A Metasynthesis of Research on Foreign Language Teacher Identity in Turkey: Implications for Teacher Education

This study explores main areas of research and identifies patterns that help interpret current tendencies in the literature on aspects related to language teacher education. For this purpose, we report the outcomes of a metasynthesis of 44 studies related to teacher identity. Conceptually, the analysis is guided by how teacher identity is framed. The structured searches in relevant databases led to conducting a particular type of systematic review known as template analysis. As a result, based on the interpretation of the data that was gathered, we identified emphasis areas in research and presented implications for teacher education. The major findings are: a) most frequently researched topic is beliefs about teaching, and b) pre- service teachers are the main group of participants focused on in research on teacher identity in Turkey. Based on the synthesis of reported findings, we underscore the need for language teacher education research focusing on issues such as collaboration, professionalism, motivation, reflection, and culture