British Identity Research Articles

Digital Echoes: Crafting Chinese EFL Teacher Identity in the Era of AI-Enhanced Instruction—A Qualitative Exploration

This study examines the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) integration on the professional identities of Chinese tertiary English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers. It explores how these educators perceive and adapt to the incorporation of AI tools into their teaching practices, focusing on both the opportunities and challenges encountered. Through qualitative analysis of semi-structured interviews with 16 tertiary EFL teachers, the study identifies key factors influencing their professional identities, including institutional support, professional development, peer influence, personal attitudes towards technology, and ethical considerations. The findings indicate that AI integration enhances personalized learning and reduces the burden of administrative tasks. However, it also challenges teachers to reshape their roles and manage both technological and ethical complexities effectively. The study highlights the necessity for ongoing professional development and robust institutional support to effectively integrate AI in educational settings, ensuring it enhances rather than undermines the teaching and learning process.

Mourning and orienting to the future in a liminal occasion: (Re)defining British national identity after Queen Elizabeth II's death.

In this paper, we conceptualize the days of mourning that followed the passing of Queen Elizabeth II. as constituting a liminal occasion, a moment of in-betweenness through which we can explore sense-making in times of transition. How do people navigate through liminal occasions, and are they always transformative? Through a rapid response ethnography (Ninterviews = 64, Nparticipants = 122), we were able to capture the raw moments within which a collective comes together, as part of a national ritual, to transition from 'here' to 'there'. In our data, liminality prompted participants to strategically define British national identity and its future by positioning the Queen as representative of Britishness, her loss as a national identity loss. No longer taken for granted, participants reasserted the value of the monarchy as an apolitical and unifying feature in an otherwise divided society, characterizing the continuity of the institution as an essential part of British identity and society. The analysis illustrates how liminality offers a useful conceptual tool for addressing how temporality and change are negotiated in relation to a shared identity, and how navigating transitional moments brings with it political implications for the future.

Students' Perspectives on their ideal English professor in class

This research aims to identify students' perspectives on their ideal English professor, characteristics and skills and investigate whether they would like to learn a second language and consider it to aid their professional life. Therefore, a survey was done online with N= 220 learners taking the A1 English level in a public university in the coastal region of Ecuador. The data collected comprised 19 statements divided into three categories ( 1. The perspective in the English professor's Identity; (2. Perspectives on the English Professor's Instruction; (3. Teachers Profile. The analysis uses descriptive statistics. The results demonstrate that students prefer flexible English professors who motivate them to learn a second language, which is essential for them. Most of the students agree that the ideal English professor must have a good proficiency in English level and studied in the field. In summary, as students like to learn a second language, believing it is essential for their professional career, they would prefer a professor who adapts to their necessities.

When EFL learner identity intersects with their investment: Stories from Indonesia

Current research has looked at learner identity as a single construct and is studied as a separate entity from English as a foreign language (EFL) learners’ investment in learning. While the issue has gained much attention in recent times, there is an urgency to explore the intersection of learner identity and investment in English as a foreign language learning. To fill this lacuna, the present study employed a narrative inquiry to understand four Indonesian EFL learners’ identity construction and their investment. Data were garnered from individual semi-structured interviews that discerned the participants’ prior English learning experiences, present perspectives on learning English, and their future aspirations. In analyzing the data, we followed Braun and Clarke’s (2006) six-step analysis procedure. Findings suggest that learners’ prior learning experiences, current perspectives about the role of English in global communications, and their participation in the community of practice serve as mediators in their identity construction process and investment practices. In addition, investment influenced the way the participants constructed their identities as EFL learners. This study suggests the incorporation of identity-awareness pedagogy into the ELT curriculum in order to create more inclusive EFL teaching and learning practices.

NATIONAL CLOTHING IN ENGLISH AND UZBEK CULTURES: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE NAMES OF CLOTHING

National clothing plays a significant role in expressing cultural identity, historical legacy, and social norms in both English and Uzbek cultures. This study aims to compare the evolution and cultural importance of traditional attire in these two nations by examining historical records, dictionaries, and modern practices. We utilized explanatory dictionaries in both languages to define key clothing terms and analyze their social and symbolic roles. The results demonstrate how English traditional attire evolved from functional to ceremonial use, while Uzbek clothing retains a strong connection to national identity and craftsmanship. The study highlights the significance of national clothing as a form of cultural expression, emphasizing how it shapes and reflects the identity of both nations.

