‘At least I'm the type of teacher I want to be’: Second-career English language teachers' identity formation in Hong Kong secondary schools

Abstract

A teacher shortage in Hong Kong in core subjects, such as English, has led to interest in the recruitment and retention of second-career teachers. Drawing upon Wenger's (1998) theory of identity formation and using data from interviews with eight secondcareer English language teachers in Hong Kong, this paper explores how second-career teachers may be better supported in their professional development. The study found that second-career teachers' skills and experiences were not valued within their schools and that this was reflected in a rigid division the participants drew between the institutionally endorsed identity positions made available to them and the type of teachers they wanted to be. In response to this antagonism, second-career teachers used their position of non-participation to establish identity territories that connected aspects of their first-career identities, such as engineers and managers, to their emerging teacher identities. It is suggested that non-participation, a potentially negative experience in Wenger's (1998) framework, was deployed by this group of teachers to create the space they needed to enact their own preferred teacher identities. Implications for attracting and retaining second-career teachers are discussed.

Identity exploration and development in TESOL teacher education: A three‐dimensional space narrative inquiry perspective

“…While Andrea, Lan, and Joyce showed full participation through establishing themselves as competent English teachers, Ken and Grace seemed to experience peripheral participation as they mostly taught based on their previous learning experience without a full understanding of language teaching principles. This is largely due to their lack of confidence and pedagogical knowledge as second‐career English teachers (Trent & Gao, ). Nonetheless, all the participants exhibited active engagement as they reported to interact well with their students and enjoyed their teaching.…”

Chapter 12. The role of stories in teacher development

“…Cole and Knowles (2000), with a background in life history research, claim that "teaching is an expression of who teachers are as people," and that "it is imbued with the beliefs, values, perspectives, and experiences developed over the course of a teacher's lifetime" (p. 2). In the context of second language education, researchers have also presented some compelling evidence that teachers' identities influence their practice (Aoki, 2009;Clarke, 2008;Morgan, 2004;Trent & Gao, 2009;Verghese, Morgan, Johnston, & Johnson, 2005). In fact, my style of teaching in my novice years was closely related to my emerging bilingual and bicultural identity.…”

Chinese English Lecturers’ Self-Identification as Researchers

“…For English language teachers, while there has been substantial literature on their professional identity as teachers (e.g. (Duff & Uchida, 1997;Hao, 2011;Trent & Gao, 2009;Tsui, 2007;Xu, 2012)), studies on their professional identity as researchers, another essential sub-identity, are limited in number and employ mostly a qualitative research design taking a longitudinal view.…”