Polycentricity and agency in the construction of expatriate teacher identity and pedagogical practice

Expatriate language teachers are often located at the nexus of two or more ideological systems with conflicting educational and linguistic values (Eusafzai, 2015; Scotland, 2014). These conflicts in values along with the more immediate pressure of working within a foreign education institution affect (i) how teachers construct their identities as educators and professionals (Bailey, 2015; Chestnut, 2016; Nielsen, 2014; Romanowski & Nasser, 2015) and (ii) their pedagogy (Scotland, 2014). In this study, using data from semi-structured interviews, focus groups, and university classroom observations and recordings, I examine: 1) the micro, meso, and macro level factors that influence the identities, classroom pedagogies, and classroom language practice of expatriate teachers in South Korea, and 2) how these teachers discursively navigate these conflicting forces in and across levels in the agentive construction of their language teacher identity and in their classroom language practices. Drawing from studies of the sociolinguistics of globalization (Blommaert, 2010), I combine the notion of polycentricity with the Douglas Fir Group’s (2016) framework for SLA to better understand teacher agency in the construction of teacher identity and in classroom language practices.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.A.

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Teaching of English Sec Lang

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2020

Author dc:creator

• Greenfield, Anita K

Contributors dc:contributor

• Bhatt, Rakesh M

• expatriate teacher, polycentricity, agency, identity

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2020 Anita Greenfield

Language dc:language

en

Handle dc:identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/108355

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/108355