efl teacher’s identity formation the influences of learning and working experiences

The case study using narrative enquiry was conducted on that one teacher to explore her identity formation from the learning experiences in her student years to her experiences in workin

HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY

EFL TEACHER’S IDENTITY FORMATION: THE INFLUENCES OF LEARNING AND WORKING

EXPERIENCES

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in TESOL

Ho Chi Minh City, September 2019

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY

DO THI XUAN HUONG

EFL TEACHER’S IDENTITY FORMATION:

THE INFLUENCES OF LEARNING AND WORKING

Statement of authorship

I certify that this thesis entitled “EFL Teacher’s Identity Formation:

The Influences of Learning and Working Experiences” is my own work

No other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgement and proper citation in the main text of the thesis

This thesis has not been submitted for the award of any degree or diploma in any other tertiary institutions

Retention and use of the thesis

I hereby state that I, Do Thi Xuan Huong, a candidate for the degree of Master of Arts in TESOL, accept the requirements of Ho Chi Minh City Open University relating to the retention and use of Master’s Theses deposited in the Library

In terms of these conditions, I agree that the original of my Master’s Thesis deposited in the Library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the Librarian for the care, loan, and reproduction for theses

Ho Chi Minh City, 2019

DO THI XUAN HUONG

wonderful friend in life

I also want to show my special gratitude to a brother who helped me a lot in

finalizing this study and gave me a lot of helpful comments for this study Thank you so much for your generous support

Table of contents

Statement of authorship i

Retention and use of the thesis ii

Acknowledgement iii

Table of contents iv

List of abbreviations vii

List of appendices viii

Abstract ix

Chapter 1: Introduction 1

1.1 Current English language education in Vietnam 1

1.2 Statement of problems 2

1.3 Definition of key terms 3

1.4 Aims of the study 4

1.5 Research question 4

1.6 Significance of the study 4

1.7 Organization of the study 5

Chapter 2: Literature Review 6

2.1 Identity 6

2.2 Teacher identity 7

2.3 Identity formation 8

2 3 1 Identification 9

2 3 2 Negotiation of meanings 10

2.4 Factors influencing identity formation of teachers 12

2 4 1 The influence of learning experiences to the identity formation of a teacher 13

2 4 2 The influences of working experiences on the formation of teacher identity 16

2.5 EFL teacher’s identity formation 17

2.6 Audiolingual Method 18

Chapter 3: Methodology 22

3.1 Research design 22

3.2 Rationale for case study 22

3.3 Rationale for narrative inquiry 23

3.4 The research site and participant 25

3.5 Research tools 25

3.6 Research procedure 29

3.7 Data collection 29

3.8 The concern of validity and ethics 30

Chapter 4: Findings 32

4.1 Impacts of learning experiences on identity formation 32

4 1 1 From a learner struggling with English to a good learner of English and then a teacher of English 32

4 1 2 Inferiority as a motivation in learning 34

4 1 3 The motivation from good teacher in life 35

4 1 4 The dependent learner 35

4.2 Impacts of working experiences on the identity formation 36

4 2 1 Impact of teaching training on a teacher’s identity 36

4 2 2 Negotiation of meanings between an EFL student to an EFL teacher 37

4 2 3 Negotiation of meanings between a once-tutor for small classes to a novice teacher of large classes 40

4 2 4 Problems of the academic programs at work and solutions to them in private classes 41

4 2 5 The belief in teaching method consolidated through the time 42

4 2 6 Image of self as a teacher 45

4 2 7 The motivation from financial hardship to the teaching job 47

4 2 8 The recruitment of students as a private tutor and as a center founder 48

Chapter 5: Discussion 49

5.1 Sub-research question 1: influences of learning experiences to identity formation 49 5 1 1 The ownership of negotiation of meaning as an EFL learner 49

5 1 2 Impact of the sense of inferiority in identity formation 50

5.2 Sub-research question 2: influences of working experiences to identity formation 50 5 2 1 Constant conflicts between the ideal and compulsory identity in the transitional period from an EFL learners to and an EFL teacher 51

5 2 2 Negotiation of meanings to become a good EFL teacher 51

5 2 3 Belief of ALM consolidated through the time and the self-image as an ALM practitioner 53

5 2 4 Impact of financial pressure on identity formation 54

Chapter 6: Conclusion 55

6.1 Summary of key findings of the study 55

6.2 Implications of the study 56

6.3 Limitations of the study 57

6.4 Recommendations of the study 58

6.5 Conclusions 58

References 59

Appendices 64

Appendix 1 Research instruments 65

The interview questions - The Vietnamese version 68

Observation form 71

Appendix 2 The consent form 96

Appendix 3 Selected quotes from the interview 99

List of abbreviations

List of appendices Appendix 1 Research instruments 65

Appendix 2 The consent form 96

Appendix 3 Selected quotes from the interview 99

Abstract Teacher’s identity formation has been a topic of interest for a long time In recent years, the teaching world has experienced an overwhelming wave of non-method teaching English which is a colloquial phrase for eclectic approach in EFL education In that setting this study was done to examine a seemingly unusual case of a teacher of English staying steadfastly loyal to Audiolingual Teaching Method (ALM) since her first contact with it as a student till now deeply into her teaching practice The case study using

narrative enquiry was conducted on that one teacher to explore her identity formation from the learning experiences in her student years to her experiences in working as an ALM practitioner The research was based on the framework of identity formation of Wenger (1998) and found when the self-identity matches the imagined identity on the community, the alignment with the community will occur otherwise the exclusion to the community will appear Furthermore, inferiority and financial hardship was revealed as the two factors influencing much on Lan’s identity formation

