Exploring Chinese EFL teachers’ professional identity tensions in the senior high school context: A dissonance theory perspective

139 Exploring Chinese EFL teachers’ professional identity tensions in the senior high school context: A dissonance theory perspective mingqiong Pang (Corresponding author) Wu Jiang Shenze High School, Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, China roBert kirkPatriCk Gulf University for Science and Technology, Kuwait Received: 19/4/2023 / Accepted: 13/10/2023 DOI: https://doi.org/10.30827/portalin.vi2023c.29633 ISSN paper edition: 1697-7467, ISSN digital edition: 2695-8244 ABSTRACT: Due to the great importance of professional identity in teachers’ development and success, researchers’ attention has recently been confined to the tensions that may challenge teachers’ identities. Despite the importance of these tensions in the EFL context, only a few studies have addressed them by employing qualitative research methods. The present study aims to investigate the professional identity tensions of EFL teachers by a psychometric scale. Therefore, an instrument was developed and validated for measuring Chinese EFL teachers’ professional identity tensions from the Dissonance Theory perspective by adopting the Professional Identity Tension Scale (PITS). To this end, based on the convenience sampling method, 452 Chinese EFL teachers from senior high schools participated in the study. Exploratory and SEM analyses were performed to identify and confirm the weight of the influencing factors respectively. The final instrument is a 5-point Likert-type item including 30 items measuring six different tensions related to professional identity. The findings were an indication of the applicability of PITS in the EFL context with six contributive factors. Implications of the study and suggestions for further research are discussed. Keywords: professional identity, identity tension, dissonance theory, teachers’ identity, EFL teachers Una investigación sobre la tensión de la identidad profesional de los profesores de EFL de la escuela secundaria en China desde la perspectiva de la teoría de la disonancia RESUMEN: Debido a la importancia de la identidad profesional en el desarrollo y el éxito de los docentes, los investigadores se han centrado recientemente en las tensiones que pueden desafiar la identidad docente. Aunque estas tensiones son muy importantes en el entorno de EFL, solo unos pocos estudios han resuelto estos problemas a través de métodos de investigación cualitativos. El objetivo de este estudio es investigar la tensión de identidad profesional de los profesores de EFL mediante una escala psicométrica. Por lo tanto, se utilizó la escala de tensión de identidad profesional (PITS) para desarrollar y verificar una herramienta para medir la tensión de identidad profesional de los profesores chinos de inglés desde una perspectiva de la teoría de la disonancia. Con este fin, 452 profesores chinos de EFL de la escuela secundaria participaron en el estudio basado en el método de muestreo de conveniencia. Se realizaron análisis exploratorios y SEM para determinar y confirmar el peso de Porta Linguarum issue 2023C, December 2023 139-155 140 Porta Linguarum Issue 2023c, December 2023 los factores de influencia, respectivamente. La última herramienta fue una escala Likert de 5 puntos que incluyó 30 elementos para medir seis tensiones diferentes relacionadas con la identidad profesional. Los resultados del estudio muestran que la aplicabilidad de los PITS en el entorno de EFL tiene seis factores contribuyentes. Se discutieron las implicaciones del estudio y las sugerencias para futuras investigaciones. Palabras clave: identidad profesional, tensión de identidad, teoría de la disonancia, identidad docente, profesores de EFL 1. IntroductIon Teachers’ professional identity has received momentum in recent years (Derakhshan et al., 2023a, b; Mehdizadeh et al., 2023) and professional identity tensions have attracted researchers’ attention concerning their manner of interacting with students and teachers’ views of their status in the educational context (e.g., Anspal et al., 2018, Kudaibergenov & Lee, 2022; Nickel & Crosby, 2021, Pérez Gracia et al., 2022). This interest is more relevant to preservice teachers since one of the central aspects of teacher education is to focus on the self indicating the influence of who I am on who I want to be in the future (González-Calvo, et al., 2020). When an inconsistency is felt between the present self and the assumed future self, professional identity tension is observed. According to Warner (2016), professional identity tensions pertain to a sense of lack of consonance between supposed presumptions and expectations and the real involvement in fieldwork. Güngör (2017) argues that if teachers do not properly manage their professional identity tensions, their performance will be limited regarding their learning and occupational enthusiasm. In addition, these conflicts and anxieties can bring about negative emotions such as exhaustion and insecurity (Pillen et al., 2013). Previous research shows that knowledge and experience of professional identity tensions are inseparably bound up by the developmental procedure of being a teacher (Derakhshan & Nazari, 2022). Professional identity tension encourages them to reevaluate their changing and developmental role and reflect on issues like their identity and occupation by answering questions such as “Who am I?” and “What is my professional role?” (Warner, 