Narrative Inquiry Into An Expert College English Teacher’s Professional Identity Construction

In the field of EFL teacher professional identity, studies have been done withpre-service and ordinary in-service teachers, yet less with expert teachers. This narrativecase study is conducted to explore one expert College English teacher’s perception ofprofessional identity construction through examining her life and work experiences invarious contexts, and factors influencing the process over time and space. The data aremainly drawn from a semi-structured interview. The major findings of the study aresummarized as follows:Firstly, this expert teacher experienced a continuous and dynamic process ofprofessional identity construction. Her earlier imagination of being a teacher led her ontothe journey of becoming firstly a substitute teacher, then a college teacher, and finally auniversity teacher-researcher.Secondly，this expert teacher’s professional identity is developed through her activeparticipation in various teaching communities. The process revealed her three ways ofbelonging, which is imagining being a real teacher, engaging herself in transforming fromcollege to university, and finally learning to become a teacher researcher.Thirdly, this research identifies the most distinctive factor, namely significant others,that influenced her professional identity construction, which include family members, rolemodels and colleagues. Besides, the sociocultural environment also plays a vital role in herprofessional identity construction.In light of the above findings, the researcher suggests that teachers’ prior meaningfulexperiences and role models should be considered in teacher development programs. Inaddition, schools should provide favorable environment to support teachers’ professionald velopment.