Navigating literary selves: dialogical identity work and the transfer gap in English teacher education

Purpose English Language Arts (ELA) teachers routinely guide students in analyzing competing perspectives, motivations and social pressures within literary texts. Yet teachers do not always have access to frameworks that explicitly connect disciplinary analysis with professional identity work for interpreting similar tensions within their own professional identities. This study aims to theorize this transfer gap and examines how disciplinary practices in ELA might support teacher identity work when connected to Dialogical Self Theory (DST). Design/methodology/approach The article reengages a qualitative data set from a study of three secondary English teachers, including classroom observations, interviews and instructional artifacts. Using theory-building analysis, the study develops illustrative vignettes to examine how DST concepts (e.g. I-positions, meta-positions, authoritative discourse) illuminate patterns in teachers’ navigation of professional tensions. Findings Analysis identifies three dialogical identity configurations: structural isolation, dialogical gridlock and strategic repositioning. These configurations illustrate how relationships among I-positions shape teachers’ experiences of vulnerability, exhaustion and resilience within institutional contexts. The analysis demonstrates that teachers’ disciplinary expertise in interpreting literary multiplicity does not automatically transfer to interpreting their own professional identities. Practical implications The article argues that ELA teacher education can leverage familiar disciplinary practices such as analyzing character motivations, tracing competing commitments and examining dialogical voices as structured entry points for professional identity development. Explicitly linking literary interpretation with dialogical reflection may help teachers develop meta-position awareness and navigate moments of professional “wobble.” Originality/value By reframing teacher identity as dialogical architecture rather than individual disposition, the article offers a conceptual foundation for pedagogical approaches that connect literary analysis with teacher identity development.