An ethnographic exploration of language policies and language teacher identity entanglements in a transnational university
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: As identity is increasingly conceptualized from a postmodern view, language teacher identity (LTI) is framed as a dynamic and multifaceted construct. In line with this perspective, most LTI studies rely on teachers’ narratives to examine their perceptions of so-called external influences. However, it remains unclear whether these influences are imposed by institutional structures and only encountered by teachers, or they are ideologically co-constructed by institutions ‘and’ teachers. The current study adopts an ethnographic approach to explore the possibility of such co-construction in a transnational university in China. Our 18-month emic research relies on extended observations, collection of artifacts, and formal and informal interviews to examine how university language instructors act upon institutional policies and ideologies in forming professional identities. Qualitative data analysis of diverse bodies of data illustrated two major language policies within the institution: ‘100 percent English’ and ‘the English problem.’ Facing these institutional expectations, language teachers demonstrated multiple positions in defining their own identities: a total follower, a partial follower, a radical proponent, and a questioner. These findings offer an ecological understanding of LTI formation and uncover less-addressed complexities of interconnections between structural influences and teachers’ agentive alignment in this regard.
Source: System
Authors: Mian Hu, Seyyed-Abdolhamid Mirhosseini
Institution: University of Hong Kong
Language: English
Subfield: Linguistics and Language
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $3,980
OpenAlex ID: W4410109102