at SciVerse ScienceDirect

Teaching and Teacher Education 33 (2013) 45e55

Contents lists available

Teaching and Teacher Education

journal homepage: www.elsevier .com/locate/ tate

Gaps too large: Four novice EFL teachers’ self-concept and motivation

Masako KumazawaThe College of Cornerstone Education, J. F. Oberlin University, 3758 Tokiwa, Machida, Tokyo, Japan

h i g h l i g h t s

< Examined how novice teachers’ self-concept change upon their entry into teaching.< Investigated how their changing self-concept affected their motivation.< Found some salient characteristics of their self-concept and motivation.

a r t i c l e i n f o

Article history:Received 15 June 2012Received in revised form5 February 2013Accepted 11 February 2013

Keywords:Teacher motivationPossible selvesNovice teachersNarrative inquiryJapan

E-mail addresses: kumazawa@obirin.ac.jp, mskkum

0742-051X/$ e see front matter � 2013 Elsevier Ltd.http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2013.02.005

a b s t r a c t

This study employed possible selves theory (Markus & Nurius, 1986) to conduct an interpretive inquiryinto the teaching motivation of four novice secondary school EFL teachers in Japan. The narrative analysisof the interview data revealed that the conflicts between the young teachers’ different possible selvesnegatively affected their motivation in their early days of teaching. However, such conflicts graduallyinduced self-reflection in the minds of the novices, which eventually helped them reshape their self-concepts and regain their motivation. The author concludes by suggesting to related parties somemeasures to assist novice teachers’ entry into secondary school teaching.

� 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction

After a major paradigm shift from Robert Gardner’s social psy-chological approach (e.g., Gardner & Lambert, 1972), research onlanguage learning motivation has now seen a growing interest inthe close relationship between learners’ identity processes andmotivational experiences (Dörnyei & Ushioda, 2011). In the move-ment toward a more nuanced and situated approach to languagelearning motivation within the second and foreign language edu-cation field, Dörnyei (2005, 2009) drew from possible selves theory(Markus & Nurius, 1986) to develop the concept of the L2 Motiva-tional Self System, in which possible selves are defined with refer-ence to a range of a second language (L2) learner’s imagined futureselves as a target language learner and user.

Under the influence of this conceptualization, L2 teachers’ moti-vation has also been researched in relation to their self-concept(Kubanyiova, 2009; White & Ding, 2009). Reflecting the general lackof attention to teachers’ motivation in the English-as-a-second lan-guage (ESL) and English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) field (Dörnyei,2001, 2005; Dörnyei & Ushioda, 2011; Gheralis-Roussos, 2003),

azawa@gmail.com.

All rights reserved.

however, the number of studies that explore L2 teachers’ motivationin a self-related perspective is still scarce. In an attempt to contributeto a more complete picture, this study interpretively analyzes thequalitative data collected from four novice secondary school EFLteachers in Japan during theirfirst two years of service to examine therelationship between their occupational motivation and their self-concept in the light of possible selves theory. Hearing the voices ofthe four teachers in Japanmay also offer some insight into the issue ofteacher motivation relevant to the broader international context,given the low retention rates of teachers in many parts of the world(e.g., European Trade Union Committee for Education, 2008; Guarino,Santibañez, & Daley, 2006; Macdonald,1999; Ulvik, Smith, & Helleve,2009) aswell as theuniversal importance of self-as-teacher in teachereducation and development (e.g., Cole & Knowles, 2000; Connelly &Clandinin, 1990; Flores & Day, 2006; Kagan, 1992; Nias, 1984;Smagorinsky, Cook, Moore, Jackson, & Fry, 2004).

2. Possible selves theory and teacher motivation research

2.1. Possible selves theory

Possible selves theory (Markus & Nurius, 1986) has offered avaluable framework and insights to motivation research in various

M. Kumazawa / Teaching and Teacher Education 33 (2013) 45e5546

fields by providing a conceptual link between the self-concept andmotivation. Possible selves are a type of self-knowledge that per-tains to how individuals conceptualize their possibilities in theirfuture. Possible selves include “the ideal selves that we would verymuch like to become.the selves we could become, and the selveswe are afraid of becoming” (Markus & Nurius, 1986, p. 954). Ourrepertoire of various imagined future selves is in one sense themanifestation of our dynamic cognitive processes such as goals,aspirations, and fears. It is by giving these dynamics the particularself-relevant shape, significance, and orientation that possibleselves essentially connect the self-concept to motivation. Thus,motivation researchers view possible selves as future self-guidesthat reflect “a dynamic, forward-pointing conception that canexplain how someone is moved from the present to the future”(Dörnyei, 2009, p. 11). They further believe that people are moti-vated to fill the gap between their actual, ideal, and ought-to selves(Higgins, 1987).

2.2. Possible selves theory in the ESL/EFL field

In the field of second and foreign language education, R. Gardnerand Lambert’s (1972) social psychological model served as a domi-nant framework for investigating L2 learners’ motivation for sometime. Alongwith amovement in themainstreampsychology towardamoredynamic andholistic viewofmotivation (e.g., Volet & Järvelä,2001), however, research on language learning motivation has nowseen a growing interest in a non-linear, relational view of motiva-tion, self and context (Dörnyei & Ushioda, 2011; Ushioda, 2009).

In this paradigm shift away from linear approaches to L2 moti-vation, Dörnyei (2005, 2009) applied possible selves theory toreconceptualize L2 learners’ motivation toward their target lan-guages. The framework, the L2Motivational Self System, is made upof three components: (1) Ideal L2 Self (i.e., the L2-specific facet ofone’s “ideal self”); (2) Ought-to L2 Self (i.e., the L2 self one believesone ought to become in relation to the more extrinsic motives); and(3) L2 Learning Experience (i.e., the component related to one'simmediate L2 learning environment that concerns one's executivemotives). With these three components, the L2 Motivational SelfSystem regards learners’ visions of their future selves as a powerfulsource of motivation and allows a more situated and nuancedapproach to the complexity and diversity of L2 learners’ motiva-tional orientations and learning contexts in the rapidly globalizingworld.

2.3. The Kubanyiova study and the White and Ding study

Compared with the prolific research on L2 learner motivation ingeneral, the study of L2 teacher motivation has been a relativelyuncharted area despite the significance of the issue, and alsodespite quite a few empirical findings that teachers suffer fromlower levels of motivation and higher levels of stress than otheroccupational groups (e.g., Kyriacou, 1987, 1989, 1998, 2001; Lens &Jesus, 1999; Pithers & Fogarty, 1995; Prick, 1989). Teacher motiva-tion has been mostly researched as a subtopic in studies ofvariousdin many cases psychologicaldaspects of teachers’ lives. Infact, there has been confusion among definitions of terms such asmotivation, job satisfaction and dissatisfaction, commitment, andmorale in work psychology research (Evans, 1998). These conceptshave often been examined in conjunction with other topics such asself-efficacy, emotion, burnout, and job design. As a result, the issueof what motivates and demotivates teachers has been studiedrather inconsistently under various labels (Author, 2011).

Reflecting this definitional problem, research on ESL/EFLteachers’ motivation has also not been researched in a consistentmanner under rigorous theoretical frameworks in spite of several

valuable contributions (Doyle & Kim,1999; Gheralis-Roussos, 2003;Jacques, 2001; Kassabgy, Boraie, & Schmidt, 2001; Pennington,1991, 1992, 1995; Pennington & Ho, 1995; Pennington & Riley,1991a, 1991b). Two studies appeared in Dörnyei and Ushioda’s(2009) co-edited book to partially redress the problem. Followingthe recent shift toward a more nuanced and situated approach tothe motivation in the L2 education field, both studies extendedDörnyei’s application of possible selves theory to the analysis oflanguage teacher motivation in relation to Ideal Language Teacherself (i.e., language teachers’ identity goals and aspirations), Ought-toLanguage Teacher Self (i.e., their perceived responsibilities and ob-ligations), and Feared Language Teacher Self (i.e., consequences ofunrealized ideals or unmet obligations).

One study by Kubanyiova (2009) examined the interplay be-tween language teachers’ self-concept and conceptual change in anin-service teacherdevelopment (TD) course in Slovakia. The analysisof the longitudinal, qualitative data showed that the participantteachers’ ideal language teacher selves played a central role in theirTD-related conceptual change. For the participants, the mainpremise for conceptual change was the perceived dissonance be-tween their actual and desired future selves. If the course contentdidnotmatch theparticipants' future identitygoals, the discrepancywas not induced by the TD input, resulting in reduced possibility forconceptual change. Comparedwith the significant influence of theirideal selves, TD-related ought-to-selves were rather short-lived andof limited impact on the teachers’ sustained change.

