This study examined the identity development of two Chinese teachers of English as a foreign language (EFL) in a globalized city in China. Grounded in the conceptual frameworks of ‘identity in belief and practice’ and the images of teacher knowledge, the study critically analysed the factors that influenced the formation of teacher identities. The data were collected through interviews and classroom observations. It was revealed that the participants acquired and internalized their professional knowledge differently, resulting in differences in teacher beliefs and instructional practices. Individuals’ acquisition of teaching knowledge did not necessarily lead to practical identities that matched their initial expectations. The gaps between teacher knowledge and practice and between the participants’ ideals and reality acted as parts of their ‘glocal’ identity formation. The findings illuminated the tensions and limitations within the educational transfer between Western-style and non-Western-style classrooms in Chinese teachers’ teaching.
AhmedA.BarnawiO. (2021). Introduction: TESOL teacher education: Oscillating between globalization and nationalism. In AhmedA.BarnawiO. (Eds.), Mobility of knowledge, practice and pedagogy in TESOL teacher education (pp. 1–12). Palgrave Macmillan.
3.
AlsagoffL. (2012). Identity and the EIL learner. In AlsagoffL.McKayS.L.HuG.RenandyaW.A. (Eds.), Principles and practices for teaching English as an international language (pp. 104–122). Routledge.
4.
AnalistiD. (2021). Professional identity construction of an Indonesian English teacher: A narrative inquiry. Language-Edu, 10.
5.
BeijaardD.MeijerP.C. (2017). Developing the personal and professional in making a teacher identity. In ClandininD.J.HusuJ. (Eds.), The Sage handbook of research on teacher education (pp. 177–192). Sage.
6.
BeuhlM.M.BeckJ.S. (2015). The relationship between teachers’ beliefs and teachers’ practices. In FivesH.GillM.G. (Eds.), International handbook research on teachers’ beliefs (pp. 66–84). Routledge.
7.
BeyerP. (2007). Globalization and glocalization. In BeckfordJ.A.DemerathJ. (Eds.), The SAGE handbook of the sociology of religion (pp. 98–117). Sage.
8.
BlommaertJ.SmitsL.YacoubiN. (2018). Context and its complications. In FinaA.D.GeorgakopoulouA. (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of discourse studies (pp. 52–69). Cambridge University Press.
9.
BrookfieldS.D. (2017). Becoming a critically reflective teacher. John Wiley.
10.
BrownP. (2016). The transformation of higher education, credential competition, and the graduate labour market. In CôtéJ.E.PickardS. (Eds.), Routledge handbook of the sociology of higher education (pp. 197–207). Routledge.
11.
CaoP. (2017). ESL teachers’ knowledge of and experience with written corrective feedback. University of Minnesota Digital Conservancy. Available at: https://hdl.handle.net/11299/188864 (accessed April 2023).
12.
CesurK.ErtasA. (2018). Examining the prospective English teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge: Canakkale case. International Journal of Progressive Education, 14, 123–139.
13.
CheungA.Hennebry-LeungM. (2023). Exploring an ESL teachers’ beliefs and practices of teaching literary texts: A case study in Hong Kong. Language Teaching Research, 27, 181–206.
14.
ClarkE.R.FloresB.B. (2014). The metamorphosis of teacher identity: An intersection of ethnic consciousness, self-conceptualization, and belief systems. In JenlinkP.M. (Ed.), Teacher identity and struggle for recognition: Meeting the challenges of a diverse society (pp. 3–14). Rowman & Littlefield Education.
15.
Cochran-SmithM.LytleS.L. (1999). Relationships of knowledge and practice: Teacher learning in communities. Review of Research in Education, 24, 249–305.
16.
CoplandF.GartonS.BurnsA. (2014). Challenges in teaching English to young learners: Global perspectives and local realities. TESOL Quarterly, 48, 738–762.
17.
CvetkovichA. (2018). Articulating the global and the local: Globalization and cultural studies. Routledge.
18.
DörnyeiZ. (2014). The psychology of the language learner: Individual differences in second language acquisition. Routledge.
