VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES ************************* NGUYỄN THỊ LAN HẠNH THE CONSTRUCTION OF PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY BY AN EFL TEACHER IN THE FIRST YEAR OF TEACHING: A CASE STUDY VIỆC HÌNH THÀNH BẢN NGÃ NGHỀ NGHIỆP CỦA MỘT GIÁO VIÊN TIẾNG ANH TRONG NĂM GIẢNG DẠY ĐẦU TIÊN M. COMBINED PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60 14 0111 HA NOI - 2014 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES ************************* NGUYỄN THỊ LAN HẠNH THE CONSTRUCTION OF PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY BY AN EFL TEACHER IN THE FIRST YEAR OF TEACHING: A CASE STUDY VIỆC HÌNH THÀNH BẢN NGÃ NGHỀ NGHIỆP CỦA MỘT GIÁO VIÊN TIẾNG ANH TRONG NĂM GIẢNG DẠY ĐẦU TIÊN M. COMBINED PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60 14 0111 Supervisor: Dr. LÊ VĂN CANH HA NOI - 2014 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com CANDIDATE’S STATEMENT I hereby certify that this thesis entitled “The construction of professional identity by an EFL teacher in the first year of teaching: A case study” is the work of my own for the fulfilment of the M.A degree requirement at the National University of Hanoi, University of Languages and International Studies.
All cited works in the thesis are referenced as required. Ha Noi, September 15th,2014 Signature Nguyễn Thị Lan Hạnh i LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I would like to take this opportunity to express my deepest gratitude to my research supervisor, Dr. Le Van Canh, for his professional advice and timely encouragement. As a senior researcher, he enthusiastically offered navigating suggestions without which my study could have strayed from the right track.
Without his invaluable guidance, the thesis would be far from complete. Secondly, my sincere and warmest thanks go to my kindest friends, Steve Dzung Pham and Hoang Thi Khanh Tam, for their unconditional help with the proofreading and editing of the paper. No words can express my gratefulness for Steve for his precious assistance, which profoundly enhanced the quality of this research, although we have never met in person. Khanh Tam also contributed considerably to the thesis, though under a poor health condition, which warms my heart every single time I think of it.
Last but not least, I would like to thank my family and friends who supported me during the research with their love and encouragement. I especially give my heartfelt thanks to my dearest husband, Nguyen Duc Long, who stood tirelessly beside me with unconditional love and support. Without his constant annoying yet necessary complaints about my procrastination, the thesis would have probably fallen behind schedule. ii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ABSTRACT Drawing on Wenger’s (1998) theory of identity formation, this thesis reports on a case study that examines teachers’ professional identity using narratives of a first-year Vietnamese EFL teacher.
Firstly, the results of the study affirm Wenger’s theory of identity construction as a dual process of meaning negotiation and identification, which is informed by engagement, alignment, and imagination. Within the framework of identity formation, the study highlights a more prominent role of imagination in the development of identity than the literature has suggested. Secondly, the paper inspects the major influences on identity formation. Personal background and contextual factors contribute substantially to the construction, deconstruction, and reconstruction of teacher professional identity.
In addition, the study indicates that individual agency has a significant mediating role in the development of teacher professional identity. iii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF ACRONYMS BLS: Bright Language School EFL: English as a Foreign Language EPIK: English Program in Korea IELTS: International English Language Testing System JET: Junior English Test MOET: Ministry of Education and Training SB: Smart Board TESOL: Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages TOEFL: Test Of English as a Foreign Language TOEIC: Test Of English for International Communication LIST OF TABLES Table 2. Overview of the studies on professional identity formation iv LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com TABLE OF CONTENTS CANDIDATE’S STATEMENT. iii LIST OF TABLES.
iv LIST OF ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS. iv TABLE OF CONTENT. v-vii PART A: INTRODUCTION. Rationales of the Research.
Aims, scope, and significance of the study. Aims and objectives. Scope of the study. Significance of the study.
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW. Teachers’ professional identity. Characteristics of teachers’ professional identity. Construction of Professional Identity in the first year of teaching 11 1.
The framework of professional identity construction. Previous studies on Teacher Professional Identity. Relevant Vietnamese Studies ……………………………………. Limitations of Previous Research on Teacher Professional Identity.
25 v LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Current situation of English teaching in Vietnam. The research participant and the context of the study. Rationale for sampling: Details into Vi’s background……….
The research genre: case study. Data collection methods. Data analysis procedures. 44 CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION.
In High School: The ‘Deaf-and-Dumb’ English Learner. In University: The Suffering Newcomer ………………. A result of long-preserved beliefs: The custodian of the communicative approach .46 Grouping strategy: Successful Learned Practices - Failed Outcomes. A result of long-preserved beliefs: The quiet co-worker.
A result of long-preserved beliefs: The subject matter expert. The uncertain friend-teacher in the relationship with students. 56 vi LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. The IELTS instructor.