2016). These reflections, attitudes, and internalizations, recently, have been studied from the dissonance theory perspective. The cognitive dissonance theory was introduced by Festinger (1957). According to this theory, dissonance occurs when individuals are faced with facts that conflict with their values, ideas, and beliefs. These individuals try to find a method to resolve the observed contradiction to lessen their discomfort and irritation. The theory can be applied to all social contexts that involve decision-making, problem-solving processes, and the formation and changes of human attitudes. One of these contexts is education, particularly EFL education which EFL teachers face different cultures and situations conflicting with their values and beliefs. Until now, the conducted studies in the literature have considered mostly beginning teachers in fields other than the EFL context by applying qualitative methods of inquiry such as interviews and narratives (e.g., Eslamdoost et al., 2019; Parks 2015). Only a few studies have been done on identifying professional identity tensions using quantitative methods (Hanna et al., 2019; Hanna et al., 2020; Hanna et al., 2022; He, et al., 2022; Pillen et al., 2013). Bearing in mind the inherent dynamicity of the EFL teaching process, and the nature of second/foreign language teaching as one of the most emotional professions (Wang, et al., 141 Mingqiong Pan and RobeRt KiRKPatRicK Exploring Chinese EFL teachers' professional... 2022), it is likely that language teachers come across unanticipated events which conflict with their beliefs, emotions, and personality causing serious tensions. To our knowledge, no research has been done on professional identity tensions in the EFL context particularly using quantitative methods and questionnaires to identify EFL teachers’ identity tensions. For example, Yang et al., (2021) investigated the professional tensions of Chinese EFL using qualitative methods of study, i.e., narratives and interviews. In line with the studies on this new area of the teaching profession, and to disclose the possible professional identity tensions among EFL teachers, the present research tried to adopt a psychometric scale (Hanna et al., 2019), i.e., Professional Identity Tension Scale (PITS) for measuring and defining the influencing factors in professional identity tensions of EFL teachers. In this study, the features and factors of professional tensions were broken down based on the dissonance theory framework. This application of PITS in the Chinese context can be a new and constructive step for more research, whereby insight can be gained into the cognitive dissonances experienced by teachers while becoming EFL teachers. Accordingly, this study attempted to develop and examine the applicability of the Professional Identity Tension Scale (PITS) in the Chinese EFL context and to explore what factors can play a role in the Chinese EFL teachers’ professional identity tensions. Therefore, the following research questions have been proposed: 1. Is the Professional Identity Tension Scale (PITS) applicable in the Chinese EFL context? 2. What factors influence the Chinese EFL teachers’ professional identity tensions? 2. revIew of lIterAture 2.1. Professional identity As a long-standing topic, identity has gained great debate in higher education studies. The three distinguished complementary perspectives for identity include psychological, social, and post-structural ones (Kreber, 2010). Kaplan and Garner (2017) consider the psychological stance especially important due to its particular identity contents such as beliefs, values, and self-awareness. The sociocultural perspective relates to the contextualized nature of identity and the contribution of structural features to one’s overall identity (Gee, 2000). Finally, the post-structuralist stance, emphasizing individuals’ manifold and changeable identities and orientations, favors the ‘notion subjectivities’ (Yang et al., 2021). According to this stance, identity is continually transforming and consequently, the academics and teachers’ identities cannot be analyzed in association with experience. Kaplan and Garner (2017) theorize identity as a complicated dynamic structure that is in a strong connection with an individual’s self-conception, goals, beliefs, and perception of activities supposed to be done in one’s role. From an integrative perspective, the attributed nature to the identity as well as its development provides the possibility of considering teacher identity as a part of academics. Therefore, teachers’ professional identity can be studied by adopting a holistic perspective (Trautwein, 2018). This kind of integration in sub-identities can result in well-being, high commitment, and personal coherence, while 142 Porta Linguarum Issue 2023c, December 2023 the absence of integration will prompt negative feelings, declined motivation, and personal dilemmas (Garner & Kaplan, 2019). Taking an action-oriented approach to conceptualizing identity, Wenger (1998) proposes five major dimensions for identity. The first one is negotiated experiences which refers to the question of ‘Who are we?’ in terms of the way we experience and perceive ourselves through involvement in social activities. The second dimension is identity as community membership which concerns describing ourselves by indicating forms of capacity that a special community demands, whereby one can be considered as that community’ membership. Identity as learning trajectory, the third aspect, involves answering the questions of ‘Where have we been?’ and ‘Where are we going?’ The other dimension is Identity as the nexus of multimembership. It is how we define ourselves by combining our different forms of identity to form a whole one. Finally, Wenger’s last dimension is identity as a relation between the local and the global which is the interplay between the local and global. To put it in a nutshell, Wenger’s identity construction theory, which is an identity-in-practice one, suggests a powerful framework to study the formation of teachers’ professional identity through lived involvement with the possibility of including different tensions regarding the encountered inconsistencies between teachers’ values and expectations and results in dissonances. 2.2. Dissonance theory There is extensive literature on dissonance theory; however, we consider it in brief. According to this theory, cognitive dissonance is experienced when an individual completes an activity that contradicts his/her cognitive elements including personal ideas, beliefs or values, and emotions (Cooper, 2007). The caused mental discomfort leads to a displeasing state of psychological tension (Festinger, 1957). The resulting state, inherently, generates some behavioral or mental activities to avoid or decrease the unpleasant state. In other words, this state is unpleasant and drive-like motivating individuals to change their conditions to decrease their dissonance experience. The caused dissonant state remains for a short period or a few minutes; however, its effect can continue for a couple of weeks and can return by bringing back the inconsistency (Draycott & Dabbs, 1998). In addition, dissonance or conflict can also happen between distinctive internal factors like emotions or personal beliefs. Going under cognitive dissonance is regarded as a personal and subjective process due to its dependence on the attached meaning by an individual to the experienced mental discomfort. The process of assigning meaning is also affected by an elaborate combination of personal and environmental factors (Hanna et al., 2019). According to Simon et al. (1995), the dissonance can be reduced by changing the dissonant element i.e., changing the attitude, increasing the weight of a consonant element, and subtracting the inconsistent one, and finally, by trivialization, i.e., reduction of the significance of the dissonant element. 2.3. Professional identity tensions Tensions in identity can be seen while teachers are engaging in the integration of different aspects of their job to be able to act effectively in the dynamic atmosphere of their workplace with distinctive expectations (Siekkinen et al., 2020). Van Winkel et al. (2018) 143 Mingqiong Pan and RobeRt KiRKPatRicK Exploring Chinese EFL teachers' professional... argue that complex and flexible identities such as teachers’ identities are liable to come apart and conflict with each other. Anspal et al. (2018) identified three identity tensions including ‘role expectations vs. university training’, ‘conception of self vs. professional role’, and ‘multiple professional role expectations. Most researchers have explained professional identity tensions in teachers concerning internal conflicts (e.g.; Delaney, 2015; Warner, 2016). Accordingly, professional identity tensions are described in terms of cognitive dissonances due to the constant accompaniment of unpleasant and irritating emotions. Cognitive dissonance considers internal struggles as a type of dissonance between the teacher as a professional and the expectations of the teacher as a person (Hanna et al., 2019). Depending on its weight and density, the experience of professional identity tension inherently needs to be resolved, reduced, or avoided. According to the dissonance theory, the attributed weight to the experienced identity tension is highly under the influence of environmental factors such as cultural influences, educational demands, and personal factors including teachers’ motivation, self-esteem, and self-efficacy (Hanna et al., 2019). Previous studies have made out different professional identity tensions influencing new teachers (Pillen et al., 2013a). For example, Alsup (2006) recognized three identity tensions including the tensions between being a student at the university and being a teacher at the school, tension caused by the difference between what is indoctrinated in teacher education programs about teaching and what is experienced in the real context of teaching, and finally, the tension between personal beliefs and skills and professional role expectation. Gee (2000) believes that these tensions can be caused by a mismatch of several factors like institution, nature, and society guiding a particular identity perspective. Although experiencing tensions has been considered essential for professional identity development in beginning teachers (Alsup, 2006), some tensions may be too complicated to be managed and adapt. These types of complex and unresolved tensions can lead to quitting the teaching profession (Smagorinsky, et al., 2004). The broadly considered tensions in the literature are related to competence gaps, experienced conflicts by student teachers, contradictions, and worries. In other words, conflicts, tensions, and gaps all play roles in the development of teacher identity (Schatz-Oppenheimer & Dvir, 2014). Despite recent extensive studies on teacher identity, research on the tensions relevant to teachers’ professional identity is a relatively new area, particularly in the EFL context. 