Drawing on Émile Durkheim’s concept of a teacherʼs multidimensional reference, the article examines French teachers’ linguistic ideology within the context of professional identity problems and teaching discourse. A teacher’s reference can be individual or collective, it may regard a teacher as a member of a professional group in a specific country at a certain moment. It is argued that professional identity is non-uniform, it is determined by the dichotomy of values associated with teaching – theory and practice. Drawing on Pierre Bourdieu’s concept, the article draws a distinction between spontaneous speech, abstract and classifying texts (doxa), representing practical experience (habitus). The paper studies varying genres – from assertive and explanatory discourses to survey-based texts. Assertive discourse forges the idea of progress, stadiality and breaks up with a previous experience. Spontaneous speech makes a previous experience prevalent, collective or individual. This experience cannot be put into stadial perspective and serves to save a memory of timeless values. A discrepancy in these vectors has logical and systemic natures. It influences the multiple choice of course-books, methods and teaching techniques, and finally determines the teacher’s idea, word, and action.