Personal background and contextual factors……………. Negotiation of meanings………………………………. Summary of findings. Limitations of the study and suggestions for future research .I vii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com PART A: INTRODUCTION 1.
Rationale of the Research In the last few decades, teachers’ professional identity has attracted the interest of researchers and scholars worldwide. Teachers’ professional identity has emerged as a separate area of research (Beijaard, Meijer, & Verloop, 2004, p. A large proportion of academic works have been carried out to explore teacher professional identity. It has become a focal point among educational researchers with interest in teacher development, especially in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teacher development (e., Anteliz, Coombes, & Danaher, 2006; Beijaard, Meijer, & Verloop, 2004; Gaudelli & Ousley, 2009; Hamman, Gosselin, Romano, & Bunuan, 2010; Soreide, 2006).
There are two driving forces that have provoked interest in this research avenue. One is the complex status of World English that results in the questioning of the status of the native speaker teacher (see Phillipson, 1992; Canagarajah, 1999; McKay, 2002). The other is the marginalization of the non-native teacher (Braine, 1999; Brutt-Griffler & Samimy, 1999; Liu, 1999). One of the research topics concerning teacher professional identity is how professional identity is constructed during the first year of teaching.
Foreign language teachers are not only seen as teaching practitioners operating in their own world, but also as social entities that are in constant interaction with and under influence of various socio-cultural and sociopolitical elements that characterize their communities of practice (Miller, 2009). The interplay and negotiation between these socio-cultural influences and teachers’ own learning experience, teaching beliefs, and personal practical knowledge, as Farrell (2009) stated, is one of the factors that is considered a challenge to second language teachers in the process of establishing themselves professionally. To neophytes in the teaching profession, this process of forming 1 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com a professional teacher identity has so far been shown to be even more dramatic. As was reported by Connelly and Clandinin (1999), during their first year of teaching, teachers constantly asked themselves many questions of identity such as “Who am I in my story of teaching? Who am I in my place in school? Who am I in my children’s stories? Who am I in my administrator’s stories?” (p.
Novices’ inability to give proper answers to these questions leads to overwhelmed and challenged feelings (Thomas & Beauchamp, 2011). As a matter of fact, numerous studies have highlighted conflicts, reality shocks and anxieties as common characteristics of the transition from being a student to a teacher (Huberman, 1989). Although teachers’ professional identity has emerged as a subject of interest for researchers globally, in Vietnam the issue has not received adequate attention. Canh (2013) is one of the rare Vietnamese academics pursuing this area of research.
However, this recent research concentrated solely on the construction of professional identity by native English speaking teachers in an EFL context. A study that examines professional identities of Vietnamese EFL teachers would be of vital significance. Aims, Scope, Methods, and Significance of the Study 2. Aims and Objectives This research is aimed at exploring the construction of professional identity by novice EFL teachers.
This descriptive and explanatory case study also aims to unpack factors that influence the formation of professional identity. The insights into how teachers construct and reconstruct their professional identity would help to explain the mental processes underlying teachers’ teaching practices. As Edge (1996) stated, knowledge of how teachers construct and develop their professional identities enables researchers to arrive at understanding of how “the theoretical, the professional, and the personal intermingle” in the process of teachers learning to teach (p. 2 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com The above goals are specified into the following objectives: - To explore the process of professional identity development by a novice teacher.
- To gain the understandings of the internal and external influences on the process of teacher professional identity To achieve the above-stated aims and objectives, the study was designed to seek answers to the following research questions: (1) How is the EFL teacher’s professional identity constructed? (2) What factors influence the (re)construction of her professional identity? (3) How do these factors influence the (re)construction of her professional identity? 2. Scope of the Study The research is confined to the study of one EFL teacher’s construction of her professional identity and factors that affect the process of her professional identity formation. As a single case study, the research does not intend to generalize its findings. Research methods A qualitative research approach was selected to be employed in the form of a longitudinal small-scaled yet in-depth single-case study.
The research instruments were narrative inquiry and semi-structured interviews. The rationale for such choices will be explained in Chapter Two (Methodology) of Part B (Development). Significance of the Study The study shed more light on the discourse of novice teachers’ professional identity in the context of Vietnam -in which little research of the same type has been carried out. It is important to assert that this particular study is not for the purpose of generalizing its outcomes; rather, the results are open to discussion and adoption by those who are concerned with the same 3 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com matter and find their situation with common features as that of the study’s participant.
This research also acts as a source of reference for teacher educators in their cause of preparing future teachers. Insights into the development of teachers professional identity will inform educators to equip prospective teachers with knowledge and courage hat will help them see themselves through the first-years’ reality. 4 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW This chapter reviews the literature on teachers’ professional identity. It starts with the definitions of key terms and vernacular related and specific to this line of research.
This is followed by an analysis of the characteristics of teachers’ professional identity. Literature on the construction of professional identity in the first year of teaching, including a framework of professional identity construction is reviewed in next parts. Finally, previous studies on teachers’ professional identity are identified in terms of key findings and limitations. An attempt to address these limitations in the literature is also addressed at the end of this chapter.