The construction of professional identity by an EFL teacher in the first year of teaching: A case study. M.A. Thesis Linguistics: 60 14 01 11

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES ************************* NGUYỄN THỊ LAN HẠNH THE CONSTRUCTION OF

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.A COMBINED PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60 14 0111

HA NOI - 2014

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES

TIẾNG ANH TRONG NĂM GIẢNG DẠY ĐẦU TIÊN

M.A COMBINED PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60 14 0111

Supervisor: Dr LÊ VĂN CANH

HA NOI - 2014

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

Signature

Nguyễn Thị Lan Hạnh

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

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

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 2.1 Overview of the studies on professional identity formation

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CANDIDATE’S STATEMENT i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ii

ABSTRACT iii

LIST OF TABLES iv

LIST OF ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS iv

TABLE OF CONTENT v-vii PART A: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationales of the Research 1

2 Aims, scope, and significance of the study 2

2.1 Aims and objectives 2

2.2 Scope of the study 3

2.3 Research methods 3

2.4 Significance of the study 3

PART B: DEVELOPMENT 5

3 CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 5

1.1 Identity 5

1.2 Teachers’ professional identity 6

1.3 Characteristics of teachers’ professional identity 8

1.4 Construction of Professional Identity in the first year of teaching 11 1.5 The framework of professional identity construction 13

1.6 Previous studies on Teacher Professional Identity 15

1.7 Relevant Vietnamese Studies ……….21

1.8 Limitations of Previous Research on Teacher Professional Identity ….22 1.9 Chapter Summary 25

4 CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 26

2.1 Current situation of English teaching in Vietnam 26

2.2 The research participant and the context of the study 30

2.3 Rationale for sampling: Details into Vi’s background……… 31

2.4 The research genre: case study 35

2.5 Data collection methods 36

2.5.1 Narrative Inquiry .36

2.5.2 Interviews … 40

2.6 Data analysis procedures 42

2.7 Chapter Summary 44

CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 45

3.1 Findings 45

3.1.1 In High School: The ‘Deaf-and-Dumb’ English Learner.45 3.1.2 In University: The Suffering Newcomer ……….46

3.1.3 A result of long-preserved beliefs: The custodian of the communicative approach ……… 46

Grouping strategy: Successful Learned Practices - Failed Outcomes 48

3.1.4 A result of long-preserved beliefs: The quiet co-worker 49 3.1.5 A result of long-preserved beliefs: The subject matter expert 52

3.1.6 Unarticulated thoughts 53

3.1.7 The uncertain friend-teacher in the relationship with students 56

3.1.8 The IELTS instructor 56

3.1.9 Summary 56

3.2 Discussion ……… 57

3.2.1 Engagement………… ……….58

3.2.2 Power relationships………61

3.2.3 Imagination……… 61

3.2.4 Alignment……… 65

3.2.5 Personal background and contextual factors……….65

3.2.6 Agency……… 67

3.2.7 Negotiation of meanings……… 68

3.2.8 Summary……… 69

PART C: CONCLUSION 70

1 Summary of findings 70

2 Pedagogical implications 72

3 Limitations of the study and suggestions for future research 74

REFERENCES……… 76 APPENDIXES……… I

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 107) 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.g., 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

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.3) 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

2 Aims, Scope, Methods, and Significance of the Study

2.1 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 25)

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?

2.2 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

2.3 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)

2.4 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

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

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

1.1 Identity

Prior to the analysis of the concept of teachers’ professional identity, a brief report on the concept of identity in general is of vital significance In the literature, identity has several different definitions which, however, share the same notion that it is “not a fixed attribute of a person, but a relational phenomenon” (Oruç, 2013, p 207) Identity development can be best described as an ongoing process of comprehending oneself as a certain kind

of person and being recognized as such in a given context (Gee, 2001)

These views were in accordance with Erikson (1968) who contended that identity is not something one has, rather than that identity is something that develops during one’s whole life Thus, identity formation is understood

as an ongoing process involving the interpretation and reinterpretation of experiences as one lives through them (Kerby, 1991) Identity formation is constantly informed, formed, and reformed through self-evaluation and interaction with other people (Cooper & Olson, 1996)

