Exploring temporality in motives for becoming language teacher educators through a life-course study of Indonesian ESOL teacher educators

Abstract

Although language teacher educators (LTEds) play an instrumental role in supporting pre-service teachers, existing studies provide limited insight into the psychological dimensions of their professional experience, particularly motives for becoming LTEds. This study investigates how the motives for becoming LTEds of Indonesian English of Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) teacher educators are shaped by their sociocultural context over their life trajectories. To answer the research question, this study was designed as qualitative life-course research and employed the genetic method theory to guide its analysis of interview data involving 12 LTEds from six different teacher education providers in Indonesia. The construction of a combined life line based on the participants’ biographical narratives narrowed down the analysis to four critical life phases, namely growing up at home and in the surrounding community, attending schools, obtaining a bachelor’s degree in language education, and exploring career options post-graduation. By interpreting the participants’ accounts of ontogenetic critical moments within their cultural-historical boundaries, the study’s findings shed light on the temporal dimension of LTEds’ motives and stress the role of context in shaping them. Implications for theory and teacher education practice and institutions are discussed.