Identity, Agency, and the Acquisition of Professional Language and Culture

Identity, Agency and the Acquisition of Professional Language and Culture

Also available from Continuum: Language, Culture and Identity, Philip Riley Multilingualism, Citizenship, and Identity, Julie Byrd Clark Second Language Identities, David Block The Sociolinguistics of Identity, Edited by Goodith White and Tope Omoniyi

Identity, Agency and the Acquisition of Professional Language and Culture

Ping Deters

Continuum International Publishing Group The Tower Building 80 Maiden Lane 11 York Road Suite 704 London SE1 7NX New York, NY 10038 www.continuumbooks.com © Ping Deters 2011 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. EISBN: 978-1-4411-6315-8 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.

Typeset by Newgen Imaging Systems Pvt Ltd, Chennai, India Printed and bound in Great Britain

For Norbert and my parents and siblings: Kok Ying and Hock Yee Wong, Mary, Gwen, Sang, Terry, Fong, Elreen, Lai and Ling

Contents

List of Tables Acknowledgements

ix x

Chapter 1 Globalization and the Migration of Professionals 1.1 High-skilled Immigrants: A Prominent Trend 1.2 The Declassing of High-skilled Immigrants 1.3 Globalization in a Local Context: The Case of Immigrant Professionals in Ontario, Canada 1.4 Current Issues in the Professional Integration of Internationally Educated Teachers 1.5 Personal Experiences and Connections to Immigration Issues

1 2 5

Chapter 2 Social Perspectives on Identity and Agency in SLA Research 2.1 The Rise of Social Perspectives in SLA Research 2.2 Discourse and Identity: Post-structural and Dialogic Theory 2.3 Learning as Becoming: Identity Formation in Situated Learning 2.4 Mediated Mind and Agency: Sociocultural Theory 2.5 Theorizing Identity and Agency in SLA: Discussion Chapter 3 Qualitative Research in SLA 3.1 Qualitative Research: Characteristics and Methods 3.2 Conducting Qualitative Research in SLA Chapter 4 Affordances and Constraints in the Acquisition of Professional Language and Culture 4.1 The Participants 4.2 Constraints to Professional Acculturation 4.3 Affordances to Successful Professional Acculturation 4.4 Discussion: Identity, Agency and Communities of Practice

7 11 14 17 17 19 27 34 42 53 54 67 85 85 94 107 120

viii

Contents

Chapter 5 The Professional Acculturation Journeys of Two Schoolteachers from Different Times and Places 5.1 Evelyn: A Secondary School Teacher from Austria 5.2 Merida: An Elementary School Teacher from Venezuela 5.3 Discussion

125 125 136 146

Chapter 6 Professional Integration in Two Contexts: A Chemical Engineer in Canada and an Architect in Denmark 6.1 Peter, Chemical Engineer 6.2 Kerri, Architect 6.3 Discussion 6.4 Summary and Commentary: Retrospective Narratives

155 155 166 178 183

Chapter 7 The Lived Professional Acculturation Experiences of a Teacher from Hong Kong: A Longitudinal Case Study 7.1 Case Study Information 7.2 Constraints and Conflicts 7.3 Affordances and Agency 7.4 Professional Acculturation and Identity 7.5 Discussion

186 186 190 197 201 205

Chapter 8 From Local to Global: Research Findings and Their Application to Other Contexts 8.1 Affordances and Constraints to Professional Acculturation 8.2 Theoretical Conceptions of Identity and Agency Revisited 8.3 Practical and Policy Implications 8.4 Concluding Thoughts

208 208 214 217 220

Appendices Appendix A: Interview Questions for IET Participants Appendix B: Transcription Key Appendix C: Member Checks Appendix D: Examples of Segmentation and Coding

222 222 224 225 227

Notes References Index

230 232 247

List of Tables

Table 2.1 Table 3.1 Table 3.2 Table 3.3 Table 3.4 Table 3.5 Table 3.6 Table 4.1 Table 4.2 Table 4.3 Table 4.4 Table 4.5 Table 4.6

Conceptions of identity/self and agency Initial research design Participants in phase one Participants in phase two Participants in phase three Summary of interview data Summary of case study data Phase one and phase two (case study) participants – elementary division Phase one and phase two (case study) participants – secondary division Phase one and phase two (case study) participants – college division Phase three participants Constraints to professional acculturation: topics and themes Affordances to professional acculturation: topics and themes

43 69 70 70 71 75 77 86 88 90 93 95 107

Acknowledgements

This book would not have been possible without the support and encouragement of so many. First, I thank all of the participants, who shared their experiences so willingly and generously. Your stories truly touched me. I hope that I have done justice to your words. I am grateful for the mentorship and guidance from scholars at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto, the University of British Columbia and York University, who have been instrumental in the development of my research and scholarship: Merrill Swain, Patsy Duff, Ruth Hayhoe, Sharon Lapkin, Antoinette Gagné and Jill Bell. My sincere thanks to the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and CERIS – the Ontario Metropolis Centre for Excellence in Research on Immigration and Settlement for funding my research study. I am also grateful to Gurdeep Mattu and Colleen Coalter at Continuum, for their kind support of this book project. Many heartfelt thanks also to my family, and my friends and colleagues at OISE/UT and the English Language Institute at Seneca College for their encouragement and support. Finally, my deepest gratitude to Norbert, for his unswerving belief in me.

Chapter 1

Globalization and the Migration of Professionals

Globalization has transformed the world by creating increasingly integrated and interdependent states, economies, societies and cultures. One notable trend in recent decades is the increase in the scale and scope of international migration. According to the World Migration Report (2010), there are now almost 214 million international migrants. The number of international migrants has more than doubled since 1980, and has increased by almost 40 million over the past decade. Not only are there more international migrants, contemporary global migration involves a greater diversity of ethnic and cultural groups, more women as primary migrants, more temporary or circular migration and many more countries of origin and destination. International migration has been very high in public, political and media discourse, and this discourse has been highly polarized at national, regional and global levels: International migration is an emotive issue because it raises complex questions about the identity and values of individuals, households and communities, as well as societies as a whole. International migration is a controversial matter because it highlights important questions about national identity, global equity, social justice and the universality of human rights. (Global Commission on International Migration, 2005, p. 10) The countries with the largest numbers of international migrants in 2010 were the United States (42.8 million), the Russian Federation (12.3 million), Germany (10.8 million), Saudi Arabia (7.3 million), Canada (7.2 million), France (6.7 million), UK (6.5 million), Spain (6.4 million), India (5.4 million) and Ukraine (5.3 million). Münz (2010, p. 14) identified the US/Canada, the European Union 27 (including the European Economic Area countries and Switzerland), Russia, the Gulf States and Australia as being magnet societies for current international migration. Europe now matches North