Mead (1934) related the concept of identity to the concept of self and described in detail how the self is affected through interactions with the environment He postulated that the self can only develop in a social setting in which social communication takes place (Mead, 1934) He added that only in such interaction, we learn to understand other people’s roles and adjust our actions accordingly Beijaard et al (2004) paralleled with Mead (1934) by stating that research within the area of teachers’ professional identity should pay more attention to the relationship between “self” and “identity” as well as the role of context, or environment, in the formation of professional identity One’s self can be referred to as an organized representation of our theories, attitudes, and beliefs about ourselves (McCormick & Pressley, 1997) Generally, identity can be defined as who or what someone is, the different meanings one can attach to oneself, or the meanings attributed by others (Beijaard, 1995) In this respect, then, identity can also be regarded as an answer to the recurrent question: ‘‘who am I at this moment?’’ (Beijaard et al., 2004, p 108) In order to answer this question, one needs to identify oneself in the relationships with other individuals as well as one’s standpoints

in a number of issues of the community of practice

1.2 Teachers’ Professional Identity

Alongside identity, teachers’ professional identity in particular has been attracting great interest from researchers However, the concept has not been clearly nor consistently defined (Beijaard et al., 2004; Beauchamp & Thomas, 2009) As Beijaard et al (2004) pointed out:

While it is clear that teachers’ professional identity has emerged as a separate research area, it is, in our view, an area in which researchers conceptualize professional identity differently, investigate varying topics within the framework of teachers’ professional identity, and pursue a diversity of goals (p 108)

In their previous exploratory study on teachers’ perceptions of professional identity, Beijaard, Verloop and Vermunt (2000) provided a definition incorporating three different ways in which teachers see themselves: (i) as subject matter experts; (ii) as pedagogical experts; and (iii)

as didactical experts

According to Sachs (2005), teacher professional teacher identity:

stands at the core of the teaching profession It provides a framework for teachers to construct their own ideas of “how to be”, “how to act” and “how to understand” their work and their place in society Importantly, teacher identity is not something fixed nor is it imposed; rather it is negotiated through experience and the sense that is made of that experience (p 15)

Canh (2013) reviewed the literature on teachers’ professional identity and highlighted three major definitions of the concept Firstly, professional identity is viewed as teachers’ concepts of images of self (e.g., Knowles, 1992) Secondly, professional identity is related to teachers’ perceptions of their roles as educators (e.g.,Volkmann & Anderson, 1998) Finally, professional identity refers to what teachers themselves find important in their professional work or lives based on both their in-practice experiences and their personal backgrounds (e.g.,Tickle, 2000) Canh (2013) accepted the risk

of oversimplification in defining teachers’ professional identity as teachers’ perception of themselves as teachers and the way that perception is connected

to their pedagogy This view is similar to Lasky’s (2005), according to which teacher professional identity is considered as “how teachers define themselves

to themselves and to others” (p 901)

In this study, the Vermunt’s (2000) definition is employed as a framework to base on when data are analyzed

1.3 Characteristics of Teachers’ Professional Identity

Lasky (2005) defined teacher professional identity as both psychological and social In plain English, one’s mental process as well as social elements shapes one’s identity The mental, or thinking, process is a dynamic process that constantly changes Besides, a living society, or community, always strives to achieve a higher state of development Therefore, identity is a shifting concept, rather than stable, continuous or individual (Akkerman & Meijer, 2011) In general, teacher professional identity is characterized as being influenced by multiple factors (Ruohotie-Lyhty, 2013) Rodgers and Scott (2008) claimed that professional identity is influenced by context, formed in relationships, changing and involves meaning making Akkerman and Meijer (2011) attached teachers’ identity with multiplicity, discontinuity, and social nature Beijaard et al (2004) added

to these characteristics the aspect of agency by claiming that identity is formed through the activity of the individual