19.
dos ReisL.B.da Costa LindolphoM.de AzevedoS.L.ChrizostimoM.M.da SilvaJ.L.L. (2021). Distance education in Brazil: An integrative review [La educación a distancia en Brasil: revisión integradora]. South Florida Journal of Development, 2(5), 7396–7411.
20.
DuY. (2021). Grammar translation and its use in present-day China. Journal of Arts and Humanities, 10, 28–35.
21.
FangF.G. (2018). Review of English as a medium of instruction in Chinese universities today: Current trends and future directions: New language policies to promote multilingualism and language support for EMI will be needed in Chinese tertiary contexts. English Today, 34, 32–37.
22.
FarrellT.S. (2018). Reflective practice for language teachers. In The TESOL encyclopedia of English language teaching. John Wiley.
23.
FreemanD. (2002). The hidden side of the work: Teacher knowledge and learning to teach. A perspective from North American educational research on teacher education in English language teaching. Language Teaching, 35, 1–13.
24.
FrostJ.WorthamS.ReifelS. (2012). Play and child development. 4th edition.Pearson Education.
25.
FullanM.HargreavesA. (2014). Teacher development and educational change. In FullanM.HargreavesA. (Eds.), Teacher development and educational change (pp. 1–9). Routledge.
26.
GachesS.WalliS. (2018). ‘My mom says you’re not really a teacher’: Rhizomatic explorations of ever-shifting student teacher identities and experiences. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 19, 131–141.
27.
GanZ.YangC.C.R. (2018). How prepared are the preservice ESL teachers to teach: Insights from university supervisor feedback. Journal of Asia TEFL, 15, 99–117.
28.
GallettaA. (2013). Mastering the semi-structured interview and beyond: From research design to analysis and publication. New York University Press.
29.
GaoY. (2018). Localizing CLT: A case study of a Western-trained Chinese EFL teacher at a Chinese university. Canadian Journal for New Scholars in Education / Revue canadienne des jeunes chercheures et chercheurs en éducation, 9, 52–63.
GraueE.KarabonA.DelaneyK.K., et al. (2015). Imagining a future in PreK: How professional identity shapes notions of early mathematics. Anthropology and Education Quarterly, 46, 37–54.
32.
HanI. (2022). Contextualization of communicative language teaching in Confucian heritage culture: Challenging pedagogic dichotomization. SAGE Open, 12, 46–53.
33.
HellerM.DuchêneA. (2012). Pride and profit: Changing discourses of language, capital and nation-state. In DucheneA.HellerM. (Eds.), Language in late capitalism (pp. 1–21). Routledge.
34.
HollidayA. (2016). Studying culture. In HuaZ. (Ed.), Research methods in intercultural communication: A practical guide (pp. 23–36). John Wiley.
35.
HongP.PawanF. (2015). The pedagogy and practice of Western-trained Chinese English language teachers: Foreign education, Chinese meanings. Routledge.
36.
HosseiniE.Z.NasriM.AfghariA. (2017). Looking beyond teachers’ classroom behavior: Novice and experienced EFL teachers’ practice of pedagogical knowledge to improve learners’ motivational strategies. Journal of Applied Linguistics and Language Research, 4, 183–200.
37.
HuangS.H. (2016). Communicative language teaching: Practical difficulties in the rural EFL classrooms in Taiwan. Journal of Education and Practice, 7, 186–202.
38.
HuangF.TeoT.ZhouM. (2019). Factors affecting Chinese English as a foreign language teachers’ technology acceptance: A qualitative study. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 57, 83–105.
39.
KarabenickS.A.NodaP.A.C. (2004). Professional development implications of teachers’ beliefs and attitudes toward English language learners. Bilingual Research Journal, 28, 55–75.
40.
KartchavaE.GatbontonE.AmmarA.TrofimovichP. (2020). Oral corrective feedback: Pre-service English as a second language teachers’ beliefs and practices. Language Teaching Research, 24, 220–249.
41.
KramschC. (2014). Identity, role and voice in cross-cultural (mis)communication. In HouseJ.KasperG.RossS. (Eds.), Misunderstanding in social life: Discourse approaches to problematic talk (pp. 129–153). Routledge.