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America in per capita net migration (3.0 per 1000) and Europe’s importance as a destination region is expected to increase in the coming decades (Boswell, 2005). The percentage of foreign-born and non-citizens in the total population is approximately 10 per cent in France, the Netherlands, Greece, Ireland and Belgium; 12 per cent in Sweden, the US, Germany and Austria; almost 20 per cent in Canada and New Zealand; and 22 per cent in Switzerland and Australia (Dumont & Lemaitre, 2005, cited in Hugo, 2005, p. 9). In contemporary global migration, there has been an increase in emigration from countries of origin in Asia, Africa and Latin America to OECD destination countries. This has resulted in greater cultural diversity in OECD countries, and the integration of newcomers into destination societies and economies is a major and highly contested issue, particularly in Europe. Even in Australia and Canada, which are well known as settlement countries and where multiculturalism is official government policy, there are tensions between official and public discourses regarding the social and economic integration of immigrants. The Global Commission on International Migration (2005) stated that integration is a long-term and multidimensional process that requires commitment and adaptation on the part of migrants and citizens of a destination country. The integration of newcomers is essential for social cohesion in a society, which provides a sense of security and common purpose, and contributes to economic success. Key components of integration include proficiency in the official language of the destination country, the ability to find work and participation in the civil society. This book contributes to international migration research by examining one prominent aspect of contemporary international migration: the professional integration of high-skilled immigrants. In this chapter, I provide the background and rationale for the research study that is the focus of this book. I begin with an overview of high-skilled labour migration trends. I then describe my research study context – immigrant professionals in the province of Ontario, Canada – and provide my rationale for focusing on immigrant teachers. I contextualize my study by discussing some key findings from previous research on the professional integration of immigrant teachers. Finally, I describe my personal connections to this topic.

1.1 High-skilled Immigrants: A Prominent Trend The International Labour Organization estimated around 100 million migrant workers worldwide, including 18 million in North America and

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30 million in Europe (Hugo, 2005, p. 2). In the years prior to the recent economic downturn, OECD countries experienced a period of sustained employment growth. Between 2003 and 2007, 30 million jobs were created, 20 million in OECD Europe. Given that the local labour force in many OECD countries has been shrinking as a result of an ageing population, migrant labour has been a significant part of employment growth (SOPEMI, 2009, p. 14). For example, between 1997 and 2007 in the UK, immigrant employment accounted for 75 per cent of employment growth (almost 1.5 out of 2 million positions). In the same time period, immigrant employment accounted for 58 per cent of employment growth in the United States (8.7 out of 15 million positions), and at least 40 per cent of total employment growth in Austria, Denmark, Italy and Spain (SOPEMI, 2009, p. 14). Many OECD countries share a common demographic dilemma: an ageing population and declining replacement rates have resulted in labour market shortages. In addition, a shrinking labour force is not only problematic for maintaining economic productivity and growth, but in ageing nations, this also results in difficulties in maintaining pensions and social security programmes, and finding caregivers for a growing number of elderly persons (GCIM, 2005, p. 6). In 2005, Denmark, Germany, Italy and Japan already had retiring cohorts that were larger than incoming cohorts. By 2020, all OECD countries except Ireland, Mexico and Turkey are projected to experience a decline in the working-age population (Chaloff & Lemaitre, 2009, p. 13). Thus, many of the most affluent countries in the world are dependent on immigration to meet labour market demands, and a number of OECD countries have introduced policies to facilitate the recruitment of highskilled immigrants. The term ‘high-skilled’ can be defined in terms of educational attainment (at least tertiary), occupation type, or wage level (Chaloff & Lemaitre, 2009, p. 12). There are many benefits of labour migration, and in particular, high-skilled labour migration. In contemporary knowledge-based economies, human capital in the form of highly skilled workers is vital for innovation, productivity and economic growth. For example, Wimmer’s study on the Green Card programme for IT workers in Germany estimated that each high-skilled migrant created an average of 2.5 new jobs in Germany (cited in Boswell, 2005, p. 5). Labour migrants from diverse countries of origin bring different knowledge and skills, which can contribute to innovation. In addition, Hugo (2005) noted that migration is a highly selective process and that it is often the risk takers, entrepreneurs, hard working and skilled persons who are inclined to move, so their contribution to destination societies can be even greater.

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There are two main ways of recruiting high-skilled migrants: demanddriven, through direct recruitment by employers, and supply-driven, where candidates are selected according to characteristics such as age, education, language proficiency and occupation (point system). Supply-driven systems are more problematic because immigrants arrive without jobs and may face barriers to entering their professions and finding work. One major barrier is the lack of official language proficiency. For countries that have a national language that is not widely spoken outside of the country, direct recruitment into a position is problematic unless an international language is spoken in the workplace that can serve as a transitional language while the migrant learns the official language of the destination country. Discretionary high-skilled permanent labour migration has occurred mainly in Australia, Canada and New Zealand. Countries in Europe that have had active and large high-skilled worker migration programmes are Ireland, Switzerland and the UK. Switzerland recruits mainly from the European Union, while Ireland and the UK recruit from outside the Union. However, in contrast to traditional settlement countries that recruit permanent labour migration, most European countries offer temporary work permits. Notable is the fact that high-skilled migration from countries outside the OECD to OECD countries has occurred mainly in Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand and the UK, all countries with English as an official language. Switzerland, which also has high-skilled migration, has national languages spoken by larger neighbouring countries. Other OECD countries that have languages widely spoken beyond their borders – Belgium, France, Portugal and Spain – have had fewer high-skilled migrants. The major increases in migrant labour over the past decade in Portugal and Spain have been mainly for lesser-skilled occupations (SOPEMI, 2009, p. 102–103). In recent years, Denmark and Norway have also been actively recruiting high-skilled immigrants. Both countries have national languages that are scarcely spoken beyond their borders, but have nevertheless managed to recruit high-skilled immigrants. In both countries, India is the principal source country. Since many residents can speak English in these two countries, immigrants who are recruited directly into employment can function in English while learning the national language (SOPEMI, 2009, p. 103). With the recent downturn in the global economy, a number of OECD countries have changed their policies to reduce labour migration, but discretionary migration, especially in European countries, is only a small part

Globalization and the Migration of Professionals

5

of total migration. High-skilled migrants are also found in family reunification and humanitarian migration.

1.2 The Declassing of High-skilled Immigrants A major issue concerning immigrants in high-skilled and professional occupations is their unemployment and underemployment. In Europe, for example, the percentage of immigrants in high-skilled and professional occupations is lower than the overall percentage of immigrants in the employed population. This reflects the concentration of immigrants in lower skilled occupations, either because of the migration of lower skilled persons and/or because of difficulties in entering high-skilled occupations. (Chaloff & Lemaitre, 2009, p. 5). In terms of employment or unemployment rates or earnings, labour market outcomes for high-skilled immigrants trail those of the native-born in almost all OECD countries (SOPEMI, 2009, p. 108). According to a 2006 survey of eight European countries (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland, Sweden) and the United States, an average of 55 per cent of tertiary-educated immigrants were in high-skilled jobs compared to 70 per cent of tertiary-educated native-born persons; 4 per cent of tertiary-educated immigrants were in low-skill jobs compared to 1 per cent of native-born persons. In addition, the unemployment rate of tertiary-educated immigrants was 7 per cent compared to 3 per cent for native-born, and 19 per cent of tertiary-educated immigrants were not in the labour force, compared to 11 per cent of native-born (Chaloff & Lemaitre, 2009, p. 39). These figures speak to the deskilling of highly educated immigrants. The deskilling and declassing of immigrant professionals is an economic and social issue. First, the unemployment and underemployment of highly educated immigrants result in wasted resources and human potential, and reduce their fiscal contribution through taxation. This impacts a destination country’s economic growth and prosperity. Second, the workplace provides an important context for the integration of newcomers. In this community-based context, immigrants and other members of a society can pursue common objectives and establish relationships, which can help to develop a sense of mutual respect. (GCIM, 2005, p. 47). Immigrants in high-skilled or professional occupations face three major barriers: lack of proficiency in the destination country’s official language, transferability of foreign credentials and lack of local work experience.

