A Study On The Identity Of International Chinese Teachers

Identity refers to the symbol or unique quality of an individual or a group,and identity is the affirmation of the individual’s uniqueness and the cognition of the group to which he belongs,that is,the cognition of the group’s role and positioning in the society.In other words,identity is the combination of self-identity and social identity.It refers to a person who can recognize the characteristics that distinguish himself from others,and at the same time confirm that he belongs to a certain group,and has feelings for this group,obtains the affirmation of self value from the group identity,and puts into action in order to improve the social evaluation of the group.As a new social and cultural identity,international Chinese teachers are complex and dynamic.At present,the research on the theory of “identity” at home and abroad has made some achievements,and the research on “foreign language teacher identity” has gradually improved.However,most of the researches focus on the identity of English teacher and the identity of international Chinese volunteer teacher,while the research on the identity of international Chinese teacher is not enough.Based on Sociocultural theory,this paper focuses on the study of the identity of international Chinese teachers.The research subjects of this paper are international Chinese teachers,including international Chinese volunteer teachers,international Chinese government-sponsored teachers and managers of Confucius Institutes.The research subjects come from six continents(Europe,North America,South America,Asia,Oceania and Africa).In this paper,qualitative and quantitative research methods are used.Based on “The Questionnaire of English Teacher Identity” in Xun Yang(2012)“Chinese English Teachers’ Identity in Senior High Schools”,the author revised and completed “The Questionnaire of International Chinese Teachers’ Identity”,which is more suitable for this study.Its reliability and validity are satisfactory and the content includes four dimensions and nine factors.“Four dimensions” are occupational identity,individual identity,professional identity and environmental identity,and “nine factors” refer to occupational values,sense of belongings,work engagement,occupational behavior tendency,Chinese teaching standards,Chinese teaching beliefs,perceived organizational support,attitude towards educational reform and cultural identity.The author distributed and collected 80 valid questionnaires through the Internet,and then analyzed the results of the questionnaire by using the social statistics software SPSS18.0.Combined with the results of data analysis,the author conducted a semi-structured interview with eight international Chinese teachers,further found their identity status,analyzed the factors influencing their identity,and put forward some suggestions.The results of the questionnaire show that the identity of international Chinese teachers has the following characteristics:(1)the overall level of identity of teachers of Chinese as a foreign language is high,but there is a gap in the level of identity among individual international Chinese teachers.Some international Chinese teachers have identity crisis,and their identity needs to be strengthened;(2)in the four dimensions of identity,in addition to the environmental identity,the identity of international Chinese teachers in the other three dimensions has reached a high level,indicating that international Chinese teachers have a low sense of identity in the working environment and interpersonal relationship.Among the nine factors of international Chinese teachers’ identity,the average score of perceived organizational support and cultural identity is low,which leads to the lowest level of international Chinese teachers’ identity in the dimension of environmental identity.However,the scores of international Chinese teachers in the three factors of occupational values,occupational behavior tendency and work engagement are higher,which shows that international Chinese teachers love the identity or occupation of Chinese teachers,they have a deep understanding of the responsibility and significance of this identity,and shoulder the mission of “international Chinese teaching and Chinese culture dissemination”.They devote themselves to the teaching of Chinese and are full of enthusiasm for all kinds of work.At the same time,they actively establish harmonious interpersonal relationship,so as to efficiently complete all kinds of teaching related work;(3)from the perspective of demography,there is no significant gender difference in the overall level of identity of international Chinese teachers(p > 0.05),but there is gender difference in the two factors of sense of belongings and work engagement(p < 0.05;p < 0.05).There is no significant difference in the identity of different types of international Chinese teachers(p > 0.05),but the scores of work engagement and occupational behavior tendency of international Chinese volunteer teachers are higher than those of international Chinese government-sponsored teachers and managers of Confucius Institute,indicating that the level of individual identity of international Chinese volunteer teachers is higher than that of the other two types of teachers.At the same time,there is no significant difference in the identity of international Chinese teachers in different teaching areas(p > 0.05).The interview results show that: in the dimension of occupational identity,the international Chinese government-sponsored teachers have a strong sense of belonging to this group,while the managers of Confucius Institute and the international Chinese volunteers have improved their occupational identity through a period of teaching,the improvement of professional knowledge and the recognition of the surrounding environment.In terms of individual identity,international Chinese teachers believe that their cultural activities are the most important work besides Chinese teaching.The organization and development of cultural activities are conducive to the smooth progress of Chinese teaching.After years of Chinese teaching,international Chinese teachers have overcome difficulties through self adjustment,learning the language of the teaching country,or talking to colleagues,but student identity has always been the main factor affecting teachers’ identity.With regard to the dimension of professional identity,the teaching philosophy of international Chinese teachers is: students are the main body of teaching,learning and using Chinese in daily life is conducive to improving students’ Chinese level,and culture teaching and Chinese teaching are equally important.Therefore,international Chinese teachers have a high level of Chinese teaching belief identity.In view of the dimension of environmental identity,international Chinese government-sponsored teachers and managers of the Confucius Institute hold a positive attitude towards the concern of the Confucius Institute for their life and work.However,some volunteers think that the Confucius Institute does not care about them.In addition,the domestic unfavorable employment policy and severe employment situation are the most anxious things for the volunteers.Combined with the results of the questionnaire and the content of the interview,it is concluded that personal practical knowledge,organizational support,social and cultural environment and students’ identity are the four factors that affect the level of international Chinese teachers’ identity.Based on the above research results,this paper puts forward targeted opinions and suggestions for the teachers themselves,the teaching schools and Center for Language Education and Cooperation,hoping that the joint efforts of the three can effectively improve the level of identity of international Chinese teachers.