ABSTRACT
An issue I would like to consider in this regard is the eff ect of materials on teacher identity. Can materials play a role in changing or aff ecting teacher identity? From my own experience, I believe they can. One of my seminal experiences as a beginning teacher in Bordeaux was attending a two-day workshop on drama techniques given by Alan Maley. I think that experiencing these activities and then incorporating them into my teaching had a profound eff ect on my identity as a teacher, adding dimensions of willingness to experiment, play with ideas, and excitement over creative possibilities. On the other hand, I have always been wary of orthodoxies and methodologies-however exciting and innovative these may seem. Though introduced to methodologies such as the Silent Way, Total Physical Response (TPR), and Suggestopedia in my initial teacher training at London University, through workshops in the same way as I experienced drama techniques, I distrusted these, as they seemed to promise not an extension to one’s teaching personality but a transformation into something narrower: “I am a Silent Way Teacher,” “I teach through the Suggestopedia Method.” I have become interested in the diff erence between the ways materials can aff ect teacher identity-as an extension and valuable addition or as a subsuming into an orthodoxy.
