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Issues in Applied Linguistics

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Teachers' Discursive Practices: Co-Construction of their Group Voices

Abstract

This study focuses on teachers' group identity, seen as a process of co-construction of their group voices, as those voices emerge, are constructed or reconstructed in large-group dialogues. The participants were 28 experienced teachers who were engaged in an innovative 14-month mid-career program. The wholegroup dialogues held in the second half of the program were tape recorded and transcribed and constitute the discourse basisfor analysis. The contextualization of this discourse was supported by field notes and background information. Discourse analysis was carried out at macro and micro level and led to the following results: I) There were identified three types of dialogues: conversation, discussion after a presentation, and reporting small-group conversations, which differ in structure and interactional dynamics, allowing more or less expression and development of teachers voices. 2) There were four types of teachers ' voices: pragmatic, multiculturalist, critical, and socio-constructivist. These were deeply linked to the voices of the tradition of thought and discourse in education. 3) Teachers' use of personal pronouns index their social relations in the dynamics of the dialogue, through which teachers construct their group voices and identities. The opportunities for all the voices to be raised, heard, and developed is discussed within a cultural and sociopolitical context of teacher education.

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