Exploring the Role of Professional Learning Community in EFL Student-Teachers’ Imagined Identity Development

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Abstract
Developing teachers’ imagined identity, which refers to the ideal self as a professional based on virtual relationships between self and others, is essential to help teachers with future teaching practices. Drawing on Activity Theory, this study aimed to explore the role of the Professional Learning Community (PLC) in developing 12 Iranian EFL student-teachers’ imagined identity. Following a descriptive narrative design, the data were collected through autobiographical narratives, interviews, and field notes. The thematic analysis of the data showed that PLC has a constructive role in developing student-teachers’ imagined identity to become collaborative teachers, reflective teachers, teachers as learners, and teachers as syllabus designers in the future. The findings indicated that PLC could provide a venue for negotiating knowledge, develop a bottom-up collaborative culture, and create a trustful leadership context, which leads to student-teachers’ imagined identity development. Overall, it can be concluded that creating a negotiating context that enhances a bottom-up collaborative culture makes PLC a constructive method for developing student-teachers’ imagined identity.

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