A Case Study Of Professional Identity Change Of A Novice English Teacher In A Tutorial Center

In the field of teachers' professional identity,a great number of studies focus on in-service teachers in mainstream education system.Given the recent blooming of private tutoring industries,it is urgent to understand teachers working in tutorial centers.This qualitative case study is conducted to get an in-depth understanding of the professional identity changes of a novice English teacher in a tutorial center and the personal and contextual factors contributing to her professional identity changes.The research data are mainly collected from semi-structured interviews and case documents.Based on the data analysis,the major findings of the study are summarized as follows:Firstly,in the process of working in tutorial centers,the novice English teacher experienced different degrees of changes in five aspects: self-image,job motivation,self-efficacy,task perception and future perspective.Of these five dimensions,self-image went through the most conspicuous changes.She broke away from her initial teacher image of being childish and became more patient with students.Her teaching style transformed from being teacher-dominant to student-centered.Moreover,she gradually saw the meaning of teaching not just for improving students' examination results but also for students' psychological health.Besides,the dimension of job motivation witnessed her critical transformation in professional identity.As her motives changed from teaching as a job to teaching as a career,she became more devoted to her work with more positive emotions.The changes in these two fundamental dimensions greatly influenced those in other three dimensions.Data show the improvement in her self-efficacy including teaching ability and service ability.Her task perception,particularly her responsibility for students significantly developed into a new stage where she shouldered more duties in her teaching.In her future perspective,even though her short-term goals(such as improving her teaching ability,winning others' recognition,becoming a teacher-researcher)underwent changes while moving in and out of different work conditions,her long-term goal to be a public school teacher remained the same.Secondly,the research reveals some personal and contextual factors that affected her professional identity changes in tutorial centers over time.Her unyielding personality and her job-related beliefs for promotion motivated her to improve her teaching and service abilities for better teacher professional development.In addition,her educational background with former teacher models and her internship experience,and her active participation in teacher training activities facilitated her professional identity changes.Besides,the participant's professional identity changes were also influenced by some contextual factors,such as institutional management,interpersonal relationship in tutorial centers and family.On one hand,flexible teaching models and abundant teaching resources in tutorial centers generated her changes in the dimensions of job motivation and self-efficacy which led to her view of teaching as career,and her teaching and service abilities thus improved.But the irregular work schedule,high turnover rate and heavy workload in the tutorial center hindered her professional identity changes.On the other hand,her close relationship with students directly changed her former teaching belief and shaped a new self-image with a deeper understanding.What's more,the interactive relationship with students' parents pushed her to commit more to her work for fulfilling parents' high expectations.And the stressful relationship with her leaders and harmonious relationship with her colleagues shifted her task perception to a new form in which she actively took part in team work.Nevertheless,due to the expectation from her parents and family,she had to quit the job in the tutorial center and became a public school teacher,which indicates that she would experience a new round of professional identity changes.Based on the above findings,the researcher suggests that teachers' agency and psychological strength are crucial for teachers' professional identity development in tutorial centers.And tutorial centers should create a more favorable environment for the teachers' professional development.