This paper investigates identity shifts experienced by two english teachers from the public school system in the state of Minas Gerais, within an action-research group. it aims at exploring how the action-research project, which was developed by these teachers, joins together theory and practice, encouraging them to (re)discover themselves and to take responsibility for their pedagogical practice. We analyze excerpts of the teachers' journals written throughout the year that they developed the action-research. the methodology is based on discourse analysis, particularly the discursive Resonances categories (SERRANI-INFANTI, 2001). We investigate the teachers' identity shifts regarding their representations of the meaning of being a teacher, as well as their expectations of the continuing education program in which they take part. Finally, we examine in which sense the relationships established among the action-research team promote identity shifts in a dynamic process of discovering and reorganizing their teaching practice.
action research; identity; identification; relationships; representations
