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Exploring Researcher Identity Construction of University EFL Teachers in China

  • Long Nana

    Long Nana is Lecturer of English at Dezhou University. She is a PhD in applied linguistics. Her research focuses on autonomy, identity, and language teacher education.

     EMAIL logo     und Huang Jing

    Huang Jing is an assistant professor in Department of Education Studies at Hong Kong Baptist University. He was a professor in a university in Guangdong, China before joining HKBU. His research is in learner and teacher autonomy, TESOL teacher education and educational ethnography.
Veröffentlicht/Copyright: 7. Dezember 2017
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Chinese Journal of Applied Linguistics
Aus der Zeitschrift Chinese Journal of Applied Linguistics Band 40 Heft 4

Abstract

Based on the narratives of four Chinese university EFL teachers’ research experiences, this study reports on the dynamic construction of their researcher identities and the crucial socio-institutional and individual factors that have afforded and constrained researcher identity construction. The results presented different trajectories of researcher identity construction through the EFL teachers’ three stages of research experiences (beginning, stagnation/development, and struggle stages) in their professional lives. Academic learning contexts such as Master’s and PhD programs were shown to be replete with factors that contributed to the development of researcher identity, while the institutional context and the broad social context in China were exposed to be greatly constraining. Motivation, publications, academic qualifications, and networking with researchers were four important individual factors that impacted the EFL teachers’ researcher identity construction. The findings suggest that Chinese EFL teachers raise awareness of their researcher identities, make continuous critical reflections, and exercise agency to seek opportunities for development while governments and institutions should reform the current educational and promotion systems to support EFL teachers’ research engagement.

Keywords: researcher identity; teacher identity; university EFL teachers; narratives; socio-institutional context

About the authors

Long Nana

Long Nana is Lecturer of English at Dezhou University. She is a PhD in applied linguistics. Her research focuses on autonomy, identity, and language teacher education.

Huang Jing

Huang Jing is an assistant professor in Department of Education Studies at Hong Kong Baptist University. He was a professor in a university in Guangdong, China before joining HKBU. His research is in learner and teacher autonomy, TESOL teacher education and educational ethnography.

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Appendix 1: Some interview questions for the second-round interviews

  1. What do you think of the relationship between teaching and research?

  2. What do you think of the teacher promotion system of your university? How does it affect your research engagement?

  3. Do you set research agendas? What is more important for you as a researcher, the research process or publications?

  4. What are the main difficulties for you to conduct research? How do they affect your attitude and emotions? What do you do to address them?

  5. Do you have any plan for your future research?

Published Online: 2017-12-7
Published in Print: 2017-11-27

© 2017 FLTRP, Walter de Gruyter, Cultural and Education Section British Embassy

Artikel in diesem Heft

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Teacher Identity and Teacher Autonomy in Foreign Language Education
  3. “I Cannot Dance Upon My Toes”: A Case Study Into Teacher Learning Through Participating in an English Teaching Contest in China
  4. Teacher Identity and Teacher Autonomy in Foreign Language Education
  5. Exploring Researcher Identity Construction of University EFL Teachers in China
  6. Teacher Identity and Teacher Autonomy in Foreign Language Education
  7. When Teacher Autonomy Meets Management Autonomy to Enhance Learner Autonomy
  8. Teacher Identity and Teacher Autonomy in Foreign Language Education
  9. Autonomy in Scaffolding as Learning in Teacher-Student Negotiation of Meaning in a University EFL Classroom
  10. Language Teaching
  11. Teaching and Assessing Critical Thinking in Second Language Writing: An Infusion Approach
  12. Viewpoints
  13. Appraisal of the Production-Oriented Approach: An Introduction
  14. Viewpoints
  15. The Production-Oriented Approach: Moving Forward
  16. Viewpoints
  17. Design and Directions for Research
  18. Viewpoints
  19. Reflections on the Production-Oriented Approach vis-à-vis Pre-service Teachers
  20. Viewpoints
  21. Some Thoughts on the Production Oriented Approach
  22. Viewpoints
  23. Chinese Abstracts
  24. Viewpoints
  25. The Inaugural Speech by CELEA President at the Closing Ceremony of the 8th International Conference on ELT in China
https://doi.org/10.1515/cjal-2017-0022
Schlagwörter für diesen Artikel
researcher identity; teacher identity; university EFL teachers; narratives; socio-institutional context

Artikel in diesem Heft

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Teacher Identity and Teacher Autonomy in Foreign Language Education
  3. “I Cannot Dance Upon My Toes”: A Case Study Into Teacher Learning Through Participating in an English Teaching Contest in China
  4. Teacher Identity and Teacher Autonomy in Foreign Language Education
  5. Exploring Researcher Identity Construction of University EFL Teachers in China
  6. Teacher Identity and Teacher Autonomy in Foreign Language Education
  7. When Teacher Autonomy Meets Management Autonomy to Enhance Learner Autonomy
  8. Teacher Identity and Teacher Autonomy in Foreign Language Education
  9. Autonomy in Scaffolding as Learning in Teacher-Student Negotiation of Meaning in a University EFL Classroom
  10. Language Teaching
  11. Teaching and Assessing Critical Thinking in Second Language Writing: An Infusion Approach
  12. Viewpoints
  13. Appraisal of the Production-Oriented Approach: An Introduction
  14. Viewpoints
  15. The Production-Oriented Approach: Moving Forward
  16. Viewpoints
  17. Design and Directions for Research
  18. Viewpoints
  19. Reflections on the Production-Oriented Approach vis-à-vis Pre-service Teachers
  20. Viewpoints
  21. Some Thoughts on the Production Oriented Approach
  22. Viewpoints
  23. Chinese Abstracts
  24. Viewpoints
  25. The Inaugural Speech by CELEA President at the Closing Ceremony of the 8th International Conference on ELT in China
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