Building on Kachru's (2005) diagram of World Englishes and Norton's (2000) theoretical conception of identity, the researcher acknowledges that each Non-Native English Speaking Teacher (NNEST) comes to the English-speaking community with a different variety of Englishes. Each believes in various cultural values and norms, and his or her identity is an ongoing process that can be impacted when he or she is immersed in different contexts. Using a qualitative approach, this study examined the way NNESTs construct their self-perceptions of English Language Teaching (ELT) professionalism based on social and educational experiences in their countries. In addition, the study examined how they reconstruct professional identity depending on current social and educational experiences in an English-speaking country, and how they contribute this newly-constructed sense of professionalism in future ELT practices.

Findings revealed participants possessed less awareness of the importance of professional identity in their home countries, but the education offered through Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) programs in the United States played an essential role in raising this awareness. However, the participants' identity was impacted by feelings of inferiority. Most participants never thought that they were as competent as Native English Speaking Teacher's (NESTs) in terms of English teaching. Various contributing components, such as self-confidence, expectation, perception, investment, language ideology, and language proficiency played essential roles in the development of each NNEST's self-image. Having a TESOL program that provides practicums and social programs that connect NNESTs with NEST's and other people in the society where they are studying could impact the dissonance between expectation and reality of an NNEST's educational experience. However, each NNEST retains his or her own right to develop a positive or negative self-image by nurturing an active and open-minded attitude.