CONSTRUCTING PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY THROUGH LANGUAGE INVESTMENT: A CASE STUDY OF ENGLISH TEACHERS IN PALANGKA RAYA

Spoken English proficiency remains a persistent challenge for in-service English teachers in regional Indonesian contexts, where structural constraints and uneven institutional support limit professional development. Guided by Darvin and Norton's (2015) language investment model, this qualitative case study examines how four junior secondary English teachers in Palangka Raya, Central Kalimantan, invest in spoken English, the contextual factors shaping their investment, and how these experiences influence their professional identity.
Data were collected through semi-structured interviews, classroom observations, and document analysis, and analyzed using thematic analysis to identify patterns of investment, contextual influences, and identity development.
Four investment modalities emerged: formal training, self-directed learning, peer interaction, and classroom English use. Their sustainability depended on institutional support, peer-community norms, and language ideology, creating distinct investment ecologies across schools. Professional identity was not a direct outcome of sustained investment but depended on opportunities to convert linguistic capital into professional recognition. Where such conditions were absent, sustained investment led to identity vulnerability rather than affirmation. These findings highlight the importance of capital conversion conditions in understanding the relationship between language investment and professional identity.