The other study by White and Ding (2009) also employed theideal and ought-to teacher selves perspective to examine how suchself-concept influenced, and was influenced by, language teachers’engagement in the new teaching domain of e-learning. This qual-itative study of 23 teachers in China, the U. K. and New Zealand, alsosupported the pivotal role of possible selves as powerful motivatorsfor teachers trying to implement changes to their teaching.Furthermore, the researchers illuminated the emergent nature ofteachers’ possible selves that are “socially constituted, dynamic,evolving representations of not just the individual self but of others,and of what it may be possible to be or become” (White & Ding,2009, p. 347).

Although the two studies have made significant contributionsby incorporating an imagined future dimension to the study of L2teachers’ motivation, two bounding features they share seem tohave limited the scope of their findings. First, because the twostudies focused on teacher development according to certain TDinput, they exclusively discussed their participants’ inclination forspecific change. That means, neither of the studies describedteachers’ occupational motivation as they are engaged in workroutines without concerns for particular change. Second, the factthat participants in these studies were teachers enrolled either in aTD course or in an e-language teaching project might have affectedthe motivational patterns in the research samples. In fact,Kubanyiova (2009) mentioned that a unique feature in her partic-ipants’ motivational profile was their lack of interest in theeducational process (Csikszentimihalyi, 1997) as opposed to theirenthusiasm for the subject matter. Of course, the findings fromteachers with particular professional orientations were of greatvalue. However, casting a net for a broader population of languageteachers may reveal some different aspects of L2 teacher motiva-tion, which will contribute to a fuller picture of this researchconstruct.

2.4. Research goals of the present study

This article has emerged from a longitudinal study of four noviceEFL teachers’ motivation in the context of Japan (Author, 2011).Because of the incomprehensiveness of the existing motivational

M. Kumazawa / Teaching and Teacher Education 33 (2013) 45e55 47

theories (Dörnyei, 2001), the original study set out without anyparticular theory to refer to. Instead, in subsequent examination ofthe data, I opted for eclecticism and consulted several motivationaltheories such as self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985),self-efficacy theory (Bandura, 1993, 1997), goal theories (e.g., Locke& Latham, 1990), and expectancy-value theory (e.g., Eccles andWigfield, 1995). A resultant finding of note was a close link be-tween one’s self-concept and motivation, which implied the utilityof possible selves theory in investigating teacher motivation.

Accordingly, the present article reexamines the data set of theauthor’s original study (Author, 2011) in an attempt to illuminatenovice teachers’ changing motivation and self-concept as situatedin the routines of their first teaching posts. The questions guidingthis investigation are how the participant teachers’ self-conceptchanges in their transition from student to teacher and how theirmotivation is influenced by their shifting self-concept. The ratio-nale behind focusing on novice teachers is that they are believed toexhibit particularly dynamic developmental aspects of self-concept(Hamman, Gosselin, Romano, & Bunuan, 2010). Moreover, given thelimited number of studies that explore the emerging possible selvesof beginning teachers (Conway & Clark, 2003; Fletcher, 2000;Hamman et al., 2010), the present study can also contribute to thecurrent canon of knowledge. Although this qualitative inquiry didnot set out to seek generalizable findings, hearing the voices of fourteachers as embedded in their day-to-day experiences bringsattention to some important issues that are relevant to wider in-ternational settings. Given that the difficulty of retaining effectiveteachers has long been an issue in many parts of the world (e.g.,European Trade Union Committee for Education, 2008; Guarino,Santibañez, & Daley, 2006; Macdonald, 1999; Ulvik, Smith, &Helleve, 2009), the present study may offer concerned partiesfurther insight into the issue of teacher motivation, which is anessential component of high retention rates as well as high-qualityeducational practices.

3. The study

3.1. The social background: secondary school teaching in Japan

To help readers better contextualize the participants’ experi-ences, I begin this method section by providing some relevant in-formation about secondary school education in Japan. The topicsinclude a quick overview of the educational system, roles and re-sponsibilities secondary school teachers assume, teacher trainingcourses and subsequent hiring procedures, and the decreasinglevels of occupational motivation among teachers in Japan.

3.1.1. Education in generalSince 1947 after World War II, schooling in Japan has been

divided into four levels: the primary level, which comprises sixyears at primary school (Grades 1e6); the early secondary level,which comprises three years at middle school (Grades 7e9); thelate secondary level, which comprises three years at high school(Grades 10e12); and the tertiary level, which includes four years atuniversity and further graduate courses. According to this classifi-cation, I use the term secondary school in this study to refer to theearly and the late secondary levels.

At all levels, the Japanese school year usually runs from April toMarch. A majority of schools at the primary and the secondarylevels still adopt the traditional three-semester system, where oneschool year is divided by three seasonal breaks: a one-month breakin summer; and two-week breaks in winter and spring, respec-tively. Regarding the teaching contents, the curriculum at publicsecondary schools is controlled by the Ministry of Education, Cul-ture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) to some degree. MEXT

sets the state curriculum to ensure standardized education. Theyalso implement educational reforms in varying scales, but in reality,such MEXT-led reforms are not always carried out at the classroomlevel as intended by their developers (e.g., Gorsuch, 1998, 1999,2000; Nishino, 2009, 2011; Sakui, 2004, 2007). For example, in spiteof the MEXT’s long-run propaganda that values communicativecompetence in English, grammar-oriented lessons are still persis-tently predominant in secondary school classrooms (Nishino &Watanabe, 2008). A major contextual factor behind this is Japan’straditional school culture where classroom instruction for majoracademic subjects is geared toward entrance exams (Fukuzawa,1994; Okano & Tsuchiya, 1999), and in the case of English exams,many still believe that emphasis is placed on grammatical accuracy(Seki, Kato, Chamoto, Nagakura, &Watari, 2011; Underwood, 2012).

3.1.2. Teacher responsibilitiesAlmost all secondary-level teachers are specialist subject

teachers. For full-time instructors, however, teaching their subjectis only a part of their work. Other duties include the roles of ahomeroom teacher, the supervising of a club for extracurricularactivities, and numerous administrative jobs (Nishino, 2009;O’Donnell, 2005; Underwood, 2012). All these duties bring Japa-nese teachers heavy workloads. According to Okano and Tsuchiya(1999), one of the unique features of the Japanese culture ofteaching is the extensive range of teachers’ professional roles andresponsibilities. The authors reported that compared with Amer-ican teachers’ focus on students’ cognitive development, Japaneseteachers tend to value emotional, social, physical and mental as-pects of students’ development. Thus, Japanese teachers oftendevote themselves to the whole person education of their studentsby working even longer hours than their teaching requires. ManyJapanese secondary teachers stay at school over 12 hours a day, takestill unfinished work home, and often work for school or clubevents on Saturdays and Sundays.

3.1.3. English teachers’ qualificationsUnder the current system, all university graduates who

completed the required courses are granted a teaching certificate.Those with a master’s degree after another two years at graduateschool are endowed with a higher-ranking certificate. Coursesrequired include those on general educational principles and the-ories, training in the subject matter, teaching practicum, andvoluntarywork in awelfare institution. Usually there are no specificcourses to prepare pre-service teachers for administrative duties. Inthe teaching practicum, student teachers usually spend two to fourweeks in one schooldin many cases their alma materdwhileobserving classes, preparing and giving lessons under a supervi-sor, and assisting other teacher duties.

Despite the open system for granting teacher certificates, thehiring process for public school teachers at each prefectural edu-cation board is highly competitive. Applicants normally start with apaper-and-pencil exam, and then successful applicants proceed tothe performance-based second selection stage. It depends on theyear, the prefecture, and the subject, but according to MEXT (2011),the overall ratio of successful to total applicants in 2010, forexample, was one to 8.7 for middle school and one to 8.1 for highschool.

After successfully being selected through such a competitiveprocess, prospective teachers wait until their official appointmentis made by their prefectural board of education. Beginning teachershave no freedom to choose their schools. Nor are they informed ofwhich school they will be posted at until one or two weeks beforethe new academic year starts. Once they are posted at their firstschools, new teachers get one-year in-service training under theguidance of a main supervisor. Activities in the training might

M. Kumazawa / Teaching and Teacher Education 33 (2013) 45e5548

include observations of other teachers, on-site guidance by thesupervisor regarding class management in general and instructionin the subject matter, and occasional participation in lecturesoutside school.

3.1.4. Decreasing levels of teachers’ occupational motivationAs is the casewithmany other countries, the decreasing levels of

motivation of teachers have been a social issue in Japan. Accordingto a survey conducted by MEXT, the number of teachers who leftthe profession because of mental health issues tripled from 1385 to4178 in the 10 years from 1994 to 2005 (MEXT, 2006). AnotherMEXT survey found that 304 newly-hired teachers quit their jobs intheir first year, the number having doubled from 2005 to 2009, andthat out of 304, one in three teachers quit because of mental healthissues (MEXT, 2009). These figures have often been reported in themedia, and the mental health of teachers is a popular topic innewspapers, magazines, and books in Japan (Nakajima, 2003). Itwas into this educational environment that the participants in mystudy found themselves in their first year of teaching.