However, Akkerman and Meijer’s (2011) also debated that these basic assumptions do not offer enough to sketch out a full picture of the phenomenon, and that identity also encompasses a striving towards stability, continuity and individuality These authors argued that in order to understand the development of professional identity and the way individuals maintain a sense of self through time, it is not feasible to hold a completely decentralized idea of identity Therefore, a good definition of professional identity should serve to understand how individuals construct continuity in the flow of discontinuous events and how individuals, as agents, strive to maintain a

of both personal and professional sides of being a teacher is necessitated (Beijaard et al., 2004) These authors recommended that research on teachers’ professional identity should focus on the way “teachers relate to other people, and the responsibilities, attitudes, and behaviors they adopt as well as the knowledge they use” (Beijaard et al., 2004, p 125) Goodson and Cole (1994) considered teachers “as persons and professionals whose lives and work are influenced and made meaningful by factors and conditions inside and outside the classroom and school” (p 88) Given that, professional identity is the outcome of the interaction between the personal experiences of teachers and the social, cultural, and institutional contexts in which they function on a daily basis (van den Berg, 2002) Therefore, a teacher’s professional identity is both personal and contextual, which brings about the notion of sub-identities

Implied in teachers’ different contexts and relationships, sub-identities constitute teachers’ professional identity These sub-identities are in certain harmony, with some seen as “the core” of teachers’ professional identity and some others more peripheral (Beijaard et al., 2004) It is critical for the development of professional identity that the sub-identities are in conformity,

or in best harmony (Volkmann & Anderson, 1998) According to Tsui (2007), interactions between the individual’s multiple identities contribute to the

is in tune with Wenger’s (1998) theoretical framework of identity formation that proposed imagination as one of the sources for identity construction The quantitative research by Hamman, Gosselin, Romano, and Bunuan (2010) using Markus and Nurius’ (1986) possible-selves theory to understand the identity development of new teachers also suggested that projections of the selves in the future help to make sense of the current identity

Finally, agency is a critical element to professional identity, i.e teachers have to play an active role in the development of professional identity (Coldron & Smith, 1999) This is analogous to the process of learning which takes place through the activity of the learner (Beijaard et al., 2004) This makes teacher professional identity dynamic as the teachers’ perceptions

of who they are and what they aim for In order to exercise their agency, teachers tend to exploit the resources available to achieve their goals

As a capitulation, professional identity is understandings of a professional in the community of practice, in which the professional operates

Moreover, professional identity is both relational and experiential in the sense that one develops professional identity in interaction with other members of the community of practice as well as in participation in activities

in the workplace (Wenger, 1998) It is the first year of the profession when teachers establish their relations with co-workers These newly formed relationships, however, are relatively unstable and malleable For example, the participant in Tsui’s (2007) investigation changed his close connection with his students into a more distant status to maintain his authority as a teacher This decision was a turning point in his identity development Similarly, it is also the first year of teaching when teachers decide on which activities they wish to pursue Again, the teachers’ perception of these activities might change according to the changes in the working community (e.g., materials) and personal need or interest

In addition, student teachers under training have their own images of being a teacher called “imagined identities” (Norton, 2001; Kanno, 2003) Broadly understood, one’s imaginations about the relationships between

However, the imagined identity and the practiced identity, which is

“fundamentally practice-based” (Xu, 2013, p 80), are inherently different The former is a product of imagination while the latter is constructed through real life interactions in communities of practice (Wenger, 1998) Therefore, when novice teachers confront the classroom reality many of them have a taste of the so-called “reality shock” because of the uncertain and unforeseeable nature of authentic educational settings (Veenman, 1984, p 143) The imagined identities are challenged and new teachers have to fight for the ownership of the meanings that are recognized at the community of practice, for being accepted and recognized as competent to secure their position While striving for this, teachers’ former beliefs about teaching and themselves are seriously challenged (Ruohotie-Lyhty, 2013)

Numerous difficulties that teachers confront in the first years at work have been pointed out in several studies Mostly, novice teachers are faced with difficulties that are bound up with their work situation or context Teachers, at the beginning of their careers, only have a developing understanding of teachers’ work (Jones & Stammers, 1997; Schempp, Sparkes, & Templin, 1998) and are widely understood as inexperienced However, they are expected from day one to fulfill the same duties as more experienced teachers (Ruohotie-Lyhty, 2013) Another fact is that at the same time as new teachers are learning to teach they also go through a socialization

process (Jones & Stammers,1997) The new job is an insecure situation where the teachers have to put in positively evaluated performances in order to secure their future employment at the school Studies have also been carried out to explore the effects of the difficult beginning on teachers’ professional development Evidence has shown that when teachers are confronted with challenges in their first years at work, there is a decline in innovative teaching approaches and teachers’ goal orientation (Schempp et al., 1998; Flores, 2006) The combination of a painful outset and a lack of encouragement also contribute to teacher attrition (Hong, 2010; Torres, 2012) The large body of international research on new teachers implies that the first years of the profession, especially the very first year, present several challenges for teachers’ identity development, challenges that should be addressed in systematic research (Ruohotie-Lyhty, 2013)

