Teacher Education and Curriculum Studies

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A Novice Japanese Teacher’s Identity Construction in Online Teaching Under COVID-19: Beliefs and Perceptions

Received: 07 January 2021    Accepted: 18 January 2021    Published: 25 January 2021
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Abstract

The present study is mainly focused on a novice Japanese language teacher’s identity through online language teaching under the pandemic of COVID-19. Due to the high risks of public health in the U.S. society, all her Japanese classes have been migrated from in-person to live-online since March 2020. In an attempt to fill the research gap in terms of types of data and target languages, this qualitative research study presents the experiences of a female native speaker of Japanese as a novice teacher at a public university located in the U.S. Viewing identity as an entity rather than separated notions, the author conducts both interviews and class observations to explore the participant’s teaching beliefs and perceptions of online language teaching, as well as her identity construction and transition through this unusual period of time. The data collected from the interviews and class observations reveal three themes that are 1) the participant’s teaching beliefs on authenticity and communication in terms of language teaching, 2) her perceptions of pros and cons of teaching Japanese live-online, and 3) various strategies that she applies to successfully construct her professional identities and transit her identities between personal and professional. Additionally, a discussion about how the novice Japanese language teacher adjusts herself during the special time of the pandemic concludes the article.

DOI 10.11648/j.tecs.20210601.12
Published in Teacher Education and Curriculum Studies (Volume 6, Issue 1, March 2021)
Page(s) 5-11
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Japanese, Language Teacher Identity, Teaching Belief, Perception, Qualitative

References
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[2] Barkhuizen, G. (2017). Language teacher identity research: An introduction. Reflections on language teacher identity research, 9-19.
[3] Duff, P. A., & Uchida, Y. (1997). The negotiation of teachers' sociocultural identities and practices in postsecondary EFL classrooms. Tesol Quarterly, 31 (3): 451-486.
[4] Gao, F., & Shum, M. S. (2010). Investigating the role of bilingual teaching assistants in Hong Kong: An exploratory study. Educational Research, 52 (4), 445-456.
[5] Kanno, Y., & Stuart, C. (2011). Learning to become a second language teacher: Identities-in-practice. The Modern Language Journal, 95 (2): 236-252.
[6] Kayi-Aydar, H. (2019). A language teacher’s agency in the development of her professional identities: A narrative case study. Journal of Latinos and Education, 18 (1), 4-18.
[7] Kayi-Aydar, H. (2019). Language teacher identity. Language Teaching, 52 (3): 281-295.
[8] Lim, H. W. (2011). Concept maps of Korean EFL student teachers’ autobiographical reflections on their professional identity formation. Teaching and Teacher Education, 27 (6): 969-981.
[9] Liu, Y., & Xu, Y. (2011). Inclusion or exclusion? A narrative inquiry of a language teacher’s identity experience in the ‘new work order’ of competing pedagogies. Teaching and Teacher Education, 27 (3): 589-597.
[10] Mercer, S. (2017). Shifting relations: EFL pre-service teachers’ sense of self as a network of relationships. Innovative Practices in Language Teacher Education. 55-77.
[11] Shimazu, M (2012) A Study of the expertise and identities of non-native Teachers of Japanese. Journal of foreign language studies. (14), 33-46.
[12] Thompson, A. S., & Fioramonte, A. (2012). Nonnative speaker teachers of Spanish: Insights from novice teachers. Foreign Language Annals, 45 (4): 564-579.
[13] Tsui, A. B. (2007). Complexities of identity formation: A narrative inquiry of an EFL teacher. Tesol Quarterly, 41 (4): 657-680.
[14] Varghese, M., Morgan, B., Johnston, B., & Johnson, K. A. (2005). Theorizing language teacher identity: Three perspectives and beyond. Journal of language, Identity, and Education, 4 (1): 21-44.
[15] Wolff, D., & De Costa, P. I. (2017). Expanding the language teacher identity landscape: An investigation of the emotions and strategies of a NNEST. The Modern Language Journal, 101 (S1), 76-90.
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Author Information
  • Department of East Asian Studies, University of Arizona, Tucson, USA

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  • APA Style

    Junyuan Chen. (2021). A Novice Japanese Teacher’s Identity Construction in Online Teaching Under COVID-19: Beliefs and Perceptions. Teacher Education and Curriculum Studies, 6(1), 5-11. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.tecs.20210601.12

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    Junyuan Chen. A Novice Japanese Teacher’s Identity Construction in Online Teaching Under COVID-19: Beliefs and Perceptions. Teach. Educ. Curric. Stud. 2021, 6(1), 5-11. doi: 10.11648/j.tecs.20210601.12

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    AMA Style

    Junyuan Chen. A Novice Japanese Teacher’s Identity Construction in Online Teaching Under COVID-19: Beliefs and Perceptions. Teach Educ Curric Stud. 2021;6(1):5-11. doi: 10.11648/j.tecs.20210601.12

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  • @article{10.11648/j.tecs.20210601.12,
      author = {Junyuan Chen},
      title = {A Novice Japanese Teacher’s Identity Construction in Online Teaching Under COVID-19: Beliefs and Perceptions},
      journal = {Teacher Education and Curriculum Studies},
      volume = {6},
      number = {1},
      pages = {5-11},
      doi = {10.11648/j.tecs.20210601.12},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.tecs.20210601.12},
      eprint = {https://download.sciencepg.com/pdf/10.11648.j.tecs.20210601.12},
      abstract = {The present study is mainly focused on a novice Japanese language teacher’s identity through online language teaching under the pandemic of COVID-19. Due to the high risks of public health in the U.S. society, all her Japanese classes have been migrated from in-person to live-online since March 2020. In an attempt to fill the research gap in terms of types of data and target languages, this qualitative research study presents the experiences of a female native speaker of Japanese as a novice teacher at a public university located in the U.S. Viewing identity as an entity rather than separated notions, the author conducts both interviews and class observations to explore the participant’s teaching beliefs and perceptions of online language teaching, as well as her identity construction and transition through this unusual period of time. The data collected from the interviews and class observations reveal three themes that are 1) the participant’s teaching beliefs on authenticity and communication in terms of language teaching, 2) her perceptions of pros and cons of teaching Japanese live-online, and 3) various strategies that she applies to successfully construct her professional identities and transit her identities between personal and professional. Additionally, a discussion about how the novice Japanese language teacher adjusts herself during the special time of the pandemic concludes the article.},
     year = {2021}
    }
    

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