3.2. The participants

The four participants, Reina, Kei, Taka, and Emiko (all pseudo-nyms), were novice teachers of English who graduated from collegeor graduate school in the spring of 2006 or 2007. I relied on myprofessional as well as personal networks to find pre-serviceteachers who were waiting for the official assignment to their firstteaching post. Due to the exploratory nature of this investigation,selection of participants was relatively open (Strauss & Corbin,1998). I contacted every potential participant that belonged to thecategory, and the four teachers above were the ones who agreed toparticipate and stayed.

Beyond my expectation, however, the four new teachers turnedout to be a good mix of participants with different backgrounds ascan be seen in Table 1. Among the four teachers, twowere posted tomiddle schools and the other twowere assigned to high schools. Allthe four schools were public with three of them located in theKanto region (i.e., central Japan which includes Tokyo) and one ofthem located in a rural town in northern Japan. Given that 93% ofthe middle schools and 74% of the high schools in Japan are public(MEXT, 2010), focusing on public schools seemed a reasonablechoice, although different findings might have been obtainedthrough examining the lives of teachers in private schools, whichare allowedmore freedom from the control byMEXT. As I contactedeach of my participants, I attempted to meet my moral re-sponsibility as a field researcher and to protect basic human rightsof my participants by following three principles: informed consent

Table 1Basic data of the four participants.

Feature Reina Kei

Age 22 22Gender Female FemaleMajor English literature English educationDegree B.A. B.A.Sojourn overseas United States

Age 7 to 103 years

None

Pre-service English Proficiency NA TOEFL: 550

School posted(Area Type; Location)

High school(Suburban; Tokyo)

Middle school(Suburban; Centra

Data collectionStartEnd

2006/32008/3

2006/22008/5

(Kvale, 1996; Seidman, 2006), confidentiality (Kvale, 1996;Seidman, 2006), and voluntary participation (Seidman, 2006).

3.3. Data collection

This study can be classified as an in-depth interview study(Seidman, 2006). A major part of the data derived from audio-recorded interviews with the participants. Over the two and ahalf years of data collection, a total of 21 interviews were con-ducted: four to six individual interviews with each participantexcept for one informal unrecorded interview session with two ofthe participants together. All interviews were conducted in Japa-nese. Each interview lasted approximately two hours. Out of 21, sixwere telephone interviews. The interviews were generally un-structured (Bogdan & Biklen, 1982) except that I had a certaincontent I had planned to cover for each interview. I usually startedinterviews by asking casually how they had been since our previousinterview, which naturally prompted the participants’ accounts oftheir life and their reflections on the recent changes in terms oftheir occupational motivation. The more interviews we had, themore evidently some themes surfaced and clustered. We graduallyfocused on such topics, which led to our deeper discussion of thoseissues. I established a good rapport with each of my participantsthrough these interviews. Despite the difference in age, our sharedexperience as secondary school English teachers along with ourlongitudinal engagement in this research project allowed us toestablish some kind of bond. This helped me co-construct meaningout of their emergent stories.

To make up for the lack of frequent contacts with the partici-pants and to enhance the validity and reliability (e.g., Lincoln &Guba, 1985; Merriam, 1998) of this qualitative inquiry, I drew onother data sources, too. Online sources such as email, weblogs, andwebsites turned out to be particularly helpful to this end. Emailenabled me to ask my participants some follow-up questions aftereach interview as well as to obtain occasional reports, particularlyfrom one participant (Taka), to make up for our geographic dis-tance. Another participant (Reina) sent me selected excerpts of herweblog entries when we could not meet because of our scheduleconflicts. The official websites of the participants' schools gave meaccess to some basic information about the schools. In addition tothese electronic data, I also visited each of the four schools at leastonce on different occasions. One teacher accepted my request andkept a teaching journal. Although not all these data directly appearin the following result section, each data source from differentcontexts allowed me to gain a fuller picture of the participants’experiences through methodological triangulation (Silverman,2005).

Taka Emiko

25 22Male FemaleEnglish education English literatureM.A. B.A.United StatesAge 21 to 2210 months

None

TOEIC: 900(equivalent of TOEFL 610)

TOEIC: 790(equivalent of TOEFL 570)

l Japan)High school(Rural; Northern Japan)

Middle school (Urban; Tokyo)

2006/22008/5

2007/12009/4

M. Kumazawa / Teaching and Teacher Education 33 (2013) 45e55 49

3.4. Data analysis

The collected data were then analyzed in the framework ofnarrative inquiry. According to Polkinghorne (1991), narrative is amode of thought or a cognitive organizing device that endowsmeaning to seemingly incoherent temporal events and identifiesthem as parts of a plot. Riessman (2008) explained that narrativeanalysis as a research tool refers to “a family of methods for inter-preting texts that have in common a storied form” (p. 11). Beingcharacterized by an amalgam of analytic approaches and methods(Chase, 2005), narrative inquiry serves as “a flexible tool that pro-vides windows on what cannot be seen through using ‘scientific’methods” (Okada, 2009, p. 87).

The narrative analysis in this study started with intensive mul-tiple listening to the interview data, transcribing them, and mul-tiple reading of the transcripts while making marginal comments.In the raw interview data, I noted some parts that were already instoried form. Through multiple listening and reading, I attemptedto go beyond those mini-stories to find a coherent story that wouldcapture a sense of change in each participant’s motivation towardwork as well as highlight the themes that emerged in our in-terviews. After each interview, I engaged in this story reconstruc-tion and wrote up profiles for individual participants in a form ofnarrative. I showed each profile to the respective participant formember-checking while I continued to collect more data. Usuallythey said that they saw no problems with the profile, but some-times they pointed out some factual errors. One participant (Reina)told me once that she felt slightly uncomfortable when she wasdescribed as “too good a person” in one profile. I revised the profileaccording to such feedback.

Once data collectionwasfinished, I consolidated all the profiles ofeach participant to craft yet another coherent story. After thiswithin-case analysis (Merriam, 1998), I proceeded to an informal,naturalistic across-case analysis (Merriam, 1998) to find someoverlapping patterns as well as contrastive features among the fourparticipants’ stories. Regarding the issue of language and translation,I translated all the excerpts from interviews and emails from Japa-nese into English in the profilewriting stage andhadmy translationsin one of the final versions of the manuscript checked by a nativeEnglish speaking bilingual academic. All the quoted data in originalJapanese are provided as electronic Supplementary material so thatreaderswhowish to do so can check the accuracy ofmy translations.

Throughout the data interpretation process, being the soleresearcher, I had to deal with the issue of credibility of my in-terpretations. This narrative inquiry assumed an interpretive, dia-lecticalmethodology (Lincoln&Guba, 2000),where knowledge isnotfound somuch as constructed. Therefore, I admittedly set out on thisinquiry with my own personal narratives (Clandinin & Connelly,2000), allowing my perspective to be part of my interpretation.Moreover, intersubjectivity is a problem inherent tonarrative inquiry,which inevitably causes distance between real-time events and theeventual written reports of these events (Casanave, 2010). To protectthe stories in this study from the danger of distortion and over-simplification, I attempted to exercise alertness and an internal crit-ical view (Connelly & Clandinin, 1990; see also Clandinin & Connelly,2000). I constantly monitored my writing to keep the emergingstories fromfalsehood, by, forexample, attempting to identify sourcesof my interpretive comments.

The following three results sections present the four partici-pants' stories in parallel according to three different stages in time,the pre-service period, the first in-service stage, and the second in-service stage. The stories told highlight the salient features of theparticipant teachers’ self-concept and its impacts on their motiva-tion in each period. I divide the two-year in-service period into twostages to emphasize a major shift in their self-concept and

motivation, but there is no clear-cut division in time between thetwo stages. For some participants, the second stage came relativelyearly or late, and for some, the first stage and the second stageoccurred concurrently or in repeated cycles.

4. Pre-service period: “Eloquent” ideal teacher selves

In our first rounds of interviews and email exchanges, whichtook place one or two months before they started work, all fourparticipants expressed their own versions of ideal teaching selves.Their goals were diverse, but as university graduates embarkingupon their first professional career, they commonly expressed theirambitious goals in an eloquent tone, all showing signs of freshenthusiasm for teaching. Among common topics in the partici-pants’ vigorous declarations of their ideals and goals, two mostoverreaching themes were the interest in the subject matter andthe passion for the educational process.

