A Narrative Inquiry Into Professional Identity Construction Of University Efl Teachers In China

Nowadays, the study of teachers’ professional identity as an important research field in teachers’ professional development draws much attention. Researchers (Beijjaad et al.,2004; Miller.2011; Tsui,2007) agreed that teachers" professional identity is variable, flexible and shifting, and the construction of professional identity is related with teachers’personal background, institutional culture and environment. But to the questions like "how do teachers in the same institution construct their professional identity?" or "if the processes or trajectories of teachers" professional identity construction are similar?", there are not clear answers (Liu.2011). Therefore, the present study tries to explore three aspects concerning teacher professional identity construction and answer three questions:1. How do university EFL teachers in China understand their professional identity?2. How do university EFL teachers in China construct their professional identity in community of practice?3. How do the teachers differ in the process of shaping and constructing their professional identity?The university EFL teachers who participate in the present study are from a key comprehensive university in Chongqing. China. They are divided into three groups and categorized as novice teachers, developing teachers and experienced teachers. The theoretical base adopted in this study is Wenger’s Theory of Community of Practice. The data are collected mainly by interviews and observations. In addition, narrative inquiry is used to analyze the stories of the participated teachers. By using coding framework and thematic analysis, some key words and key incidents have been elicited to help us to understand how the teachers construct their professional identity, what trajectory of constructing professional identity as a university EFL teacher is in the institutional community, and to understand the similarities and differences in the process of the teachers’shaping their professional identity.According to the investigation, academic identity, teacher identity and institutional identity compose these university EFL teachers’ professional identity, among which institutional community where teachers work together and teaching community involving the interaction between teachers and students are of great significance in the construction of EFL teachers’professional identities. Furthermore, the results indicate that collaborative and caring institutional community help to enhance novice teachers’ sense of belonging and awareness of development, and the emotional motivation and resources support from the institution, colleagues and institution leaders’positive feedback help the teachers a lot in developing an integrated professional identity. The results also suggest that teachers participating in this study have shown stronger awareness of teacher identity, followed by academic identity, while institutional identity is rather implicit. Meanwhile, some problems are revealed in the present research. For instance, young teachers report that they feel helpless in construction of their academic identity; the Assessment System is both motivation and pressure; insufficient cooperation in teaching and academic research between teachers; and the peripheral teachers’need of chances of being involved in the community of practice. Finally, some suggestion are given as follows:developing teachers’learning community which can play an important role in guiding and leading younger teachers in academic research; empowering teachers in decision making to raise their obligations and responsibilities for developing themselves with the whole group; teacher education should be human-oriented, focusing on the teachers’ pressure and confusion in their development; teachers should reflect the context such as change of policies and institutional development as well as themselves, so they can know themselves better and make future plans for their professional development.It is hoped that the study could shed light on Chinese university EFL teachers’ rethinking of their duties, rights and identities, and of their professional development.