Traineeships abroad as spaces for shaping language teachers’ identity. The case of Englishspeaking teacher trainees in a Spanish context

Abstract

This article explores the impact of a traineeship abroad on the personal and the professional identities of prospective Spanish teachers whose L1 is English and its implications for language educators. We examine data from a qualitative study based on semi-structured interviews with two teacher trainees from Ireland and the United Kingdom undergoing a traineeship abroad as language assistants at a Spanish university. The results show a positive correlation between a traineeship abroad and: 1) the restructuration of personal identities and 2) the further development of emerging language teacher identities. In relation to personal identities, confrontation with cultural and linguistic difference increases a sense of belonging to the nation state while in relation to professional identity development, a reinforcement of the willingness to become a language teacher is positively impacted by the experience abroad.