Language Teacher Identity Development through Professionalization on Study Abroad

The proliferation of study abroad research over the past decades, in light of the growing diversity and complexity of learning objectives, outcomes, and emphasis on identity and critical perspectives, has led to increasing attention on, especially, teacher professional learning abroad. This chapter offers an updated review of this literature by attending in particular to language teacher identity construction among emerging and practicing second language (L2) educators seeking learning experiences outside their educational or professional contexts. Taking into account a broader understanding of language teacher profiles, motivations, and types of professional sojourns, the review highlights how professional learning abroad is understood in relation to participants’ language teacher identity, as both learners and experts. Moreover, it considers moving beyond neoliberal agendas of internationalization commonly associated with study abroad in the Global North. Including alternative understandings of mobility as an affordance but possibly also as a necessity for accessing teacher education at a distance or outside one’s community, allows us to reflect on a potentially more inclusive agenda for future research on language teacher identity in study abroad contexts.