4.1. Focus on the subject matter

First, the degree of intensity differing in each participant, all fourparticipants mentioned some kind of ideal self images as Englishteachers. An extreme case was Taka, who held an exclusive focus onthe subject matter. Takawas the only male participant, the only onewho had a master's degree in TESOL. He admitted that he had nointerest in the educational process of the teaching job such ashomeroom duties. He considered secondary school teaching to be aprovisional stage in life, and in his pre-service period, he alreadytalked about quitting after several years to go back to graduateschool and seek a second career as an academic. The major reasonfor him to become an English teacher was “to increase my expertiseand experience in teaching English” and “to try out the theories andthe methods that I have encountered in books or in the trainingcourses” (Taka, Email, February 25, 2006). Answering my questionas to what type of teacher he wanted to become, he replied:

I want to be a respectable teacher. I don’t know whether I am arespectable person or not, but at least I would like my studentsand colleagues to respect and recognize me for my Englishteaching ability. It would also be nice if my students thought,after taking my class, that they enjoyed my class. (Taka, Email,February 25, 2006)

Upon his entry into the secondary school teaching, Taka aspiredto become an active and successful user of innovative teachingideas and methods who would be highly recognized and appreci-ated for his teaching, which was practically his only ideal self imageas a teacher.

4.2. Inclination toward CLT

Another notable feature of the participants’ ideal teaching selvesrelated to the subject matter was their inclination towardcommunicative language teaching (CLT). A middle school teacher,Kei, for example, expressed her ideal English teacher self as follows:

I want to do all in English. I don’t think it’s necessary to explaingrammar in full detail..I want to treat it [English] as a skill. Likea PE class, I want tomake an English class a placewhere they useEnglish like they do sports. (Kei, Interview, May 4, 2006)

According to Kei, she had always been an “ordinary” Japaneselearner of English. Reflecting on her L2 learning experiences, shecalledherself “a legacyof the negative past,” bywhich shemeant thatthe traditional grammar-translationmethod taught her how towriteand read, but it still did not get her to speak English. Because of thisnegative perception, upon becoming an English teacher, she felt a

M. Kumazawa / Teaching and Teacher Education 33 (2013) 45e5550

strong determination not to reproduce another “legacy of the nega-tive past” among her students. Two other teachers, Taka and Reina,also articulated their ideal image of English teachers as practitionersof CLT, either for a similar reason to Kei (Reina) or out of interest in thetheory-oriented, academic side of language teaching (Taka).

4.3. Passion for the educational process

Whereas they all exhibited their future images in relation to thesubject matter, three participants, except for Taka, also mentionedtheir lofty ideals as an educator. This passion for the educationalprocess seemed particularly strong in two teachers’ ideal images.For one, Reina became an English teacher because she believed thatthe job would allow her “to be connected with others” throughEnglish. As someone seeking human ties, she wanted to make adifference in the growth of young people just as she had gotteninfluence through connections with others. Consequently, shebelieved, that would contribute to creating a better society. Anessay Reina submitted to her alma mater high school upon thecompletion of her three-week pre-service teaching practicumeloquently declared this dream of hers:

[This three-week practicum].finally helped me becomedetermined to be a teacher because I found great joy andsatisfaction in seeingmy students grow as I was interacting withthem.I want to be an English teacher, support my students’-growth, and make our future together. This is my dream.Through teaching my favorite subject, English, I will be morethan happy if I can assist the growth of my young students onwhose shoulders the future of our society lies. (Reina, Documentobtained on March 28, 2006)

The other teacher with high ideals as an educator, Emiko, hadcherished a long-term determination to be a teacher since child-hood. Like Reina, Emiko wanted to make a difference among youngpeople “in need.” Referring to the middle school she went to, sheclaimed that many students in public secondary schools needed toknow appropriate social behaviors. Her hope was to guide thesestudents to a better life. This goal of hers was reflected in her in-terest in moral education; she explained about the significance ofmoral education as follows:

Moral education has a direct relevance to students’ lives. If theydo something unpleasant to others, they can’t get along. I reallywanted young students to think more about how they can maketheir lives better; moral education could give them ameaningfulopportunity to think about those things. (Emiko, Interview,January 30, 2007)

Emiko also added to this comment that she had had positiveinfluences from her teachers, and it was now her turn to do thesame for her students, which may resonate with Reina’s remarkabout human ties.

Whether their ideal teaching selves were related to the subjectmatter or to the educational process, with the future images deeplyrooted in their life stories, all four participants were motivated atthe outset of their first professional career to achieve a set ofidealistic goals. The next section looks at how the entry into the realworld of teaching affected their self-concept and motivation intheir early days as in-service teachers.

5. In-service teacher selves in the first stage: negative impactsof “conflicts”

Despite the aforementioned lofty ideals in their pre-servicefuture images, when the four young teachers actually started to

work, their ambitious goals met with harsh reality of secondaryschool teaching. Their in-service teacher selves in the first stage canbe characterized by various kinds and levels of conflicts that quicklyled to the weakened effects of their ideal self images and thusnegatively affected their motivation.

5.1. Dilemma from the extensive range of duties

The most salient, frequently mentioned conflict was that be-tween the teachers’ ideal and ought-to selves. Above all, tensionscoming from the extensive range of duties of secondary schoolteachers prevented them from pursuing their ideal self images. Forexample, Taka, who had become a teacher solely to teach English,complained about his situation:

What I wanted to dowas teach English, or apply and advancemyexpertise in English, but [in reality] other duties were so heavythat I was only able to pursue my initial goals with a smallpercent [of my time]. School wants me to do other duties andconsidering that, there’s a conflict between the situation andmywishes. (Taka, Interview, March 28, 2007)

In spite of his exclusive focus on the subject matter, in reality, hewas flooded with an enormous amount of other duties, such assupervising the volleyball clubs and monitoring students’ appear-ances by checking their hairstyles or the lengths of their skirts.Although he had no intrinsic interest in any of these duties, theyconsumed his energy and time to pursue his ideal teacher self.

In fact, the other three teachers equally complained about theextensive range of duties and their impossibly tight schedulesdsomereporting they worked seven days aweek fromMay through August.Even Emiko, who demonstrated a high level of interest in the hu-manistic side of education, complained about the culture at herschoolwhere amajorityof teachers overemphasized the valueof clubactivities. She confessed that her motivation had decreased undersuch pressure, and expressed her dissatisfaction by saying, “I didn’tunderstand why I had to suffer so much for such trifles as the clubactivities” (Emiko, Interview, September 18, 2007). Another teacher,Kei, also felt burdened by her club duties although what made thematter complicated for her was that, with all the trouble, she stillfound it fun to bewith the club students and help them improve theirskills in softball.

As these stories show, various kinds of extensive duties as sec-ondary school teachers, especially those as club coaches, trapped theyoung teachers in this study in a severe dilemma and consumed nota small part of their fresh enthusiasm. In addition to these psycho-logical sufferings, the duties physically bound their lives, leavingthem little time to prepare for their classes, to study for betterteaching ideas andmethods, andmuch less time to relax and refreshthemselves to regain energy for the next day and the next week.

5.2. Classroom realities

Another source of dilemma behind the conflict between idealand ought-to selves was classroom realties. For example, Kei, whohad expressed her ambition to teach English using CLT, met withunexpected rejection from her students of her non-traditionalteaching style:

They [Students] said they wanted to have the translations andcopy them down in their notebooks..They asked me to writeEnglish sentences on the board and add their translationsbelow..When I did it, they were so happy and said to me, justkeep this style forever..Time has changed, you know, but thestudents themselves are still happywith it [the old, conservativegrammar-translation method]. (Kei, Interview, March 27, 2007)

M. Kumazawa / Teaching and Teacher Education 33 (2013) 45e55 51

In addition to this, other participants reported that the lack oftheir students’ proficiency in English was also a detrimental factorfor their use of CLT. For example, Emiko lamented about the lowproficiency-levels of her middle school students:

.the gap was a big shock at first. None of the students herecould write words like ‘teacher,’ ‘school,’ or ‘student’ eventhough they were second-year students..I had heard it was agood school, and that made it even more shocking to me.(Emiko, Interview, September 18, 2007)

Seemingly, these classroom realities were a part of the biggerpicture. As Kei and Emiko pointed out, their students’ preference forthe traditional teaching stylewas largely thewashback effects of pen-and-pencil entrance examinations. In the faculty room, too, most oftheir older colleagues had apparently accepted the status quo, stick-ing strictly to the traditional method. Except for one (Emiko), theyoung teachers’ use of CLT did not receive much support or recog-nition from their colleagues. On the contrary, one teacher (Taka) waseven preached to by the principal after the principal had seen stu-dents walking around in a communicative task in Taka’s class.Although some recent studies conducted in Japan (Seki et al., 2011;Underwood, 2012) have argued against the misconception thattraditionalmethodsbestprepare students for entranceexaminations,this ungrounded belief still prevailed in the participants’ schools.Thus, under inescapable pressure from the environment, the noviceteachers’ ideal English teacher selves gradually surrendered to the“imposed” ought-to selves, depriving them of the energy to strive fortheir initial goal of teaching communicative English.