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For example, after the EU enlargement, most high-educated migrants from the new accession countries generally sought and found lesser-skilled jobs in Ireland and the UK because their English proficiency was not sufficient for high-skilled jobs (SOPEMI, 2009, p. 165). Rosholm, Scott and Husted (2001, cited in SOPEMI, 2009, p. 110) maintained that the increasing importance of interpersonal communication skills – ‘soft’ skills – in the workplace has made it more difficult for high-skilled immigrants to achieve the same kinds of labour market outcomes as in the past. Thus, acquiring a high proficiency in an official language, which includes competence in cultural nuances in interpersonal communication, is essential for the labour market integration of high-skilled immigrants. The Foreign Service Institute (FSI) of the US Department of State has estimated the number of hours of instruction required for a native English speaker to be able to speak and read at ‘General Professional Proficiency’. This corresponds to level three in a six-level scale varying from level zero (no proficiency) to level five (native or bilingual proficiency). At level three, a person is ‘able to speak the language with sufficient structural accuracy and vocabulary to participate effectively in most formal and informal conversations on practical, social and professional topics’ (SOPEMI, 2009, p. 176). The estimates are based on FSI students, who have previous foreign language learning experience and are considered to have good language aptitude. In addition, these students are taught in small classes (maximum six persons) and receive 25 hours of instruction per week. The students are also expected to complete three to four hours of self-study per day. Under these rather ideal language learning conditions, the estimated hours of instruction are 575–600 (23–24 weeks) for most Western European languages, such as Danish, Dutch, French, Italian or Swedish; 750 for German (30 weeks); 1 100 (44 weeks) for languages with significant linguistic and/or cultural differences with English, such as Greek, Hebrew, Russian, Tagalog, Turkish or Vietnamese; and 2 200 hours (88 weeks), with the second year of study in-country, for languages that are exceptionally difficult for native English speakers, such as Arabic, Japanese and Mandarin (SOPEMI, 2009, p. 165). These estimates for language instruction do not include the acquisition of writing proficiency, which would require many more hours of instruction. Clearly, learning an additional language in order to function in a professional context requires a significant amount of time and resources. According to a recent OECD report, funded language instruction for immigrants comprises 2000 hours in Denmark, 1300 hours in Australia, 1200 hours in Canada, 600 hours in Germany, 400 hours in France and 200

Globalization and the Migration of Professionals

7

hours in Belgium (SOPEMI, 2009, p. 165). With the exception of Denmark, comparing these figures with the US Foreign Service Institute’s estimated number of hours of instruction required to reach a general professional proficiency in speaking and reading reveals the gap between the number of funded language instructional hours for immigrants and what is needed by immigrants to function in professional contexts, particularly for immigrants who come from a language background that is significantly different from the destination country’s official language. Given the importance of language proficiency to the labour market and social integration of immigrants, many destination countries need to provide greater support for language instruction. In addition, high-skilled immigrants also require support in developing local work experience and networks.

1.3 Globalization in a Local Context: The Case of Immigrant Professionals in Ontario, Canada Canada is well known as an immigration country. The most recent census data (Statistics Canada, 2007) reported that 1 110 000 newcomers came to Canada between 2001 and 2006. Over 58 per cent of recent immigrants were born in Asia (including the Middle East), and over 70 per cent of the foreign-born population in 2006 reported a mother tongue other than English or French. The largest proportion (18.6 per cent) reported Chinese languages. Ontario receives the majority of immigrants to Canada. In 2006, 52 per cent of immigrants to Canada settled in Ontario, and 40 per cent settled in the Greater Toronto Area. The foreign-born population in the Greater Toronto Area is 45.7 per cent of the total population, which makes Toronto one of the most culturally diverse cities in the world. In recent decades, active recruitment of high-skilled immigrants through a supply-driven point system has resulted in a high influx of immigrant professionals who are granted residency status because of their education and occupational training in high-demand areas. Thousands of internationally educated professionals arrive in Canada each year with the hope and expectation of finding work in their profession, but instead face entry barriers (e.g., Basran & Zong, 1998; Salaff & Greve, 2005; Zong, 2004, Zhu, 2005). The major barriers to employment identified by both immigrant job seekers and Canadian managers are assessment and transferability of foreign credentials, lack of Canadian work experience and insufficient official language skills (Canadian Labour & Business Centre, 2002). The lack of official language skills, that is, English or French, was identified by

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22 per cent of immigrant job seekers and 66 per cent of private and public sector managers as being problematic for labour market participation. According to a recent report of the Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Canada (Schellenberg & Maheux, 2007, p. 22), the top two difficulties identified by economic immigrants 4 years after arrival were: finding an adequate job (54.2 per cent), and learning an official language/language barrier (22.9 per cent). A major problem for immigrant professionals in Canada has been the lack of funded language instruction to help learners achieve a proficiency that is required in professional workplaces. Bridging programmes for professionals attempt to fill this gap, but enrolment is often restricted and funding for such programmes is often short-term. As a result, many immigrant professionals have to enrol in fee-paying courses to further upgrade their skills in the official language. In addition, the recertification process for many regulated professions often involves achieving a high score on a standardized test of language proficiency. There have been a number of studies that focus on the underemployment of immigrant professionals in Canada, and although the issue of language skills has emerged from the findings (e.g., Basran & Zong, 1998; Boyd & Thomas, 2001; Kadkhoda, 2002; Kunz, Milan & Schetagne, 2000; Salaff & Greve, 2005; Zong, 2004), many previous studies on labour migration have been conducted by economists and typically draw upon demographic census data and labour market outcomes. To date, few studies have focused specifically on the second language acquisition process of immigrant professionals. Given the importance of the acquisition of official language skills for the social and economic integration of immigrants, research from the field of applied linguistics has the potential to make an important contribution to the literature on global migration and the integration of immigrants. The purpose of my study on immigrant professionals in Canada and their acquisition of professional language and culture is to make such a contribution. My study focuses on internationally educated teachers with various subject specializations in the publicly funded Kindergarten-to-Grade-12 (K-12) school system and Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology (CAATs) in the province of Ontario. In Canada, immigrants who are educated and certified as teachers in other countries are referred to as ‘internationally educated teachers’. In other contexts such as Australia, the UK and the US, the terms ‘overseas trained teachers’, ‘foreign trained teachers’ and ‘international teachers’ are used. In this book, I will use the term internationally educated teachers and acronym (IET) interchangeably with the

