Although the significance of professional identity to language teachers has been widely acknowledged, much remains unknown about the dynamic process of emotion negotiation and identity development of FL/SL teachers with different ethnical background under the Covid-19 pandemic context. Through a semi-structured interview with 10 EAP teachers from an EMI university in China, this study aimed to explore how their professional identity changed and transformed since the outbreak of the Covid-19, and how it negotiated with emotions during the pandemic. The following results were obtained: (1) Ethnical background was one of the significant factors influencing the development of teacher's professional identity; (2) international teachers were found to be more susceptible to the pandemic and compared with their Chinese counterparts, they generated more negative emotions; (3) teacher-student classroom interactions were found to be one of the significant factors triggering the emotional changes and transformation of professional identities regardless of their ethnical backgrounds.
Top1. Introduction
The importance of teacher professional identity to foreign/second language teaching and pedagogy can be attributed to the fact that what, how, and why language teachers teach is influenced explicitly and implicitly by how they view themselves as professionals. It has been widely acknowledged that new teachers' perceptions of their identities substantially impact their access to power, ownership of their languages, and professional development (Donato, 2016; Kayi-Ager & Wyatt, 2019). Among many factors relating to teacher professional identity, emotion has been identified as the most crucial variable affecting how a teacher develops their self-sense, thus increasingly attracting attention of applied linguists and language educators.
Identity, emotions, and instructional strategies interact significantly in language learning (Motha and Lin, 2014). Positive emotions have been shown to strengthen teachers' developing identities. In contrast, negative emotions might undermine those identities and even cause teachers to reevaluate and doubt their preexisting identities (Schutz & Lee, 2014). Recent research has shed a great deal of light on the solid relationship between second language teachers' emotions and the formation of their professional identities (Jeongyeon & Hye Young, 2020; Song, 2016). However, despite mounting evidence of substantial connections between emotions and the professional identity of foreign/second language teachers (Miller & Gkonou, 2018; Motha & Lin, 2014; Schutz & Lee, 2014; Song, 2016), very few have examined the issue from a cross-cultural perspective given that the majority of extant studies focused primarily on the teachers with the same ethnic background. Apart from the impact of diversity of ethnic backgrounds, it is also vital to consider the impact that Covid-19 would have on the interactions between professional identity and the emotions or feelings of FL (foreign language) and SL (second language) teachers. Unlike all the other countries, China had implemented and enforced the “Zero Case Pandemic Control Policy” since the breakout of Covid-19, which brought a tremendous challenge to many FL/SL teachers, especially the international teachers who recently relocated to China. It is apparent that many more stressors had been triggered for them to cope with under such circumstances, including the difficulties caused by online instructions, disappointments, worries and fears throughout the quarantine, a lack of support from the university and government during the lockdown, to name just a few (Gu et al., 2022; Katarzyna, 2021; MacIntyre, Gregersen, & Mercer, 2020). Consequently, when FL/SL instructors, especially international teachers, are engaged in a social and cultural context that is utterly foreign to them, such unpleasant emotional experiences, plus the threat and inconvenience caused by Covid-19, would impair their social interactions and sense of self.
Therefore, this research aims to explore the factors that influence the professional identity and emotions of language teachers with diverse ethnic backgrounds in China during the pandemic. This chapter also intends to identify the differences in the development of emotion and professional identity between Chinese and international teachers.