5.3. Too large a gap between the ideal and the actual selves

In addition to the conflicts between ideal versus ought-to selves,the four participants also suffered from serious discrepancies be-tween their ideal and current selves. The following quote by Reina,who had eloquently expressed her dream of making a greatcontribution to the society through educating young students, mayconvey a sense of this dissonance:

Teachers say impressive things to their students, you know, but Idon’t have, or can’t find, almost any impressive words that I cansay to my students.and then I start to feel like I am engaged in ajob of educating young people but I cannot fulfill my dutydI al-ways feel the limit of my ability. (Reina, Interview, May 31, 2008)

The fact that Reina was assigned to a non-academic high schoolmight have made the situation even more difficult for her. Whenshe had a difficult time just to get naughty teenage boys undercontrol, her lofty ideal self image of herself moving their mindswith impressive words seemed well beyond her ability.

Furthermore, when the gap between the ideal and the currentselves was so large, the participants even developed a sense ofidentity crisis. In theworst case, Taka reported that he often felt as ifhe were “dead” doing his job. He explained this feeling as follows:

It’s simply a feeling that I don’t feel it’s me. I already told you theother day about my objective view of myself, where I was alwayslooking at myself objectively, when I was writing something onthe board in my class, supervising the club practice at the gym,fixing my students’ appearance in the checkout, etc. I don’t knowif I did it consciously, but I often looked at myself from abovedIcan probably call it a bird’s eye viewdit was at those momentsthat I often felt as if I were dead. (Taka, Interview, May 12, 2008)

In summary, the serious consequence for the four participants ofthe critical perception that their identity goals were hardlyachievable in their immediate environment was the decreasedenthusiasm and passion for their work.

6. The second stage: motivation regained through reflexivity

As we have seen, the first stage of the four young teachers’ in-service self images was characterized by discrepancies betweenwhat they wanted to become, what they were forced to become, andwhat they actually were as novice teachers. In the later stage,however, it was these very tensions and conflicts that led them toexercise reflexivity to make new discoveries, and eventually helpedthem regain somemotivation along theway. Reflexivity in this studyrefers to our ability “to attain a degree of objectivity toward our-selves in the world” (Ushioda, 2009, p. 221), which acts as “a vehicleof agency and transformation” (Phillips & Carr, 2007, p. 573) throughself-consciousness, self-questioning, and reflection. The discoveriesthe four novice teachers made through reflexivity ranged widelyfrom practical, surface-level ones such as alternative teaching tech-niques to more fundamental, identity-related realizations in termsof their personality, abilities and limits, ambitions, and life goals.

6.1. Reflection on the self and on life goals

To illustrate how reflexivity was exercised, let me first quote Kei,who after about one year of teaching, realized her tendency todetach herself from the environment. Because of this character, shereflected, she had always felt misplaced wherever she was.

I realized I am very detached and uninvolved..I draw a linebetween my private life and my work. I like my students andenjoy being with them, but I somewhat feel I don’t care aboutthem from the bottom of my heart, either..I think I’m one ofthose people who feel like a misfit whatever they do, like I’mfeeling like a misfit right now being a teacher..I can never feelthis is where I belong. (Kei, Interview, March 27, 2007)

These kinds of reflexive thoughts occurred to the other threeteachers especially through intimate interactions with theirteenage students, and they all critically examined their own per-sonalities in a new light. Another comment by Emiko, who talkedabout her reaction to her colleagues reporting about her homeroomstudents’ passive and individualistic attitudes, may further under-score this point.

Of course, it [hearing critical comments about my students]makes me a little sad. Don’t you think that students tend tobehave like their homeroom teacher, or teachers that they areusually with? Their atmosphere.reflects their teacher’s, or so Ibelieve, and I feel I make a big difference in the class color [of myhomeroom class]. That’s why it makes me critically reflect onmyself. (Emiko, Interview, December 29, 2008)

Furthermore, such reflexive thoughts eventually led the fouryoung teachers to question what they truly wanted in life. Forexample, Taka, who had half-heartedly become a teacher, wasstarting to realize the heavy responsibilities of the teaching job,which forced him to seriously consider whether it was acceptableto continue it half-heartedly.

This [hearing about someone who quit teaching for a newcareer] made me wonder about my status quodwhether it wasOK not to make any changes..It really brought it home to methat I should be taking my life more seriously. (Taka, Interview,February 27, 2007)

Similarly, other teachers also expressed their own sense of self-questioning for their life goals. Eventually, at the end of their sec-ond year, one teacher (Taka) decided to quit teaching in order tostudy for another master’s degree; two teachers (Kei and Emiko)asked their principals to release them from the club duties, so they

M. Kumazawa / Teaching and Teacher Education 33 (2013) 45e5552

could concentrate on what they wanted to achieve; and twoteachers (Emiko and Reina) reconfirmed their original goal ofbecoming good English teachers.

6.2. Possible selves negotiated, reconstructed, rediscovered

Of course, none of these four young teachers rediscovered theirnew ideal selves overnight. The following two contrasting excerptsby Reina may illustrate how the participants engaged in the activenegotiation of their possible selves by shifting between theperceived ought-to selves, current selves, and ideal selves. At theend of her first year, she said:

One year ago, I strongly felt that I wanted to teach English..butin our school, English education is not so much emphasized..Ihave come to feel these days that I want to help my students laysome kind of foundation in their life, by, for example, learning togreet properly or forming good habits.It’s like I’m shifting [myinterests] from English to the whole person education. (Reina,Interview, April, 1, 2007)

One year later, she confessed her goals had changed again:

I would like to teach English. Right now, all I do is disciplinestudents, rather than teach English. I don’t mind it, but I still feelit would be nice if I could teach them various things throughEnglish, which I love so much. But the thing is that my abilitiesand knowledge of English are not good enough forme to achievesuch a goal. So I want to get more training and acquire moreexpertise, and come back to the world of teaching again. (Reina,Interview, March 31, 2008)

In the first quote, Reina said that her interest was shifting fromEnglish teaching to the whole person education out of her beliefthat it was what her students needed the most. At the end of thesecond year, however, she said that she was returning to her pre-service goal of becoming a good English teacher, but this timewith a clearer image of what she needed to do to attain this goal.

While negotiating with their own wavering possible selves andreconstructing new future images as teachers, the four participantssuffered from decreasing levels of motivation. However, that pro-cess ultimately led them to rediscover their goals at a higher level ofconsciousness, which helped them regain their motivation. Reinareflected on this process as follows:

The walls I faced simultaneously made me think about what Iwould like to do in the future. I’ve been thinking about it, and Ithink I have found my future goal. And it was when I found itthat my motivation went up again. (Reina, Interview, March 31,2008)

The above three sections described the changes in the fournovice teachers’ self-concept and motivation in three temporalstages. In the next section, I will relate these stories of change toother work in related fields and discuss what they inform the fieldsabout novice teachers’ motivation and self-concept.

7. Discussion: novice teachers’ self-concept and motivation

7.1. The weakened effects of ideal selves

First, a major finding of this study, compared with those in pre-vious studies that employed possible selves theory to examinemotivation in the L2 education context, is the weakened effects ofideal selves as future self-guides. Possible selves theory holds thatpeople’s ideal images of future selvesusuallymove themtoward theirfuture and thatpeople aremotivated tofill a gapbetween their actual,

ideal, and ought selves (Dörnyei, 2005; Higgins, 1987). A study onlanguage teachers’ motivation and self-concept (Kubanyiova, 2009)confirmed the central role of participant teachers’ ideal selves in theirTD-related conceptual change. As described in the previous sections,however, for the four young teachers in this study, their ideal teacherselves exercised reduced effects on their motivational states. More-over, discrepancies in their relational views of current, ought-to, andideal selves often acted as a serious demotivator, not a motivator.

Behind this contrasting result were the uniqueness of the fournovice teachers’ ideal, current, and ought-to selves, and severetensions among those different selves. Their ideal teacher selves,especially those upon entry into the teaching career, were mostlyborn out of their past experiences as students, and they had verylittle ground in the real world of school teaching. In addition, thewidely cited gap between teacher education programs and realitiesof teaching practice (e.g., Casanave, 2009; Flores & Day, 2006;Johnson, 1996; Pennington & Richards, 1997) was also a significantfactor behind the unattainable ideal teacher selves of the fournovice teachers. As for their ought-to selves, the participants wereforced by the external pressures and contextual constraints to as-sume uncomfortable and undesirable roles, which were hardlyinternalized into their individualized future selves. This kind oftension has been pointed out in studies in various contexts (e.g.,Flores & Day, 2006; Johnson, 1996; Nias, 1984; Pennington &Richards, 1997), but the collectivistic culture at Japanese schoolswhere a sense of camaraderie is particularly valued (Okano &Tsuchiya, 1999) might have intensified the negative impacts onthe four participants. As for the ideal versus the actual selves, therewas too large a gap betweenwhat they aspired to be and what theyactually were. All these factors created conflicts in their possibleselves and prevented those self images from functioning success-fully as future self-guides.

