‘Teaching Like a Robot’: Chinese English Language Teachers Perceptions of Identity

Abstract

Teacher identity is the reflection of teachers’ perception, position, and identification as teachers. Teachers’ identities are dynamic and continuously negotiated by the interplay of their professional practices, past experiences, and contextual conditions. Drawing on this understanding, this study explores Chinese English teachers’ professional identities within a private English institution in China. Research data was collected through semi-structured interviews with six Chinese English teachers from one private English institution. Interview data was analysed thematically. The study results revealed common teacher identities as advocates of learner autonomy, struggling teachers for higher-level students and sources of students’ learning motivation. Specifically, teachers were challenged in cultivating autonomous students by institutional and sociocultural contextual obstacles. They were also in a challenging situation to improve the effectiveness of teaching higher level students. However, teachers exhibited positive perceptions towards their influence on students’ learning motivation reflected in their effort to actively establish teacher-student relationships and utilize facilitative teacher roles. The research findings suggest the need for designing more effective teacher trainings, improving teachers’ working conditions and a call for re-evaluating English language learning among Chinese students.