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term immigrant teachers. In the 1990s, 6.2 per cent of immigrant professionals in Canada were in the Educational Services category (Canadian Labour & Business Centre, 2004, p. 11). While immigrant teachers are not the most common profession of recent immigrants, for example, there are higher numbers of engineers (27.6 per cent), there are important reasons for focusing on internationally educated teachers. First, internationally educated teachers have an especially high rate of unemployment and underemployment (Lum, Chassels, & Rasheed, 2008). In a survey conducted in the province of British Columbia, internationally educated teachers were the group of immigrant professionals who were second-most commonly identified with unemployment or underemployment (CBMercer & Associates, 2002). In Ontario, surveys of newly certified teachers identified internationally educated teachers as having the greatest difficulties obtaining full-time permanent employment as teachers, despite having years of teaching experience in other countries (McIntyre, 2004). In addition to this issue of employment equity, there is another important reason to focus on the professional acculturation experiences of immigrant teachers. As discussed above, increased immigration has resulted in greater linguistic and cultural diversity in many contemporary societies, especially in metropolitan centres, which attract the majority of newcomers and their children. As a result, the students in the education system are also becoming increasingly diverse. In Europe, a major issue in recent years has been the poor educational outcomes of first- and second-generation immigrant children as revealed by recent results of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), which compared the achievement of students in OECD countries. In Canada and the US, many stakeholders in education have expressed the urgent need for a teaching force that reflects the multicultural student body in the publicly funded education system (e.g., Dei, 2002; Fenwick, 2001; J. A. Gordon, 2000; Klassen & Carr, 1997; Quiocho & Rios, 2000; Rong & Preissle, 1997; Solomon, 1997). The argument made is that teachers from diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds can have a positive impact on the achievement of children from diverse backgrounds. The shortage of visible minority teachers in Canada and in other immigrant receiving countries such as Australia and the United States is well known, and education systems have been searching for ways to attract visible minority students to the teaching profession. What has received little consideration is the unfulfilled potential of internationally educated teachers to address this need in the Canadian education system. This is a classic mismatch: On the one hand, there is a shortage of teachers from

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Identity, Agency and Professional Language and Culture

diverse backgrounds; on the other hand, there is an abundance of internationally educated teachers from diverse backgrounds who are experienced and clearly have much to contribute to a multicultural school system, but face barriers in becoming successful practitioners in the education system. A third reason for focusing on the professional acculturation of internationally educated teachers is because of the increasing prominence of this group of professionals in global migration trends. In a number of OECD nations, the combination of a high percentage of teachers reaching retirement age, a shrinking work force and the low remuneration and status of the teaching profession have resulted in teacher shortages (Boswell, 2005). Over the past decade, Australia, the UK and the US have actively recruited migrant teachers1, and teacher shortages are anticipated in other OECD countries, including Germany and Switzerland (American Federation of Teachers, 2009; Deutsche Welle, 2009; Miller, 2008a; OECD, 2005). Miller (2008a) noted that overseas trained teachers have become an important part of the teaching force in the primary and secondary education system in the UK, but discussions about the integration of these professionals are virtually non-existent. Furthermore, there is inadequate initial induction and an absence of programmes to support the professional acculturation of these teachers. The successful integration of internationally educated teachers has important ramifications not only for education systems, but also for social cohesion in increasingly diverse societies because of the important role of educators and schools in transmitting values, including values concerning diversity. The issue of professional language proficiency and acculturation is especially crucial for teachers because teaching is a linguistically and culturally dependent profession (Remennick, 2002). The goal of my study was to better understand the affordances and constraints to the successful professional acculturation of internationally educated teachers in order to assist these teachers to successfully integrate into the Canadian education system. Although I examine the case of internationally educated teachers in Canada, the findings from my study can provide insights for other highskilled migrants in other contexts. In previous research on internationally educated professionals, there has been a paucity of studies that focus on the acquisition of occupation-specific language and culture. In the field of second language acquisition, few studies have focused on adult immigrants and their acquisition of language and culture for professional contexts. Thus, my study fills a gap in the research literature on a topic that is important worldwide as a result of globalization and the increased migration of professionals.

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1.4 Current Issues in the Professional Integration of Internationally Educated Teachers Over the past decade, research on the professional integration of internationally educated teachers has attracted the attention of scholars in a number of countries that have received a high number of internationally educated teachers, namely, Australia, Canada, Israel, the UK and the US. The UK and the US have recruited migrant teachers mainly from countries where English is the official language, while Australia and Canada have received a higher number of immigrant teachers who speak English as an additional language as a result of these two countries’ supply-driven point system that grants residency to high-skilled immigrants. Israel is a unique case as it received a high number of immigrant teachers who were part of the large influx of high-skilled immigrants from the Former Soviet Union in the early 1990s. In my review of previous research on internationally educated teachers in the various national contexts, I have identified three main topics: recertification and entry barriers; discrimination and marginalization; and professional acculturation issues. Previous research on IETs has been conducted mainly by scholars from the field of teacher education and teacher development. Recertification and entry barriers have been the focus of a number of studies, including Guo and Singh’s (2009) study of overseas trained teachers in Australia, Miller’s (2008b) work on the devaluing of migrant teachers’ qualifications in the UK, Remennick’s (2002) study of former Soviet teachers of mathematics and physics in Israel and Beynon, Ilieva and Dichupa’s (2004) study of the re-credentialing experiences of IETs in Canada. These studies highlighted the difficulties of gaining recertification for particular subject specializations and teaching divisions, and the length of time and cost involved in applying for recertification, which included problems with accessing documents from the source country that conform with requirements in the destination country. Other barriers to entry included the lack of recognition of overseas teaching experience by local authorities. Research on IETs in Australia and the UK has found that experienced teachers from other Commonwealth countries also faced recertification and entry barriers, despite coming from similar education systems where English is the medium of instruction. Immigrant teachers in Canada and Israel often had the additional challenge of having to acquire a high proficiency in the destination country’s official language. Another major topic was the marginalization of IETs, often because of linguistic and racial differences. In Australia and Canada, speaking English

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with an accent, especially when combined with being a racial minority, was problematic for many IETs. The work of Kostogriz and Peeler (2007) and Santoro, Kamler and Reid (2001) examined the marginalization of visible and linguistic minority immigrant teachers by administrators, colleagues and students in Australia. Reid’s (2005) analysis focused on the authoritative discourses of ‘qualifications’, ‘otherness’ and ‘whiteness’ (p. 257) that marginalized the IET participants in their professional context. Reid examined how some participants were able to challenge and resist these authoritative discourses that positioned them as less competent through dialoguing with students and creating awareness of different varieties of English. In Canada, studies that have examined the discrimination and marginalization of racial and linguistic minority IETs include work by Amin (1997), Phillion (2003), Thiessen, Bascia and Goodson (1996) and Xu (1999). For example, a number of participants in Xu’s study (1999) felt that Eastern European accents were accepted more readily than Asian and African accents by administrators and colleagues. Amin (1997) found that the teachers in her study were positioned by their adult immigrant students as inferior to White Canadians who spoke ‘real’ Canadian English. This disempowered the teachers and had a negative impact on the teachers’ professional identity formation. Michael (2006, p. 176) noted that even in Israel, where there is a strong national discourse of valuing the integration of immigrants, there were barriers in the form of ‘subtle mechanisms of exclusion’ (p. 176) that prevented IETs from participating in major decisionmaking forums, thereby limiting the IETs’ professional integration and influence in Israeli schools. Previous studies on IETs have also focused on the challenging process of professional acculturation. A number of studies have examined the experiences of IETs in bridging and pre-service teacher education programmes, for example, the work of Cruickshank and colleagues (2003, 2004) in Australia, Mendez-Negrete and Saldana (2004) and Ross (2003) in the US and the work of Gagné and Inbar (2005) and Zhang and Cheng (2005) in Canada. Other studies have focused on IETs who were teaching in their destination country’s school system. In Australia, Seah’s (2002) study examined the impact of value differences among internationally educated secondary school math teachers. In the US, Flores (2003) examined the professional socialization of teachers from the Philippines, which is a major source country for the recruitment of teachers to the US, and Hutchison and colleagues (Hutchison, 2006; Hutchison, Butler, & Fuller, 2005) focused on internationally educated science teachers in American secondary schools. Hutchison (2006) identified issues related to language and communication