Keywords: EFL teacher identity formation, ALM, learning experience, working

experience

Chapter 1: Introduction

1.1 Current English language education in Vietnam

After Vietnam participated in the Association of South East Asia Nations in 1995 and was

a member of the World Trade Organization in 2007, English was considered more and more essential in Vietnamese society (Hadisantosa & Johnstone, 2010) English has become the most popular foreign language chosen by most of Vietnamese learners (Do, 2006) Being fluent in English created confidence and opportunities for learners in

various fields in Vietnamese context Furthermore, with the growth of technologies in Vietnam, English was expected to be an effective and helpful tool for the youth to access and update information online to enhance their study as well as their career (X V

Nguyen, 2003) Thus, improving English teaching quality has been taken into

consideration as one of the priorities that Vietnam should focus on to be ready for global integration In 2008, English was mentioned as one of the foreign languages taught in educational institutions nationwide in the national project about foreign language

teaching and learning in Vietnam from 2008 to 2020 Then the Common European

Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) was utilized to access English

competence of the educational system in Vietnam (Nguyen, 2015)

Furthermore, it could not be denied that English teaching in Vietnam was mainly centered and grammar-and-vocabulary focused (Pham, 2005) Teachers took the primary roles in class control as well as lesson delivery through structures and vocabulary;

teacher-therefore, students were accustomed to perceiving knowledge passively and apathetically (Dang, 2010) Also, the traditional teaching method of Grammar Translation Method (GTM), which dictates that students acquired a language through grammar rules and translation tasks (Richards & Schmidt, 2013), is still commonly seen in public school systems in Vietnam However, many recent studies have shown that English learners in Vietnam are not completely passive as they were in the past (An, 2002; Ngoc & Iwashita, 2012) Ngoc and Iwashita (2012) indicated that Vietnamese learners exposed themselves

enthusiastically into classroom activities like group work, and pair work to enhance their language proficiency In speaking sections, learners seemed to be more excited to join in discussions and exchange their ideas with other classmates Furthermore, they also want

to practice speaking in classroom activities to discuss various topics and their own ideas about particular events (Ngoc & Iwashita, 2012) Though learners themselves are still somehow affected by traditional learning methods, the desire to be more active in

language acquisition helps them manage their learning efficiently (Dang, 2010) This has led to the diversion from Grammar-Translation method as a popular teaching method in EFL classrooms in Vietnam Many other teaching methods and approaches such as Direct Method, Audiolingual Method and Communicative Approach have been applied

in classrooms to encourage learners’ communication in English The Direct Method, which is based on the belief that the second language (L2) should be used as the

replacement of the mother tongue (L1), even for classroom instruction to eliminate translation in learning English (Stern, 1983), has become the favorite for those who focus more on spoken language Another popular teaching method is Audiolingual Method (ALM), which focuses on oral communication with the use of patterns and vocabulary to promote L1 use in the classroom(Akkerman & Meijer, 2011) Besides, Communicative Language Teaching approach concentrates on helping learners acquire communicative competence which is the knowledge that language learners should

comprehend and produce their own thought or ideas through interaction(Ellis & Fotos, 1999) Recently, the trend of applying Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) is common at schools, universities and English centers in various cities and provinces in Vietnam (T Nguyen, 2015) English teachers now can choose different language

teaching methods to apply to meet their teaching objectives for their lessons

1.2 Statement of problems

There should not be any single method which is exclusively utilized in the classroom (Abu-Melhim, 2009); therefore, many discrepant teaching methods or approaches, have been applied in Vietnamese EFL classroom these days to motivate learning and assist

teachers to ensure their teaching outcomes In fact, there is a strong bond between

classroom objectives and teaching methodology and the teachers’ responsibility is to decide which methods or approaches should be applied to fulfil their teaching goals and ensure learners’ result (Abu-Melhim, 2009) Hence, the traditional teaching method like GTM is often combined with other advanced approaches (Hiep, 2005) to improve

learner’s English proficiency

English proficiency of Vietnamese workforce is too insufficient to meet employers’

requirement (Anh, 2012) and thus find it hard to get a good position in international enterprises (Ha Thi, 2007) Therefore, communicative proficiency should be one of the priorities to enhance learners’ English levels (Nguyen, 2015) Teachers can deliver their lessons with GMT but more teaching methods such as direct method, ALM and CLT should be applied in practice sections to create more opportunities for Vietnamese

learners to improve their language proficiency

However, though ALM also focus on increasing learners’ communicative competence through patterns and vocabulary, not many English teachers prefer using this approach into their lessons exclusively On the contrary, the participant of this study still choose to stick with ALM as the main teaching method in her classrooms and achieve some success

in her career as an EFL teacher Her story inspires the writer to conduct this research with narrative inquiry in order to figure out how she has developed teacher’s identity as a loyal practitioner of ALM in English teaching Also, teacher’s identity formation has been input into the literature with data only from secondary school teachers and

university lecturers(Cheung, 2014) There is an absence of teacher’s identity formation at private language centers They are reasons for this study

1.3 Definition of key terms

The audio-lingual method (ALM) is an oral approach that highlights vocabulary

acquisition and grammatical sentence patterns based on the context and without error (Akkerman & Meijer, 2011)

Teachers’ identity is shaped by their “personal characteristics, learning history, prior

experiences and beliefs”, which are closely connected to the student life, and by

“professional contexts, colleagues, or teachers’ knowledge, skills and educational

attitudes” which come during teaching practice (Pillen, Den Brok, & Beijaard, 2013)

“Narrative inquiry has at its core a focus on the study of experience as it is lived…

Narrative inquiry is based on the premise that, as human beings, we come to understand and give meaning to our lives through story” (McMullen & Braithwaite, 2013)

1.4 Aims of the study

The purpose of this study was to comprehend how a teacher formed her identity

formation as an ALM practitioner and identify how learning and working experiences affect her identity formation Basing on the findings of this research, more

recommendations will be suggested to give the solutions for some problems of EFL

learners and teachers

1.5 Research question

To fulfil the aim of the research, the full answer is sought for the research question: “How has Lan formed her identity as an ALM practitioner?”