As Markus and Nurius (1986) argued, our possible future selvesdo not represent just any set of our imagined states of being. We allperceive some kind of “plausibility” (Dörnyei, 2009, p. 18) of real-izing our ideal future self image in relation to our situational (Nias,1984) and current selves. As novice teachers with rather unrealisticexpectations and goals, the perceived plausibility of the partici-pants’ ideal selves was often small, which inevitably decreasedtheir levels of motivation. In addition, I might claim that the notionof present self-concept was sometimes more important to myparticipants than that of future self-concept because self-survivalwas a more eminent issue than self-development for beginningteachers (Conway & Clark, 2003). As they were preoccupied withduties of “today” or “this week,” my participants were intenselyfocused on a short time frame, sometimes just hoping to surviveanother day, oblivious to their long-term future goals.

7.2. The power of reflexivity

Another salient characteristic this study found about noviceteachers’ motivation and self-concept was the power of reflexivity.The four novice teachers’ stories in the second stage showed that theresponsibilities, constraints, pressure, and joy of the reality of sec-ondary school teaching induced serious reflective thoughts in theirminds. The oftentimes painful process of self-questioning andreflectionput their possible selves through constant negotiation andreconstruction,where unrealistic forms of ideal selves becamemoreplausible future images, and also passive forms of ought-to selvesbecamemore internalized and consciously chosen ones. Eventually,they found a better harmony between their ideal, ought-to, andactual selves, which made their possible selves function moreeffectivelyas future self-guides, thus leading to renewedmotivation.

This emergent nature of teachers’ self-concept was alsoobserved in White and Ding’s (2009) study of teachers trying to

M. Kumazawa / Teaching and Teacher Education 33 (2013) 45e55 53

implement e-learning language programs. Where my participantsmight have differed from those experienced teachers is that asnovices learning to teach, they had to make “a journey into thedeepest recesses of one’s self-awareness” (Kagan,1992, p. 164). Thisreflexive process, or “journey inward” as coined by Conway andClark (2003), entailed the deconstructing and restructuring oftheir own identities, which gave the novice teachers a great chal-lenge. However, it nonetheless helped them to find clearer goalsand take more intrinsically motivated (teaching) actions andbrought new understandings of themselves in a higher degree ofself-awareness. The four participants’ reflexive processes havehighlighted the intensity of a self-searching journey that manynovice teachers go through, and therefore seem to support the viewof self-as-teacher as a central component in teacher developmentand education (Cole & Knowles, 2000; Connelly & Clandinin, 1990).

7.3. To more dynamic, personalized forms of self-concept

Finally, the significant effects of ought-to selves on the moti-vation of the young teachers reveal the complex, social nature ofteachers’ motivation and self-concept (White & Ding, 2009). Ourpossible selves are personalized forms of our imagined future, butthey derive from our social comparisons where our own thoughts,feelings, and behaviors have been compared with those of salientothers (Markus & Nurius, 1986). This distinctly social aspect of self-concept was particularly evident in my participants’ experiences asthey received a great many pressures, expectations, and limitationsfrom their environments. The conflicts between their ideal andought-to selves frequently reduced their power to move positivelytoward achieving their ideal selves.

Under the strong sense of social pressure, and also with theirstrong focus on their current selves, my participants’ self imagesbecame rather passive and static especially in their early days ofteaching, where they all seemed stuck in their own routines of dailysurvival. In this sense, their self-concept might fit well with thenotion of substantial versus situational selves that Nias (1984)employed in her argument of teachers’ self, in which teachers’situational selves are not an individualized form of their imaginedfuture but are only associated with the established norms in theirmembership group. However, my participants all developed a morepersonalized sense of ought-to self when the incongruence be-tween their substantial and situational selves eventually forcedthem to exercise reflexivity. We can see this, for example, in thecases of Kei and Emiko, who recreated their workable ought-toselves by quitting their roles as club coaches.

This change in the nature of their self-concept underscores thenotion of the open and shifting nature of teacher identity con-struction (Flores & Day, 2006; White & Ding, 2009). In relation tothis, the present study has also elucidated that change in the fournovice teachers ought-to selves, from a distant, external, staticentity to a more personalized, dynamic image whose constructionthey actively engaged in, contributed greatly to the emergence ofthe resilient side of their motivation.

8. Conclusions

8.1. Theoretical implications

Although contextualized in four public secondary schools inJapan, the four participants’narratives, and the examination of themin the light of possible selves theory, offer somegeneral implicationsto relatedfields andparties. Theoretically, this study has highlightedat least two important features of language teachers’possible selves.Especially for novice teachers like the participants in this study, toolarge gaps between their initial ideal selves, ought-to selves, and

actual selves can lead to reduced effects of their future self images asa source of motivation. At the same time, in the time of transitionfrom student to teacher, beginning teachers often show that theirself-concept is a very dynamic entity that is negotiated and recon-structed through interacting with the environment as well asthrough exercising the teachers’ own sense of reflexivity. Thisshifting nature of novice teachers’ self-concept inevitably has sig-nificant impact on their motivational states. These findings arerelevant to the broader international context given the universalimportance of self-as-teacher in teacher education and develop-ment (e.g., Cole &Knowles, 2000; Connelly & Clandinin,1990; Flores& Day, 2006; Kagan, 1992; Nias, 1984; Smagorinsky, Cook, Moore,Jackson, & Fry, 2004).

Moreover, it should be noted that the present study hasconfirmed contributions of possible selves theory to the study ofteacher motivation and identity. In their discussion of the utility ofpossible selves theory for teacher development research, Hammanet al. (2010) compared possible selves theory with two otheralternative frameworks, that is, teacher concerns (Conway & Clarks,2003; Watzke, 2006) and pedagogical content knowledge (Watzke,2007). They claimed that possible selves theory offers a more ho-listic perspective on the process of change in novice teacherswhereas the other two capture only one aspect of teacher devel-opment. Likewise, in the present study, possible selves theoryoffered a helpful lens for investigating teachers’ changing motiva-tion and identity by providing analytic concepts with which tounderstand the participants’ burgeoning images of self-as-teacher,while also capturing such images in relation to the context ofemergent motivation, self and identity (Ushioda, 2009). Despite itsstrengths, however, the present study might also point to at leastone possible drawback of this theory. Because of its exclusive focuson the future, possible selves theory may lack attention to the pastwhereby such future images have been formed. One approach re-searchers can take to compensate for this may be, as was attemptedin this study, to consciously elicit teacher participants’ narratives asto how their possible selves have been constructed and to interprettheir future images as embedded in their personal life stories.

8.2. Practical implications

As for practical implications, the foremost message extractedfrom the four novice teachers’ experiences is the need to betterinform students in teacher training courses of the realities of sec-ondary school teaching. Although I admit the importance of pro-tecting pre-service teachers’ dreams and ambitions, overlyunrealistic ideals with no foundation in reality can make noviceteachers’ self-concept and motivation more vulnerable to the po-wer of reality shock. Teacher educators must well inform theirstudents about what the life of a secondary school teacher entailsand about what challenges await novice teachers, in particular, byemphasizing the misalignment between theory and practice(Casanave, 2009; Flores & Day, 2006; Johnson, 1996; Pennington &Richards, 1997). This need should hold increasing importanceworld-wide as social demands as well as challenges for secondaryschool teachers are rising inmany parts of theworld (e.g., EuropeanTrade Union Committee for Education, 2008; Guarino et al., 2006;Macdonald, 1999; Ulvik et al., 2009).

A second recommendation would be that authorities shouldavoid posting novice teachers at a school with serious academic ordisciplinary problems. At least in Japan, novice teachers are rarelyfamiliar with such school environments even as a student becausemany of them, graduates of quite good secondary schools, usuallydo their teaching practicum in a rather privileged teaching envi-ronment. Given these contextual factors, it seems better to assignnew teachers to a school without extreme problems so as to ease

M. Kumazawa / Teaching and Teacher Education 33 (2013) 45e5554

their way into their first teaching experiences. In addition, given thesignificant demotivating effects of severe gaps between the noviceteachers’ ideals self images and the reality, authorities shouldconsider teacher applicants’ professional orientations and interestsas much as possible upon assigning them to their first teachingposts.

Third, for school administrators, it seems necessary, first, toreconceptualize their school environment as a place for youngteachers to adjust their possible selves to their daily reality. Whennovice teachers feel large gaps between their ideal selves andought-to selves, the prevailing school climate often forces them toconceal their own identity goals. The perceived “unequal distribu-tion of power within the staff room” (Nias, 1984, p. 277) does notallow inexperienced teachers to participate in free and open dis-cussion with their colleagues, which makes it all the more difficultfor them to deal with the tensions between their ideals and reality.Of course, as Firestone and Pennell (1993) pointed out, collegialitycan enhance the rewards and meaningfulness of teaching byproviding a sense of community. At the same time, other studies inand outside of Japan (Avalos, 2011; Sato & Kleinsasser, 2004) havehighlighted the negative effects of ineffective collegial relation-ships. School administrators should be aware that collegiality canwork as a double-edged sword for novice teachers, that is, as asource of both pressure and support, and provide an environmentwhere novices’ individual ideal teacher selves are understood,accepted, and to the extent possible, supported.