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as one of the most prominent themes. Although three of the four teachers in his study spoke English as a first language, there were still language barriers due to ‘differences in the use of expressions, manners of speech, accent, differential use of words in normal conversation and for scientific use, and spelling’ (Hutchison, 2006, p. 79). The reported experiences of IETs highlighted the complex nature of their adjustment, which included developing a high level of proficiency in an additional language. Learning professional language and culture is especially complex for teachers because of the important role of language and culture in teaching. Widdowson (1998, p. 4) stated that ‘what language means semantically is not at all the same as what people mean by language pragmatically’ and that communication depends on context, shared knowledge, community and culture. For IETs, it was not simply a matter of learning some new occupation-specific terminology, but a matter of learning a new way of conceptualizing culturally determined schemata and a new way of being. A related topic that was reflected in the findings from these studies was the relationship between the professional acculturation of IETs and their identities. A number of the studies – including work by He (1998), Mawhinney and Xu (1997) and Wang (2002) in Canada, and Elbaz-Luwisch (2004) in Israel – described the need of IETs to reconstruct their identities and to negotiate differences in beliefs, values, attitudes and behaviours in the new educational context. For IETs who were crossing social, cultural and professional borders, the need to negotiate their multifaceted identities added to the complexity of their professional acculturation. Finally, findings from previous studies highlighted the importance of mentorship, social support and other forms of mediation in the IETs’ adaptation to a different education system. This topic was also prominent across all five national contexts. The studies by Myles, Cheng and Wang (2006) as well as Peeler and Jane (2005) highlighted the importance of the guidance of newcomers by established members in a community of practice, and newcomers’ access to community resources. For example, the immigrant teachers who were successful in Wang’s (2002) study sought help from department heads and other teacher colleagues. In contrast, all of the participants in Xu’s (1999) study had major difficulties accessing their professional communities, which was necessary for their professional acculturation. As a result, none of the seven participants were able to gain entry into the school system. Another finding from previous studies was that the IETs were not only guided by mentor teachers. The IETs’ interactions with students, administrators, parents and others in the educational

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community also led to their professional socialization. For example, the teachers in Flores’ (2003) study of Filipino immigrant teachers in Hawai’i perceived their interactions with their students as most important for their professional socialization. Given the importance of issues of identity and mediation in these previous studies of IETs, sociocultural theory (Cole, 1996; Vygotsky, 1978, 1986; Wertsch, 1991, 1998) and the community of practice framework (Lave & Wenger, 1991; Wenger, 1998), with their focus on the impact of the complex interaction between individuals, artefacts and social practices on human development and agency, can offer important insights into the professional acculturation processes of internationally educated teachers. While a number of recent studies have demonstrated the theoretical insights afforded by sociocultural theory in research on teacher development (e.g., Edwards & D’Arcy, 2004; Smagorinsky, Cook, Moore, Jackson, & Fry, 2004; Twiselton, 2004), to my knowledge, few studies to date have examined IETs’ acquisition of professional language and culture from these theoretical perspectives. Thus, another goal of my work is to examine the professional integration of immigrant teachers and issues of identity, agency and mediation from a sociocultural theoretical perspective.

1.5 Personal Experiences and Connections to Immigration Issues In addition to the rationale for my study given above, I am also interested in immigration and integration issues because of my own personal and professional experiences. Vitanova (2002) explained this as the concept of heuristic research, in which qualitative researchers select a topic of personal significance: Heuristic inquiry is a process that begins with a question . . . that has been a personal challenge and puzzlement in the search to understand one’s self and the world in which one lives . . . The heuristic process is autobiographic, yet with . . . every question that matters personally there is also a social – and perhaps universal – significance. (Moustakas, as cited in Vitanova, 2002, p. 7) This research study was of personal interest to me because of my experiences as an immigrant and a teacher.

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I have always been drawn to immigrant settlement, acculturation and identity issues because of my own life history. I immigrated to Canada in the mid-1960s with my family when I was a young child. We settled in Toronto, which was not the culturally diverse place that it is today. Throughout my childhood and youth, I struggled with my sense of identity and place in Canadian society. However, my challenges and difficulties were small compared to the barriers that my parents and older siblings faced. One of the main differences was that I was able to learn English at a young age, and I was not held back in my life because of lack of proficiency in English. Witnessing the hardships of my parents and siblings made a lasting impression upon me and influenced my career choice. I became a teacher and specialized in teaching English as a Second Language because of my desire to help immigrants and their children acquire the necessary language skills for their successful social and economic integration into Canadian society. Just when I thought I had it all figured out regarding my identity and a sense of belonging in Canadian society, at the age of 30, I moved to Germany, where I lived for several years. Having no previous knowledge of German, I had to learn it from scratch. Thus, I can empathize very well with immigrant professionals in Canada, who have left a country where they were established professionals, who have to acquire a new language and culture and find their place in a new society. My sojourn in Germany was facilitated by the fact that native English speaking teachers were in high demand, so I was able to practise my profession and maintain a strong sense of professional identity. I believe that my professional life and identity contributed to my sense of well-being as a newcomer in Germany. Since returning to Canada in 2000, I have had contact with IETs through my work in various teacher education programmes. In these contexts, I have met numerous IETs who were retraining in order to find a way back to their profession. I can still clearly hear the voice of one experienced teacher from India recounting her story. Both she and her husband, who was a professional engineer, were assured of their employment opportunities by the Canadian embassy when they applied for immigration because they were highly educated and experienced professionals. However, much to their dismay, they were unable to find work in their professional fields when they arrived. As with most immigrants, the need to pay the bills and support their family required finding any kind of employment. This teacher ended up working in a call centre for several years before she could afford to take time off to enrol in the teacher certification course. I clearly remember

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her description of how trapped and suffocated she felt at the call centre, and how happy she was to be back in a classroom. Her story reflects the difficulties commonly faced by many immigrant professionals in Canada. My contact with these individuals also motivated me to conduct this research study, with the hope that my study can contribute in some way to helping these individuals to reclaim their profession.

