The Influencing Factors Of English Language Teachers’ Professional Identity

With the globalization proceeding,the English language plays an increasingly significant role in the international communication.At present,China attaches great importance to the education,especially the overall development of students in primary and secondary schools.English teachers matter in both the English teaching and the overall development of students.The English teachers’ professional identity affects the teaching and education of English teachers greatly.In order to explore the professional identity of English teachers,this study conducted a qualitative study in a high school in Longgang,Shenzhen to investigate the teachers’ professional identity(TPI)of English teachers.In-depth interviews with three English teachers are adopted in order to understand their professional identity.Through the research,the finding is that English teachers’ experience,context and personal beliefs have a great influence on their TPI.Experience includes learning experience and teaching experience.In the three English teachers’ study experience,the influence they get from their former teachers is mainly their interest,expertise and the sense of responsibility.Moreover,their teaching experience is largely influenced by their study experience,which is taken into consideration in their current teaching practice.They pay much attention to cultivating students’ interest,the improvement of their own professional skills and sense of responsibility.In terms of context,it mainly includes family,school,and social context.As to family context,the attitude of family members,especially their parents,towards the role of teachers influences their career choice greatly.The school context includes four aspects,namely school management,students,students’ parents and colleagues,among which they think that the school management is not very practical,a more objective and reasonable evaluation system is desired.Recognition of English teachers by students’ parents is more due to their concern for students’ performance.Students are under a high degree of recognition and interaction with teachers,which brings teachers a good sense of achievement and appreciation of their own professional identity.In terms of colleagues,the atmosphere in the school is expected to be very impressive.Colleagues help each other and get along well with each other.Therefore,they are under a high sense of professional identity.Everyone has different views on the social environment,which is related to their personal experience.The personal beliefs include cognition,emotion and value.In terms of cognition,they think that English is just a tool,and the responsibility of English teachers is not only to teach students to learn English,but more importantly to act as a window for students to see the bigger world and cultivate their abilities and values.Emotionally,they all like the current career,students and working environment.As to the value of their roles as English teachers,they,on one hand,hope to achieve their own value by being accomplished in their teaching career.On the other hand,they also hope to contribute to students’ achieving their value with their teaching.