In Europe, well-being in the workplace has increasing prominence in the policy and research agenda, and education is a key context in which the challenge of occupational stress has been reported. Traditionally, the ethos in school settings could be said to be shaped by the vocational motivation of employees; that is, a commitment to a social benefit through the development, support and improvement of the pupils, and this commitment used to override workplace challenges and help teachers deal with stress. This article argues that teachers’ commitment is being eroded by the impact of bureaucratic changes at management level, such as the setting of performance targets, increased workload, increased accountability and changes in the curriculum. This in turn impacts on their professional identity and can negatively affect their mental health and well-being. The current article describes a qualitative study undertaken among 39 teachers and 6 school leaders across England and Wales in which we sought to understand, through interviews, the contextual workplace experiences of teachers who experienced work-related stress. Policy developments in education and management implementation of these developments and the consequent erosion of teacher autonomy dominated the narratives. We examine how managerialism can relate to a loss of commitment, professional identity, self-confidence and vulnerability to stress, anxiety and depression. This article proposes that educational reforms, and the rigidly prescribed organisational and management structures that accompany them, need to be weighed against their impacts on professional identity and personal well-being.

This paper explores the results obtained from using a computer network for real-time synchronous discussion in a course for students of English as a Foreign Language. The authors found that computer conferencing (CC) had noticeable effects on their students' motivation for language learning. Three reasons for motivation emerged from the students' responses to a survey: that CC provides an opportunity for ‘real’ communication and community, that it improves personal confidence, and that it encourages students to overcome writing apprehension. The article also reflects on the relationship these motives have with the intrinsic vs extrinsic motivation distinction in education generally, and with the traditional instrumental vs integrative classification of motivation in second language learning. It suggests that these motives may be able to contribute towards the support of newer classifications that have recently been proposed.

Second language trainee teachers need to use effective classroom language, or ‘teacher talk’, otherwise opportunities for second language learning can be reduced. However, trainees are often not aware of how their teacher talk influences opportunities for language development in the classroom. This study explores teacher talk data collected from lesson transcripts of teaching practice recordings and from stimulated recall interviews with nine trainee teachers who were studying on a Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages Master’s programme at a UK university. It encourages the trainees to look up-close at their teacher talk in order to raise their awareness of its impact on second language learning. The findings of this research show that trainee teachers use teacher talk features which close down learner interaction and that this may be due to their concern with getting through and moving on with the lesson rather than with supporting learning.

This article explores the issue of identity as revealed by the discourse of two trainee teachers’ microteaching classes which formed part of their vocational Masters programme in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages at the University of Ulster in Northern Ireland. Transcripts are used to explore possible modifications in ESL trainees’ microteaching talk in comparison with their talk in a ‘real’ teaching practice classroom in Hungary to establish possible changing identities. The study uses two approaches to focus, up close, on the lesson extracts; first, an applied institutional conversation analysis approach, specifically using Walsh’s Self Evaluation of Teacher Talk framework and second, Zimmerman’s identity categories. Furthermore, the two trainees are interviewed about their perception of their possible different identities in both teaching contexts. The data indicate that microteaching teacher talk breaks away from the situated identity position of teacher-learner more often than the trainees’ talk in the real classroom and that a reversal of situated identity or transportable identity can occur instead. I argue that by encouraging trainees to use a wider range of identities in the teaching practice classroom, they will allow their learners more interactional space and more meaningful communication will take place. This study has relevance to the body of literature on the concept of teacher identity, to research on classroom interaction and teacher development and the relatively under-researched area of the microteaching classroom.

This study reports the impact of different cultural values on the teacher education of Chinese teacher trainees. By examining their perceptions of the effectiveness of teaching practice feedback, the study uses Hofstede’s dimension of ‘individualism’ (IDV) to explore the ‘culture bumps’ which may occur between teacher educators and trainees during their six-week, Hungarian teaching practice, part of their postgraduate diploma in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages). Questionnaire, recorded conversation and interview explore how far Chinese trainees’ perceptions are due to the different cultural orientations at play in this context. The findings have implications for teacher educators working with trainees from different cultural backgrounds, since there is a need to improve cross-cultural competence to avoid culture bumps and lead to a more effective TP review pedagogy.