Rural songs for COVID‐19 times? UK folk music's resurgent engagement with the countryside

AbstractThe COVID‐19 pandemic somewhat unexpectedly promoted resurgent interest in the attractions of rural places, not least associated with nature, in many countries for especially urban people. The paper argues that this link was very fecund for many within the broad UK ‘folk music’ community specifically. After introducing COVID‐19's pro‐rural turn, the paper gives a brief overview of now substantial music geography scholarship, paying particular attention to what has been studied in respect of folk music, not least its examination of the latter's problematic links to English identities. It argues that folk music's resurgent rural links call for attention. It then introduces how the rural‐folk music COVID‐19 experience worked at three non‐exclusive levels. First, there was rural influence on the music being produced. Second, some musicians were also personally impacted strongly by rural experiences, evident not solely through their music. Third, some musicians developed original rural initiatives that saw audience members also gaining direct rural inspiration, not just via the strong growth in internet‐facilitated connections but through direct in‐place encounters with the musicians in the rural. Each reading is illustrated by two brief case studies, with the rural‐folk combination becoming increasingly alive and more‐than‐representational. It is suggested in conclusion that there remains a strong ‘life’ to these rural‐folk music connections in less predominant COVID‐19 times.

National identities among minority and ‘majority’ ethnic groups: evidence from the 2021 census in England and Wales

ABSTRACT This paper employs data from the 2021 UK census to initially explore sub-state (English, Welsh) national identities among minority ethnic groups. This shows that these identities remain much more exclusive of people in minority groups than is a British identity, and that this exclusion is particularly marked with respect to English identity. The analysis then builds on this observation using similar data to examine English identification among the White British ‘majority’ in a ‘superdiverse’ city – London. Attributes which are typically shared by London boroughs in which identification as English deviates most from the national average, and multi-variable analysis which considers the ethnic structure of the borough in which an individual lives alongside other key factors (age, education, social class) suggest differences in identification between people living in boroughs that are characterised by more established and extensive ethnic diversity and those in boroughs transitioning from a previously more homogeneous (white) ethnic structure. In exploring how the articulation of a specific national identity might relate to ethnically-diverse or ‘superdiverse’ contexts, the paper uniquely contributes to recent research which calls for a stronger focus on how people who do not belong to migrant-minority groups might respond to living in such contexts.

Identity Study of English for Specific Purposes Teachers in the Context of Shifts in Public English Teaching Positioning

This study investigates the identity of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) teachers within the dynamic landscape of shifts in public English teaching positioning. Adopting a mixed-methods approach, qualitative and quantitative analyses were employed to explore the complexities of ESP teacher identity construction and adaptation. Qualitative findings revealed key themes including strong professional identity grounded in specialized expertise, the impact of changing educational policies and curriculum reforms, and the importance of cultural competence and intercultural communication. Quantitative analysis of survey data indicated high levels of job satisfaction among ESP teachers, with significant correlations between variables such as professional development participation, perceived efficacy in technology integration, and self-perceptions of identity as ESP educators.

Heroic Vocabulary and Identity in Old English

Heroic Vocabulary and Identity in Old English

A Just Englishman in Russia: The Ethical Self in Penelope Fitzgerald’s The Beginning of Spring

ABSTRACT In her historical novel, The Beginning of Spring, Penelope Fitzgerald explores English identity in pre-revolutionary Russia by putting her expatriate hero Frank Reid to the test in ethical situations. Engaging with critical attention to the novel’s moral meaning, this article offers an ethical reading alongside Paul Ricoeur’s study on ethical intention and Emmanuel Levinas’s ethics of the face of the other. Frank’s ethical self can be imputed from his aim of becoming a just man in the Moscow business community. To achieve that aim, he must make ethical deliberations based on his practical wisdom and the moral injunction that regulates the intersubjective relationship between the self and the other. He ultimately fails his ethical aim because of the unjust institution – he is othered in/by Russia. I conclude with a gesture that the novel is Fitzgerald’s ethical intention of giving a voice to the other Russian culture.