Chapter 2

Social Perspectives on Identity and Agency in SLA Research

2.1 The Rise of Social Perspectives in SLA Research Social perspectives have attained prominence in the field of second language acquisition (SLA) since the mid-1990s. The ‘social turn’ in second language acquisition research (Block, 2003) gathered momentum when a number of scholars drew attention to the need for research that is more socially informed (e.g., Block, 1996; Firth & Wagner, 1997; Hall, 1997; Lantolf, 1996; van Lier, 1994). Magnan (2004) identified Firth and Wagner’s (1997) seminal critique of mainstream, cognitive approaches to second language acquisition research as being instrumental in opening up the field to context-based, socially and culturally oriented perspectives. In their critique, Firth and Wagner (1997) called for alternative, more holistic understandings of language and language acquisition that would acknowledge the importance of social context and learners’ complex and multifaceted identities. In addition, Firth and Wagner argued for a broadening of traditional research paradigms and a greater inclusion of learners’ perspectives on the SLA process. One of the main points made by Firth and Wagner was that SLA research was dominated by a tradition of psycholinguistic research that viewed individuals primarily as non-native speakers and learners with the goal of attaining native-like proficiency in an additional language (1997, p. 758). As Hall (2002) noted, in the traditional psycholinguistic approach, language is assumed to be a universal abstract system and individual learners are conceptualized as ‘stable, internally homogeneous, fixed entities in whose heads these systems reside’ (p. 31). In addition, individuals are seen as independent from context and individual actions are believed to be driven by internally motivated states. In a survey of SLA research on individual learners’ cognitive and affective contributions to differential success in second language acquisition, Larsen-Freeman (2001) acknowledged that

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the significance of the learners’ role in SLA research has been underestimated. Larsen-Freeman found that recent research on learner attributes (age, aptitude, personality, learning disabilities, social identity), learner conceptualizations (motivation, attitude, cognitive style, beliefs) and learner actions (learning strategies) reflected the predominance of experimental research regarding learner differences. Since the mid-1990s, there has been an increase in SLA studies that focus on learners’ insider perspectives on the process of learning an additional language. These studies used qualitative research methodologies such as ethnography, narrative inquiry and diary studies to examine second language learners’ experiences in natural environments, for example, school, home, or workplace. In addition, these studies acknowledged the importance of contextual factors and the interactions between individuals and their sociocultural worlds. One area of socially informed research in SLA focuses on issues of identity and agency. As van Lier (2004) stated: Arguably, one of the most significant developments of recent years is a focus on self and identity. The research in this area is still very tentative and exploratory, but I am convinced that this will be an extremely important aspect of language pedagogy in years to come. (preface) A number of SLA studies that have examined the relationships between identity, agency and the SLA process include studies of English-as-asecond-language (ESL) students in the kindergarten to grade 12 education system, for example, elementary school (e.g., Toohey, 1996; Willet, 1995), middle school (e.g., McKay & Wong, 1996; Wiltse, 2001) and secondary school (e.g., Miller, 2004; Slater & van Aalst, 2002). There have also been a number of studies that focus on adult learners, including foreign language learners (e.g., Bell, 1995, 1997; Gilette, 1994; Lantolf & Genung, 2003; Haneda, 1997; Siegal, 1996), university ESL students (e.g., Leki, 2001; Morita, 2004; Parks & Raymond, 2004) and adult immigrant ESL learners (e.g., Menard-Warwick, 2004; Norton, 2000, 2001; Pavlenko & Lantolf, 2000; Vitanova, 2002). In this chapter, I discuss three major strands of socially informed SLA research over the past decade, that have highlighted issues of identity and agency: (a) post-structural and dialogic theory, (b) situated learning and social practice theory and (c) sociocultural theory of mind. I first discuss some key principles from each theoretical strand, focusing on the theoretical conceptions of the nature and role of identity and agency in second

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language learning. I highlight selected studies from SLA scholars whose work is informed by the different theoretical perspectives. Where available, I have selected studies that examined the experiences of adult immigrants learning English in naturalistic settings, which is the focus of my research study. I then discuss the various conceptions of identity and agency. Lastly, I present the theoretical concepts that guide my analysis of the relationships between identity and agency in the professional acculturation of internationally educated teachers in Ontario.

2.2 Discourse and Identity: Post-structural and Dialogic Theory In Block’s (2007) review of ‘identity-in-SLA’ research, Block maintained that the ‘broadly post-structural approach to identity . . . has become the approach of choice among those who seek to explore links between identity and L2 learning’ (p. 864). Block identified three areas of identity-in-SLA research: foreign language learning in formal classroom settings, study abroad experiences and ‘naturalistic’ SLA, which Block defined as the learning of an additional language in contexts where that language is the dominant means of communication, that is, second language contexts. While Block included Lave and Wenger’s (1991) community of practice framework under the conceptual umbrella of a ‘broadly poststructural approach to identity’, as did Pavlenko, Blackledge, Piller and TeutschDwyer (2001) in their elaboration of a post-structural approach to gender and second language learning, I categorize the community of practice framework as situated learning and social practice theory. In this section, I discuss two theoretical strands, post-structuralism and dialogism, both of which focus on the relationship between discourse and identity.

2.2.1 Post-structuralism Post-structuralism refers to a range of theoretical approaches that examine the role of discourse in the construction of reality. Post-structural theories, often associated with the work of Barthes (1977), Derrida (1976), Foucault (1978, 1980), Kristeva (1984) and Lacan (1977), have been used to inform a variety of disciplines, such as literary criticism, sociology and psychology. A key concept in post-structuralism is that meaning and identity are not fixed, but created through social discourses and practices. Post-structural theories are aligned with postmodern and postpositivist perspectives that

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challenge modern, humanistic conceptions of individuals as having a stable and unified identity that is separate from the social context, and as having the ability to make choices and enact personal agency based on rational thought and free will. According to Weedon (1997), post-structural theorists share fundamental assumptions about language, meaning and subjectivity. Meanings are socially produced and constituted within language; thus, language constructs ‘our sense of ourselves, our subjectivity’ (p. 19). The term subjectivity is used by post-structural theorists to refer to the concept of identity, and to emphasize the contingent nature of identity. Whereas an individual’s identity according to a modern perspective was essentialized as stable and coherent, a post-structural perspective conceptualizes identity as ‘precarious, contradictory and in process, constantly being reconstituted in discourse each time we think or speak’ (p. 32). Regarding agency, Vitanova (2002, p. 40) noted that the role of human agency is dubious in post-structuralism, which conceptualizes individuals as subject to existing societal discourses that ‘constrain and position users’ and do not give much possibility for human agency to create, change and transform. In reaction to the lack of agency and thus, the lack of possibility for transformation in post-structuralism, feminist scholar Weedon (1997) developed a feminist post-structural theory, which posits that through the use of discourse, a person can challenge positioning by societal discourses. I draw attention to this distinction between post-structural theory and feminist post-structural theory as these two perspectives are commonly conflated in identity-in-SLA studies. The seminal work of Norton (1997, 2000), who used diaries and interviews to examine the language learning experiences of immigrant women in Canada, led the way in SLA research on identity from a feminist poststructural perspective. Other early studies include work by McKay and Wong (1996), who examined the experiences of ethnic Chinese immigrant students in a U.S. middle school, and Siegal (1996), who examined Western women learning Japanese. More recent identity-in-SLA research that is informed by post-structural perspectives includes foreign language learning contexts, for example, Charbonneau-Gowdy’s (2006) study of the experiences of military officers and students from Central and Eastern Europe and Asia using computers for second language learning, and Whitworth’s (2006) research on four American study abroad students in France. Research in second language educational contexts includes Hong’s (2006) study of Korean ESL students in the United States, Miller’s (2004) study of immigrant high school students in Australia, Okawa’s (2007) study of non-western European non-native speakers of English at an American Ivy

