Teacher identity construction and teachers’ perceptions of their relationship with students : a narrative research at a Chinese university

Abstract

To gain a deeper understanding of teacher identity construction and its relationship with students, this study delves into the narratives of eight teachers at an English Centre in a Chinese university. The research investigates how these teachers discursively construct their identities by drawing on linguistic and semiotic resources, as well as how they perceive their relationships with their students. The research employs Bakhtin's concept of dialogism as the epistemological lens. From this standpoint, I utilize literature on teacher-student relationships (TSR), teacher identity, and narrative inquiry to unpack the data collected from semi-structured interviews. The analysis follows a narrative approach. Initially, I analyse individual teachers to capture a comprehensive understanding of their identity construction process, and subsequently, I cross-reference different teachers' stories to identify common themes, resulting in the creation of three separate analysis chapters. The research reveals that the teachers constructed their identity through navigating themselves around the external expectations of their roles. These expectations come from the students and the institution and are heavily influenced by the broader social ideologies. For instance, a young female Chinese teacher is often positioned in a relatively vulnerable position in comparison to their international, middle-age white male teachers due to the social expectation in relation to their gender, age and race. The study also shows the identity of foreigner allows teachers to position themselves as the embodiment of advanced teaching methods and a flatter TSR. The ideologies in the researched university have influenced the construction of teacher identity, leading to some teachers struggling to maintain an authoritative position in front of their students. Consequently, maintaining boundaries and keeping a distance from students, which is considered indispensable and vital in the TSR by most teacher participants in this study, is particularly important and delicate for these teachers.