Teachers’ Discursive Construction Of Pragmatic Identity In Senior English Classes:a Contrastive Study Between Novice And Expert Teachers

Since the new millennium,attention to teacher identity has marked a sociocultural turn of language teachers’ professional development.While existing research focuses on how teachers perceive professional identity based on narrative analysis,few studies investigate the identity construction via classroom discourse,or compare identity construction of different teacher groups.This study attempts to bridge this gap by conducting a contrastive analysis of pragmatic identity construction between novice and expert teachers in English classes.The purpose is to provide suggestions for language teacher identity development.The study answered four questions,i.e.,what types of teacher identity are constructed in English classes,how teachers construct identity discursively,what teachers think of their identity construction,and what problems exist in the construction of teacher identity.Six teachers(three experts and three novices)were selected as research participants.Their classes were observed,and interviews were conducted after classroom observations.The data analysis based on classroom observation discovered four types of pragmatic identity constructed by both novice and expert teachers,i.e.,directive teachers,explanative teachers,sharing teachers and attentive teachers.Delving into the variety of discursive practices and communicative purposes,the study further divided the four types of identity into 18 sub-types,including 7 common sub-types shared by both novice and expert teachers,7 exclusive sub-types constructed by expert teachers only and 4 exclusive sub-types constructed by novice teachers only.The study has found that novice and expert teachers implement various discursive practices to construct identity.The construction of directive teachers relies on the speech act of directives.Within this type,expert teachers present exclusive sub-types of activator and monitor with encouraging paralinguistic devices along with stating and requesting.Novice teachers exclusively display the manager role through representatives and directives.The identity of explanative teachers is constructed through logic representatives and structural discourse markers.Expert teachers create exclusive identity as guide,vendor and coach through stating,informing and elaborating along with emotional paralinguistic features whereas novice teachers do not construct exclusive identity in this category.The identity of sharing teachers is displayed through expressives and representatives.Expert teachers exclusively play the role of learner while novice teachers serve as an entertainer or partner with funny facial expressions and friendly interpersonal discourse markers.The identity of attentive teachers is constructed mostly by expressives,representatives and modality devices.The novice-expert gap of this type is that expert teachers serve as the consultant whereas novice teachers play the role of care provider.The interview analysis has revealed that directive teachers and explanative teachers are most clearly perceived by both novice and expert teachers.As for the other two types identified in classroom observations,expert teachers are more concerned about the identity of attentive teachers whereas novice teachers highlight the sharing teacher role.The study also indicates that expert teachers hold an adaptive view of their identity and emphasize variables in the classroom context while novice teachers have difficulty adjusting identity flexibly.Based on analysis of classroom discourse and interviews,the study discussed problems in teachers’ discursive construction of identity.First,novice teachers depend too much on predetermined identity.Second,novice teachers are also uncertain about the appropriateness of their identity.Third,there exists a gap between teacher identity in practice and that in perception in the two teacher groups.These problems can exert negative effects on teaching effectiveness and teacher development.The study provides implications to English teaching and teachers’ professional development.Language teachers are advised to first recognize the importance of identity in the professional context.They should also conduct reflective practices upon their identity construction to seek sustainable growth in the profession.