Finally, I would recommend that school administrators lessen asense of borderlessness (Sato, 1994) in novice teachers’ duties. Asthe stories presented above have demonstrated, the demandimposed upon Japanese secondary school teachers is extremelyhigh. Referring to a case in the U. K., Evans (1998) suggested strati-fication of the profession according to individual teachers’ pro-fessionality orientation as a countermeasure against suchborderlessness in teaching. Her suggestiondto design a career pathwithdifferent categories of professionalswhohavedifferent areas ofroles to performdin fact agrees with the voices of my participants.In a realistic view, however, wholesale applications of such an ideawould not be readily applicable to the Japanese school context giventhe difficulty ofmaintaining equality and fairness among the faculty(an important value in Japan) while administering all the existingschool matters. A moremodest recommendation I suggest is to givenovice teachers a choice of whether or not to be exempted from oneextracurricular duty, for example, club-related work in the case ofthe Japanese context, at least for one year until they have familiar-ized themselves with the roles of a teacher and gained some con-fidence in teaching their subject matter.

Of course, the principle of compassionate treatment of teachers(Bradley, 2011) should be at the core when all these practicalmeasures are discussed and implemented in any part of the world.In their insightful investigation into the concept and the practice of“good work,” H. Gardner, Csikszentmihalyi, and Damon (2001)emphasized the importance of the moral milieu of people’s firstjobs by stating, “If these formative experiences occur in placeswhere good work is at a premium, thenmany younger workers will‘get the message,’ while those who do not can be sifted out”(Gardner, Csikszentmihalyi, & Damon, 2001, pp. 246e247). Schooladministrators across the globe should once again address tothemselves the question of whether the culture at their schools ishelping their young teachers to developdto learn the spirit and thepractice of good work.

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank the editors and four anonymous reviewersfor their helpful comments on earlier versions of this paper. My

gratitude also goes to the four participants of this study for theirgenerosity and goodwill, and also to Christine P. Casanave for herprofessional advising throughout this research project.

Appendix A. Supplementary data

Supplementary data related to this article can be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2013.02.005.

References

Author. (2011). [details removed for peer review].Avalos, B. (2011). Teacher professional development in teaching and teacher edu-

cation over ten years. Teaching and Teacher Education, 27, 10e20.Bandura, A. (1993). Perceived self-efficacy in cognitive development and func-

tioning. Educational Psychologist, 28(2), 117e148.Bandura, A. (1997). Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. New York: W. H. Freeman.Bogdan, R. C., & Biklen, S. K. (1982). Qualitative research for education: An intro-

duction to theory and methods. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.Bradley, C. (2011). An inquiry into relationships between spirituality and language

pedagogy (Unpublisheddoctoraldissertation). TempleUniversity, Philadelphia, PA.Casanave, C. P. (2009). Training for writing or training for reality? Challenges facing

EFL writing teachers and students in language education program. InR. Manchón (Ed.), Writing in foreign language contexts: Learning, teaching, andresearch (pp. 256e277). Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters.

Casanave, C. P. (2010). Distancing: From real-time experiences to final researchreport in qualitative inquiry with multilingual participants. Paper presented atSymposium on Second Language Writing 2010, Murcia, Spain.

Chase, S. E. (2005). Narrative inquiry: multiple lenses, approaches, voices. InN. K. Denzin, & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), The Sage handbook of qualitative research (3rded.). (pp. 651e679) Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Clandinin, D. J., & Connelly, F. M. (2000). Narrative inquiry: Experience and story inqualitative research. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Cole, A. L., & Knowles, J. G. (2000). Researching teaching: Exploring teacher devel-opment through reflexive inquiry. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

Connelly, F. M., & Clandinin, D. J. (1990). Stories of experience and narrative inquiry.Educational Researcher, 19(5), 2e14.

Conway, P. F., & Clark, C. M. (2003). The journey inward and outward: a re-examination of Fuller’s concerns-based model of teacher development. Teach-ing and Teacher Education, 19, 465e482.

Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1997). Intrinsic motivation and effective teaching: a flowanalysis. In J. L. Bess (Ed.), Teaching well and liking it: Motivating faculty to teacheffectively (pp. 72e92). Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press.

Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (1985). Intrinsic motivation and self-determination in humanbehavior. New York: Plenum Press.

Doyle, T., & Kim, Y. M. (1999). Teacher motivation and satisfaction in the UnitedStates and Korea. MEXTESOL Journal, 23(2), 35e48.

Dörnyei, Z. (2001). Teaching and researching motivation. Harlow, England: Longman.Dörnyei, Z. (2005). The psychology of the language learner: Individual differences in

second language acquisition. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.Dörnyei, Z. (2009). The L2 motivational self system. In Z. Dörnyei, & E. Ushioda

(Eds.), Motivation, language identity and the L2 self (pp. 9e42). Bristol, UK:Multilingual Matters.

Dörnyei, Z., & Ushioda, E. (2011). Teaching and researching motivation (2nd ed.).Harlow, UK: Pearson Education Ltd.

Dörnyei, Z., & Ushioda, E. (Eds.). (2009).Motivaiton, language identity and the L2 self).Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters.

Eccles, J. S., & Wigfield, A. (1995). Motivation to succeed. In (5th ed.)., Handbook ofchild psychology, Vol. 3, (pp. 1017e1095) New York: John & Wiley & Sons.

European Trade Union Committee for Education. (2008). Teacher education inEurope: an ETUCE policy paper. Retrieved from. http://etuce.homestead.com/ETUCE_Publications_2009_08.html.

Evans, L. (1998). Teacher morale, job satisfaction and motivation. London: Sage.Firestone,W. A., & Pennell, J. R. (1993). Teacher commitment, working conditions, and

differential incentive policies. Review of Educational Research, 63(4), 489e525.Fletcher, S. (2000). A role of imagery in mentoring. Career Development Interna-

tional, 5(4e5), 235e243.Flores, M. A., & Day, C. (2006). Contexts which shape and reshape new teachers’

identities: a multi-perspective study. Teaching and Teacher Education, 22,219e232.

Fukuzawa, R. E. (1994). The path to adulthood according to Japanese middleschools. Journal of Japanese Studies, 20(1), 61e86.

Gardner, H., Csikszentmihalyi, M., & Damon, W. (2001). Good work: When excellenceand ethics meet. New York: Basic Books.

Gardner, R. C., & Lambert, W. E. (1972). Attitudes and motivation in second languagelearning. Rowley, MA: Newbury House.

Gheralis-Roussos, E. (2003). The motivation of English language teachers in Greeksecondary schools (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of Notting-ham, Nottingham, England.

Gorsuch, G. (1998). Yakudoku EFL instruction in two Japanese high school class-rooms. An exploratory study. JALT Journal, 20(1), 6e32.

M. Kumazawa / Teaching and Teacher Education 33 (2013) 45e55 55

Gorsuch, G. (1999). Exploring the relationship between educational policy and in-struction in Japanese high school EFL classrooms (Unpublished doctoraldissertation). Temple University, Philadelphia, PA.

Gorsuch, G. (2000). EFL educational policies and education cultures: influences onteachers’ approval of communicative activities. TESOL Quarterly, 34, 675e710.

Guarino, C. M., Santibañez, L., & Daley, G. A. (2006). Teacher recruitment andretention: a review of the recent empirical literature. Review of EducationalResearch, 76(2), 173e208.

Hamman, D., Gosselin, K., Romano, J., & Bunuan, R. (2010). Using possible-selvestheory to understand the identity development of new teachers. Teaching andTeacher Education, 26, 1349e1361.

Higgins, E. T. (1987). Self-discrepancy: a theory relation self and affect. PsychologicalReview, 94(3), 319e340.

Jacques, S. R. (2001). Preferences for instructional activities and motivation: acomparison of student and teacher perspective. In Z. Dörnyei, & R. Schmidt(Eds.), Motivation and second language acquisition (pp. 185e212). Honolulu, HI:University of Hawai’i Press.

Johnson, K. E. (1996). The vision versus the reality: the tensions of the TESOLpracticum. In D. Freeman, & J. C. Richards (Eds.), Teacher learning in languageteaching (pp. 30e49). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Kagan, D. M. (1992). Professional growth among preservice and beginning teachers.Review of Educational Research, 62(2), 129e169.

Kassabgy, O., Boraie, D., & Schmidt, R. (2001). Values, rewards, and job satisfactionin ESL/EFL. In Z. Dörnyei, & R. Schmidt (Eds.), Motivation and second languageacquisition (pp. 213e238). Honolulu, HI: University of Hawai’i Press.

Kubanyiova, M. (2009). Possible selves in language teacher development. InZ. Dörnyei, & E. Ushioda (Eds.), Motivation, language identity and the L2 self (pp.314e332). Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters.

