ABSTRACT
In a 2008 issue of Essential Teacher, Cara L. Preuss, a doctoral student in language and literacy, described her identity crisis in becoming a language educator (2008). Already a teacher with long experience in a variety of language education arenas, such as ESL, EFL, Spanish teacher, general elementary education teacher, bilingual Spanish-English teacher, she is working to continue improving her professional practise. To this end, in addition to studying for her PhD, she knows she should be attending conferences and submitting papers for publication. But, her identity crisis comes as she explores the breadth and depth of the field, uncovering as she goes a host of acronyms and other types of short forms, representing different aspects and also different points of view and perceptions of one’s identity as a teacher. She feels as if she’s “drowning in alphabet soup.” She bemoans these divisions and opaque short forms that, she feels, put both students and teachers into separate boxes and prevents language educators from developing a powerful community of practise. She wants instead, for teachers to come together with a shared set of concepts (and terminology and acronyms) so they can all speak clearly and with one voice to policy and other decision makers, as well as to the public.