1.5 The Framework of Professional Identity Construction

This study, as several others that take professional identity as the research matter (e.g., Tsui, 2007; Xu, 2013), employed Wenger’s (1998) theory of identity construction because it illuminates the characteristics that have been sketched out in the previous sections According to Wenger (1998), identity formation is a dual process of identification and negotiation of meanings with three modes of belongings that act as the sources of identification: engagement, imagination, and alignment

Engagement means investing oneself in what one does and also in one’s relationships with other people in the community of practice For one thing, through involving in practice, or living one’s experience, one gets to know how one can take part in activities Through connecting with other individuals, one gets a sense of oneself in the relationships with other members Therefore, identification is both experiential and relational

(Wenger, 1998) The experiential aspect of identification was referred to in Mead & Morris’ (1934) explanation of the concept of “self” as “something which has a development; it is not initially there at birth, but arises in the social process of experience and activity” (p 135) The relational aspect, on the other hand, was confirmed by Beijaard, Verloop, & Vermunt (2000) when they explained that professional identity is developed and maintained through the interaction within social settings and the negotiation of roles in those settings

Imagination, on the other hand, is the ability of relating oneself to the context that is beyond one’s community of practice Imagination is the process of using one’s restricted experiences to sketch out unlimited pictures

of the world and of oneself in that world Wenger (1998) reifies the concept

of imagination as “a process of expanding our self by transcending our time and space and creating new images of the world and ourselves Imagination in this sense is looking at an apple seed and seeing a tree It is playing scales on

a piano, and envisioning a concert hall” (p 176) Therefore, imagined identities derive directly from individuals’ imagination: “who they are will then depend on not only who they really are in reality but also who they imagine themselves to be” (Xu, 2013, p 80)

Another source of identification is alignment It is the effort of an individual to bring his/her actions into conformity with the community of practice so that the individual will become aligned with the community In this sense, alignment could be a result of engagement with which one invests oneself in activities that are in line with the broader enterprise By means of alignment, the identity of a group becomes the identity of its members, which

in turn, is gained through an entangled coaction of compliance and allegiance Coercion and oppression can also produce alignment; however, alignment that

To unpack the research, the dual process of identity construction proposed by Wenger (1998), which consists of two parallel processes: identification and negotiation of meanings, provides great assistance in the examination of the identity (re)construction of the novice teacher in this study The abstract terms and theoretical concepts aforementioned will be concretized through the analysis of the participant’s case in the coming sections of the thesis

1.6 Previous studies on Teachers’ Professional Identity

Beijarrd et al (2004) reviewed 22 small-scaled, in-depth studies on teachers’ professional identity from 1988 to 2000 and classified these studies into three different research categories depending on the research purposes: (i) studies that aimed to identify characteristics of teachers’ professional identity; (ii) studies that aimed to investigate teachers’ professional identity through teachers’ stories and (iii) studies that aimed to investigate teachers’ professional identity formation Researchers who took on the final category,

2010, p 1350) In this regard, researchers were keen to unveil the formation and reformation of professional identity of practicing experienced teachers in educational policy changes

The second dimension focused on the formation of professional identity

of a different population of teachers, i.e., first-year teachers, including student teachers during teaching practicum According to Hamman et al (2010), this particular dimension concentrates on “the developing aspects of identity emerging in relationships […] in order to gauge progress and examine influences on the development of a useful, authentic, viable view of oneself in this new professional role” (p 1350)

Empirical findings gained from the studies on both dimensions have shed more light on the nature of teachers’ professional identity They suggested that teachers needed to be active in the process of professional identity construction Coldron and Smith (1999) recommended that teachers should engage themselves in dialogues, figure out the many ways and approaches of doing things, get accesses to a range of resources, and share ideas so that they can locate themselves in their community of practice

In addition, teachers’ professional identity was seen as a process that was developed with the involvement of many knowledge sources such as affect, teaching, human relations, and subject matters (Antonek, McCormick,