This question can be broken down into the following sub-questions

1 How do her learning experiences affect her identity formation?

2 How do her working experiences affect her identity formation?

1.6 Significance of the study

This study brought insight into the understanding of a teacher’s attachment to lingual method in teaching English It gave the students suffering inferiority in learning English strength and motivation to keep on their English learning journey through a real inspiring story from an EFL teacher experiencing the same problems in her student years

Audio-The research also informed EFL teachers of a possibly successful teaching method to teach their students struggling with English study or experiencing the sense of inferiority

in English learning

1.7 Organization of the study

The thesis is presented in six chapters as follows

Chapter 1 provides background information for a clear understanding of the research

context by summarizing current English language education in Vietnam, and presents research problems, aims, questions, significance, and organization

Chapter 2 presents background theories related to identity, professional identity, identity

formation, EFL teacher’s identity formation and Audio-lingual Method Also, the

framework of Wenger (1998) for identity formation is clarified in this chapter

Chapter 3 clarifies research design and methodology which describes the research site

and participants in details After that, the data collection and analysis are elaborated to ensure validity and ethics

Chapter 4 provides the findings of how the teacher has formed her identity as an ALM

practitioner following Wenger’s framework

Chapter 5 discusses the influences of learning and working experiences that constitute

the participant’s belief about the teaching method and the formation of teaching practice throughout her teaching career

Chapter 6 summarizes important findings and then provides implications and

recommendations for future research Finally, the conclusion is drawn for the study

Chapter 2: Literature Review

This chapter looks at theories about identity and identity formation with the dual process by Wenger (1998) Additionally, there will be a review about teacher identity and identity formation of ELF teachers Finally, the influences of learning experiences and teaching experiences on identity formation of EFL teachers are presented

2.1 Identity

Identity is a complicated concept which is very hard to define due to its multifaceted

nature (Gee, 2001) Wenger (1998, p 149) emphasized the bond between identity and

practice and theorized identity as ”negotiated experience”, “community membership”,

“learning trajectory”, “nexus of multi-membership”, and “ a relation between the local and the global” Identity is formed through participation and reification When people join a community, they make efforts to be recognized as a member, and the common expectations of the community clarify what regulations members need to conform to as participants Therefore, certain levels of participants are obvious in the community

whose requirements reify the membership of that community A teacher working in an organization should find herself as a part of that workplace where she needs to follow particular norms of behavior and practice Organizational culture and regulations at that time give her the guideline to integrate into the community, perform her job in relation to different practices and agents, and contribute her personal traits of meaning to define herself as both a unique self and an organizational representative At this stage, she really constructs her identity by participating in the community and projecting her own image

of a participant in her own distinct way Moreover, she identify herself through her competence, which is what she believes she is good at, comfortable with, or familiar with The resentment she feels against something will divert her away from being

involved in or influenced by it As regards learning trajectories, a teacher can have long term or short term goal when approaching the teaching job, and this affect her efforts to equip herself with necessary skills, knowledge, and relationship to constantly change her identity until she finds satisfied with it Therefore, becoming a senior teacher at a school

may not be the end of drastic change of identity if the person still wants to go beyond being an employee in an organization to become an entrepreneur in education services, moving up to a managerial position, or stepping in to political career The suggestions for a practitioner’s enhancement of required skills and knowledge come from the history

of operation of the community of practice, and its plan for the future The present, thus, will be the ground for realizing the future intentions on the foundation of knowledge and lessons from the past As regards identity as nexus of multi-membership, the

environment people live and work in is much broader than just the workplace, so a male teacher can perform as a teaching practitioner at school, but a father and husband at home, or a local environmental activist in the park at weekend Each and every single role people put on themselves is inter-related and contribute to form one unified identity, but in separate communities, some traits will be more valued and thus will be more

exposed For example, when a teacher is at school, he or she will need to exchange knowledge in academic topics, but in a group of business friends, the update of the

market or the sharpness to recognize opportunities will be of great values However, the complexity and multi-facets of the world is also inevitable in each community of practice where there is expected to be overlapping and intersected features of different

communities close or distant, supporting or contradicting to make the whole of a small world where things are created, introduced and negotiated Therefore, one should not expect any clear-cut distinction of any environments, or communities and their influences

on the identity of a person In this research, the participant is a teacher; hence, the theory

of teacher identity will also be clarified

2.2 Teacher identity

Teacher identity has an essential role in teachers’ professional development (Lee, 2013; Tsui, 2007) The identity that a teacher develop will create an image of the teacher he/she wish to become and affect his/her choices of selecting content, teaching roles, methods, and teaching materials in his/her classroom as well as his/her interaction with learners, co-workers and the other people in the teaching environment(Pennington, 2014)

According to Johnson (1996, p 24), teaching is an activity including “the interpretation” and “negotiation of meaning” in classroom context This dual process continuously shape and redefine teacher identity Therefore, teacher identity is considered as a

dynamic process influenced by a teacher’s educational experiences and ongoing

negotiation of meaning in various context (Beijaard, Meijer, & Verloop, 2004; Coldron & Smith, 1999) In addition, it is also an complicated, many-faceted and on-going process which can show teacher identity’s complexity and changing nature (Pennington, 2014)

In regard to teacher identity’s definition, there are many discrepant versions mentioned in different published research Olsen (2008, p 15) mentioned teacher identity as:

the collection of influences and effects from immediate contexts, prior constructs

of self, social positioning, and meaning systems (each itself a fluid influence and all together an ever- changing construct) that become intertwined inside the flow

of activity as a teacher simultaneously reacts to and negotiates given contexts and human relationships at given moments

