Trajectory of Identity Negotiation of English Language Teachers from Nepal: A Narrative Inquiry.

Abstract

Teacher professional identity as a thriving area of research and a reflexive process provides a lens to examine teachers’ professional development journey critically. A review of relevant studies revealed that teacher identity research mainly focused on teacher education programs, short-term training, practicum, and engagement in teachers’ communities of practice leaving aside the life history of teachers, particularly the influence of personal and professional space in their identity development. This study reports the trajectory of identity negotiation of secondary level English language teachers from public schools in Kathmandu Valley, Nepal. For this purpose, in-depth interviews and informal conversations were conducted with four participants to generate their life histories which were later interpreted and restoried. The thematic interpretation of teachers' lived realities emerged with four significant themes influencing the trajectory of identity construction of English language teachers: beliefs, emotions, imagined identity and investing, and sociocultural environment and agency. During the identity construction process, participants’ journey was influenced by cognitive engagement, sociocultural background, and emotional experiences with the mutual influence of these broad categories among each other. But specifically, the four categories – beliefs, emotions, imagined identity, and the sociocultural environment – influenced the trajectory of teacher identity. The mutual interaction and influence of these categories among each other are evident. The study revealed the impact of micro, meso, and macro level sociocultural environment on teacher belief, whereas beliefs also influenced their behaviour and pedagogical choices that determined their identity. When affective aspects like vulnerability, though generally considered a negative emotion, motivated teachers to invest in learning and thereby negotiation of identity, positive emotions that emerged from students’ success and achievement gave satisfaction and a sense of self-esteem as a teacher. Likewise, imagination and imagined identity that teachers constructed about themselves influenced their investing and negotiation of identity. Besides, teachers also formed their identities through the interaction between the sociocultural environment and their agency, though teachers had limited space to influence their environment, particularly at the macro level. Finally, the study presents a framework of the trajectory of identity negotiation of English language teachers and its implication on teacher education, practicum, training, and future research.