对高校英语教师身份认同的思考

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摘要:本文通过对一个普通的高校英语教师的个案研究,回答以下两个问题:什么是教师的身份?教师如何形成自己完整的身份呢?根据该例的细节,试图揭示形成完整的教师身份的几方面问题。

Abstract: Through a case study of an ordinary college English teacher,this paper intends to answer the following two questions-What is teacher identity? How does a teacher form his complete identity? Based on the details in the case,the paper tries to reveal some aspects of forming the complete teacher-identity.

关键词:教师发展;教师的身份;个案研究

Key words: teacher development;teacher identity;case study

中图分类号:G64 文献标识码:A文章编号:1006-4311(2010)21-0159-02

1Introduction

As a college English teacher,I experience and witness the actual situation of English teachers in the front line of teaching-they are busy every day but really don't know what to do; some of them are exhausted physically and mentally. Once one of my colleagues said,"Teachers have no life but survival." This comment forces me to realize one fact-we teachers always focus on the development of students,but hardly reflect on the development of ourselves. This paper is about some reflection on college English teachers through one case study from the perspective of teacher identity.

2Theoretical Background

2.1 The concept of identityThe psychologist Erikson described identity as "a subjective sense as well as an observable quality of personal sameness and continuity,paired with some belief in the sameness and continuity of some shared world image." Based on previous studies,we can discover that identity is not a fixed attribute of a person,but a relational phenomenon.

2.2 The concept of professional identityIn some studies,the concept of professional identity was related to teachers' concepts or images of self. It was argued that these concepts or images of self strongly determine the way teachers teach,the way they develop as teachers,and their attitudes toward educational changes. In other studies of professional identity,the emphasis was placed on teachers' roles. Furthermore,professional identity refers not only to the influence of the conceptions and expectations of other people,including broadly accepted images in society about what a teacher should know and do,but also to what teachers themselves find important in their professional work and lives based on both their experiences in practice and their personal backgrounds.

3The Case Study

3.1 Date collection and research methodChan is an English teacher with more than 15-year's teaching experience. She is energetic and enthusiastic,quite popular with students. I have taken notes about four staff meetings from April to June meanwhile been in observation of Chan's class teaching for nearly one month. In addition to class observation,I've also had a casual interview with Chan.

Most of the data are the authentic conversations occurred in classes and meetings,so dynamic conversation analysis is adopted in the research. At the same time,narrative inquiry is used to present some of the data as well.

3.2 Episodes of Chan's lifeThis paper only takes the episodes in the first class observation as example to reflect Chan's teacher identity.

At 10:00 A.M. on Tuesday,Chan clapped her hands to attract the students' attention and said,"Yesterday something unlucky happened to me. You know what? My mobile phone was broken into pieces because of my carelessness. Today if you are careless and make your mobile phone sound,I will keep it as mine. You know I need a new mobile phone." Laughing with students,she continued to say,"Ok,what we are going to do today is …" First of all,she introduced her teaching plan in these two periods of the class,then the following conversation appeared:

(Two pairs of students volunteered to read the conversation in the textbook. Others listened carefully and tried to point out their pronunciation mistakes.)

T: I suddenly find out Viki's pronunciation now becomes quite good. Look at her,she used to be so shy and have poor pronunciation. Great!

(Viki smiled and seemed very happy. Other students smiled and clapped.)

…

(class observation notes)

3.3 Findings①When the class began Chan didn't use the formal imperative sentences to announce the start of the class,such as "Good morning. Let's begin our class." Instead,she just used a common statement "What we are going to do today is …" It is an undeniable fact that imperative sentences often appear in the class and they are the popular language used by teachers; but this kind of discourse gives students a cold and stony feeling. In the English classes,teachers can use vivid and visual language; furthermore,they can add some detailed self-reflection on life,and show the being of oneself to students by using this kind of language. This is a way of being a real teacher.②Chan's teaching is not knowledge-centered but learner-centered. The episodes mentioned above show that when students make a little progress she would give them her emotional support. She spends a lot of time on students. She has a strong desire to hear all kinds of presentations from students. She and her students construct the meaningful learning experiences mutually. Chan's example has wonderfully illustrated that the essential condition of constructing the complete teacher identity and forming good teaching is an English teacher's love for life,passion for teaching,and care of students.③Chan believes that education is a way of life,of action. She constantly reflects and realizes that knowledge is constructed through one's interactions with others,or with outside world,and education is a kind of service to offer and create a diversity of interactions. Guided by this kind of understanding,she is looking for her own teaching language,looking for the identity and integrity. But quite a number of English teachers are just looking for a teaching method or technique to fulfill teachers' professional roles. If a teacher blindly adjusts his personal identity to accepted teacher's professional roles in society without the critical reflection,unconsciously he will establish a wall between the real inner mind and the outside manifestation,and then form a twisted and separated teacher identity.

4Conclusion

With my observation of a college English teacher's life,I try to reveal that good teaching and good survival state of teachers come from teachers' complete identity. Based on a case study,it can be traced that a teacher should emotionally and spiritually devote himself to education and have the critical reflection on knowledge and education in order to form the complete teacher-identity.

References:

[1]Korthagen,F.A.J.In search of the essence of a good teacher: Towards a more holistic approach in teacher education[J]. Teaching and Teacher Education,2004,20(1):77-97.

[2]吴宗杰,黄爱凤,等.外语课程与教师发展:RICH教育视野[M].合肥:安徽教育出版社,2005.