ERIC Number: EJ1411330
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2024
Pages: 29
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0039-8322
EISSN: EISSN-1545-7249
"I Promised Growing up I Would Not Become a Teacher": Exploring the Career Trajectory of a Language Teacher through Social Cognitive Career Theory
TESOL Quarterly: A Journal for Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages and of Standard English as a Second Dialect, v58 n1 p394-422 2024
Despite some research attention given to expatriate native-English-speaking teachers' (NESTs) identities and the national educational ideologies that have led to their international recruitment, surprisingly little research has addressed their career trajectories as TESOL professionals. To address this gap, this case study explores the career of a long-serving expatriate TESOL professional through the lens of Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT), which was designed to understand how people develop interest in, make decisions about, and commit to a particular career. The methods are qualitative, involving a deductive analysis of interview data and a career timeline according to constructs from SCCT. Despite an initial reluctance to enter the profession, the participant's interest in language teaching began after teaching part-time as a young adult. After this experience, he changed his career interests and continued his educational pursuits in Korea. His background contextual affordances, predispositions, learning experiences, and Korean language proficiency provided new opportunities and outcome expectations as he advanced his career. Although we focus on a single case, the SCCT model is further explored for its potential to better understand the factors involved in the development and commitment to a career in TESOL and for illustrating the career trajectories of TESOL professionals at scale.
Descriptors: Teaching (Occupation), English (Second Language), Language Teachers, Vocational Interests, Career Choice, Foreign Countries, Career Development, Place of Residence, Native Language, English
Wiley. Available from: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030. Tel: 800-835-6770; e-mail: cs-journals@wiley.com; Web site: https://www.wiley.com/en-us
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: South Korea
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A