While Beauchamp and Thomas (2009, p 177)states that teacher identity is the dual view

of “process” which is the ongoing changing in teacher development and “product” which

is showing the result of factors affecting the teacher in specific context and purpose Though these definitions can be different, they reveal the same thought that teacher

identity is a multifaceted and dynamic concept which should be described basing on the context and purpose (Lee, 2013, p 343) In addition, in order to have better

understanding of identity or teacher identity, identity formation process should be

mentioned to clarified how identity can be formed

2.3 Identity formation

Teacher’s professional identity has widely researched in the fast few decades (Akkerman

& Meijer, 2011; Beauchamp & Thomas, 2009) However, there are few concepts

recognized as officially universal norms or definitions for identity That obviously

explains why although variety of research about identity formation have been conducted

to shed light and give better understanding in this field, the framework of Wenger (1998)

is still considered as an effective tool to approach one’s identity formation(Tsui, 2007) Identity formation goes through two constituent processes of identification and

negotiation of meanings (Wenger, 1998)

2 3 1 Identification

Identification is considered by Wenger (1998) as the investment of self in constructing associations with and differentiations from the community one belongs to The materials for identity construction come from the processes of participation (identifying as) and reification (identifying with) To clarify the process of identification, he suggested the consideration of the three modes of belonging to social learning that are engagement, imagination, and alignment First, he defined engagement as a “three-fold process”

involving the “negotiations of meaning”, the “formation of trajectory”, and the

“unfolding of histories of practice” (Wenger, 1998) Engagement involves a variety of processes such as identifying organizational commonality to follow, participating in

shared activities, accruing shared experiences, developing recognized competence, and establishing inter-personal relationships to name a few However, engagement, with its emphasis on history, may put constraints on individual identity formation which is

encompassed by traditions and deeply rooted practices Second, imagination is

projecting new images of ourselves and of the world It exists outside mutual

engagement In imagination, the assertion is made for the existence of three important visions: the personal, organizational, and the world visions put in connection with each other to form clear ideas of where people are positioned and what they should and can do Imagination comprises some concrete acts like seeing ourselves in others, envisioning ourselves in the future following specific trajectories, welcoming novel ideas and

practices, conceiving conditions for developing our practices, changing patterns,

disrupting histories, creating new prospective, or looking for different methods to

perform familiar tasks Third, Wenger (1998) continued to explain alignment as adjusting

to the culture of the community or institution This process takes place when people

participate in communities to exchange with other members and perceive activities and experiences to improve the understanding of the community so as to act in accordance with institutional norms and expectations as well as their own plan for professional

development To align oneself with a community, one needs to look for similarities and differences he or she possesses compared to the organization, negotiating with others to make their own features accepted by the community, reconciling different perspectives, suggesting practices to synchronize people’s work or even imposing their views on

others

2 3 2 Negotiation of meanings

According to Wenger (1998), meanings do not exist in people or in the world, but in the constant negotiation of meaning, which is a process constituted by participation and reification, as people carry out interpretations and actions within their thoughts, words, or activities and everything else when they live their lives The created meanings then serve

as foundations for negotiating other meanings in a seemingly endless process This nature or meaning makes it always in motion and alteration The negotiation of meaning

is considered to have traits “of continuous interaction, gradual achievement, and of and-take” (Wenger, 1998, p 53) It constantly changes the situations meaning can be created in, and this dictates the formation of meanings is gradual with continuous update

give-of new features Also, meanings do not give birth to itself, and are not transferred from any entity to another; it is indeed shaped from the interaction between the meaning

makers and everything in the world around them However, the negotiation of meanings happens not only when there is conflict between external beliefs or regulations of

communities of practice and internal experiences and beliefs at a specific time but also when there is a shift in personal beliefs due to changes in experiences or intake of new knowledge which alters understanding of aspects of the world Meanings are also

negotiated between the meaning creator and other community members The interest in meaning negotiation of a larger number of people will further strengthen the value of the meanings each person creates when such meanings are products of personal reasoning

and persuasion through agreement sharing and conflict resolution Meaning ownership of

a person is claimed once meanings have overcome the hurdle of coercion from powers or institutional policies to become adjustable and manageable at will for that person If the person failed to persuade community members to accept his or her own meanings due to mismatch between created meanings and those commonly received in the community, alienation, non-participation and marginality will occur

2 3 2 1 Participation

According to Wenger (1998), participation is understood to be diverse consisting

of all kinds of relationships disregarding they are favorable or conflictual It does not necessarily mean cooperation, but it can also imply competition Participation is a social process which can incur without clear physical contact with members of the

communities Indeed, as long as there are signs of meaning inserted into the community

by people, they prove to be contributing into their community For example, a teacher teaching in America, can do much contribution into the teaching community in Vietnam through his or her share of work experience on the mass media Moreover, individuals’ participation in the community impacts both the experience of the participants and the characteristics of the community Also, participation goes beyond the physical space and time or exceed the boundary of interactions with specific people at work It is activated always and carried out of offices to every corner of people’s lives and obviously acts as

an important part of their identities This is obviously true when teachers can have

classes that make or ruin their days because their feelings can be with them in various

moments in their lives even when off from work

2 3 2 1 Reification

Reification is understood as turning something abstract to concrete If we

compare participation and reification, the former embeds mutual connections which help

us see ourselves in one another while the latter means projecting ourselves to the world Reification involves numerous processes such as making, designing, representing,

naming, encoding, and describing, as well as perceiving, interpreting, using, reusing, decoding, and recasting” (Wenger, 1998, p 59) Those are also actions people performed

in participation; therefore, the reciprocal relationship between participation and

reification is indisputable Furthermore, reification can have great influences on people’s change of perceptions Even a new experience or a new tool in use can start the

reification of relevant concepts and transform people’s lives and work For instance, experiencing the outcome of a course reify a teacher’s perception of what should be an effective teaching methodology, and thus can change his or her practice for other classes Another example is the advent of the wi-fi connection in classroom which enables the bring-your-own-device teaching approach can reify the concept of classroom motivation

by adding into it more technology integration to create more fascinating synchronous interactions in the cyber space However, that conclusion of the effective teaching

method can be misleading and lead to consequences later Therefore, reification is a trigger to people’s shift of awareness and sometimes is detrimental if it is recklessly

placed in a wrong direction

2.4 Factors influencing identity formation of teachers

According to Cheung (2014), teachers’ professional identity is influenced by many

discrepant factors Those factors consist of teachers’ ability in academic subjects(Liu &

