Becoming a Teacher: A Cross-Cultural Analysis of Motivation and Teacher Identity Formation

Using principles derived from critical pedagogy theory and constructs from motivation theory such as meta-cognition and self-regulation, the authors elicit teacher candidates' voices so as to deepen an understanding of the major factors that shape their identity in becoming teachers, especially in light of today's multicultural societies. They describe preservice and inservice teachers' responses to assignments that engaged them in using critical pedagogical processes which helped them operationalize a philosophy of their teaching and strengthened their motivations to teach. The findings support the importance of identifying and working with the social, historical, and cultural contexts in which teachers work and live. The participants spanned three university settings (two in the south western United States and one in Brunei, Darussalam), underscoring that the cultures within which teachers derive their identity play a significant role in shaping the many different types of "self" that are engaged in the social context of a teacher's practice at particular points in space and time. (Contains 1 table and 3 footnotes.)