A narrative inquiry examining the complexities of English for academic purposes (EAP) teachers' career transition in China

Abstract

Under globalisation, English language competence is regarded as a valuable asset in many non-English speaking contexts, which has led to an ever-expanding Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) market and the commodification of English language. In many elite universities in mainland China, the internationalised vision in the universities has shifted the emphasis in the English language curriculum from teaching General English (GE) to English for Academic Purposes (EAP) because an EAP curriculum is perceived to better prepare students to study or work abroad. The growing demand for EAP teachers in higher education institutions (HEIs) has led to a career change for some GE teachers. The transition from GE to EAP teaching brings new challenges for English language teachers in HEIs, including how they make sense of their work and their teacher identity. However, few studies have explored the complexities and tensions in English language teachers’ career transitions under the discourse of the commodification of English, particularly in China’s context. This study offers insights into how Chinese EAP teachers’ lives and identities have been shaped and reshaped by the discourse of the commodification of English during the transition from GE to EAP teaching. To unpack the complexities of English language teachers’ career transition experiences, I adopted narrative inquiry (Clandinin, 2016) as the research approach to explore the career transition experiences of three EAP teachers from three different universities in mainland China. My field texts included conversations, classroom observation, teachers’ online posts and teaching diary, and teaching materials and curriculum documents. Following the relational principle of narrative inquiry, I also critically examined my own positionality as a researcher. The relational principle has not only contributed to the transparency and authenticity of this study, but also helped me better understand my own experiences as an English language teacher and a narrative inquirer. Drawing on multiple theoretical perspectives of teacher identity (Connelly & Clandinin, 1999), boundary crossing (Akkerman & Bruining, 2016) and liminality (Turner, 1967), this study found that the three EAP teachers had non-linear career transition trajectories characterised by complexities and paradoxes. For example, the teachers experienced identity crises when they felt cornered by the new demands of teaching English under their institutions’ internationalised and neoliberal visions, which were at times in conflict with their own professional expectations and principles as English language educators. The teachers also experienced tensions while building collaborative relationships with their colleagues and students as they moved from GE to EAP teaching. Yet these tensions and complexities experienced by the teachers were not addressed by their institutions. Driven by the discourses of neoliberalism and managerialism under the commodification of English, the institutions marginalised the teachers’ voices in the English language curriculum reforms and reduced the roles of English language teachers from educators to technicians and service providers. This study argues that a deeper understanding of the complexities of the EAP teachers’ career transition experiences will provide insights for universities and EAP teacher development providers in China and help HEIs understand how to support language teachers’ career transitions.