Being and becoming prosocial language teachers: a critical examination through identity construction of prosocial behaviors in English language teaching

With the ongoing pedagogical shift towards more sociocultural perspectives of English Language teaching, a thorough understanding of language teachers is needed. Research showed various behaviors that affected language pedagogy. One of which is any action that benefits or promotes the welfare of others, which can be called ‘prosocial behavior’. (Dovidio et al., 2006). In this sense, this study revealed the identity construction process of prosocial behaviors in English language teachers and how it affected their pedagogical beliefs and practice. Implementing narrative inquiry (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000), data came from multiple individual semi-structured interviews of four language teachers with discourse analysis of interview data by elicit saliency in according to the professional identity by Creswell (2005). Major research findings showed emergent themes from deep reflection on the emergent patterns (participants’ integrated value, attitude, and belief systems) used as the judgement to predict teachers’ engagement in professional practices. Its implication concerned possible guidelines to inform programs for professional development with regards to how to engage teachers in the development of knowledge and skills: teacher training programs, teacher development programs, and macro and micro leveled policies and practices.