Understanding Teacher Identity: An Autobiographical Narrative Inquiry into Authentic Teaching

Educators are increasingly concerned with issues of identity. This paper focuses on the derivation of methodological principles in order to explore lived experience of understanding teacher identity within authentic teaching. It presents and analyses two extracts from the author's own autobiography, concluding that narrative forms an important part of identity construction, which allows teachers to explore the importance of the authenticity of the language of instruction, and the close link between teachers' authentic teaching and students' authentic learning in teaching practice.