Imagined identity, investing, and harvesting the return: narratives of English language teachers

Teacher identity is an emerging field in educational research, with studies primarily examining the influence of teacher education and training, reflective practices, sociocultural environment, teachers’ experiences, and agency. Limited research exists on English language teachers’ imagination, imagined identity, investment, and their influence on professional development and identity construction. Underpinning Norton’s notion of investing, this study foregrounds the storied lives of four secondary-level English language teachers, drawn from informal conversations and in-depth interviews. Their life history revealed that the learning environments at home and school, the role models they identified, their dreams for the future, and their aspirations to attain symbolic, economic, and cultural capital positively influenced their choice of subjects and their investment in imagined and idealized futures. Hence, their engagement in teacher education, practicum, professional communities, observation, reflection, and feedback should be understood as their investment in imagined identity. In return, they achieved an idealized future and an identity beyond their imagination. The article concludes that teacher identity, investment, and the return on that investment are interrelated and mutually influence one another, implying the need for role modeling in teaching to shape students’ imagination and, thereby, investment and identity construction.