Exploring Professional Identity Of English Teachers Of Bai Nationality In The Multicultural Context

In the field of language teaching and learning, language learners, the nature of learning and the process of language learning had been the focus of study (Williams&Burden.2000; Lantolf,2006). In recent years, with the shift of the study focus, the study of language teachers has been attracting the attention of more and more researchers. Since the teachers is playing a leading role in the language classroom teaching and learning, their cognitions, beliefs, needs, decisions and other psychological elements have vital importance in the language teaching and learning. As an important aspect of the teachers’inner world, the teachers’ professional identity is gaining more and more popularity in research (Clarke,2008,2009; Connelly&Clandinin,1999; Wenger,1998). However, compared with researches on teacher cognition, teacher knowledge, teacher learning, and teacher development in the last two decades, studies on teacher identity are still relatively in a small number (Duff&Uchida,1997; Morgan,2004; Pavlenko,2003). Besides, it is worth noticing that most domestic identity studies focus on the Han university English teachers in the background of local educational reform but do not refer to the ethnic university English teachers. In such a highly modernizing society, facing various expectations and pressure, ethnic English teachers who are in a more complex multicultural context is a group worth more attention because their identity would directly affect the quality of English teaching and learning in ethnic areas.This study aims to explore the identity of English teachers of Bai nationality in a university in Yunnan province from the constructivist narrative perspective and sociocultural perspective. The research questions are:(1) How do the university English teachers of Bai nationality construct their identity in communities of practice?(2) What are the characteristics of the identity of the university English teachers of Bai nationality?(3) How does the identity of the university English teachers of Bai nationality influence their professional development? The qualitative narrative inquiry and case study are used to explore the above research questions. The methods of collecting data are including interview, classroom observation, questionnaire, teachers’reflective diary and ethnography.By displaying the construction of their identity in five main communities of practice, summarizing the characteristics of their identity and discussing their identity’s influence on their professional development, this research has found the following findings. Firstly, the professional developments of the three university English teachers of Bai nationality are all influenced by their identities in different communities of practice. Secondly, the professional developments of them are all confronted by bottlenecks, which have not changed their willingness to continue being a university English teacher in D University and with which they all have taken active attitudes and measures to deal. Thirdly, the degree of the sense of achievement obtained from the work as Bai ethnic university English teacher and the enthusiasm for the professional development vary according to the years of teaching.Fourthly, the extent of the sense of being a Bai minority and the influence of ethnic identity on research interest also differ according to the years of teaching. Fifthly, although there are differences in their actual deeds, they all think that they have the responsibility to inherit and spread their own ethnic culture.This study places teachers’identity study in the multicultural context which is a combination of ethnic culture, Chinese mainstream Han culture and English culture, breaking down the domestic traditional binary cultural study of English teachers’ identity. By this study, people can understand better the present situations of ethnic English teachers’ living and development. Furthermore, this research can provide real basis for measures of improving the professional development of English teachers and the quality of English teaching in ethnic areas in western China.