A Study of Professional Identities of Foreign Non-Native English Speaking Teachers

A Study of Professional Identities of Foreign Non-Native English Speaking Teachers

Language Teacher Identity in a Non-Native Context: The case of Teachers of English Language in Ghana

The study investigated how English language teachers in Ghana construct their identities as teachers of English as a Second Language (ESL). Semi-structured interviews were conducted with ESL teachers who were selected through purposive sampling. The data was analysed qualitatively by coding, identifying, categorising and interpreting the emerging themes. It was found that the ESL teachers’ identity is defined by three elements: personal attributes, professional attributes, and contextual factors. On the personal level, the identity of the ESL teachers is characterised by passion, diligence, self-efficacy, and sense of inadequacy. Professionally, subject-matter knowledge, pedagogical knowledge and technological knowledge were found. Lastly, key contextual identity defining factors are curriculum and educational policies, classroom conditions and intrinsic motivation from learners’ success stories. The study recommends further investigation into other factors such as gender on non-native ESL teachers identity formation. Key words: Identity, teacher identity, language teacher identity, identity and teachers of English

Sociopragmatic Variations: Addressing Practices of Pakistani English Speakers in Multilingual Academic Setting

The study aims to identify the set of address forms used between Pakistani bi-/multilingual faculty members in university settings when speaking English. We highlight the impact of sociocultural and bi-/multilingual identity in English on the speakers' choices in formal and informal contexts. We have limited our data between teacher-teacher interactions through a questionnaire-survey of 90 participants. The data were analyzed through the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) v.20; adescriptive test was performed on the obtained data along with ethnographical observation. The result indicates the impact of the cultural and pragmatic variations in the use of address forms while interacting in English. Moreover, the multilingual situation influenced the addressing forms as observed when participants selected the native language's terms of address based on symmetrical and asymmetrical contexts. The faculty interactions showed differences in the styles of communication based on the interlocutor and the situation. These findings have large implications in sociolinguistics, sociopragmatic, academic discourse, and intercultural communication. Keywords: Address forms, Sociopragmatic, Variations, Cultural Values, Multilinguals, Teacher-teacher, Interactions.

PERCEPTION OF RUSSIAN PANSLAVISM IN THE BRITISH PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES N THE BEGINNING OF THE EASTERN CRISIS OF THE 1870S

During the Eastern Crisis of the 1870s, the British political elites followed with particular attention the Panslavic ideas expressed in Russia and often perceived them as a threat of the Russian Empire’s expansion into the Balkan Peninsula. However, at the very beginning of the Eastern Crisis, the British Parliament’s attitude to the Russian Panslavism was neutral or even positive and it had a considerable impact on British-Russian relations. Britain’s perception of Russian Panslavism during this short but significant period has not been researched yet. This article uses the materials of parliamentary debates to trace the transformation of images of Russian Panslavism in the British political discourse in 1876 and to analyze the mechanisms of their construction. The author identifies three models of interpretation of Russia’s “Slavic interests”, first, as “Slavic sympathies” of the Russian population, second, as Russia’s “territorial ambitions”, and third, as “Russian intrigues”, which allegedly instigated Slav uprisings against the Ottoman Empire. In the summer of 1876, the interpretation of Panslavism as sincere sympathies of Russian society for its Slavic brothers received the greatest weight in the British political discourse. This interpretation contributed to the formation of a more positive image of Russia and even a temporary change in the pro-Turkish policy of the British government. However, by the late 1876, British politicians increasingly began to suspect the Russian government of “subversive Panslavism”. The formation of images of Russian Panslavism in the political discourse of Great Britain was influenced not only the traditional patterns of British foreign policy, but also by the internal political struggle that escalated during the “Bulgarian agitation”. Panslavism was also interpreted ambiguously due to the lack of information, so politicians often based their judgments on stereotypes about Russia, the Ottoman Empire and the Balkan peoples. Finally, parliamentarians’ views were also affected by a rethinking of their own British identity. British politicians revisited issues of relevance to Britain’s own attitudes to the sovereignty of empires, the uprisings of colonized peoples, moral responsibility and Britain’s international mission.

Thai Rap Songs Through the World Englishes Approach: Code-Switching and Nativization

Abstract This study examines the English elements and nativized English features present in recent Thai rap songs. The source data comes from a Thai rap playlist called Thai Rapper on the online music platform Spotify. All English units found in the lyrics were manually counted and classified. The results diverged from most studies of Thai-English code-switching in Thai media in that, among the English elements considered, sentences were employed most frequently. Among nativized English features, semantic shift was most frequently employed. I argue that the local and global English identity flows (Pennycook 2009) index a shift in the Thai rap community toward assimilation of their Thai hip-hop identity into global street culture, a phenomenon becoming more prevalent among today’s Thai youth.

