Becoming researchers: A narrative study of Chinese university EFL teachers’ research practice and their professional identity construction

Abstract

This article reports on a narrative study of university EFL (English as a foreign language) teachers’ research practices and their identity construction as researchers in China. Drawing upon data from narrative frames among 104 teachers and in-depth interviews with four teachers, the study reveals that teachers’ increased research engagement, as well as mixed attitudes towards and external drives for research, are mediated by their mixed contexts of supporting policies and practical constraints. It also recounts four scenarios of teachers’ identity construction as researchers and explores the reasons why their identities as researchers are more or less fragmented at different times, which may be attributed to academic competence signaled by research interests and publications, institutional and peer support in the workplace, and the professional life cycles in which they are involved. It concludes with implications for promoting research and teachers’ becoming researchers as paths for empowerment and professional excellence through joint efforts from university administrators, mentors, teacher educators and teachers.