Restorying a “Newbie” Teacher’s 3D Virtual Teaching Trajectory, Resilience, and Professional Development Through Action Research: A Narrative Case Study

Abstract

Unique affordances of 3D multi‐user virtual environments (e.g., immersive simulation, avatar tele/copresence) have attracted language teachers and researchers to explore the effects of Second Life (SL) on learners’ language outcomes and perceptions. Research on such a synergy of language education and virtual learning has suggested learners’ heightened motivation, improved communication skills, boosted confidence, and developed avatar identity. Nevertheless, the target population in prior research was predominately language learners; teachers’ professional development and beliefs in 3D virtual teaching are relatively under‐researched. Motivated by action research, this case study explores how an ESL teacher switched her role from an experienced classroom‐based teacher to an SL “newbie” teacher, thus reconstructing her teacher identity and fostering professional growth. Coinciding with narrative inquiry, her verbatim account was documented in her critical reflections in blogging, shadowed and interviewed by the researcher as her mentor. Her story epitomises an online teacher’s resilience in striving to equip herself with a new skill set and new understandings of online teaching vis‐à‐vis challenges encountered, strategies employed, and lessons learned through critical reflections in dialogue blogging. These aspects open a new avenue for research and pedagogy in virtual teacher training and professional development through action research in the 3D virtual environment.