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League school and Rambo’s (2004) study of international students at an American liberal arts college. In addition, a number of studies have focused on adult immigrants in naturalistic contexts, for example, Chee’s (2003), Pavlenko’s (2001) and Teutsch-Dwyer’s (2001) studies of adult immigrants in the United States. In the following, I discuss some key aspects of a discursive orientation to identity and agency through the works of Norton (2000), Pavlenko (2001) and Rambo (2004). Norton’s (1997, 2000) study of the experiences of five immigrant women in Canada made a number of important conceptual contributions regarding the relationships between identity, agency and second language learning. Norton defined identity as ‘how a person understands his or her relationship to the world, how that relationship is constructed across time and space, and how the person understands possibilities for the future’ (2000, p. 5). Norton’s work drew attention to the interrelationship between discourse and a language learner’s identity: ‘When language learners speak, they are not only exchanging information with target language speakers, but they are constantly organizing and reorganizing a sense of who they are and how they relate to the social world’ (2000, p. 11). Thus, language and identity are mutually constituting. In addition, this conception of identity emphasizes its dynamic and fluid nature. Norton (1997, 2000) problematized static conceptions of learner identity and motivation in mainstream SLA, for example, Gardner’s (1988) concepts of integrative and instrumental motivation. Norton argued that the social identities of language learners are multiple, a site of struggle and subject to change. Drawing upon Bourdieu’s (1977, 1991) concepts of cultural, social, symbolic and linguistic capital, Norton developed the concept of investment, which conceives of learners as having a complex social history and multiple, sometimes conflicting, desires. In addition, following the work of Weedon’s feminist post-structural theory, Norton maintained that it is through discourse that individuals can exercise their agency, and can challenge their positioning by dominant discourses. Norton’s study showed how her participants were able to exert their agency in gaining the right to speak and be heard. An oft-cited example is Norton’s participant, Martina, whose role as mother and caregiver contributed to her agency in exerting her right to speak, which was revealed by an extended discussion in English that Martina had with her landlord over a dispute about rent. Martina’s agency surprised everyone because she was usually inhibited and self-conscious about speaking English (Norton, 1997). Another important contribution of Norton’s (1997, 2000) work is her examination of the crucial role of power relations in the social interactions between language learners and target language speakers. A common theme

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that emerged among her participants was their marginalization by dominant societal discourses regarding immigrants, and the difficulty in accessing opportunities to interact with Anglophone Canadians. For example, Norton showed how Eva, an immigrant woman from Poland, was able to overcome social and linguistic exclusion at her workplace through her discourse. Through Eva’s accounts of her travels in Europe and demonstration of her ability to speak Italian, Eva displayed her multilingual and European identity, and was able to challenge her Anglophone co-workers’ perception and positioning of her as an immigrant with poor English skills and nothing to contribute. Thus, through her discursive agency, Eva was able to gain respect and access to interactions with her Anglophone co-workers. Pavlenko’s (2001) study of identity issues in the second language learning stories of adult immigrants in the United States also focused on the relationship between discourse and identity. Pavlenko used a corpus of 25 autobiographies as well as 5 life story interviews. Although Pavlenko was particularly interested in the construction of gender through a second language, some of her findings regarding identity are relevant to my study. For example, one of Pavlenko’s interview participants, Dominik, a male expatriate from Slovakia, felt that his identity was constrained by discourse norms in the United States. The issue was not language proficiency, as Dominik was attending graduate school and had a high proficiency in English, but language ideology regarding gender and sexual harassment. Dominik, who was used to making jokes about sex, felt that he had to repress his natural personality, and thus, lost a part of himself (p. 144). Because he could not express himself as he did in his first language (L1), he could not be himself in American English. Another interesting finding is related to why an immigrant chooses to assimilate or resist the destination society’s discourse norms. Pavlenko (2001) found that positive associations with the discourse norms of the second language speech community may contribute to an individual’s desire to assimilate and embrace the new community. For example, a number of the women whose first language was Spanish found English more liberating, and therefore, embraced the learning of English. However, people who had negative associations with the second language resisted learning it. Regarding human agency, Pavlenko emphasized its social nature and maintained that agency is constrained or facilitated by the social context. Pavlenko argued that an individual’s desire to assimilate is limited if the community rejects or marginalizes newcomers. Rambo’s (2004) study of international college students’ SLA experiences in the American Midwest drew upon Lacan’s post-structural psychoanalytic

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theory. I highlight this work because it is one of the few studies in SLA that speaks to Block’s (2007) call for identity-in-SLA research that explores identity from a psychoanalytic perspective. Rambo used first-person introspective narrative data from six students’ journals. All six were enrolled in the teacher-researcher’s course entitled ‘The Immigrant Experience in Literature.’ In contrast to other identity-in-SLA work that examined social identity, Rambo focused on Lacan’s (1977) notion of linguistic identity, which is the development of a sense of self through language; that is, through the use of language, individuals create and confirm their experience of self. Rambo also referred to psychoanalyst Kohut’s concept of selfobject needs, which are ‘essential psychological experiences originating in childhood that continue in varying form throughout life’ (Siegal, cited in Rambo, 2004, p. 51). Examples of selfobject needs include the need to be affirmed, valued and validated. Rambo (2004) also introduced the concept of remothering, which relates to the ‘affective states of being (self) loved and being (self) understood, as well as being able to elicit those responses from others’ (2004, pp. 150–151). Rambo argued that the interaction in her literature course as well as the students’ journal writing facilitated this process. In addition, the journal writing was important in mediating the students’ understanding of their changing sense of self with the learning of a second language. Rambo maintained that language teachers and learners need to have greater awareness of the psychological tension between identity maintenance and identity change in language learning in order to facilitate second language learning.

2.2.2 Dialogism In recent years, the dialogic theory of Bakhtin (1981, 1986) has attracted the attention of a number SLA researchers (e.g., Hall, Vitanova, & Marchenkova, 2005; Kramsch, 2000; Marchenkova, 2005; Menard-Warwick, 2004; Savignon & Sysoyev, 2002; Toohey, Waterstone, & Julé-Lemke, 2000; Vitanova, 2002, 2005). Hall et al. (2005) stated that Bakhtin’s conceptualization of language has important implications for SLA because Bakhtin theorized language as being both structured and emergent; that is, language embodies meanings that have been historically and socially constructed, but individuals are able to add their own voice and intentions to an utterance or speech act. In this section, I discuss two studies of adult immigrant English language learners – Vitanova (2002, 2005) and Menard-Warwick (2004, 2005) – that

