Exploring Imagined Communities Of Prospective English Teachers

The Ministry of Education (MOE) has required English as a compulsory subject for students from Grades Three to Twelve in September,2001. Besides, the MOE instructs that colleges and universities to use English as the main instructional media for undergraduate courses related to high technology. economy and laws. However, the government's policies have created some problems. To solve these problems, scholars have done a lot of research in second language acquisition. However, the insights from previous research rarely extend to the professional preparation of language teachers.The current study is concerned with prospective teachers'professional identity by understanding their imagined communities. In the investigation, one female post-graduate student participated, and the narrative inquiry was employed. The investigation aims to:a) investigate her imagined communities; b) reveal her professional identity as English teachers; and c) uncover the relationship between her imagined communities and professional identity. Based on these questions, this paper tries to find out the important factors in influencing prospective teachers' performance, and offers suggestions to improve the practice system of student teachers.The results showed that there were different individuals in her imagined community, who are located in different positions of this community, either at the peripheral or core areas. The data showed that student teachers'change in her identity reorganization depends on the members in her imagined community.