Echoes of Presence: Teachers’ Voices as Embodied Practice in Everyday Professional Life

• In Event: Teachers at the Center: Reimagining Education Through Voice and Vision

Abstract

This study explores teacher voice as an embodied practice within the everyday life of Chinese K–12 classrooms. Drawing on six months of ethnographic fieldwork, it examines how vocal practices mediate professional identity, affective labor, and ethical presence. Findings show that teachers consciously and unconsciously modulate voice to “sound like a teacher,” manage classroom atmospheres, and negotiate authenticity when using amplification technologies. These practices reveal tensions between institutional norms, bodily limits, and pedagogical beliefs.By moving beyond instrumental or biomedical framings, the study foregrounds voice as relational, affective, and ethical, highlighting its often-overlooked significance in shaping teachers’ professional lives.

Author

• Qinwei Qi, East China Normal University