Foreign language teaching and learning has a crucial role to play in building a multilingual Europe and foreign languages have been defined by the European Community as one of the five life skills. Research on teacher learning and teacher change within the field of foreign langue teaching (FLT) is limited and more research into teacher learning and change in within the field of FLT is sorely needed. Foreign language teachers are now encouraged to rethink their traditional ways of organising the classroom, and to update their professional knowledge, skills and understanding as educators (Kohonen, 2001). It needs to be pointed out that teaching procedures and interactions in the foreign language classroom may be particularly challenging and encompass issues which are not part of mainstream research on change. Learning a new language is not just about obtaining abstract knowledge, learning vocabulary and structures. Language acquisition is a whole person endeavour, and learning to express oneself in a foreign language taps directly into the personality as well as cultural identity, not least with regard to oral production (Dewaele, 2005; Bayley and Regan, 2004). It is therefore of particular interest to gain a better understanding of how foreign language teachers make sense of, adjust to and create the educational environment for change. For the same reason it is also important to look at the cultural context within two dimensions: The cultural context which has shaped the individual as well as the cultural context the teacher finds herself in at present. The cultural context affects teachers’ stories (Bruner, 1987) and most of the published research on teacher change has taken place in the Anglo-Saxon world. The applicability of theoretical ideas based on data collected in those cultures may have limited value for a different educational and cultural environment. In this proposed paper I will focus on two areas: Teacher learning in foreign language teaching and the effect of context i.e. work culture on teacher learning and change. The paper is based on an ongoing research which explores how life stories form teachers’ beliefs and attitudes toward their subject and hence change.

The study is conducted from the epistemological perspective of Kelly’s Personal Construct Theory PCP (Kelly, 1955). drawing on interpretative methodology. Data is collected through rivers of life, in-depth interviews and participant observation. In the proposed paper I will illustrate through case studies of two foreign language teachers from the same school the interplay between life story, teachers’ subjective theories and work culture and how this affects teachers’ attitude and pathway to change.

The findings indicate that life stories and culture play an important part in forming teachers’ attitude and incentive for change and reveals that presuming a single work culture in the school is an oversimplification as several cultures may be at play in one institution and even within the same subject area. These findings have important bearings on the debate on developing schools as learning communities.