The Stauntons of Galway in China: Irish Catholic networks and the expansion of the British Empire in Asia

AbstractGeorge Leonard Staunton, who travelled on the first British embassy to China in 1793, and his son George Thomas Staunton, who translated the Chinese legal code into English, are well-known figures in the history of China. Their British identity was constructed by George Thomas to conceal the family's Irish Catholic background, but in fact George Leonard used that background for the benefit of an imperial career that propelled him from Galway to the West Indies, India and, finally, China. It enabled him to win the support of the papacy for the British embassy to China, and his son to learn Chinese and make a career as a merchant and translator. Their story shows some of the mechanisms that connected the nineteenth-century British Empire in Asia to the Catholic Church which had been the great global institution of the early modern age. Moreover, a distinctively Irish concern with property law can be seen to have influenced George Thomas's great work on Chinese law. The Stauntons’ imperial careers made the family wealthy and much of this wealth came back to County Galway.

Chinese EFL Academics’ Experiences of Aligning Researcher Identity (Re)-Construction with University Policy Practices of a National Research Policy

While the past two decades have witnessed a surge of studies on the researcher identity of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) academics, research on how the intertwined connections between EFL academics and the larger ecological system within an institution affect their researcher identity construction remains relatively scarce. Utilizing a three-tier system framework, this study seeks to address this gap by exploring how EFL academics (micro level) in China navigate the complexities of aligning their researcher identity (re)construction with institutional practices (meso level) of a national policy (macro level). Adopting a case study design, this study collected and triangulated data from three sources: semi-structured interviews, narrative frames, and document analysis. Data analysis revealed that there were (mis)alignments between EFL academics’ research expectations of national research policy and interpretations of research policy at the institutional level, and participants adopted different responses in re-adjusting their research practices to align with research policy. The study implies the need for university administrators to take into account academics’ disciplinary features, research values, and needs when implementing institutional research policies. Such an orientation provides more opportunities and resources to shape, rather than break, the researcher identities of EFL academics and ultimately facilitate the sustainable development of higher education.

Exploring the professional role identities of English for academic purposes practitioners: a qualitative study

Abstract While English for Academic Purposes (EAP) has developed theoretically and empirically over the past decades, there are few documented studies on EAP practitioners’ identities. Our study examined 12 Iranian EAP practitioners’ role identities (as one type of identity) in light of the conceptualization of English for specific purposes (ESP) practitioner roles. Adopting a qualitative approach, the study revealed the role of various contextual factors shaping the practitioners’ role identities as being EAP practitioner agents of transformative education, being a course designer and the quest for needs analysis, being a materials provider and managing the oscillations, being a collaborator and the lack of collegiate connection, being a researcher and dispositional variations, and finally being an evaluator and dynamic assessors. The study provides implications regarding how policy and planning shape practitioners’ role identities and suggests future lines of inquiry to build the associated scholarship.

The discursive formation of British national identity: the lexical aspect

British national identity has been in the zone of constant study by scientists for a long period of time, but after Brexit, interest in this topic has increased significantly. The British nation, especially the part of it that was on the side of the Eurosceptics, after Brexit was aimed at strengthening the British identity and completely destroying any influence of globalization on the British nation. But despite the expectations of the British, many scientists agree that the national British identity is still in crisis. Thus, the object of this research is the culture-bound lexical elements of the English-language political discourse of online mass media, and the purpose is to identify the current state of British national identity through the analysis of the words-realities of the British political discourse. Current works (not older than five years) by Russian and foreign scientists in the fields of political discourse and national British identity form the methodological basis of the research. The analysis of the culture-bound lexical elements of English-language political discourse is carried out on the basis of online media texts for the period January–April 2024, which makes the study innovative and reflects the trends of modern linguistic science. As a result of the study, it was revealed that the national British identity is in a state of crisis. Brexit and subsequent events gave the British nation hope for the ascent of national identity and the return of its former imperial greatness, but analyzing the current articles of British online publications on political topics, it becomes evident that international processes still prevail over the British identity. The further perspective of the research lies in the field of studying the discursive formation of British identity from the point of view of syntactic, grammatical, and social aspects.

An Investigation of Pakistani English Speakers’ Perception about the relationship between Accent and Identity in English as a Lingua Franca Communication

An Investigation of Pakistani English Speakers’ Perception about the relationship between Accent and Identity in English as a Lingua Franca Communication