Language Teacher Identity

This chapter introduces the handbook by situating language teacher identity (LTI) as a central and expanding area of inquiry in language education and applied linguistics. It highlights the lack of a comprehensive, global, and up-to-date resource that addresses the field’s complexity and its direct implications for teachers, teacher educators, students, and researchers. This chapter frames identity as dynamic, socially constructed, and shaped by unpredictable life events that can prompt critical reflection and transformation. It examines how self-perceptions and the perspectives of others intersect with ideologies of language, race, ethnicity, gender, and other sociocultural factors, influencing teachers’ professional development, pedagogy, well-being, and retention over time and across contexts. Drawing on an intersectional and critical approach, this introduction foregrounds the need to elevate underrepresented voices, such as racially and linguistically minoritized and multilingual teachers, while mapping key gaps for future research. It concludes by proposing a shift from the traditional “magnifying lens” metaphor to a “kaleidoscope” perspective, capturing the fluid, multifaceted nature of becoming and being a language teacher.