& Donato, 1997) Student teachers’ own lay theories which began with the teachers’ personalities and were shaped by (i) immediate family, (ii)

significant others or extended family, (iii) apprenticeship of observation, (iv) atypical teaching episodes, (v) policy context, teaching traditions, and cultural archetypes, and (vi) tacitly acquired understandings should also be considered

as such a source (Antonek et al., 1997) Therefore, a teacher’s biography is critical in the process of identity formation

The final principal finding about teachers’ professional identity construction attained from these studies was that it was typically a struggle since teachers had to make sense of shifting and sometimes challenging perspectives, expectations, and roles that they had to encounter and fit into the practiced community (Samuel & Stephens, 2000; Volkmann & Anderson, 1998) Later research on the same topic yielded findings that were consistent with these results, with a focus on the shifting nature of teachers’ professional identity (see Tsui, 2007; Hamman et al., 2010; Oruç, 2013; &Xu, 2013)

Beijaard et al (2004) summarized the reviewed studies on professional identity formation in the following table

Table 2.1 Overview of the studies on professional identity formation

reality is an ongoing

personal and contextual

perception,

self-identity

A series of life history interviews with 7 teachers and

bi-weekly group discussions throughout the

seems to be similar

1917

training, teachers’ Professional lives were stable (absence of need for change)

 Further professional development consisted

of refinement of skills learned during initial training

shapes through (self-)reflection

teacher), reflection, personal

history

Analyzing the portfolios (conceived of as autobiographies)

of two foreign language student teachers for meaningful themes

 p.i is shaped by a combination of many knowledge sources

constructing a p.i Sugrue

(1997)

To gain insight

into

p.i is part of a discourse which

Images, biography,

Analysis of interview

identified features of

teaching identities

teachers’ personalities but are shaped by many other sources as well

 Student teachers’ p.i is tacit and varies in form from theories of teaching

standards that should be met

by teachers

investigation of 7 foreign-trained teachers by identifying emergent themes from

observational data, field notes, and interviews

a teacher in speaking settings is a long and slow process

one feels obliged to play

self- image, personal self, professional self

year- long teaching journal of one beginning science teacher for emerging themes

In her struggle to create

a p.i., the teacher was

Social space, traditions, biography,

Theoretical analysis and ‘theorizing’

 p.i of teachers reflects the landscape the teacher is part of

 p.i is manifested in classroom practice and

is, to some extent, unique

arises out of the relationship between those who

interpret and ascribe meaning

to action, language, and everyday

varied social contexts and

circumstances

analysis illustrated with preliminary data from the author’s own research

ignores the notion of

discursive self

 Concepts such as

‘voice’ and ‘narrative’

theorizing the teaching

‘self’

 The teaching self is also an ‘embedded self’which makes p.i a

multifaceted entity

acceptance of a

competing and sometimes contradictory values, behaviors, and attitudes grounded in the life

experiences of the

self in formation

Self, cultural context, professional environment

Case study of two student teachers (in

South Africa)

 There is tension

ambition and what the teacher can achieve

 There are many competing influences

on teachers’ roles and identities in a changing world context

 Student teachers’ experiences as school children influence the

identities as in-training

teachers-(Beijaard et al, 2004, p 110)

1.7 Relevant Vietnamese studies

As earlier mentioned, Canh (2013) is one of the rare pieces of academic works that pursued teacher professional identity development in the context of Vietnam A global intellectual, Bright (2012), also made efforts to study identity construction of teachers in Vietnam These two studies, however, were both concerned with the native-English speaker teachers’ professional identity instead of the home-based ones’

Fortunately, there have also been some of the domestic scholars that considered Vietnamese teachers’ identity as the core matter of their research Phan (2008), Nguyen (2008), Le and Phan (2013) and Chau (2014) were in conformity with their international counterparts in contending that identity is culture-driven or locality-driven as well as multiple, shifting, and in conflict The case study conducted by Le and Phan (2013) especially deeply

of home-based literature has been counter-balanced by a rich body of related international research, especially by those based in China whose culture is arguably most comparable to Vietnam’s In my opinion, comparable, however, does not necessarily mean the same Several richer and thicker domestic academic works would have provided an invaluable practical guidance for the study Moreover, in an age where everyone rushes to learn English as well as to become English instructors like the one we are living in, there are so many new teachers that need to be guided When English training centers and enterprises are spring up like mushrooms, there is an urgency that these young neophytes have a guiding direction according to which they form their identities instead of letting financial benefits lull them into wrong deeds and behaviors Therefore, it is necessary that Vietnamese scholars and researchers find the need to work

on EFL teacher professional identity related fields This would not only enrich the home-based literature but also very likely create theoretical groundwork for domestic teacher educators to follow In doing so, it may even unpack very Vietnam-specific data that may open more doors of research Because of Vietnam’s infancy stage in this arena, consistent research in the future in this subject matter may even reveal trends, correlations, and other unforeseen factors

