University of Cambridge
Conceptualising ESL Language Teacher Identity: Changing Classroom Practice through Action Research
Abstract
dc:description.abstractAn individual’s identity is fundamental to their understanding of the self, together with their positioning in relation to the world and others within it. Similarly, language teacher identity (LTI), a burgeoning area of inquiry within the field of language teacher cognition, is increasingly recognised as central to how language teachers navigate their personal and professional lives, and, more importantly, their instructional practices. Despite its significance, there appears to be a lack of distinct theorisation of the notion of English as a Second Language (ESL) LTI. Many researchers seem to have simply appended the term “language” to teacher identity (TI) to represent the identities of language teachers. In this sense, the subject-specific notion of LTI is often equated with the general construct of TI without attending to potential nuances and divergences between the two, obscuring potentially unique conceptual underpinnings inherent in each construct. In response to these gaps, this thesis aims to deepen our existing understanding of a holistic LTI by exploring its conceptualisation, development, and negotiation. In addition to language teachers’ personal and professional identities, one’s linguistic identity is posited as a critical component of holistic LTI, an area that remains underexplored in existing literature. Situated within the Hong Kong (HK) context, this qualitative study is divided into two main phases. Phase One revolved around the conceptualisation of LTI by adopting a grounded theory approach. Nineteen semi-structured interviews that lasted between 60 to 120 minutes were conducted with primary and secondary school ESL teachers, in which open-ended questions were posed to encourage participants to share their opinions and experiences to conceptualise a holistic LTI. In Phase Two, the changes of this holistic LTI and its effects on ESL instruction were explored. Three teachers solicited from Phase One conducted their respective Action Research (AR) projects. Importantly, the study utilised AR not as a tool to develop teachers’ LTIs directly, but as a process and space in which participating teachers reflected on their own teaching and attempted to make pedagogical changes. In other words, the study focused on and analysed the LTI development and negotiation during the participants’ processes of conducting AR. Each project consisted of three cycles. Participants’ lesson plans, instructional materials, and self-reflections were collected, while semi-structured interviews were conducted over the course of their research projects. The findings suggest that LTI is comprised of the complex, dynamic interactions of language teachers’ personal, professional and linguistic identities. Through engaging in ongoing reflexivity while implementing innovative instructional practices, these identities would undergo processes of development and / or negotiation. These data not only lend support to a new conceptualisation of LTI that is related to but theoretically distinct from TI, but also illuminate its bidirectional relationship with ESL teaching practices, since LTI change may stem from and contribute to teachers’ language teaching practices. It also reveals how AR may provide an iterative and reflexive space for LTI change to occur. The findings point to implications for language teacher professional development within HK and similar ESL/EFL contexts.
Degree
thesis:*- Name dc:type.qualificationname
- Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
- Level dc:type.qualificationlevel
- Doctoral
- Grantor dc:publisher.institution
- University of Cambridge
- Year dc:date.issued
- 2025
Author and committee
dc:creator, dc:contributor.*- Author dc:creator
-
- Chung, Long Hin
- Advisor dc:contributor.advisor
-
- Fisher, Linda
Subjects
dc:subject × 7Rights
dc:rightsIdentifiers
dc:identifier.*- DOI dc:identifier.doi
- https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.121706
- OAI identifier oai:identifier
- oai:www.repository.cam.ac.uk:1810/390003