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102 Apuntes de Investigación en la Enseñanza de Idiomas

Preliminary conclusions

This research is still in process, but with the data analyzed so far it can be concluded that collabora-
tion and support seem to help student-teachers cope with anxiety, tensions and difficulties that they
experienced when teaching a real class for the first time. When student-teachers feel they can count
on someone more experienced or on their classmates for help and guidance, they seem to feel more
relaxed and confident at the time of teaching because they do not feel alone. Hence, they apparently
have a student-teacher identity, that is, they do feel as teachers because they take responsibility of
the learning of their students by preparing their classes, designing material and finding different ways
to teach, but at the same time they do not feel complete responsibility as they know they can rely
on their mentors, supervisors and peers if they need to. This seems to give them confidence and it
apparently allows them to strengthen their teacher identity as they gain more experience.

It is hoped that findings of this research provide teacher trainers with more information on the deve-
lopment of student-teachers identity to fill an apparent literature gap, as the current literature seems
to focus on learner identity and student identity mainly. The development of a strong identity in stu-
dent-teachers could allow future teachers to enter the labor market more confident as they would
have practice and hopefully, their tensions and anxiety would not be so strong, therefore reducing
teacher attrition of novice teachers.

References

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tate.2005.09.002

Harrison, J.; Lawson, T. & Wortley, A. (2005). Mentoring the beginning teacher: developing pro-
fessional autonomy through critical reflection on practice. Reflective Practice: International
and multidisciplinary perspectives, 6(3), 419-441, DOI: 10.1080/14623940500220277

Mullen, C. (2012). Mentoring: An Overview. In Fletcher, S. And Mullen, S. (Eds.) The SAGE
handbook of mentoring and coaching in education. 7 -23. SAGE publications, 2012, Cali-
fornia.

Reis D. (2015). Making sense of emotions in the NNEST’s professional identities and agency.
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Walkington, J. (2005). Becoming a teacher: encouraging development of teacher identity through
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Warin, J.; Maddock, M.; Pell, A. & Hargreaves, L. (2006) Resolving identity dissonance
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