1.8 Limitations of Previous Research on Teacher Professional Identity

This section aims to present a number of problems or challenges that have been identified from the previous bodies of research and need to be addressed in future research

For one thing, much of the work studying the characteristics or content

of teacher professional identity (i.e., what roles and values constitute a professional identity) was not based on theory (Beijaard et al 2004) Such research was atheoretical although “using theory to frame examinations of the mechanisms and outcomes of teacher identity may represent one strategy for moving the field of teacher identity closer to building up a more systematic, empirical body of evidence about its importance to issues such as pressures presented by school reform, alternative versus traditional certification, and the pressing issues of teacher attrition and retention” (Hamman et al., 2010, p 1350) Therefore, an established theoretical framework needs to be brought into employment when investigating teachers’ professional identity In this research, I made efforts to use Wenger’s (1998) social theory of identity formation, which will be presented clearly in the following sections

Another issue to consider is that most of the research on teachers’ professional identity underestimated situational and contextual factors within the broader framework of teachers’ professional identity development (Beijaard et al., 2004) Emphasis has been placed more on the personal side and far less on the context which provides the landscape for the development

of teachers’ professional identity (Beijaard et al., 2004) As Hamman et al (2010) wrote, contextual considerations are particularly helpful in the way that they can provide a landscape for understanding a wide range of teachers’ professional identity development Cardelle-Elawar, Irwin, and Lizarraga (2007) claimed that teacher identity is situational and changes in relation with the contexts within which the teachers are operating Taking these ideas into

account, contextual considerations should be included in theoretical frameworks examining teacher identity development (Hamman et al., 2010) Goodson and Cole (1994), Coldron and Smith (1999), and Connelly and Clandinin (1999) emphasized the need to pay clear attention to contextual factors However, not until 2007 did educational theories, as part of context (Beijaard et al., 2004), become absolutely explicit (see Tsui, 2007) These educational theories, without a doubt, have had a profound influence on the development of teachers’ professional identity

Further, researchers are considered to have paid too little attention to the connection between present identity and future actions (Conway, 2001; Urzua & Vasquez, 2008 as taken from Hamman et al., 2010) Too often in teachers’ stories they were asked about past and present events that might be linked to their professional identity formation However, it is suggested that teachers’ imagination about their future scenarios is of crucial significance in figuring out their current identity (Wenger, 1998) Concepts like “possible selves” (see Hamman et al., 2010) and “imagined identity” (see Xu, 2013) are those that are used to refer to future potential Hopefully the appearance and the use of these terms are a sign that more researchers are seriously considering this perspective in their works

Finally, according to Beijaard et al (2004), a cognitive perspective underlies a vast majority of studies on teachers’ professional identity Specifically, research results are based on teachers’ personal experiences, through interviews or journals In order for these data to make sense, though, the teachers’ contexts need to be seen from a rather sociological perspective, e.g., through observation or evaluation of school documents and materials Moreover, a biographical perspective is also important following which teachers’ life histories, i.e., “stories that are embedded in socio-historical

context” (Beijarrd et al., 2004, p 125), are emphasized The cognitive perspective and the biographical perspective are both adopted in a narrative research approach that does not necessarily highlight the sociological perspective It is recommended for an approach to combine these three perspectives in research on teachers’ professional identity

As an attempt to address these problems, this study utilized the framework of identity formation championed by Wenger (1998) This provides a theoretical ground for the research to base on and is intended to amend the second and the third raised issues as well The framework considers both contexts and future-oriented elements: engagement, alignment, and imagination (Wenger, 1998), which might inform identity construction

As for the fourth problem, narratives and interviews were adopted as methods

of collecting data, which satisfied the cognitive and biographical perspectives The last and most difficult to pertain perspective, sociological perspective, was briefly covered because the researcher previously taught at the researched site; therefore had close and systematic observation of the institution

