A Study On Young College English Teachers’ Identity

English teacher identity is a popular issue in the field of language teacher education. Teaching and professional development are influenced by identity of teachers. Young college teachers are the main force in college, affecting the development of higher education and the quality of graduates. Therefore, research on young college English teachers’ identity is of great significance and importance to teachers and higher education.Drawing on Wenger’s Community of Practice theory, and combining questionnaire investigation with narrative inquiry, including questionnaire, classroom observation and interviews with teachers and students, this thesis aims to explore young college English teachers’ identity. The research questions are as follows:(1) What is the current situation of young college English teachers’ identity?(2) What factors influence young college English teachers’ identity?(3) What are the valuable means to construct young college English teachers’ positive identity?One hundred young college English teachers are investigated by means of questionnaire, which is analyzed by SPSS 19.0 to know the current situation of young college English teachers’ identity. Then the researcher makes narrative inquiry on five young college English teachers in Shenyang Normal University to study factors that influence young college English teachers’ identity and to construct means of their positive identity. Classroom observation and interviews with teachers in this process last for four months, during which narrative stories are recorded in this thesis.The research found that the current situation of young college English teachers’ identity is good. They enjoy teaching, have strong ability to apply English to professional field, devote to their jobs a lot and are eagerly willing to teach college English. But they feel embarrassed about their situated identity, that is, their wage is too low and they have little space to be promoted to higher academic titles and heavy pressure on scientific research. Based on the above findings, the researcher concludes the influencing factors, which lie in reflections from students, leaders and colleagues; textbooks; multimedia devices; salary; organizational support and scientific research and so on. Young college English teachers construct positive identity mainly through reflecting, observing outstanding classes, communicating with experts and learning from them, attending competitions on teaching and performing scientific researches. The limitations of this study, suggestions for further studies and reflections of the researcher are explained in the last.