College English Teachers’Identity in Their Professional Development in China〔*〕

Li Yu

(School of Foreign Languages Fuyang Teachers’College，F(xiàn)uyang Anhui236037)

Ⅰ．Theoretical framework

1．English teachers’identity

Researchers on identity involve various fields，hence various definitions．At present，the widely accepted definition for identity holds the view that identity is the unique quality for a certain individual or a certain group，which involves the certainty of individual property and the relationship between the individual and the group．〔1〕

The earliest research on identity began from the western psychologist in the early twentieth century and identity has been one of the important research topics in the psychologist field since then．〔2〕In the middle and late twentieth century，the identity research has extended to the fields of sociology and anthropology．The great upsurge in identity research began from the 1980s and the related topics include political identity，cultural identity，race identity，sex identity，etc．The focus on teachers’identity in the education field began in the 1990s．Teachers’identity is an essential concept in the research of teachers’professional development and is affected by various factors，such as teachers’education background，teaching practice，life experiences，teaching environment，etc．It presents a dynamic development process of“construction-deconstruction-reconstruction”．The realization of teachers’identity goes through the continuous development of“the past identity”(the assessment and summary of the past experiences)，“the real identity”(the understanding of the present ego)and“the target identity”(the pursuit of the ideal ego)．In the beginning of the 21st century，some issues in the applied linguistics，such as language study，language teaching，language learners，etc．began to be carried out from the perspective of identity，and then，studies on English teachers’identity sprang up quickly．〔3〕Researches on teachers’identity in China began from the field of General Pedagogy and covered the introduction of teachers’identity theory in foreign countries〔4〕and the theoretical analysis and empirical study connected with Chinese education conditions．〔5〕

The traditional concept holds that English teaching is the employment of kinds of teaching skills．〔6〕Researches on teachers’identity suggest that teachers’education is the reconstruction of teachers’identity，〔7〕which changes people’s understanding of English teaching and evokes people’s reconsideration of teachers’education．English teachers’roles include professional teachers，cultural immigrants and teaching administrators．〔8〕English teachers’identity is bound to influence teachers’professional development，English teaching and teaching effects in classroom．Teachers’identity includes the three aspects of self-identity，profession identity and culture identity．Self-identity is a symbol of the mature state of a person’s personality，which integrates the inner values and the outside behaviors of an individual and becomes a motive power pushing forward teachers’professional development．Profession identity involves teachers’image and status in society．The recognitions of teachers’career from the society and teachers themselves have some differences，which teachers should understand and gradually adapt to．Culture identity influences the individual definition for itself at a deeper level．Teachers’identity is originated from teachers’interpretation of themselves and their life，which functions as the prerequisite of teachers’pro-fessional development．

2．Sociocultural theory

The sociocultural theory was first put forward by the former Soviet Union psychologist and educator Vygotsky in 1978．〔9〕This theory holds the view that the cognition process of human beings is closely connected with social，cultural and historical environments，which emphasizes the importance of social and cultural activities in the formation of human’s cognition．The core concept of the sociocultural theory is activity，which suggests that human’s activity is a mutual interaction process between human beings and the natural and cultural environments．In this process，learners’knowledge and skills are internalized to change their understanding of the outside world．The sociocultural theory has improved people’s recognition of teacher education，thinking that teachers’professional knowledge covers not only the English language knowledge but also the practical knowledge formed in their social activities．Cognition and society are internally connected and teachers’identity can not escape from the influence of social culture．

The sociocultural perspective of teacher education research suggests that teacher individual in certain social environment should adapt to certain culture when it is necessary and reconstruct the culture according to the real situations．〔10〕Culture is an essential factor for the existence and development of society．As one of the existence forms of society，teachers’identity formation and development are bound to be influenced by culture．The social and cultural environments for English teachers’development involve many factors，including the education policies，education reform measures，English curriculum standard，social expectations for English teaching and so on．These factors affect both English teaching activities and the construction of English teachers’identity．〔11〕Social and cultural environments play an important role in the construction of individual identity．Conversely，the harmonious development of English teachers can positively affect environments．

Ⅱ．College English teachers’identity in their professional development

1．Factors affecting college English teachers’identity

In the process of higher education reform in China，college teachers’professional development is faced with both opportunities and challenges．Their identity means mainly a kind of mental stress，which tends to cause the crisis of teachers’identity．There are many factors affecting college English teachers’identity，which can be divided into individual factors，objective factors and social factors．

Individual factors cover teachers’English language level，teaching belief，individual practical knowledge，individual experiences and so on．Qualified language teachers are supposed to bear enough language level，and Richard put forward twelve abilities English teachers should have．〔12〕Relevant studies find out that the effec-tiveness of non-native English teachers’class is restricted by their language level．Individual practical knowledge is regarded as the basic knowledge and competence of English teachers and the major way to establish and develop teachers’identity，which plays a more and more important role in English teacher education．Teaching belief refers to teachers’understanding of the essence of teaching，which reflects teachers’teaching attitude，affects teaching activities and decision in class and is often regarded as one of the effective indicators for assessing teaching effect．Other factors influencing English teachers’identity include their learning experience，family background，personality and so on．

Objective factors include English teachers’professional development and college English teaching reform．The former covers various aspects，including the accumulation of knowledge，the improvement of skills，the transformation of attitudes，the development of teaching emotion，etc．English teachers’professional development is gradually realized in the reflective and explorative teaching practice．〔13〕Investigations have suggested that English teachers’professional development can be divided into the three stages of survival，strengthening and improvement．Teachers have different understanding for teaching content，teaching roles and their students in different stages．