Kvale, S. (1996). InterViews: An introduction to qualitative research interviewing.Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Kyriacou, C. (1987). Teacher stress and burnout: an international review. Educa-tional Research, 29, 146e152.

Kyriacou, C. (1989). The nature and prevalence of teacher stress. In M. Cole, &S. Walker (Eds.), Teaching and stress (pp. 27e33). Buckingham, England: OpenUniversity Press.

Kyriacou, C. (1998). Teacher stress: past and present. In J. Dunham, & V. Varma(Eds.), Stress in teachers (pp. 1e13). London: Whurr.

Kyriacou, C. (2001). Teacher stress: directions for future research. Educational Re-view, 53(1), 27e35.

Lens, W., & Jesus, S. N. (1999). A psychological interpretation of teacher stress andburnout. In R. Vandenberghe, & A. M. Huberman (Eds.), Understanding and pre-venting teacher burnout (pp. 192e201). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Lincoln, Y. S., & Guba, E. G. (1985). Naturalistic inquiry. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.Lincoln, Y. S., & Guba, E. G. (2000). Paradigmatic controversies, contradictions, and

emerging confluences. In N. K. Denzin, & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook ofqualitative research (2nd ed.). (pp. 163e188) Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Locke, E. A., & Latham, G. P. (1990). A theory of goal setting and task performance.Eaglewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Macdonald, D. (1999). Teacher attrition: a review of literature. Teaching and TeacherEducation, 15(8), 835e848.

Markus, H., & Nurius, P. (1986). Possible selves. American Psychologist, 41(9),954e969.

Merriam, S. B. (1998). Qualitative research and case study applications in education.San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. (2006). Heisei 17nendo ky�osyokuin ch�okai shobun ch�osa [Survey on disciplinary actions forteachers in the academic year of 2005]. Retrieved from MEXT website. http://www.mext.go.jp/b_menu/houdou/18/12/06121205.htm.

Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. (2009). Heisei 20nendo k�oritsu gakk�o ky�osokuin jinji gy�osei j�oky�o ch�osa [Survey on manage-ment and administration at public schools in the academic year of 2008].Retrieved from MEXT website. http://www.mext.go.jp/b_menu/houdou/20/10/08101705/htm.

Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. (2010). Gakk�o kihonch�osa: Heisei 21 nendo [Basic survey of schools in Japan: Academic year of2009]. Retrieved from MEXT website. http://www.mext.go.jp/b_menu/toukei/chousa01/kihon/kekka/1268046.htm.

Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. (2011). Heisei 22nendo k�oritsu gakk�o ky�oin saiy�o senk�o shiken no jisshi j�oky�o ni tsuite [Theresults of the selection process for public school teachers in the academic yearof 2010]. Retrieved from MEXT website. http://www.mext.go.jp/a_menu/shotou/senkou/1300242.htm.

Nakajima, K. (2003). Sensei ga kowarete iku: Seishinkai no mita ky�oiku no kiki[Teachers cracking up: Educational crisis in a psychiatrist’s view]. Tokyo: Kobundo.

Nias, J. (1984). The definition and maintenance of self in primary teaching. BritishJournal of Sociology of Education, 5(3), 267e280.

Nishino, T. (2009). Communicative language teaching in Japanese high schools:Teachers’ beliefs and classroom practices (Unpublished doctoral dissertation).Temple University, Philadelphia, PA.

Nishino, T. (2011). Japanese secondary school teachers’ beliefs and practicesregarding communicative language teaching. JALT Journal, 33, 131e155.

Nishino, T., & Watanabe, M. (2008). Communication-oriented policies versusclassroom realities in Japan. TESOL Quarterly, 42(1), 133e138.

Okada, H. (2009). Somewhere “in between”: Language and identities of three Jap-anese international school students (Unpublished doctoral dissertation).Temple University, Philadelphia, PA.

Okano, K., & Tsuchiya, M. (1999). Education in contemporary Japan: Inequality anddiversity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

O’Donnell, K. (2005). Japanese secondary English teachers: negotiation of educa-tional roles in the face of curriculum reform. Language, Culture, and Curriculum,18(3), 300e315.

Pennington, M. C. (1991). Work satisfaction and the ESL profession. Language,Culture and Curriculum, 4(1), 59e86.

Pennington, M. C. (1992). Motivating English language teachers through jobenrichment. Language, Culture and Curriculum, 5(3), 199e218.

Pennington, M. C. (1995). Work satisfaction, motivation, and commitment inteaching English as a second language. Retrieved from ERIC database.(ED404850).

Pennington, M. C., & Ho, B. (1995). Do ESL educators suffer from burnout? Prospect,10(1), 41e53.

Pennington, M. C., & Riley, P. V. (1991a). A survey of job satisfaction in ESL: TESOLmembers reported to the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire. University ofHawai’i Working Papers in ESL, 10(1), 37e56.

Pennington, M. C., & Riley, P. V. (1991b). Measuring job satisfaction in ESL using thejob description index: perspectives. Working Papers of The Department of EnglishCity Polytechnic of Hong Kong, 3(1), 20e36.

Pennington, M. C., & Richards, J. C. (1997). Reorienting the teaching universe: theexperience of five first-year English teachers in Hong Kong. Language TeachingResearch, 1(2), 149e178.

Phillips, D. J., & Carr, K. (2007). Illustrations of the analytic memo as reflexivity forpreservice teachers. Educational Action Research, 15(4), 561e575.

Pithers, R. T., & Fogarty, G. J. (1995). Occupational stress among vocational teachers.British Journal of Educational Psychology, 65, 3e14.

Polkinghorne, D. E. (1991). Narrative and self-concept. Journal of Narrative and LifeHistory, 1(2&3), 135e153.

Prick, L. (1989). Satisfaction and stress among teachers. International Journal ofEducational Research, 13, 363e377.

Riessman, C. K. (2008). Narrative methods for the human sciences. Thousand Oaks,CA: Sage.

Sakui, K. (2004). Classroom management in Japanese EFL classrooms. JALT Journal,29(1), 41e58.

Sakui, K. (2007). Wearing two pairs of shoes: language teaching in Japan. ELTJournal, 58(2), 155e163.

Sato, K., & Kleinsasser, R. C. (2004). Beliefs, practices, and interactions of teachers ina Japanese high school English department. Teaching and Teacher Education, 20,797e816.

Sato, M. (1994). Ky�oshi bunka no k�oz�o [The structure of teachers’ culture]. InT. Inagaki, & Y. Kudomi (Eds.), Nihon no ky�oshi bunka [The culture of teachers andteaching in Japan] (pp. 21e44). Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press.

Seidman, I. (2006). Interviewing as qualitative research: A guide for researchers ineducation and the social sciences (3rd ed.). New York: Teachers College,Columbia University Press.

Seki, S., Kato, K., Chamoto, T., Nagakura, Y., Miura, T., & Watari, Y. (2011). Gendai nodaigaku nyushi mondai ni bunpou yakudoku shiki jugyou wa doredake taioudekiruka [To what degree can the grammar-translation classroom cope withcomtemporary college entrance English examinations?]. Journal of The ChubuEnglish Language Education Society, 40, 315e322.

Silverman, D. (2005). Doing qualitative research. London: Sage.Smagorinsky, P., Cook, L. S., Moore, C., Jackson, A. Y., & Fry, P. G. (2004). Tensions in

learning to teach: accommodation and the development of a teaching identity.Journal of Teacher Education, 55(1), 8e24.

Strauss, A., & Corbin, J. (1998). Basics of qualitative research: Techniques and pro-cedures for developing grounded theory (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Ulvik, M., Smith, K., & Helleve, I. (2009). Novice in secondary school e the coin hastwo sides. Teaching and Teacher Education, 25, 835e842.

Underwood, P. R. (2012). Teacher beliefs regarding the integration of Englishgrammar under new national curriculum reforms: a theory of plannedbehaviour perspective. Teaching and Teacher Education, 28, 911e925.

Ushioda, E. (2009). A person-in-context relational view of emergent motivation, selfand identity. In Z. Dörnyei, & E. Ushioda (Eds.), Motivation, language identity andthe L2 self (pp. 215e228). Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters.

Volet, S., & Järvelä, S. (Eds.). (2001). Motivation in learning contexts: Theoreticaladvances and methodological implications). Oxford: Pergamon.

Watzke, J. L. (2006). Longitudinal research on beginning teacher development:complexity as a challenge to concerns-based stage theory. Teaching and TeacherEducation, 23, 106e122.

Watzke, J. L. (2007). Foreign language pedagogical knowledge. Toward a develop-mental theory of beginning teacher practices. The Modern Language Journal,91(1), 63e82.

White, C., & Ding, A. (2009). Identity and self in e-language teaching. In Z. Dörnyei,& E. Ushioda (Eds.), Motivation, language identity and the L2 self (pp. 333e349).Bristol, England: Multilingual Matters.