12 discuss the pre-
service teachers’ identity transformation and the factors that contribute to the transformation.
a. Pre-service Teachers’ Identity Transformation on Imagined Identity
While doing their teaching practice, many pre-service teachers still experience a reality shock during the transition from the first to the next teaching
practice due to unpredictable educational contexts Xu, 2012. In this case, pre- service teachers start their first teaching practice with their imagined identities.
Specifically, the imagined identity is individual’s imagination, as described by
Wenger 1998:
... a process of expanding our self by transcending our time and space and creating new images of the world and ourselves. Imagination in this sense is
looking at an apple seed and seeing a tree. It is playing scales on a piano, and envisioning a concert hall as cited in Xu, 2013, p. 20.
Imagination, in this case, is the way people may create unlimited images of themselves based on their unlimited experiences. Besides, Xu 2013 argues that
social cognition theories are used to analyze imagined identity features. Moscovici 2000 mentions that “social cognitions, of which professional is one kind, can be
classified as based on rules, cues, exemplars, or schema” as cited in Iswandari, 2016, p. 3. The detailed explanation on the classification of social cognitions is
shown on Table 2.1 in the next page.
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Table 2.1 Classification of Social Cognition
Social cognition classification
Characteristics
Rule-based The identities are designated according to the professional rules
and regulations that have to be fulfilled by the teachers.
Cue-based The identities are formed by considering some demonstrated cues
that lead the teachers to this classification.
Exemplar-based The identities are adjusted with the examples that the teachers see
and consider as good examples.
Schema-based The identities are formed by required norms in a certain cultural
context.
Furthermore, Xu 2013 also categorizes the imagined professional identity into three categories. They are language expert, learning facilitator, and spiritual
guide. The following section discusses these categories.
1 Language Expert
According to Xu 2013, a language expert is one of the identity categories that focuses
on teachers’ content knowledge and teaching pedagogy. In this particular context, Xu notes
that a language expert’s goal is focused on the teaching specific content to students by considering himself or herself as the main source of
knowledge. Specifically, a language expert solely determines the goals, outcomes, methods of instruction, and evaluation of the class with little or no input from the
students. In other words, the teacher is the only authority in the classroom.
Furthermore, Xu 2013 also mentions the other characteristics of a language expert. As a language expert, the pre-service teacher can teach with good English