Social factors include organization environment and the sense of support from the organization．School is one of the organizations of the society and the environment in school includes its conventions，resource distribution and interpersonal relationship among teachers and so on．The positive organization environment is beneficial to teachers’professional development and lessening the possibility of teachers’identity crisis．The sense of support from the organization involves the two following senses:whether the organization attaches importance to the employees’contributions and whether their sense of happiness is paid attention to．The support and care from the school can extremely strengthen teachers’sense of belonging and sense of identification．

2．Influences on college English teachers’professional development from their identity

Teacher professionalization movement started from the 1980s in America，which aimed to improve the performance of teaching and the competence of adapting to discipline development．English teaching professionalization includes the professionalization of both education organization and teachers．The former means the management measures from the education department，supervising department，schools，etc．The later involves teachers’recognition of their value，practice and teaching．〔14〕

Teachers’identity and their professional development bear the same subject:teachers．The improvement of their professional competence is helpful to the enhancement of the recognition of teachers’identity and vice versa．Teachers’professional development is a process of continuously renewing knowledge and improving professional competence．Discipline knowledge is far from perfect for college English teachers，who should know themselves well．Only after truly knowing and recognizing themselves can they explore more potential and gain development．In essence，teachers’professional development is man’s development，which highlights teachers’initiative．Effective teaching derives from teachers’self-recognition and perfection，and the strengthening of the skills is likely to deviate this essence．〔15〕

3．The construction ways of college English teachers’identity

(1)Cooperative development

According to the sociocultural theory，teachers’cognition is generated in social activities and the community members together set up the developing targets in common activities．The diversity of the community provides various developing spaces，which make the members develop at different speeds．Different from the expert teachers in western countries，teachers in China are inclined to cooperate with other members in the same community．The cooperative development of college English teachers in our country can be carried out through the group teaching and research activities and the guide from other teacher colleagues，which provide regulating space for teachers’identity and their professional development．

The group teaching and research activities include different forms，including collective lesson preparation，discussing teaching plans，classroom observations，class evaluation，etc．，which provide a platform for teachers to discuss and reflect teaching．Other collective activities include teaching demonstration and teaching competition，which can show teachers’teaching competence and provide the chances for teachers to learn from each other．Considering the unique features of English learning process，teaching and research activities are the effective methods of English teacher education．Through the participation of these activities，the subjects of teachers follow the models in activities，continuously improve their teaching level and attain the development of teachers’identity．

In colleagues’guide，two or more teachers carry out teaching plans together，reflect teaching practice，solve teaching problems and improve teaching skills．The guide can be performed in different ways:collective lesson preparation，mutual attending classes，communicating teaching methods，watching teaching videos，reflecting teaching，etc．This mutual communication is a certain form for teachers to regulate themselves and is helpful to cultivate teachers’cooperative sense，alleviate the sense of loneliness and enhance the development of teachers’identity．

(2)Self-reflection

The self-understanding is realized through self-reflection which is another effective way to construct teachers’identity．Teachers’identity involves the two dimen-sions of both individual and society．Reflection can embody the relationship between individual behavior and thinking and help to set up the harmonious relationship between teachers and other members in society．Reflection includes relating the stories experienced by the teachers themselves and writing teaching diaries．

Teachers’stories include teachers’life experiences and their teaching practice．Many researchers have found out that relating teaching stories and teachers’life stories can help teachers to systematize their experiences and build up practical knowledge，which could improve teaching practice，enrich teaching theories and realize the construction of teachers’identity．Teaching diary is a way for teachers to reflect their teaching and the basis for reflection is the teaching practices kept by teachers．

Influenced by the cultural norms in China and the Western countries，college English teachers strive to become well-qualified English teachers through the mediating artifacts of cooperative development and self-reflection．The mastering of the modern education concepts helps to form teachers’new personal practical knowledge and construct teachers’identity to become ideal teachers．The development of teachers’identity runs through the whole process of teachers’professional development．

Ⅲ．Conclusion

College English teachers’professional development is influenced by both the individual and the organization environment．Hence，the improvement of their professional development ought to be enhanced from the aspects of the social and cultural environments and the academic environment．The favorable environment for the individual and professional development should be created at the levels of both culture and system．The mass media have over-emphasized teachers’selfless devotion，neglected teachers’satisfaction at other levels and exaggerated a few teachers’violation from teachers’professional morality．The other way round，the mass media should take the uniqueness of teachers’professional development into consideration，try to create the comfortable and friendly environments for professional development and play a positive role to lead the development in the right direction．College English teachers’difficulty in resource competition and the loss of their sense of belonging are attributed to the ambiguity of English course’s discipline status and the loss of college English teachers’professional status，which will decrease teachers’confidence in their professional development．The solution of this problem requires relevant departments to further clarify the developing targets for college English course，support in policy the establishment of the academic community and academic communication platform and improve the competitiveness of the discipline of college English．

The emphasizing on teachers’living quality and mental liberation highlights the research trend of“human-orientation”for English teachers and the study on English teachers’identity conforms to this trend．The improvement of English teachers’sense of their identity could make them understand the value of English teaching better，take education as an essential part of their life and regard education as a pleasure．〔16〕Teaching is not only a way for making a living but also a way of life．Through English language teaching，English teachers transmit beliefs and values in different cultures，which play an important role for language learners to interpret themselves and others and look at different cultures with a more tolerate state of mind．Under the framework of the sociocultural theory，the present paper has analyzed the issue of English teachers’identity，providing a new theoretical perspective for the study of English teachers’professional development and urging the education administrators to set up college English education strategies．

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