Abstract
Drawing upon the Triadic Reciprocity Framework, this longitudinal qualitative multiple-case study examined how three Hong Kong secondary English as a second language (ESL) teachers exercised their teacher agency to take control of their teaching and professional development. More specifically, the study aimed at exploring how teachers’ intentions and actions for the establishment of their professional identity were afforded and constrained by their workplaces. Findings reveal that these ESL teachers exercised different degrees of proactive, reactive, and passive agency. The four properties of human agency, i.e., intentionality, forethought, self-reactiveness, and self-reflectiveness, influenced the teachers’ proactive, reactive, and passive agency when they responded to personal, behavioral, and environmental determinants. The findings shed light on a three-layered Triadic Reciprocity framework on teacher agency and contributes to a systematic and comprehensive discussion about the various internal and external factors that might exert influences on agency of early career teachers. This study offers pedagogical implications for school teachers, school leaders, and policy makers in Hong Kong and beyond.
Highlights
Confronted with heavy workload, lower positions, and high social responsibilities, language teachers at their early career stage are likely to undergo identity struggles and professional burnout
This study investigated the teaching lives of three English as a second language (ESL) teachers, focusing on how they exercised their teacher agency to take control of their teaching and professional development at the early stage of their teaching career
The study was guided by the following research questions: 1. What beliefs did the ESL teachers uphold in the early years of their teaching career?
Summary
Confronted with heavy workload, lower positions, and high social responsibilities, language teachers at their early career stage are likely to undergo identity struggles and professional burnout. Understanding of teachers’ professional development and practice in contexts is crucial for providing responsive support for them. Recent literature on second language teacher education has highly appreciated the concept of agency, as it “critically shapes their [teachers’] responses to problematic situations” It is significant to investigate how teachers position themselves in classroom teaching and how their professional agency is shaped by the specific contexts (Vongalis-Macrow, 2007)
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