The study explores the identity construction of non-regular English conversation teachers (non-RECTs) in an elementary and a middle school in Korea. Drawing on positioning theory and the notion of community of practice, the study illustrates how non-RECTs resist, modify, and reconstruct their teacher identity through positioning themselves and others, and different modes of participation in the school contexts. It is a three-year longitudinal study with two female non-RECTs. The primary data gathered through interviews and informal talks, documents, and e-mails were also included for triangulation purposes. The findings suggest that the non-RECTs self-positioned themselves as qualified teachers who can effectively implement communicative language teaching into the classroom, but their positioning was challenged and rejected by regular teachers. The participants resisted their marginalized positions as temporary instructors and claimed their legitimacy by establishing themselves as positive contributors to the communicative curriculum. The findings show the non-RECTs’ identity construction is a struggle between the different views on legitimacy and a negotiation among multiple and conflicting identities.

This study delves into the temporary English teachers’ identities through at their reflective journals and interviews, grounded on Norton’s (2000, 2013) and Wenger’s (1998) conceptions of identity. In taking second/foreign language teacher education course at a TESOL MA program, 16 teachers’ reflective journals and interviews were analyzed qualitatively for emergent themes, in terms of the three modes of belonging in identity formation (Wenger, 1998). The analysis revealed that the participants represented the identities of the controller, the diverse teaching program participant. the teaching activity sharer, the negative future dreamer, and the language expert. Moreover, most of the participants, as non-regular teachers, concerned themselves about their future career as part-timer. To empower non-regular teachers’ voices, this study discussed and suggested how to strengthen temporary teachers’ identity for their professional development.