In this editorial, we introduce the RELC Journal's April 2025 Special Issue, which includes articles on the topic of pedagogizing identity in language teacher education. We first situate the special issue within the current research literature in language teacher identity and share a summary of activities used in the previous studies that reported on language teacher educators’ practices of identity-oriented teacher education. We then review all the papers included in the special issue, including 10 empirical studies, one conceptual piece, one interview, and two viewpoints.
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BarkhuizenGary (2016) A Short Story Approach to Analyzing Teacher (Imagined) Identities Over Time. TESOL Quarterly50(3): 655–683. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/tesq.2016.50.issue-3.
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CodaJMoserKM (2023) This Is Your Safe Space”: The Intersections of Rurality, Ethnicity, and LGBTQIA+ Language Educator Identity in the Southeastern US. TESOL Quarterly. https://doi.org/10.1002/tesq.3290
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CoffeyS (2015) Reframing teachers’ language knowledge through metaphor analysis of language portraits. The Modern Language Journal99(3): 500–514.
De CostaPeter I (2025) Pedagogizing identity: Why it matters, and where do we go from here?. RELC Journal56(1): 214–218.
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De CostaPINazariM (2024) Emotion as pedagogy: why the emotion labor of L2 educators matters. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching62(3): 1159–1168.
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De CostaPINortonB (2017) Introduction: identity, transdisciplinarity, and the good language teacher. Modern Language Journal101(S1): 3–14.
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FairleyMJ (2020) Conceptualizing language teacher education centered on language teacher identity development: a competencies-based approach and practical applications. TESOL Quarterly54(4): 1037–1064.
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FairleyMJ (2024) Exploring transnationality as a resource for promoting social justice in language teacher identity construction: insights from an inquiry group. Teaching and Teacher Education137: 104398.
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Fallas–EscobarCHendersonKLindahlK (2022) I look Mexican, so they assume I speak spanish”: latinx teacher candidates’ experiences with raciolinguistic policing. The Modern Language Journal106(1): 196–215.
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GolzarJMiriMANazariM (2024) English Language teacher professional identity aesthetic depiction: an arts-based study from Afghanistan. Professional Development in Education50(5): 928–948.
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Hauber-ÖzerMelissaBeketovaZhanarWangSylvia (Siya) (2025) Critical autoethnographic narrative for language teacher identity development. RELC Journal56(1): 151–164.
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HigginsCPonteE (2017) Legitimating multilingual teacher identities in the mainstream classroom. The Modern Language Journal101(S1): 15–28.
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KamaliJ (2024) An ecological inquiry into the identity formation of a novice TESOL research mentor: Critical autoethnographic narratives in focus. Language Teaching Research. Epub ahead of print 21 May 2024. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/13621688241251953.
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KesslerM (2024) Autoethnography for language teacher education programs: connecting identities, ideologies, and experiences to curricular design practices. TESOL Journal15(2): e772.
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KuEK (2023) Teachers of multiple languages: identities, beliefs and emotions. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.
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Lee-JohnsonYL (2022) Defying “those who cannot, teach” and other stereotypes about teachers: analyzing the just because poems written by ELL teacher candidates. TESOL Journal13(2): e636.
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LewisKB (2024). Using memes to facilitate TESOL student teachers’ reflections on identity. TESOL Quarterly. Epub ahead of print 13 December 2024. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/tesq.3377.
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MaddamsettiJ (2020) Intersectional identities and teaching practice in an elementary general classroom: a case study of a plurilingual teacher candidate. Journal of Language, Identity & Education19(5): 342–358.
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