Xu, 2011; Tsui, 2007), their images of self as a teacher, their self-respect, the engagement and contentment in their jobs, future job prospects and their job awareness (Czerniawski, 2011; Flores & Day, 2006) in different contexts such as socio - cultural context

(Ruohotie-Lyhty, 2013) and working environment (Beauchamp & Thomas, 2009) They are classified into 2 main themes: learning and working Therefore, in order to

understand how teachers’ identity is shaped and reshaped, teachers’ stories about their study experiences and working experiences was worth studying(Bilgen & Richards, 2015)

2 4 1 The influence of learning experiences to the identity formation of a teacher

In order to deeply understand how learning experience affected teacher identity

formation, an overview of how learning happened in teachers’ student life, in practicums

or teachers’ training courses should be clarified

2 4 1 1 Learning in student life

In studying the relationship of identity components with influences on teachers’ entry into the career and their professional development, Olsen (2008) emphasized the importance of considering the teacher’s past including the experience they had in family and at school Teachers’ professional identities can be formed through combination of their learning experience, career training and other factors of their current job (Feiman-Nemser, 2001) Moreover, Lortie (1975) has called attention to the crucial role of

schooling time in teacher identity formation in his study referring how identity was formed Reminiscing about their time at schools, teachers have their own memories creating either positive or negative impression in their student life This period was considered as a mediating time in forming identity from a student to teacher student and

in verifying teacher identity formation’s factors Olsen (2008) emphasizes that teachers’ experiences in the past, present, and future are considered to be one of the key factors affecting their identity formation How learning can be best facilitated in the view of the present teachers is inherently connected to how teaching is performed to favor their past learning (Flores & Day, 2006) In a case study, Amy Tsui demonstrates the faith of Min Fang for the traditional language teaching method focusing on reading and grammar, which confronts his practice of a communicative language teaching method practiced in his university (Tsui, 2007) That attachment heavily inclined to grammar and reading went with Min Fang to the battle between his belief in traditional language instruction and communicative language teaching method he reluctantly followed in his first few years of teaching In fact, the students’ observation of the teaching can bring about the apprenticeship and practical experience of the teaching job to them (Schempp, Sparkes,

& Templin, 1999) Not only the use of teaching method, but also teachers’ behaviors or treatments can add more experience to students to concretize ideas about how a good teacher should be like Also, the learning environments of students are bound to

historical, cultural, and even economic conditions among others One of the greatest influences on the teaching and learning is the availability of resources With limited resources, teacher- centeredness can be more prevalent than learner- centeredness in academic activities meanwhile students’ activeness and individualization of learning is fostered more with huge resources and easy access now Good teaching models will be followed (Lortie, 1975) while negative experience of an academic environment in the student life can render lessons about what need avoiding or improving to better support learning In one way or another, learning experience during school years helps establish

the belief in a person of what teachers should and should not do

2 4 1 2 Learning in practicum or in teacher training courses

This is the time giving rise to conflict between personal belief and the teaching method that is taught if they are contradicting or mismatched at certain extents

Organizations may have different directions from personal perspectives to develop

teaching and learning Teacher training courses do not only happen at universities or institutions where students are educated to become teachers, it also happens in short courses of TESOL, or TEFL certificates, or even at exclusive teaching method training in

a particular school This training can otherwise consolidate the personal belief and encourage them to apply that belief in their work (Flores & Day, 2006) Furthermore, both school environment and personal experience during training courses are considered

to be the valuable factors in teaching experience assessment (Flores & Day, 2006) As

we may know, teacher identity formation is very complicated, which relates closely to particular situation, time, and context (Danielewicz, 2001) During the training courses, student teachers may have some changes in their perceptions toward teaching career and reconstruct their teaching knowledge in term of activities or tasks used in their classroom (Taylor & Littleton, 2006) Therefore, according to Chong (2011) student teachers can

gradually construct their profession identity through various training contexts However,

to understand the perceptions of a student teacher, their concerns during the training or early teaching time should be paid more attention Gilles, Cramer, and Hwang (2001) mentioned three periods of concerns that the teachers might deal with in their early

teaching career The first one is “survival” when the teachers finds it hard to balance between their selves and their external images observed by their coworkers and students The “mastery “is considered as the second period when teachers worried much about their current learning and teaching contexts The last period called “impact” on which teachers have much pressures on how to teach and impact their students’ learning

Therefore, the instructions during the training courses must be emphasized to equip teachers with better knowledge and practical experiences and to prevent concerns

appearing in their initial teaching career Moreover, Wenger (1998) claimed that identity and learning cannot be divisible It is related to the student teachers’ learning within the community of practice that can be understood through relationship in training courses at universities or English centers Student teachers’ perception of their career development

is significantly affected during the mentoring periods through self- reflections

themselves, and mutual interaction between instructors and student teachers, and from tutors in universities, or tutors in training courses (Lopez‐Real & Kwan, 2005)

