Examining Teacher Identity Construction in Action Research: The Mediating Role of Experience

Abstract

ABSTRACT While research on teacher identities has received a surge of attention in the past decades, there is a need for further exploring how teachers’ professional profiles contributes to their engagement in action research. To this end, the current action research-oriented study explored two novice and two experienced language teachers’ identities across the four main stages of action research, namely Plan, Act, Observe, and Reflect. For this purpose, we collected data via semi-structured interviews, reflective journals, and classroom observations. Data analyses indicated that the teachers’ identity construction was largely featured by similarities than differences, as Plan (similar predicaments, different confidence); Act (struggling differently, exulting similarly); Observe (similar emotions, similar recognition); and Reflect (similar trajectories, different reflectivity). In addition, the study argues that while experience influences teacher-researchers’ initial AR steps, novice and experienced teachers undergo similar trajectories in constructing their identities over the course of implementing their plans.