A Narrative Case Study Of University EFL Teacher Agency In Research Activities:An Activity Theory Perspective

Science and technology innovation is the driving force and support for national and social development,and the cultivation of innovative talents is an important task of higher education.Teachers’ continuous improvement of research ability is the key foundation to accomplish this task.Teacher agency in research activities is the internal driving force and necessary condition for teachers to actively engage in research development.An overview of relevant literature suggests that there is a lack of systematic research on the construct and mechanism of EFL teacher agency in research activities,which needs to be supplemented urgently.This study adopted a narrative case approach to explore the construct,mediation mechanisms and exertion of EFL teacher agency in research activities in China from an activity theory perspective.Three EFL teachers were invited as participants.The main source of data includes interviews,supplemented by other data sources including documents,photos,reflection logs,field observations and the researcher’ reflections to ensure data diversity and triangulation.The data collection lasted for 18 months.Three findings emerged from data analysis and discussion.First,EFL teacher agency in research activities includes three dimensions:agency belief,agency practices and agency disposition.Agency belief,with characteristics of complexity and continuity,is the precondition of agency practices,which are reflected in the joint effects of multiple agency belief on specific agency practice;a certain agency belief can influence different research activities.Agency practices include various research activities at the macro level and specific choices and behaviors at the micro level,such as adjustment,control,reflection,time management and goal setting.Agency practices are the core of agency.Agency disposition,including relatively stable personality and dynamically emotional and attitudinal aspects,serves as the"intermediary bridge" between agency belief and agency practices.Agency practices and agency disposition are the new findings of this study,which enriched the construct of agency.Second,EFL teacher agency in research activities is mediated by elements of different activity systems（subject,mediational means,object,rule,community and division of labor）.As for subject,EFL teacher agency is mediated by personal experience,research consciousness,research motivation,research knowledge（ability）,research identity and age.The mediational means include others（i.e.tutors,experts,classmates,colleagues,students and family members）,cultural artefacts（such as literature resources,scientific research tools,reading notes and reflection logs）,mediational activities（such as apprenticeship,guided participation and appropriation）,scientific concepts（such as research knowledge,theories and concepts）.The mediation of object is reflected in the promotion and cultivation of teacher agency by changing objects in different activities.Rules（such as research evaluation system and professional title promotion rules）,community（such as academic community）and division of labor（such as different power relations and different roles）constitute the social and cultural environment to mediate teacher agency.In a word,the study shows different elements in the activity system form the affordances or constraints,jointly mediating teacher agency in research activities.Third,EFL teacher agency is manifested in the process of coping with various contradictions encountered in their research activities.Specifically,it is by dealing with and resolving various contradictions that EFL teachers exert their agency.In research activities,teachers will encounter four-level contradictions,of which the secondary contradiction is the most prominent and manifested in contradiction and conflict between subject and rule,subject and mediational means,mediational means and rule,mediational means and object.Following the secondary contradiction is the quaternary contradiction.And primary contradictions and tertiary contradictions are less.Teachers overcome and resolve contradictions mainly through culturally-mediated agency.Their agentic ways and strategies to resolve contradictions include learning actively,selfregulating,seeking for help from others,appropriating cultural artefacts,actively integrating into the community,managing time,adapting to the environment,withdrawing from certain activities,negotiating and communicating with others.,etc.The theoretical contributions of this study lie in the innovative combination of concept of agency and activity theory,and a tentative conceptual framework of EFL teacher agency in research activities in China,which provides a theoretical basis for understanding and analyzing teacher agency in research activities of relevant teacher groups.First,the framework further enriches the theoretical construct of agency,and effectively explains the three elements of agency and their internal relationship,namely,agency belief,agency practices and agency disposition.The interaction among the three elements reflects the complex characteristics of agency.Second,this study expands application of activity theory into Chinese context and makes it clear that enactment of teacher agency emerges from the interaction of subject,mediational means,social and cultural environment and structural factors,and the study displays the dimensions and meanings of various elements of the activity system in Chinese context.In addition,the study explores the conflicts and tensions of various elements within the activity system and between adjacent activity systems,and illustrates that the subject exerts agency by coping with and resolving contradictions.The practical contributions of this study include the following aspects.First,EFL teachers should be aware of their multiple identities as knowledge imparters,producers and leaders of knowledge innovation,understand the significance and law of agency,participate actively in research activities,stimulate and maintain their own agency in research activities.Second,universities should fully realize that the research management systems are important mediating tools for teacher agency.They should stimulate and maintain teachers’agency in research activities by optimizing the research management system and regulations,and at the same time encourage teachers to build different types of research practice communities.Third,relevant policy makers of high education should understand the characteristics and development of EFL teacher agency in research activities.They are suggested to formulate research policies conducive to stimulating teacher agency such as prolonging the appraisal period of teachers’research productions and publications.