Abstract:
Novice English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) teachers are prone to professional
identity crisis (PIC) that impedes their professional identity (PI) construction, especially in
the initial 3-year period of an academic career (Baldwin & Blackburn, 1981). Novice
teachers are at the periphery in their communities of practice. The identity construction of
novice EFL teachers at China’s private universities is complicated and negatively affected
by the inferior social status of private universities in China’s tertiary education field. A
prominent manifestation of PIC is imposter phenomenon (IP). This research investigates the
causes, manifestations, and solutions to teachers’ PIC.
This research starts from a critical autoethnographic study of my teaching
experiences at two private universities in China, followed by a narrative inquiry into the PIC
experiences of other novice EFL teachers. There are three phases in the narrative inquiry: a
questionnaire survey, in-depth interviews, and the focus group. First, I conducted an IP
questionnaire survey of 102 novice EFL teachers. Next, seven teachers were selected from
the survey participants for in-depth interviews and the focus group. The methods of data
analysis were narrative analysis and thematic analysis. The theoretical framework for data
analysis consists of social identity theory (Tajfel & Turner, 1986), self-discrepancy theory
(Higgins, 1987, 1989) and situated learning theory (Lave & Wenger, 1991). Results show
that PIC was caused by discrepancies between different self-concepts. Participants had high
self-expectations (ideal self), but their performances (actual self) deviated from the
institutional requirements (ought self). Their teaching beliefs and values conflicted with the
culture of private universities. They followed two paths of PI reconstruction—assimilation
(internalising the group membership) and dissimilation (rejecting the group membership).
On a personal level, solutions to PIC were situated learning from model teachers,
professional achievements, positive emotions, and collaborative work with colleagues; on
an institutional level, private universities need to designate professional supports for novice
EFL teachers to achieve their expected career goals.