However, learning should be an endless process for educators, and it is expected for them

to keep updating new knowledge and skills to improve their teaching (Putnam & Borko, 2000) Identity is constructed by teachers’ knowledge and skills and also suggests what needs to be learned (Battey & Franke, 2008) What has been acknowledged to be

beneficial for teaching and learning has got itself carved in the teaching practice perhaps with checks and balances from multiple comparisons and trial and error Also, problems are inevitable and solving them will require teachers to seek new knowledge and skills pertaining to specific solutions Therefore, learning can take place when teachers

encounter trouble with some specific needs of students and has managed to resolve them Moreover, it can also come in professional exchanges teachers have in academic

workshops or professional conferences where models of effective teaching techniques are

discussed (Saxe & Gearhart, 2001) Additionally, in casual conversations with colleagues where consultancies and experiences can be shared among academic staff, some ideas may turn out to be the key to problems or the open door to step to an interesting direction

in reforming the current teaching practice (Darling-Hammond & Richardson, 2009) Also, the involvement of the teachers in research is another catalysts for their

enhancement of skills and knowledge for the job The more people know about how teaching is done in similar settings, the more they are equipped with dos and donts to ensure better chance of success for their practice In brief, knowledge and skills teachers gain from their actual teaching, their colleagues, and professional or research activities are crucial in shaping and reshaping their identities or build their belief in practice and envision the future learning in their career advancement (Darling-Hammond &

Richardson, 2009) Especially, for those who move to teaching from different

professions can have influences from some set of beliefs originated from their previous jobs Their working experience and observation or self-reflection in other fields may have close relevance to the teaching job, which prompts them to seek to meet demand of specific needs of English for specific purposes Therefore, factors of practicality, and the amount of time devoted to different forms of practice are likely to exist in the teachers’

However, forcing all teachers to follow one teaching method may mean rejecting

differences in individual teachers and cause discomfort for their work because at times,

they have to act against their belief of what is good to offer their students (Pennington & Richards, 2016) Continuing this oppressive atmosphere for a long time even drives these teachers out of the school to escape the feeling of being too tightly controlled and doing things against free will On the other hand, if the control of teaching methods is not too rigid, testing the effectiveness of the modifications of certain teaching methods can be done by some teachers In places where full permission is given to teachers to improvise in their teaching, an aura of eclecticism of the post-method era can be

prevalent In such environments teachers may not care about what method they need to adhere to but about how to create appealing activities and tasks to motivate and facilitate learning This research is talking about an EFL teacher’s identity formation; therefore, after identifying factors influencing identity formation, the summaries of EFL teachers’ identity formation will be mentioned to bring the better background theory for the study

2.5 EFL teacher’s identity formation

In this section, the summaries of three different studies about EFL teachers’ identity formation worldwide will be mentioned Narrative inquiry was utilized in these studies

to bring insight of EFL teachers’ identity through their stories

Tsui (2007) used narrative inquiry to explore the formation of identity of Minfang as a learner of English and then as an EFL teacher based on Wenger’s framework of

professional identity formation (Wenger, 1998) The findings reveal the struggle of Minfang to adapt to the communicative learning style from a learning history full of Grammar-translation instruction That struggle was transferred into his early teaching career when he felt the force to teach differently from what he believed to be an effective method and then to his more systematic critique about CLT when he took a Ph D course

in teaching of English The dual processes of the negotiation of meanings and

identification (participation and reification) revealed the complicatedness of Minfang’s identity formation The study brought into light the central role of participation and emphasized the impacts of power of meaning in the alignment between personal identity and organizational identity

Liu and Xu (2011) reported how the negotiation of meaning of an EFL teacher occurred

to survive in an educational institution where traditional and liberal pedagogies exist The findings revealed that it’s necessary for teacher to shift their identities to survive change Non-participation was considered as the strategy for her to deal with the reform practice and was the great chance for her to deeply explore the implications of the reform

Ruohotie-Lyhty (2013) conducted the research about the professional identity formation

of two newly qualified EFL teachers in Finland Their narration showed the opposite experiences: a miserable and an easy The finding emphasized that the match between teachers’ expectation and school realities has an essential role in maintaining the positive development of teachers’ identities

The findings from the three studies mentioned above provide better understanding about how EFL teachers’ identity was formed and reformed This provides the researcher with the information of what have been researched and suggest which part should be studied in this research

However, for language teaching, the teaching method representing the school is

influential to the way teachers deliver the lesson, and while each teacher has a

self-constructed set of beliefs about what effective teaching is, there can be the interaction and adjustment of these organizational and personal practices (Amy Tsui, 2007) The study explores the identity formation of a teacher who has stayed loyal to the Audio-lingual Method throughout her working life till now; therefore, an elaboration about this teaching method for EFL is necessary

phonology, morphology and syntax through contrastive analysis of the discrepancy

between mother tongue and target language to acquire the new language more effectively

In addition, Richards and Rodgers (2014) claimed that behavioral psychology created the considerable effects on learning and teaching principles in Audio-lingual Method

Behaviorism is based on 3 major elements which are stimulus, response, and

reinforcement In order to comprehend this teaching methods, its main principles must be strictly implemented in the classroom Richards and Rodgers (1986, p 51) mentioned the four main principles in this method:

(1) Language learning is a process shaping from mechanical habits Good habits are formed from correct responses from learners rather than making mistakes

(2) Language skills are studied more efficiently if learners study with spoken forms rather than written form

(3) Analogy gives learners a better background for language learning rather than analysis of grammar or linguistics rules The explanation will not be given to

learners before they exposed themselves in pattern practice in discrepant contexts (4) Language learning must be in the context of linguistics and culture

The practice of drills and patterns can be very diverse in ALM Richards and Rodgers (1986, p 54) mentioned 12 different activities for ALM:

(1) Repetition: the learner speaks out loud an utterance as soon as she hear it For example, she speaks English - She speaks English

(2) Infection: one element in an utterance will be changed in form when that utterance is repeated

For example: She buys the car - She buys the cars

For example: She loves houses - She loves them

(4) Restatement: the learner restates an utterance and follows the teacher’s instruction to ask another learner

For example: Ask her when she is free - When are you free?

