Exploring the impact of mentoring on novice language teachers' agency: An activity theoretic perspective

Abstract

The present narrative study aims to explore three novice teachers' points of view on their internship to join a preparation program in a language school of a university in Trkiye and the impact of the mentoring procedure on their agency. The data was collected through three hours of narrative interviews with the teachers (one hour each) and narrative frames. In light of the theoretical framework of the study (i.e., activity theory), the data was analyzed using the thematic analysis approach. The themes that emerged from the data analysis revealed that mentoring impacted the teachers' agencies positively; however, some considerations need to be taken regarding the time, quality, and procedure of mentoring through which teachers can develop their agency. The results of this study can aid teachers, teacher educators, and policymakers in investigating the benefits of mentoring programs in helping novice language teachers gain and develop agency in the first years of their careers, which can maintain and develop during their career in subsequent years. The study also calls for some reflections on the barriers to developing language teachers' agency and ends with some suggestions for further research.