2.4. Professional identity of EFL teachers Today, studying EFL teachers’ identities has attracted growing attention (Zhang, 2017). The literature uncovered three main areas regarding the basic characteristics of teacher identity. The first one concerns the multifaceted nature of professional identity. The second is related to the relationship between social (e.g., professional context) and personal dimensions (e.g., emotions) in the process of identity formation. The last one refers to the connection between structure and agency in identity formation (Beijaard et al., 2013). As with other identity formations, teacher identity is also constructed through a dynamic process by the mediation of different explicit and implicit mandates including social, cultural, and political mandates in societies and schools (Datnow et al., 2002). Studying the manner of English language teachers regarding their pedagogical adaptations, Scotland (2014, p. 41) points 144 Porta Linguarum Issue 2023c, December 2023 out that “individual sites of agency” intervene between institutional contexts and teachers’ identities. Reviewing the literature over the past two decades, we witnessed that research on teacher identity has focused on the factors influencing teachers’ professional identity formation including sociocultural factors (Shabani, 2016), the culture of the local classroom, institutional culture, teachers’ previous experiences as well as the textbooks (Powell, 1994). Kelchtermans (2005, p.997) argues that the strong reaction of teachers when their “professional identity and moral integrity, as part of being a ‘proper teacher” goes under question. Drawing attention to the nature of EFL teaching laden with political, cultural, and social factors, Pennycook (1994) highlights their critical role in the construction and shaping of EFL teachers’ identity; although their effects and operation, depending on the context, vary and need more investigation. In a similar vein, Richards (2006) argues that EFL teaching is a productive field for the investigation of identity tensions and conflicts and their reconstruction. EFL teachers like other teachers are subject to tensions and dissonance due to the policies and mandates relating to language education and the culture of the context. However, these tensions and the caused dilemmas and how EFL teachers counter and respond to the positions have not been investigated particularly in countries with a centralized education system like China. To address this gap and take the first steps in examining the EFL teachers’ professional identity tensions using a psychometric instrument, the present study aims to apply the Professional Identity Tensions Scale (PITS) for the first time in the EFL context in China. This scale firstly was designed by Pillen et al. (2013), and then developed and used by Hanna et al. (2019) to measure the identity tensions of student teachers. 3. Methodology 3.1. Design of the study Given the aim of the present study and the proposed research questions, a cross-sectional quantitative design was adopted. A 5-point Likert-type item was used to gather the required data. 3.2. Participants Following a non-random sampling, i.e., the convenience sampling method, a total of 452 Chinese EFL teachers from 4 senior high schools in Jiangsu province participated in the current study. In the present study, the convenience sampling method was adopted due to easiness of access to the participants. Of all filled questionnaires, 450 valid cases were obtained after gleaning the initial data. Amongst all those valid participants, 98 male teachers (21.78%) and 352 female teachers (78.22%) answered the questionnaires. Their age ranged from 22 to 65, with their average age being 41.79 and an SD of 2.013. Most of the teachers taught bachelor’s and master’s students, covering 83.78% and 18.44% respectively. Those Chinese EFL teachers had various education levels, with a bachelor’s degree (N=131, 28.9 %), a Master’s degree (N=302, 67 %), and a Ph.D. degree (N=17, 3%) respectively. All of the teachers have had teaching experience, ranging from 1 to 30 years with a mean of 12 years and an SD of 2.27. From the gleaned data, 200 cases were randomly selected for the 145 Mingqiong Pan and RobeRt KiRKPatRicK Exploring Chinese EFL teachers' professional... EFA and the remaining 250 were used for CFA. Table 1. Summary of participants’ demographic information Demographic Information Category N % Gender Male 97 21.78 Female 352 78.22 Total 450 100 Level of Education Bachelor of Arts 131 28.9 Master of Arts 302 67 Ph.D. 17 3 Total 450 100 Age Range Mean SD 22-65 41.79 2.103 Teaching Experience (year) Mean SD 1-30 12 2.27 3.3. Instruments TTo understand the current status of college EFL teachers’ identity tensions in China, a five-point scale including Likert-type items was used. The original Professional Identity Tension Scale (PITS) was developed by Hanna et al., (2019) on the basis of the questionnaire designed by Pillen et al. (2013). In the present study, depending on the Chinese EFL context, the content of some statements was altered. It has also been translated into the Chinese language. In order to achieve validity, the translated scale was double-checked by two experts, and additionally, backward translation was carried out to ensure not including ambiguous points. It is mentionable that the name of the factors was chosen on the basis of the original model and also some of them were changed considering the included items and the context of the study. In the main scale, the factors were identified by using a sentence, however, in the present study, to be more convenient in referring to factors, we used phrases. The final questionnaire contained 41 statements including 11 items on demographic information and the remaining 30 items were on the identity tensions of English teachers (Appendix A). The participants were demanded to choose between strongly agree, slightly agree, neutral, slightly disagree, and strongly agree (1=Strongly disagree to 7=Strongly agree). 