MA TESOL Students, Teacher Leadership, and Investment in the Imagined Other

Teacher leadership matters: A statistically significant relationship exists between teacher leadership and student achievement, most notably in the facilitation of improvements in curriculum, instruction, and assessment. Equally important at a time when schools struggle to find qualified teachers, teacher participation in decision-making and professional collaboration is associated with increased job satisfaction and teacher retention. However, while leadership is a choice, research rarely investigates educators’ reasons for behaving in ways that “influence their colleagues, principals, and other members of school communities” ( York-Barr & Duke, 2004 , p. 288). This article explores TESOL educators’ investments in second-language teacher leadership (SLTL) and uses the lens of language teacher identity to examine their self-positioning as leaders within imagined future professional communities. During five cycles of data collection involving reading, journaling, and collective discussion, co-authors from China, Japan, Libya, and Vietnam reflected upon and analysed personal experiences of leadership, SLTL within place-based practices of language education, and their evolving identities as TESOL educators. Contrary to established research, participants’ investments in SLTL focused on relationships and the creation of opportunities for an imagined other. They shied from the designation “leader” and foregrounded necessary actions. Although the two are not unrelated, the recurrent theme of commitment to others points to a disconnect between the organization of TESOL courses and participants’ investment in professional knowledge as a path to service.