| The purpose of this dissertation is to examine how nonnative English teachers' identity constructions develop and influence their pedagogy in U.S. higher education. The research on nonnative teachers of English has not adequately explored their identity constructions. This study relied on a phenomenological case study approach that analyzed the lived experience of nonnative English teachers in relation to wider language ideologies and practices. Data were generated from spring 2003 to fall 2003 through phenomenological in-depth interviews, classroom observations, questionnaires, and autobiographical accounts of research participants. The data were primarily analyzed through the use of the constant comparative method.; The study reveals that identity construction among nonnative English teachers, with its dynamic and contradictory nature, remains challenging, changing, and growing over time in relations of wider language ideologies and practices. Thus, the findings reject a fixed, unitary, and monolithic view on the identity construction of nonnative English teachers. In terms of the study's practical and pedagogical implications, university programs should know that nonnative English teachers can practice mutual accommodation through which both nonnative English teachers and their students can collaborate in order to improve the learning of English and enrich diversity within U.S. higher education. University programs should also focus more on what nonnative English teachers can do in collaboration with native English teachers. Finally, this study suggests that language educators should explore the role nonnative English teachers play in language pedagogy in an era of the global spread of English that produces highly proficient nonnative English speaking professionals. |