3.4. Data collection procedure The data collection started on 7th, February 2022, and ended on 25th, March 2022. Before that, to pass the ethical consideration, the agreement of the affiliation and consent of the participants were taken. The participants, Chinese EFL teachers, were informed of the research purpose and they were assured that their information and the obtained data would 146 Porta Linguarum Issue 2023c, December 2023 be kept confidential and used only for research purposes. They were also assured that they could withdraw their participation at any time without providing any reasons. The e-version questionnaires were distributed across different WeChat groups (a popular communication App in China) and emails in order to obtain a large sample of participants. 3.5. Data analysis procedure In order to analyze data, firstly, Cronbach’s coefficient was used to check the reliability of the questionnaire. In the next step, the normality and linearity of data were examined. Then, to find highly interconnected variables, 200 cases of collected data were randomly submitted to Exploratory Factor Analysis and 250 cases remained for Confirmatory Factor analysis. The whole analysis was performed using SPSS24. 4. results 4.1. Scale reliabilities First, Cronbach’s coefficient was used to check the reliability of the thirty items. A generally accepted rule is that α of 0.6-0.7 indicates an acceptable level of reliability, and 0.8 or greater is a very good level. However, values higher than 0.95 are not necessarily good, since they might indicate redundancy (Hulin et al., 2001). Table 2. Reliability statistics Cronbach's Alpha N of Items .886 30 As Table 2 presents, Cronbach's alpha is .88, which indicates an excellent level of internal consistency for the scale with this specific sample. The main assumptions of normality, linearity, and homoscedasticity were assumed. None of the 30 items was substantially skewed (< |2|) or kurtosis (< |7|). Furthermore, the data did not consist of missing values. An explanatory factor analysis (EFA) was administered on the 30 items. The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) value was 0.88, indicating ‘meritorious’ sampling adequacy and Barlett’s test of Sphericity was significant (X2 (435) = 6829.11, p < .05), indicating the variance-covariance matrix was appropriate for an EFA (Field, 2013). EFA was used to find groups of variables that are highly intercorrelated. Each such group probably represents an underlying common factor. There are different mathematical approaches to accomplishing this, but the most common one is Principal Components Analysis (PCA). The questionnaire held among 452 teachers included 30 questions on the EFL teachers' Professional Identity Tension Scale (PITS). It is assumed that this measures a smaller number of underlying factors but there is no evidence of a model. Therefore, the following minor research questions are proposed for this analysis: • How many factors are measured by the 30 questions? • Which questions measure similar factors? 147 Mingqiong Pan and RobeRt KiRKPatRicK Exploring Chinese EFL teachers' professional... With 30 input variables, PCA initially extracts 7 factors (or components). Each component has a quality score called an Eigenvalue. Only components with high Eigenvalues are likely to represent a real underlying factor (Appendix Table B1). A common rule of thumb is to select components whose Eigenvalue is at least 1(Field, 2013). Applying this simple rule to the preceding table answers the first minor research question: the 30 variables seem to measure 7 underlying factors. This is because only the first 7 components have an Eigenvalue of at least 1. The other components that have low-quality scores are not assumed to represent real traits underlying the 30 questions. Such components are considered “scree” as shown by the line in Figure A in the Appendix. The Eigenvalues or quality scores are visualized in the scree plot. The first 7 components have Eigenvalues over 1. These are considered strong factors. After that, components 8 and onwardsthe Eigenvalues drop off dramatically. The sharp drop between components 1-7 and components 8-30 strongly suggests that 7 factors underlie our questions. The 30 variables probably measure 7 underlying factors, but it is not clear which items measure each factor. The rotated component matrix shows the Pearson correlations between the items and the components (Table 3) and Figure 1 presents the first structural model of the underlying relationship between items and factors. These correlations are called factor loadings: Table 3. Rotated Component Matrix 154 Porta Linguarum Issue 2023c, December 2023 Kelchtermans, G. (2005). 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Scree plot from the explanatory factor analysis 158 Porta Linguarum Issue 2023c, December 2023 Table B2. Unstandardized and standardized loadings of the final model Table B3. Covariances for the final model