(5) Completion: the learner listens to an utterance lacking one word, and says

it again in full form

For example: I have…computer - I have a computer

added

For example: She will buy a new house (so) - So will she

(7) Expansion: A word is put in a correct place in the utterance or sentence

For example: She gets up early (often) - She often gets up early

(8) Contraction: a phrase or a clause was represented by a single word

For example: She will buy a new house - She will buy it

(9) Transformation: A sentence is transformed into negative, interrogative or through changes others such as tenses, voices and emotion

For example: She buys a new house - She does not buy a new house

(10) Integration: Link 2 different utterances into one

For example: It is good She will buy a new house - It is good that she will buy a

new house

(11) Rejoinder: the learner response appropriately to the given utterance

For example: (Be polite) Would you like some tea? - Yes, please

(12) Restoration: the learner make sentences from a set of words

For example: She /go/ school/today – She goes to school today

Chapter 3: Methodology

3.1 Research design

This qualitative case study employed narrative enquiry to explore the twist and turn of the identity formation following the framework of Wenger (1998) for identity formation through dual processes Identity formation is complex and involves various factors That requires the study to be done with narrative inquiry to probe for hidden and significant milestones in the history of the participant when she relive her student life and teaching life

3.2 Rationale for case study

One of the key purpose of this study was to bring insights into the understanding of the teacher’s attachment to audio-lingual method in teaching English and factors influenced her identity formation through her life stories For this reason, a case study was

definitely most appropriate methodology It concentrated on analysing events, programs and experiences of individuals or groups deeply and specifically (Creswell & Creswell, 2017), and according to (Creswell & Creswell, 2017; Yin, 2003) case study also provided the researchers opportunities to discover more about individuals or even organizations through investigating complicated interference, rapports, communities, and programs Therefore, applying case study into this research would help the researchers deeply

comprehend about which factors affect the participant’s identity formation through her learning and working experience In addition, the case study approach also provides the overall understanding and explore the phenomenon within the context by utilizing a wide range of data sources (Baxter & Jack, 2008) Observations were used as a research tool to help the researcher understand more about how ALM was delivered in the participant’s classroom Also, some particular incidents and behaviors that the participant may have in her teaching would be witnessed through observation (Merriam, 1998) Besides,

interviews were applied in this qualitative research to study more about the participant’s life and relationships around her, which played essentials parts in forming her identity

With the case study, more details will be analyzed to clarify how the participant’s identity was formed in discrepant circumstances chronologically and according to the dual

processes of Wenger (1998)

3.3 Rationale for narrative inquiry

McMullen and Braithwaite (2013, p 93) stated: “Narrative inquiry has at its core a focus

on the study of experience as it is lived… Narrative inquiry is based on the premise that,

as human beings, we come to understand and give meaning to our lives through story” Narrative inquiry helps participants to relive the experiences they have had in life

(Heikkilä, Uusiautti, & Määttä, 2012; Tsui, 2007) through which, reasons for their belief and practice can be unveiled Also, it is asserted that narrative inquiry can provide

findings about personal learning history with a broad reach to in-class as well as after class experiences, together with psychological and contextual impressions that are

beyond reach in other research methods (Michie, 2013) Similar aspects of understanding are also desired in studies about teachers’ experience at work This research method collects data through narratives like biographies, reflective texts, teaching and learning diary, memoirs, interviews, narrative frames (open written answers by filling in gaps preceded by prompts), or anthropological observational narratives (Heikkilä et al , 2012; Michie, 2013) As a popular research tool, interviews normally last for hours aiming at facilitating the mood for the story tellers to share their memories imbued with vivid

emotions attached to specific people or events Although not all of the facts can be

recalled, the tellers are expected to make their stories as true as possible, and the giving

of numerous details of happenings offer not only the descriptions of events but also the subjective and personal explanations for them (Rubin & Rubin, 2011) As for other research tools which are gaining grounds in narrative research, to collect narrative

information, participants are required to spend time eliciting recounts of their past or reveal some of their personal diaries However, this approach seems tiresome and may touch sensitive parts of life for many respondents and thus not practical to utilize After all, the use of single data source of interviews is somehow still justified because it is

acknowledged that when people tell their stories, they are sketching the construction of their identity (Beauchamp & Thomas, 2009; Rubin & Rubin, 2011) To conduct a

narrative research, open questions are usually posed to the participant who was

encouraged to freely open her answers However, depending on the research topic, targeting the specific sections of people’s stories dictates that more attention be directed

to some specific stages or milestones of her life only Therefore, it is advisable for interviews to happen in many rounds in a way that shallow knowledge about the

participant may be gained from preliminary data analysis which suggest further in depth questions for later interviews The probe for interesting facts in a teacher’s identity formation can start with general stimuli for the participant to share about her student life and then her working life She can brief the whole story of identity formation in the first interview, and this will help unearth major events and people in her stories which will become subjects for scrutiny in later interviews In this scheme, most interviews will be done with special focus to bring insight into specific themes (Heikkilä et al , 2012)

To figure out the answer for the research question “ “How has Lan formed her identity as

an ALM practitioner?”, narrative inquiry was definitely the most appropriate method since narrative research was essential in terms of comprehending how teacher identity was formed and reformed (Bathmaker & Harnett, 2010; Burns & Bell, 2011)

Furthermore, narrative inquiry was commonly used in studies related to teacher identity formation (Ruohotie-Lyhty, 2013; Tsui, 2007) to understand how teachers understand the ownership of their identities (Bathmaker & Harnett, 2010) Indeed, teachers’ stories about their milestones or experiences were very important and played a crucial role in identity formation and negotiation (Frank, 2000; Smith & Squire, 2007)

Therefore, narrative inquiry was utilized in this study to help Lan, an EFL teacher,

reminisce her stories about learning and working experiences Her stories were not interrupted and the researchers would base on her narratives to analyze how learning and working experience affected her identity formation