1.9 Chapter Summary

This chapter has reviewed the literature on teachers’ professional identity As disclosed by the literature, the construction and reconstruction of teachers’ professional identity is a dynamic process which involves numerous factors The individual, with biographical information and personal beliefs and assumptions, has a major role in the establishment and development of professional identity Furthermore, contextual elements play an equally important part in professional identity construction and reconstruction

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY

In this chapter, the current picture of English teaching in Vietnam is painted in order to provide a context for the research Next, in such context, the study’s participant emerges with biographical information Subsequently, the research approach chosen to conduct the study is presented Finally, methods of collecting and analyzing data are explained in details

2.1 Current Situation of English Teaching in Vietnam

English language teaching in Vietnam can be divided into two main periods: before and after 1991 At its Six National Congress (in 1986), the Vietnamese Communist Party initiated an overall economic reform known as Đổi mới (Renovation), opening the door of Vietnam to the whole world This entailed a bright path of development for English learning and teaching in Vietnam However, not until 1991 when the dominance of Russian was broken due to the collapse of the former Xoviet Union did English attain its number-one status as a foreign language in Vietnam A great demand for English training was hastened by an increasing influx of foreign investments, most of which came from capitalist societies such as Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia, Malaysia and others from the European Union, and required English as the means of communication (Thinh, 2006) This paper concentrates on the period after 1991 because of its relevance to the subject of the study This stage itself was characterized with different smaller intervals

of time

From 1982 to 2008, English was officially a compulsory subject at high school level and an elective subject at secondary school level In this period, two syllabi were used: the 3-year and the 7-year syllabus The former was used for students who started studying English from grade 10, and the later for those who started it from grade 6 For the sake of fairness, the high school graduation

examination was designed based on the knowledge and skills required in the year program It is important to note, though, that both syllabi employed textbooks that were heavily grammar-based and that grammar sections tended

3-to dominate every single unit of the books (Van, 2010)

In 2008, with the new philosophy of foreign language teaching that put learners at a focal point and teachers at a facilitator position, new textbooks were introduced for all school subjects, including English There has been since then one set of textbooks for secondary school There are two for high school: a standard set which is directed at approximately 96 per cent of the students and an advanced set for the remaining four per cent Since 2009, English has been compulsory at both secondary and high school levels, and optional at primary school level (Van, 2010)

Van (2010) pointed out that English language teaching in Vietnam has

a number of problems Firstly, the teaching of English has not met the demand for competent English-speaking instructors since (i) most of the English teachers, especially those teaching at primary and secondary school levels are under qualified, except for those who are teaching English at post-graduate level, (ii) most teachers have not had an opportunity to study in an English speaking country, and (iii) a majority of them do not communicate in English on a regular basis, hence their lack of first-hand experience to sustain English teaching that takes communicative interactions as a means as well as

a goal of the teaching and learning process Secondly, typical Vietnamese schools are poor in teaching and learning conditions, with classes of around

50 students, classrooms and libraries inadequately equipped and teachers lowly paid Furthermore, class hours are few (2-3 hours a week) Thirdly, although the Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) has stated that it emphasizes the development of practical communication skills,

this is usually not de facto in classrooms In fact, as Tien (2013) pointed out, the widely accepted method of English teaching in Vietnam is traditional with focuses on reading comprehension, vocabulary and grammatical structures This is seen as essential so as to prepare students for the high school graduation and university entrance grammar-based examinations

From a different perspective, universities’ language teacher training programs have focused on the communicative theory of teaching as a response to the stated focus on communication skills by MOET However, newly trained teachers are too few to fight neither the abovementioned long-standing tradition of teaching English nor the pressure of preparing students for their turning-point examinations As a consequence, new communicative teaching techniques learned at teacher training courses tend to be abandoned while traditional language teaching, which is burdened with grammar and vocabulary, continues to thrive

