A Case Study On Experienced Secondary School English Teachers’ Professional Identity Based On Ecological Systems Theory

With the sociocultural turn,more attention has been drawn to research on inner self.Professional identity,an important element of inner self,emerged to become a separate research area in the field of teaching and teacher education in the late 1990 s.Existing research has suggested that teacher’s positive perceptions of identity produce positive emotions and facilitate professional competence.And the constantly changing environment has great implications for the construction and development of teachers’ professional identities.To date,there has been little empirical investigation regarding professional identity and its surrounding environment.The purpose of this study,then,is to examine how teachers’ professional identities are shaped and reconstructed through interactions with the multi-layer ecosystem.Many research has examined the intricate nature of professional identity and have characterized its formation as a multifaceted and ever-evolving process influenced by a variety of interconnected factors.For this reason,this paper adopts Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory to describe the ways in which teachers are constantly influencing and being influenced by the world around them.The three research questions are outlined as follows.1.What are the surveyed teachers’ perceptions of their professional identity?2.How have ecological factors contributed to the development of teachers’ professional identity?3.What challenges have they faced in the development of professional identity? What strategies or supports do they need to address those challenges?A qualitative approach was employed in order to have an in-depth investigation of two experienced secondary English teachers in a less developed area of Yunnan province.The purposeful sampling was used to recruit two participants who were congruent with the aim of the study.The data was generated through semi-structured interviews,field observations and case documents,and then analyzed through coding and thematic analysis based on Bronfenbrenner’s multi-layer ecological framework.The findings reveal that: Firstly,the surveyed teachers maintain a positive perception of their professional identity,which encourages them to realize professional development and become excellent teachers.As their professional skills improve,teachers become more satisfied and confident,and in turn,they are more likely to view themselves positively in their profession.Secondly,teachers’ professional identity is shaped by a variety of interlacing factors,such as teaching beliefs,student-teacher relationships,administrative regulation,national and institutional policies.At the same time,teachers’ responses to external factors reshape their surrounding environment.Thirdly,the study also uncovers the challenges participants encountered,such as inferior status and burden of irrelevant affairs,as well as strategies that they have employed and supports that they need to cope with these impediments.It is recommended that policy makers and school leaders should become more aware of those impediments and address them appropriately for all school teachers so that more ELF teachers can thrive in their professional journeys.