Content-area teacher candidates’ identity work in an online teacher education course

In an increasingly diverse U.S. classroom landscape, it is crucial to prepare teachers to meet the needs of multilingual learners. However, institutional constraints and a lack of empirical research have left many content-area teachers underprepared in this area. In this study, we explore how 15 content-area teacher candidates (TCs) constructed their professional identities in a sheltered instruction methods course at a Hispanic-serving university in the southwestern U.S. We conducted deductive analysis of participants' coursework (e.g., short essay responses, discussion board posts, and virtual field experience assignments) by using Clarke's (2009) four axes of identity development (telos, authority sources, substance, self-practices). Our findings demonstrated the complex interplay of the four axes in TCs' identity work, which led us to offer a more dynamic, contextually-bound modification of Clarke's framework. The findings call for teacher educators internationally to pedagogize identity by creating classroom spaces in which TCs view their professional learning as part of their identity work and critically reflect on their identities as teachers of multilingual learners. •Identity reflection prepares teachers to work with multilingual learners.•Teacher identity may be viewed as a complex process of ethical self-formation.•Substance, self-practices, authority sources, and telos dynamically interact.•Micro, meso, and macro level contexts influence teacher identity work.•Teacher educators should encourage critical reflection and identity exploration.