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Frontiers of Education in China

ISSN 1673-341X

ISSN 1673-3533(Online)

CN 11-5741/G4

Postal Subscription Code 80-979

Front. Educ. China    2014, Vol. 9 Issue (3) : 429-455    https://doi.org/10.3868/s110-003-014-0033-x
research-article
Chinese Teachers’ Professional Identity and Beliefs about the Teacher-Student Relationships in an Intercultural Context
Li WANG1(),Xiangyun DU2
1. Department of Learning and Philosophy, Aalborg University, Aalborg 9000, Denmark
2. Department of Learning and Philosophy, Aalborg University, Aalborg 9000, Denmark
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Abstract

This paper presents a qualitative study of immigrant Chinese teachers’ professional identity and beliefs about the teacher-student relationship in an intercultural context. Theoretically, this study takes its departure from a sociocultural perspective on understanding professional identity. The empirical analysis in the study drew mainly upon ethnographic interviews with a group of Chinese language teachers in Denmark concerning their life experiences, perceptions, and beliefs. The results of this study suggest that teachers’ beliefs about their roles as teachers and about student-teacher relationships are shaped by both their prior experiences and backgrounds and the current social and cultural contexts in which they are situated. Changes of context (e.g., from China to Denmark) often lead to a transformation of their professional identity and beliefs. Being a teacher in an intercultural context often exposes them to the confrontation of diverse challenges and dilemmas. On one hand, teachers in this study generally experienced a transformation from being a moral role model, subject expert, authority and parental role to being a learning facilitator and culture worker. On the other hand, they developed diverse individualized coping strategies to handle student-teacher interactions and other aspects of teachers’ professional identity.

Keywords professional identity      teachers’ beliefs      immigrant Chinese teachers      teacher-student relationships      intercultural context     
Issue Date: 23 September 2014
 Cite this article:   
Li WANG,Xiangyun DU. Chinese Teachers’ Professional Identity and Beliefs about the Teacher-Student Relationships in an Intercultural Context[J]. Front. Educ. China, 2014, 9(3): 429-455.
 URL:  
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fed/EN/10.3868/s110-003-014-0033-x
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fed/EN/Y2014/V9/I3/429
[1] Haiqin LIU, Fred DERVIN, Huiling XU, Robyn MOLONEY. “They Have It Better There”: Chinese Immigrant Teachers’ Beliefs, Ideologies and Imaginaries in Cross-National Comparisons[J]. Front. Educ. China, 2019, 14(3): 453-479.
[2] Xiaofang DUAN, Fien DEPAEPE, Lieven VERSCHAFFEL. Chinese Upper Elementary School Mathematics Teachers’ Attitudes towards the Place and Value of Problematic Word Problems in Mathematics Education[J]. Front Educ Chin, 2011, 6(3): 449-469.
[3] SONG Guangwen, WEI Shuhua. A study on pertinent infl uencing factors on teachers’ professional identity[J]. Front. Educ. China, 2007, 2(4): 634-650.
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