The Interplay between Chinese EFL Teachers’ Resilience and Agency

Abstract

Background While teacher resilience has been shown to be a key factor in teachers’ development, a bulk of research on resilience in the field of foreign language education has largely focused on how teachers exercise resilience during challenges. Moreover, the interrelationship between resilience and agency has received sparse scholarship. It is also unclear how teachers in a foreign language context implement and show their resiliency and agency. Method This study intends to fill these gaps by investigating foreign language teachers’ perceived resilience had its association with their agency. For this purpose, a mixed-methods design was utilized based on a questionnaire and an interview. Results Teachers’ resilience and agency were found to be at a higher level, and there was a causal relationship between resilience and agency. Conclusion The impact of uncertainty in the new working situation seemed to have been buffered by teachers’ social interaction with experts and peers. In addition, the role of teacher identity was flagged up in the interplay between teacher resilience and agency. This study advances research on teachers’ resilience with the consideration of agency and suggests implications for teachers and teacher educators to activate teachers’ resilience and agency.