Positive Psychology and Language Teacher Identity

Both teacher identity and positive psychology have received considerable attention from language teacher development scholars in recent years. Language teacher identity, understood from a poststructuralist approach, has been variously defined in the literature, as almost every aspect of teachers’ functioning may affect their teacher identities, which are dynamic, multifaceted, and context-dependent. In contrast, positive psychology in the context of language teacher development has mainly focused on teacher well-being, which was differently understood in three positive psychology stages (PP1.0, PP2.0, PP3.0) called waves. This chapter shows the relationship between PP’s conceptual evolution and its influence on the construction of teacher identity. Although the assumptions of the three waves are vital for teachers’ work and their (re)shaping of individual professional identities, the last wave—PP3.0—has the most potential in redressing social ills, and hence, provides ideas that are likely to engage teacher identity researchers in the context of positive psychology.