42.
KramschC.YinP. (2018). Teaching foreign languages in the glocal contact zone: The case of France and China. In SelviA.F.RudolphN. (Eds.), Conceptual shifts and contextualized practices in education for glocal interaction (pp. 17–36). Springer.
43.
KoK.S. (2020). East Asian dance/movement therapy educators’ experiences of teaching dance/movement therapy in East Asia after training in the US. The Arts in Psychotherapy, 71, 101711.
44.
KubotaR. (2011). Questioning linguistic instrumentalism: English, neoliberalism, and language tests in Japan. Linguistics and Education, 22, 248–260.
45.
KumaravadiveluB. (2011). Language teacher education for a global society: A modular model for knowing, analyzing, recognizing, doing, and seeing. Routledge.
46.
KumaravadiveluB. (2012). Individual identity, cultural globalization, and teaching English as an international language: The case for an epistemic break. In AlsagoffL.MckayS.L.HuG.RenandyaW.A. (Eds.), Principles and practices for teaching English as an international language (pp. 9–27). Routledge.
47.
LiH.WangC.WongJ. (2011). Early childhood curriculum reform in China: Perspectives from examining teachers’ beliefs and practices in Chinese literacy teaching. Chinese Education and Society, 44, 5–23.
48.
LinP.L. (2019). Trends of internationalization in China’s higher education: Opportunities and challenges. US-China Education Review B, 9, 1–12.
MahboobA.LinA.M. (2016). Using local languages in English language classrooms. In RenandyaW.WidodoH. (Eds.), English language teaching today (pp. 25–40). Springer.
51.
MaxwellJ.A. (2013). Qualitative research design: An interactive approach. Sage.
52.
McKayS.L. (2018). Globalization, English language teaching, and teachers. In The TESOL encyclopedia of English language teaching. John Wiley.
53.
MillerJ. (2009). Teacher identity. In BurnsA.RichardsJ.C. (Eds.), The Cambridge guide to second language teacher education (pp. 172–181). Cambridge University Press.
54.
MoghalS. (2022). Identity construction among tertiary teachers in Pakistan. In RazaN.A.CoombeC. (Eds.), English language teaching in Pakistan (pp. 57–68). Springer.
55.
MpofuN.de JagerL. (2018). Exploring beginner teachers’ sources of knowledge for teaching literature in ESL classrooms. English Teaching and Learning, 42, 57–73.
56.
MuhamadM.KielyR. (2018). Understanding teachers’ pedagogical knowledge in ESL vocabulary teaching. Journal of Arts and Humanities, 7, 36–47.
57.
NhemD. (2019). Cambodian EFL teachers’ and learners’ beliefs about communicative language teaching. The Asian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 6, 238–251.
58.
NguyenH.T.M.NguyenH.T.NguyenH.V.NguyenT.T.T. (2018). 12 Local challenges to global needs in English language education in Vietnam: The perspective of language policy and planning. In KhengC.C.S. (Ed.), Un(intended) language planning in a globalising world: Multiple levels of players at work (pp. 214–233). De Gruyter Open Poland.
59.
NortonB. (2016). Identity and language learning: Back to the future. TESOL Quarterly, 50, 475–479.
60.
NovozheninaA.López PinzónM.M. (2018). Impact of a professional development program on EFL teachers’ performance. How, 25, 113–128.
61.
NunanD. (1999). Second language teaching and learning. Heinle & Heinle.
62.
PaceJ.L.HemmingsA. (2007). Understanding authority in classrooms: A review of theory, ideology, and research. Review of Educational Research, 77, 4–27.
63.
PalinkasL.A.HorwitzS.M.GreenC.A., et al. (2015). Purposeful sampling for qualitative data collection and analysis in mixed method implementation research. Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research, 42, 533–544.
64.
PenningtonM.C. (2014). Teacher identity in TESOL: A frames perspective. In CheungY.L.SaidS.B.ParkK. (Eds.), Advances and current trends in language teacher identity research (pp. 16–30). Routledge.
