The Impact of Positioning Practices on Teachers' Professional Development in a Dual-Language Program

• In Event: Poster Session 12
  In Poster Session: Division K Section 8 Poster Session 1

Abstract

Through the lens of positioning theory (Harré & van Langenhove, 1999), the study analyzed 80 hours of videos, field notes and 21 interviews of expat teachers and Chinese Learning Assistants (LAs) in an international dual language school. The purpose of this study is to unravel how institutional and personal interactive positioning and self-positioning play a part in facilitating or hindering teachers’ professional development within a cross-cultural teaching context. Findings suggest that the difficulty of acculturation of teachers goes beyond personal cultural differences as institutional power differentials appear as the major obstacle to professional development. The analysis revealed that Chinese LAs were positioned and self-positioned in weak institutional standings as expat teachers’ counterparts or assistants interchangeably, which inhibited their professional development.

Authors

• Lijuan Shi, University of Maryland - College Park

• Ethan McDermott Sewall, University of Maryland - College Park