3.4 The research site and participant

The participant’s pseudonym, Lan will be used throughout the rest of this thesis She is now self-employed and teaches English at her own center; therefore, the research site is

at the participant’s English language center It is a 2-storey building, two floors dedicated

to teaching, each floor has 2 rooms, each room accommodates up to 20 students, located

in Tan Binh district, a busy district not far from the city center

The participant is a friend and used to be a colleague of the researcher She has been living in Ho Chi Minh city, which has been considered to be one of the places having the highest living standard and quality of English teaching for many years She graduated from a college majoring in business administration, but she followed classes of English at Zozo language school (the pseudonym I will use throughout the rest of this thesis) and was instructed with the method call “Reflex” at the school She followed 8 courses at Zozo language school (ZLS) until the final level, level 9, and thanks to great performance

in class, she was successful in applying into a teaching position there The change in her career path from business field to teaching English with ALM promises the discovery of special drives behind it After joining ZLS, she received more training in ALM from the school and taught there for 1 5 years before quitting and establishing home classes The termination of teaching for ZLS language school also could shed light on possible

conflicts leading to changes of the working environment and also the teaching method in her second phase of the career when being an independent teacher for her own home classes Since then she has developed additional components to her program in 4-5 years now and formed a mixture between ALM and other approaches in her teaching In brief, the change in professional direction, the loyalty to ALM, and the alteration of teaching method to substitute ALM made this participant worth studying about

3.5 Research tools

The research aimed at exploring the influences of teaching and learning experiences on identity formation of EFL teachers To fulfil this goal, the researcher employed interview

and observation as the research tools There are 3 main parts in the interview: narrative inquiry, a semi-structured part exploring the impacts of learning experiences and the other part exploring the impacts of working experiences on EFL teacher’s identity

formation

As regards the observations, they are conducted to find out the actual teaching method the participant was using in her classrooms The researcher observed were classes at 6 different levels The observation form was used to highlight teacher and students’

activities inside the classroom

As for the interview, following is its breakdown:

(1) Narrative inquiry used the following narration prompt:” I want to know more about your studying and teaching? We have much time, so can share your stories comfortably There will be no interruption when you are sharing I will just listen and will ask you some questions after you finish Therefore, please tell me your learning and working experiences and milestones that have been important to you up till now ”

(2) The semi-structured part of the interview exploring the impacts of learning

experiences (example of excellent teachers, hardship in learning and solutions to it, positive and negative learning experiences, milestones in student life and reasons for actions) comprises the following main questions:

1 Where did you live before moving to Ho Chi Minh City to study college?

2 Were there good conditions for studying where you lived?

3 Which primary school, secondary school and high school did you study at?

4 Did you have any impression about your teachers in primary school, secondary school, and high school?

5 Were you impressed by any teaching method of your teachers at school? If any, how could they deliver lessons?

6 When did you start studying English at school? Was there any teacher whose teaching methodology impressed you?

7 As a student, which characteristics did you think that a good teacher should have? Has your viewpoint changed these days?

8 Did you have any negative experience from primary school to high school? Where did it come from (teacher’s attitude, teaching methodology)?

9 Did you have any experience that helped you studied English well from primary school to high school? What was that?

10 Did you recognize any better way in learning English than the one you applied when you studied from primary school to high school? Please explain more

11 Did you change your study method in college?

12 What made you change?

13 Were you impressed by any teaching method of your teachers at college? Did you know which method it was?

14 Was there any difference between English at college and English from primary school to high school? How was it different? Why did you change the way you studied or Why did you maintain the same way to study from primary school to college?

15 Was your view point about how to study efficiently at college and from primary school to high school different?

16 In your opinion, how could a good English teacher teach at college?

17 Have you ever changed your view point about how to be a good teacher? If yes, when and why?

18 Why did you choose ZTS to study English?

19 Was there any things made you impressed there?

20 Do you think the teaching method there was effective? How could it be

effective?

21 Did you recognize any changes after the training courses for teachers at ZLS? How did you change?

(3) The semi-structured part of the interview exploring the impacts of working

experiences (school policies, example of excellent teaching trainers or colleagues,

difficulties in following teaching methodology, reasons for leaving the organization, reasons for choosing the career, and lessons drawn from working experiences) comprises the following main questions:

1 Did your view point about how to teach efficiently change when you are a

trainee and when you became an official teacher at ZLS? Why or why not?

2 Did you recognize any inappropriate things in ZLS teaching method? What were they? How could you recognize them?

3 Were there any teaching models or any colleagues that you admired and helped you a lot to be a good English teacher?

4 Why did you leave ZLS?

5 Have you changed your teaching method since the day you left ZLS? What made you change or not change?

6 Do you want to improve your teaching method more in the future? Why or why not?

7 Were there any milestones that make you become the current English teacher? How were they important?

8 How can you imagine the teacher you want to become in the future? Is it

different from who you are at the present time

As for the interview, a small chat with the participant will start first to create a

comfortable and amiable atmosphere After that, the interviews were conducted to bring insight into the understanding of the participant’s attachment to audio-lingual method in teaching English After the participant tell her life ‘s narrative, the researcher will

continue asking her 2 sets of questions following semi-structured interview to explore more of the impacts of working and learning experiences on her identity formation There were 2 main parts in the interview The first part was the interview with Narrative Inquiry method to understand more about her learning and teaching experience She continuously shared about her life history, the events and experiences that were important

to her up to the present time During her narration, there were no interruption and only non-verbal encouragement to help her continue her story-telling was accepted The second part was the semi-structured interview including 2 lists of questions classified according to 2 sub-research questions The purpose of this part is to obtain ideas and information that was not mentioned her stories in the first part of the interview After analyzing the data from the interview, some questions were listed down to interview the participant in the second interview via phone

Then, the observations were done in 6 classes of 6 different levels in the participant’s center to clarify the teaching method applied in her classes

3.7 Data collection

A preliminary interview focusing on the most memorable and important milestones that led the participants to the ALM practitioner in English teaching was conducted with