Beijaard & Verloop, 2004; Beauchamp & Thomas, 2009; Byrd, 2013; Farrell, 2016). Because of the participants’ experiences and recognition of the contextual realities they face and the opportunities and support they receive, the content-area teachers carried out realistic perceptions and realizations of their developing ideas on teacher identity (Ashforth & Schinoff, 2016; Chong & Low, 2009; Pennington & Richards, 2016). In effect, the feedback, support, validation, and collective experiences in school situations presented realistic perceptions of their own teacher identity observed in their writings. The importance of parents’ involvement, support from home, community, and school access are few equitable opportunities for the participants to fully support their learners. This finding resonates with Suárez-Orozco et al.’s (2015) ‘acculturation in ethnic identity’ (p 150). They highlighted that understanding social constructs and stages of the ELL’s lives in terms of their ethnic understanding while immersing themselves in a diverse cultural aspect may help them gain familial socialization amongst ethnic groups as they find their identity along the way. Similarly, teachers need to immerse themselves in bridging the difficulty of conversational language barriers may it be developing academic knowledge or fostering a deeper understanding of their teacher identity (Freeman & Freeman, 2001). 21 Overall, this study highlighted important factors representing content-area teachers’ perceptions about their developing teacher identity. The learning they went through in their courses on Second Language Acquisition knowledge and how to deal with ELLs in their classrooms was realized as they examined and negotiated who they were, their beliefs, and their understanding as they reflected on their individualized teaching contexts. Limitations/ Further Research The study demonstrates interesting observations about the content-area teachers’ developing teacher identity however, there are some limitations the readers must consider. The time allotment for this study was covered only within three months under the ESL coursework program. In effect, there could be more findings analyzed as the participants finish the whole coursework. Also, since this study is phenomenology in nature, the emerging themes and experiences drawn from the text are only particular to the set of cohorts given their experiences. Hence, it is not generalizable to all types of ESL content area- teachers. Considering these limitations, future studies should investigate teacher identity context over a longer period of time to fully recognize and understand the changes and development happening to a specific professional development discourse, however, the researcher of the study provided a deeper context on the emerging teacher identity found on the participants’ reflective writings and could be a good groundwork towards a more complex and detailed understanding of their teacher identity. The researcher believed that this study is timely and relevant, and can further improve professional development processes when understanding context-based development of teacher identities and practices. Moreover, future research could dive into deeper context, detail, and nuances of how teachers form their teacher identity based on the initial findings (e.g., self and 22 empathy, instruction and assessment, or equitable resources in schools, homes, and communities). Conclusion/ Implication for Teachers It is ideal for content-area teachers immersed with ELLs to find the appropriate support and help they need when creating a sound, positive, and encouraging environment as they discern and develop their social and academic language skills. Pennington and Richards (2016) supported the idea that the more teachers integrate and collaborate supportive practices in their students’ identity through various language activities and performances, the more their teacher identity evolves. This implies that teachers should create avenues for learners to freely express their learning, values, and beliefs while maintaining a safe learning environment. Also, teachers should carefully provide opportunities and intentionally craft activities that will foster such space and environment. The experiences of teachers in their classrooms provided interesting reflections on how they see changes in their teacher identity specifically when observing and crafting instructional strategies and methods for ELLs. The study observed that when teachers support contextual engagement and language integration through various activities (e.g., verbal scaffolding, integrating culturally responsive content, fostering a positive and supportive learning environment), teachers discover effective ways to tap into their ideas and perceptions of an effective teacher. More so, the intentional approach to the curriculum as they craft evaluation, use data-driven results, and context-based research creates a powerful tool to promote learning that can also be significantly tapped when discerning their teacher identity. This supported Cummins et al.’s (2015) identity text project which demonstrated pedagogical modalities when creating linguistic opportunities, literacy engagement, and identity formation. 23 Teacher identity is formed and influenced by contextual factors such as the choices and experiences they make in their school environment, the nature of the learners, culture, and context-based disciplines the students went through are all contributing factors in shaping and creating new teacher identities (Beauchamp & Thomas, 2009). The researchers believed that the study captured a portion of their reflective processes in which they found contributing factors mostly on parents, school policies, and programs including community support. It is suggested that through these emerging factors, teachers should be more discerning with the most crucial teacher identities they find useful, and effectively identify their pedagogical approaches. 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Journal of Teacher Education, 58(1), 36-46. https://doi.org/10.1177/00224871062962 (De Leon, 2024) Identity Shifts of Content Area Teachers in the Early Stages Final Audit Report 2024-08-14 Created: 2024-08-14 By: Ellynn Raynor (ellynnraynor@weber.edu) Status: Signed Transaction ID: CBJCHBCAABAA1ZYPrVUJvHB6XCV2Be1lVBaWrVKaiYxO "(De Leon, 2024) Identity Shifts of Content Area Teachers in the Early Stages" History Document created by Ellynn Raynor (ellynnraynor@weber.edu) 2024-08-14 - 3:38:58 PM GMT- IP address: 137.190.70.233 Document emailed to Shernavaz Vakil (svakil@weber.edu) for signature 2024-08-14 - 3:39:32 PM GMT Email viewed by Shernavaz Vakil (svakil@weber.edu) 2024-08-14 - 3:44:50 PM GMT- IP address: 74.125.215.66 Document e-signed by Shernavaz Vakil (svakil@weber.edu) Signature Date: 2024-08-14 - 3:45:11 PM GMT - Time Source: server- IP address: 67.182.211.8 Document emailed to Melina Alexander (melinaalexander@weber.edu) for signature 2024-08-14 - 3:45:13 PM GMT Email viewed by Melina Alexander (melinaalexander@weber.edu) 2024-08-14 - 8:21:48 PM GMT- IP address: 66.249.84.200 Document e-signed by Melina Alexander (melinaalexander@weber.edu) Signature Date: 2024-08-14 - 8:24:47 PM GMT - Time Source: server- IP address: 174.247.144.34 Document emailed to David Byrd (davidbyrd@weber.edu) for signature 2024-08-14 - 8:24:49 PM GMT Email viewed by David Byrd (davidbyrd@weber.edu) 2024-08-14 - 9:42:55 PM GMT- IP address: 74.125.215.76 Document e-signed by David Byrd (davidbyrd@weber.edu) Signature Date: 2024-08-14 - 9:43:14 PM GMT - Time Source: server- IP address: 67.166.101.38 Agreement completed. 2024-08-14 - 9:43:14 PM GMT