Since 1986, Vietnam has opened its door to numerous countries regardless of political disparities, and a free, market-oriented economy has been adopted (Thinh, 2006) English has become the dominating language which serves as a means of exchange between Vietnamese and international citizens As a massive reaction to the call of potential economic and educational benefits brought by English, an overwhelming majority of employers are offering employment with a prerequisite of high English competency As a matter of fact, many job interviews are conducted in English In line with this, universities are applying new policies that only allow students to graduate with minimum-qualifying scores in IELTS, TOEFL, or TOEIC exams The situation has become really stressful for English-crippled undergraduates due to the inadequacies in English education

in earlier stages, as discussed above As new graduates find themselves highly unlikely to find a good job without an acceptable level of English

competence, the demand for English teaching and learning in Vietnam has become more urgent than ever The English-teaching market has also boomed because English has offered Vietnamese people golden opportunities in terms

of economics and education In order to meet the needs of a particularly large number of people who want to master English, both legitimate and non-legitimate education institutions have invested its resources in offering English courses English centers have mushroomed in the last decade to cater

to this demand

Unlike legitimate schools, English centers have been practicing communicative approach in English teaching since their inception Students who attend courses at centers are usually strongly motivated They attend class for a variety of reasons: to pass an exam like IELTS or TOEFL, to prepare to study abroad, or to win a job interview However, they all want to develop their language macro-skills, namely listening, speaking, reading, and writing To satisfy these customers, English centers have been employing the communicative approach as their main teaching method These non-legitimate educational institutions also have a relatively larger number of native teachers

in comparison with typical high schools or even universities They tend to employ native English speaking countries’ teaching materials as well These factors add to the inherently active pursuit of communicative teaching In essence, non-government sanctioned, for-profit English centers offer a more modern approach to English teaching while advertising that they have the advantage of providing native English speaking instructors Whether or not these native speaking instructors have trained as teachers cannot be concretely verified More reputable centers request certain qualifications be met while the demands are lower for less reputable centers – sometimes having white skin would suffice

2.2 The Research Participant and the Context of the Study The participant of this study valued her privacy and specifically requested that her name, her teachers’ and colleagues’ names as well as the name of the institution be kept confidential Accordingly, in this paper, Vi and Bright Language School (BLS) are used as pseudonyms respectively for the participant and her work place Names of her colleagues and teachers that appeared in her stories were also changed

Vi, 22 years old, graduated from Hue University - College of Foreign Languages (Vietnam) in August 2013 She started teaching at BLS English center in Ho Chi Minh City one month after graduation BLS had established

a nation-wide reputation for its professional and effective English training programs Having been to the same university and worked at the same institution (though at different times), the researcher stands a good chance of empathizing with Vi’s working situation Vi was introduced to the researcher

by a mutual friend who currently works at BLS Vi was chosen for this study because shortly prior to the commencement of it, she started her career as a teacher, which satisfied the purpose of this study - to examine the (re)construction of teacher professional identity in the first year at work

BLS began its operation in October 1996 In terms of human resources, BLS employs approximately 80 teachers, with one third of them being native English speakers It offers two main types of curriculum: English for children and English for adults The former classes take place on weekends, and the latter during weekday evenings One of the training priorities that have publicly been stated on BLS’s official website is learner-centered approach

At BLS, communicative teaching is approved and supported with available facilities such as computers and Internet access in each classroom, board

2.3 Rationale for sampling: Details into Vi’s Background: Lower

Socio-economically but Gifted Academically

Vi is from Lang Co, a small seaside village in Hue Province, central Vietnam She was born in 1991, the youngest in a poor family of four children, three girls and one boy The family depended on the sea for a living Her father was a fisherman and her mother a fish retailer In order to feed a six-mouth family, Vi’s parents also had to do a number of peripheral jobs such as producing and selling rice wine and charcoal They also raised pigs

Vi and her sisters, in addition to doing housework, also participated in the family businesses by fermenting rice to distill into rice wine and feeding the pigs Despite the hard work and unfavorable living conditions, the children excelled in academics

Her parents, surprisingly, never pushed their children to study Sometimes the two elder sisters helped the younger siblings with their studies Most of the time, however, they just helped themselves Their parents worked all day and did not have much time to tend to their children’ studies Once in

a while they would offer a candy bar for every good mark she and her siblings received Although her parents never pressured or gave strong incentives for Vi’s schoolwork, she was always among the top students of the class and school At primary school, she showed special aptitude for the Vietnamese language Her 5th grade homeroom teacher once told the whole class that she had a natural intuition for the language; that somehow Vi could feel what a word meant though she had probably never really seen or heard the word The