Construction of the professional identity of portuguese language teachers during their initial teacher education

Abstract

This paper presents the results of a research project developed with the objective of understanding, from a teacher identity and cognition perspective, the concepts constructed by pre-service teachers of what it means to be a teacher and teach and learn portuguese in working conditions characterized by social and cultural diversity, as well as economic adversity. The study reveals how two undergraduate students in Letras (a teaching degree which entitles its holders to teach disciplines both in middle and high school) participating in a national teacher education program resorted to representations of the school and teaching in order to build references that constituted the foundations of both their formative experiences as teachers and the mental projections they constructed of their pedagogical work and professional identity. The data analysis focused on the referral processes produced by the participants based on the contrast between their previous and current experiences and expectations, captured by the methodological tools used in the research.