65.
PenningtonM.C.RichardsJ.C. (2016). Teacher identity in language teaching: Integrating personal, contextual, and professional factors. RELC Journal, 47, 5–23.
66.
PlaystedS. (2019). Reflective practice to guide teacher learning: A practitioner’s journey with beginner adult English language learners. Iranian Journal of Language Teaching Research, 7, 37–52.
67.
PurkarthoferJ. (2019). Building expectations: Imagining family language policy and heteroglossic social spaces. International Journal of Bilingualism, 23, 724–739.
68.
RaiL.DengC. (2016). Glocalisation and English language education in Chinese context. Globalisation, Societies and Education, 14, 127–144.
69.
RahmanM.M.SinghM.K.M.PandianA. (2018). Exploring ESL teacher beliefs and classroom practices of CLT: A case study. International Journal of Instruction, 11, 295–310.
70.
Ruohotie-LyhtyM. (2016). Stories of change and continuity: Understanding the development of the identities of foreign language teachers. In KalajaP.BarcelosA.M.F.AroM.Ruohotie-LyhtyM. (Eds.), Beliefs, agency and identity in foreign language learning and teaching (pp. 172–201). Palgrave Macmillan.
71.
SahP.K. (2020). English medium instruction in South Asian’s multilingual schools: Unpacking the dynamics of ideological orientations, policy/practices, and democratic questions. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 25, 742–755.
72.
ShiL.DelahuntyJ.GaoX. (2019). Constraints preventing Chinese EFL teachers from putting their stated beliefs into teaching practice. Professional Development in Education, 45, 774–789.
73.
SongJ. (2016). Emotions and language teacher identity: Conflicts, vulnerability, and transformation. TESOL Quarterly, 50, 631–654.
SunC.WeiL.YoungR.F. (2022). Measuring teacher cognition: Comparing Chinese EFL teachers’ implicit and explicit attitudes toward English language teaching methods. Language Teaching Research, 26, 382–410.
76.
SungwonY. (2017). Globalization and language policy in South Korea. In TsuiA.B.M.TollefsonJ.W. (Eds.), Language policy, culture, and identity in Asian contexts (pp. 37–54). Routledge.
77.
Takkaç TulgarA. (2021). A compromise between global and local: Glocal identity and its effects on pragmatic development. Journal of Language, Identity and Education. Epub ahead of print 20August2021. DOI: 10.1080/15348458.2021.1956319
78.
TsuiA.B.TollefsonJ.W. (2017). Language policy, culture, and identity in Asian contexts. Routledge.
79.
TurnbullB. (2018). Examining pre-service ESL teacher beliefs: Perspectives on first language use in the second language classroom. Journal of Second Language Teaching and Research, 6, 50–76.
80.
UysalH.H.BardakciM. (2014). Teacher beliefs and practices of grammar teaching: Focusing on meaning, form, or forms?South African Journal of Education, 34, 1–16.
81.
VargheseM.MorganB.JohnstonB.JohnsonK.A. (2005). Theorizing language teacher identity: Three perspectives and beyond. Journal of Language, Identity, and Education, 4, 21–44.
82.
VillegasD.F.M.VaronaW.H.SanchezA.G. (2020). Student teachers’ identity construction: A socially-constructed narrative in a second language teacher education program. Teaching and Teacher Education, 91, 103055.
83.
WeiL.LinH.H.LittonF. (2018). Communicative language teaching (CLT) in EFL context in Asia. Asian Culture and History, 10, 1–9.
84.
WuQ. (2015). Pulling mobile assisted language learning (MALL) into the mainstream: MALL in broad practice. PloS One, 10, e0128762.
85.
YazanB. (2018). Contexts of English language teaching as glocal spaces. In SelviA.F.RudolphN. (Eds.), Conceptual shifts and contextualized practices in education for glocal interaction (pp. 219–233). Springer.
86.
YinR.K. (2017). Case study research: Design and methods. Sage.
87.
ZhangY. (2009). Reading to speak: Integrating oral communication skills. English Teaching Forum, 47, 32–34.
