Searching for a middle ground: Teachers' identities and perceptions on the teaching and learning of writing

This qualitative exploratory study analyzed the identities of eight language teachers participating in a collaborative problem-based Professional Development Program (PDP) to develop students' writing skills. We analyzed how these teachers' positionings about the teaching/learning of writing shaped their identities and positionings in their classrooms. Using semi-structured interviews (Rubin & Rubin, 2012) and following a dialogical (Akkerman & Meijer, 2010) and narrative approach (De fina, 2012) to identity, we found that there were clear contradictions in the way that teachers presented themselves in their narratives, showing clear evidence of teacher identity being multiple and unitary, individual and social, continuous and discontinuous.