(Re)construction of Teacher Identity Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic from Examination of Conflict-Coordinated Experience of English Language Teachers

This paper examines changes in teacher identity before and after the outbreak of COVID-19 through the use of digital technologies, based on a questionnaire. Before the main trial, a preliminary test consisting of 48 participants was piloted. This test was comprised of four parts: participants’ background information; 15 questions concerning teacher identity before and after COVID-19, respectively; and 10 questions about teacher identity during COVID-19. For the main study, 133 Chinese English teachers participated in the survey, and the data indicate that the use of digital technology during the pandemic had a significant influence on their teacher identity. A paired t-test confirms that between the two variables (personal identity and situated identity), the latter shows a greater significant change. The analysis of a one-way ANOVA test shows that teachers with longer teaching experience tend to use more digital technology for two-way communication in online teaching environments. In addition, the analysis of descriptive statistics regarding experiences during COVID-19 reveals that the use of digital technology has become a necessity for language teaching. The overall result suggests changes in an online teaching environment require language teachers to not only develop new teaching practices, but also to shift their understanding of teaching and reconstruct their identity as language teachers.