Teacher-student relationship as a lens to explore teacher identity in an intercultural context

Abstract

The present study explores international teachers’ identity in an intercultural context as manifested through their interpersonal behaviors. In this study with fourteen native speaker Chinese language teachers and one hundred and ninety-two students, survey and interview methods were used as primary sources of data, and classroom observations were stimuli for interviews. The findings reveal that overseas teaching experiences strengthen teachers’ professional identity, although they also bring teachers tensions. The study demonstrates that the teacher-student relationship is a useful lens to explore and interpret teacher identity in an intercultural context. The findings not only highlight how pre-existing beliefs and working context influence teachers’ identity development but also illuminate the distinctions of identity among teachers with different interpersonal profiles.