A Study On The Impact Of Study Abroad Experiences On The Professional Identity Development Of College English Teachers

With the rapid development of economic globalization,the globalization of education has also advanced.Influenced by the internationalization of higher education,study abroad(SA)has become an important way for colleges and universities to introduce foreign talents and advanced technology,and to conduct international exchanges.Domestic education systems need to be injected with some new vitality.In order to introduce advanced international developed conceptions,education and teaching concepts for creation,SA has become the first choice.In recent years,many universities around the world have sent more and more teachers to study abroad,with English teachers accounting for the majority.More increasingly,scholars have conducted their research on the SA field.Many studies have proven that SA experience has a positive impact on foreign language teachers.There are several advantages.First,SA can improve both their language and teaching abilities.Second,it can improve their research awareness,learn new research methods,and help them to have a deeper understanding of the research trends of international academic frontiers.Third,foreign language teachers have a chance to get in touch with the culture and customs of the countries that they study in.Many scholars have done research on the construction of college English teachers' professional identity with the belief that the process of this construction is a dynamic process of negotiation between both the individuals and the environment.However,few scholars have studied the impact SA experience has on the development of college English teachers' professional identity.Based on this condition,this study,using college English teachers as an example,examines the impact SA experience has specifically on the development of college English teachers' professional identity,and its main influencing factors from the perspective of identity.This research adopts qualitative research and a narrative inquiry method to conduct semi-structured interviews with six college English teachers who havedifferent educational backgrounds and different SA countries experiences.Interviews,reports,and self-reflection materials are collected as the data.Thematic analysis is used to explore the impact of SA experience on the development of college English teachers' professional identity and the major influencing factors.The main findings of this study are as follows:First,the influence of SA experience on the development of college English teachers' professional identity is as follows:1.Overseas study experience is helpful to the development of college English teachers' identity as teachers;2.SA experience is helpful to the development of College English teachers' identity as educators;3.SA experience is helpful to the development of college English teachers' identity as researchers.Second,the study explores some major factors influencing the development of college English teachers' professional identity who have SA experiences according to the time,space,and personal-social interaction dimensions of Xu & Connelly(2009).The factors are listed as follows:1.Personal factors;2.SA country.Different countries will influence the development of college English teachers' professional identity differently;3.SA program;4.SA period;5.Working environment.Among the factors,time dimension refers to SA period.Space dimension refers to SA country,and personal-social interaction dimension includes individual differences,SA program,and working environment,in which SA teachers interact in different social contexts and produce different effects on the development of English teachers' professional identity.Based on the above findings,this study points out the significance of the development of college English teacher education and gives some suggestions on how to improve the professional identity development of SA teachers,which has reference value for future research on the development of teachers' professional identity.