The dialogical self and the multiplicity of I-positions: Experiences of becoming a teacher in the international practicum

Abstract

The internationalisation of education poses local challenges for training pre-service teachers to navigate new and unfamiliar education contexts. For Chinese language teachers in Australia and beyond, undertaking initial teacher training has been informed by China’s wider agenda regarding the worldwide promotion of Chinese language. Building upon Dialogical self theory, this paper adopts traditions from autoethnography to unpack a Chinese novice teacher’s learning journey during a placement in an Australian Chinese language learning classroom. We focus on the lead author’s conflicted identity and how this identity was positioned and repositioned in response to contexts and through dialogue with the self and with others. This paper offers an alternative approach to understanding pre-service teachers’ learning and professional development, providing insight into how the practicum can be improved to better support Chinese international pre-service teachers who are navigating unfamiliar contexts.