EFL Teacher Identity In The Rural Junior High School

Teacher identity,the internal motivation for teachers’ professional development,refers to teachers’ understanding and recognition of themselves,the teaching profession,the group that they belong to and the working environment in the interaction with the specific social context.In the new era,the rural revitalization strategy has been put forward,with the core lying in rural education.Under such circumstance,English as foreign language(EFL)teachers in the rural junior high school are the main force of rural education,so the current situation of their identity affects not only their professional development but also the quality of rural English education and the implementation of the rural revitalization strategy.Therefore,the study on EFL teacher identity in the rural junior high school is of great significance.According to the previous studies,EFL teacher identity has aroused researchers’ widespread attention,but research on EFL teacher identity in the rural junior high school is extremely limited.Therefore,this present study attempts to probe into the following questions: 1)What is the overall situation of EFL teacher identity the rural junior high school? 2)What is the situation of EFL teacher identity on the four dimensions which consist of career identity,major identity,personal identity and situated identity? Are there any significant differences on the four dimension of identity among EFL teachers of different ages and with different genders,years of experience,education backgrounds,professional titles and income? 3)What are the main factors that influence EFL teacher identity in the rural junior high school? A questionnaire survey was carried out among87 EFL teachers in the rural junior high school in Youyang,together with interviews with five teachers,to probe into the current situation of rural EFL teacher identity.And then drawing upon sociocultural theory and job burnout theory,the influencing factors were explored based on the quantitative and qualitative data.The findings are as follows: 1)EFL teacher identity in the rural junior high schoolis in general at a medium level.2)As far as the four dimensions of EFL teacher identity are concerned,career identity is at the highest level,followed by major identity and personal identity.Situated identity is at the lowest level.There are significant differences among teachers with different genders on the dimension of career identity.Significant differences exist among teachers with different education backgrounds on major identity.On the dimension of personal identity,significant differences exist among teachers with different years of teaching experience and those with different professional titles.Significant differences also exist among teachers with different professional titles on situated identity.(3)Factors from both internal and external aspects influence EFL teacher identity in the rural junior high school.The internal factors include EFL teachers’ professional values,professional development consciousness and professional competence.And external factors involve rural environment,school environment which includes organizational culture,organizational support and school management,and social environment which mainly refers to socioeconomic status,social reputation and the conflict between English curriculum reform and the exam-oriented education.In the end,some implications were proposed as follows: 1)the government should increase investment in rural education and raise teachers’ pay;2)the education department can further improve the institutional environment and English teacher training modes;3)Rural schools should improve the management system,establish a reasonable assessment system for teachers and improve the organizational culture;4)EFL teachers should improve their professional competence,enhance their professional development consciousness and cultivate positive professional values.