From Deficit to Resource: The Professional Identity Construction of a Multilingual Teacher with Dyslexia
From Deficit to Resource: The Professional Identity Construction of a Multilingual Teacher with Dyslexia

Summary/Abstract: This study explores the professional identity construction of a multilingual English language teacher with dyslexia. Drawing on Clarke’s (2009) framework, the study investigates how dyslexia as an ethical resource informed the professional practices of an English language teacher. Adopting a narrative case study design, three semi-structured interviews and a self-descriptive journal were used as the data sources. Data were analyzed through a temporally structured interpretive framework. Findings indicated that dyslexia was a pedagogical resource informing classroom practices and affective aspects of teaching. Stories of marginalization as a dyslexic student informed a socially just orientation toward teaching as a language professional, while formal professional development contributed to using instructional strategies such as double-checking spelling. This narrative also presents tensions experienced within neoliberal schooling contexts leading to strategic identity disclosure as a dyslexic teacher. The study contributes to language teacher identity research by addressing neurodiversity as a resource for multilingual teacher professionalism.

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