engleski

The Professional identity of Foreign Language Teachers in the Digital Age in Croatia

In this paper, we aim to explore the complexities of the professional identity of foreign language teachers in the digital age. In order to answer the questions What makes a good digital foreign language teacher? and What are the essential qualities of a good language teacher in the digital age?, we draw on the theory of teachers’ professional identity proposed by Korthagen (2004) and the framework for classroom and curriculum transformation - a learning intervention named Learning by Design and proposed by Kalantzis & Cope (2010) in the field of Multimodal Pedagogy and Multiliteracies project. Our data consists of personal narratives about identity experiences of foreign language professionals elicited via semi-structured deep interviews where we focused on the concept of identity in the digital age, specifically in the era immediately prior to and during the Covid- 19 crisis. Nine foreign language teachers initially participated in a pilot questionnaire. Based on these results, we selected four Croatian foreign language teachers (French, Italian, German and English), employed in different public schools and different cities, and conducted interviews with them. The choice of participants was based on their professional activity in digital spaces prior to the pandemic. The data is analyzed qualitatively and presented with illustrative examples of what teachers perceive as good teaching in the digital age. The main aims of our research were to document changes in foreign language teaching in the digital era, to provide a framework for thinking about the concept of a good foreign language teacher in the digital age and, finally, to consider the redesign of current curricula, which would empower the educators to work in digital spaces.

COVID-19 ; digital technology ; foreign language teachers ; identity ; multiliteracies ; professional identity

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