The Evidence of Non-Native-English-Speaking Teachers' Transnationalism in Teacher Identity Formation Process

• In Event: AERA Graduate Student Research in Progress Roundtable Session One
  In Roundtable Session: Examinations of Teacher Identity Across Contexts (Table 7)

Abstract

"As social and cultural globalization has been increasing around the world, so has the globalization of English (Bolton, 2012). With this increasing globalization, there is also an uptick of non-native speakers of English that choose to study abroad to advance their academic and professional credentials internationally. The concept of transnationalism, a social identity of those who have traveled abroad and further complexify their identities, has been a topic of study recently. For non-native English-speaking teachers (NNESTs), particularly for those who receive an international education in an English-dominant country and return home after receiving their degree, the social identity of transnationalism becomes more prevalent. Many studies have examined non-native TESOL teachers' transnationalism (Garza, 2007; Menard-Warnick, 2008; Park, 2012; Petrón & Greybck, 2014; Solano-Campos, 2014), but not many have discussed how this aspect of identity impacts language teaching practices of NNESTs in educational settings.
The current study investigates how new NNESTs' transnational identities influence their professional identities, specifically language teaching and learning practices in multicultural language classrooms. The study uses semi-structured interviews with five NNESTs in their early career from China, who have studied abroad for their master's degrees in the U.S. Transnationalism as a social identity reflects how those NNESTs transform from an international student to a language teacher. Using a qualitative, a constant comparative method, the findings provide insight into the complexity of NNESTs' transnational identities and how their identity and experiences impact their perspectives and practices of English language teaching in their respective contexts."

Author

• Jiaxuan Zong, University of Maryland
  Presenting Author