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used Bakhtin’s theory of dialogism to analyse issues of identity and agency in the acquisition of an additional language. Vitanova’s (2002, 2005) narrative study of eight Eastern European adult immigrants (four married couples) in the United States used Bakhtin’s dialogic theory to examine how these individuals ‘authored themselves,’ that is, how they (re)created their sense of self in a new language and environment. In her work, Vitanova used the terms self, identity and subjectivity interchangeably. Vitanova explained that Bakhtin’s concept of dialogue is not simply a verbal exchange, but is a basis for human consciousness. A central tenet is the appropriation of the discourses of others; however, a person enacts agency by accenting these discourses with their own emotionalvolitional tone. Vitanova (2002, p. 40) identified the parallels between a Bakhtinian dialogic perspective and post-structuralism. Both emphasize the centrality of discourse in the construction of identity and agency. In dialogic theory, an individual perceives a sense of self and establishes agency through active dialogic processes. However, there are also key differences between these two perspectives. Vitanova argued that according to a post-structural perspective, discourses constrain and position users; individuals cannot express unique voices, but can only give voice to the existing discourses (p. 41). Thus, Vitanova argued that a post-structural perspective does not give much possibility for human agency to create, change and transform. In contrast, Bakhtin’s perspective on agency views the learner neither as an actor independent of social surroundings nor as a fragmented subject positioned by institutional structures: Each individual has her/his own social and historical location and a unique emotional-volitional tone. To Bakhtin, discourses do not automatically position individuals; rather, individuals actively use speech genres to orient themselves in relationships and interactions. This model of agency is both dialogical and creative for it lies in particular people’s creative responses to particular situations at a particular time. (Vitanova, 2002, p. 216) Vitanova’s (2005) analysis of her participants’ narratives examined the interrelationship between second language acquisition, consciousness and self. Vitanova identified how her participants’ initial lack of English language ability resulted in the loss of their ability to reveal their identity to others. From a Bakhtinian dialogic perspective, a sense of self is synonymous with having a voice, being heard and being able to respond to others.

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The lack of language resources also resulted in the declassing of Vitanova’s participants, who lost their status as middle-class professionals that they had prior to immigration. For example, Vera, a journalist from Russia, had to work as a kitchen manager upon her arrival to the United States. Vera said that she felt like a child in kindergarten because of her initial lack of English language skills. The loss of language not only affected the participants’ professional status, but also other aspects of their existence. Without skills in the mainstream language, the immigrants remained outside of the mainstream society. Through their acquisition of English and through their discursive practices with others, these individuals were able to re-establish their voices and their sense of self. Vitanova’s (2002) findings also highlighted gender differences in the SLA process. While Vitanova identified how all of her participants’ lack of English language ability resulted in the loss of a sense of self, this loss of voice was interpreted and experienced differently by the men and women in her study. Vitanova found that the loss of voice for the women had an emotional significance that was not present in the men’s discourse. For example, the women’s discourse displayed their feelings of guilt, shame and anger with regard to their loss of voice and status, whereas the men’s discourse tended to focus on job-related and functional matters. There were also gender differences in the learning strategies used; the women tended to value linguistic accuracy more than the men, and therefore, tended to use more grammar books and requested more corrective feedback. Vitanova posited a relationship between the women’s dialogic responsibility – which refers to an awareness of the needs of their interlocutor, that is, native English speakers – and the women’s greater emotional investment and sensitivity to their social positions as well as their attention to linguistic details. Regarding agency, Vitanova (2002) identified acts of resistance to the imposition of dominant discourses and acts of creativity in drawing upon previous experiences and cultural resources to recreate voice and self in a new sociocultural context. Finally, Vitanova highlighted the transformative power of personal narratives. Through their narratives, the participants were able to better understand and analyse their situations. Their increased consciousness also provided the foundation for agency. Vitanova’s work drew attention to the role of emotions in the SLA process of adult immigrant professionals, who must deal with the loss and reconstruction of their professional identity and sense of self upon immigration. Menard-Warwick (2004, 2005) also used Bakhtin’s dialogic theory to examine issues of identity and second language learning in her study of

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eight Latin American adult immigrants in the United States. MenardWarwick used a combination of life history interviews and classroom observations to explore how identity interacted with the second language and literacy learning of seven women and one man. An important contribution of Menard-Warwick’s (2005) work to identityin-SLA research is her identification of the tension between competing perspectives regarding the nature of identity, that is, the conception of identity as stable versus the conception of identity as fluid. Menard-Warwick also noted the difficulties in defining the term identity, and pointed out that there is ‘a lot of definitional confusion in the literature, with some authors offering multiple definitions for single terms, and other authors conflating two or more terms and using them synonymously’ (2005, p. 254). Menard-Warwick maintained that identity is both stable and fluid, the stability coming from a person’s history and socialization (e.g., Bourdieu’s habitus and the embodiment and internalization of values), and the fluidity coming from identity construction through discourse (e.g., post-structuralism and Foucault’s work). Menard-Warwick (2004) posited that Bakhtin’s concepts of heteroglossia and double voicing have the potential to resolve the debate concerning the fluid versus stable nature of identity. Bakhtin introduced the term heteroglossia to describe the co-existence of multiple meanings, perspectives and values in language. Double voicing refers to the accenting of others’ discourses with one’s own emotional-volitional tone. As in Vitanova’s work, Menard-Warwick discussed the concept of self-authoring, which was used by cultural psychologists Holland, Lachiotte, Skinner and Cain (1998) to describe discursive agency and the process of identity development and the appropriation of multiple discourses. Menard-Warwick’s analysis of her participants’ life history narratives revealed the forces of socialization through authoritative discourses, but also revealed her participants’ discursive agency in the appropriation or rejection of discourses. Based on her findings, Menard-Warwick (2004) contended that identities remain relatively stable across discursive contexts. For example, MenardWarwick found that the gender identity of her participants and the discourse of family were the most prominent and were stable over the period of her study. Many of the participants’ role as mothers motivated them to learn English so that they could help their children with their school work. Menard-Warwick also suggested that the type of ESL classes in which the participants were involved, a family literacy program that provided English instruction for homemakers with children, also reinforced the participants’ role as parents. Menard-Warwick was able to observe how gender identities

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were constructed in classroom discourse and were constructing classroom discourse. In addition to gender, other aspects of identity that emerged from the narratives included ethnicity, immigration status and social class. Menard-Warwick (2004, p. 57) concluded that the important question was not so much the debate concerning the fluid versus stable nature of identity, but how identity interacts with second language learning, for example, how gender, class and race affect access to second learning opportunities; how identity can lead to resistance to learning an additional language; and how the engagement of learners’ identities can enhance learning.

2.2.3 Summary In this section, I have discussed two theoretical perspectives, post-structuralism and dialogism, that focus on the interrelationship between discourse and identity. Vitanova’s (2002) and Menard-Warwick’s (2004) work both drew attention to the differences between post-structural and dialogic perspectives. Vitanova argued that human agency is constrained according to poststructuralism, and that a dialogic perspective gives a person greater agency to create and transform. On this point, I think it is important to clarify that some SLA scholars who identify their work with post-structuralism (e.g., Pavlenko & Blackledge, 2004) are in fact referring to feminist poststructuralism, which allows for greater discursive agency. Menard-Warwick discussed the debate regarding the stable versus fluid nature of identity, and contrary to a post-structural perspective, she argued that identity can be both and that Bakhtin’s theory of language can reconcile these two conceptions of identity. The SLA studies discussed in this section are similar methodologically in their use of first-person narrative as data, thus, providing emic perspectives on the SLA process and showing the value of language learner stories in furthering our understanding of identity and agency in second language learning.

2.3 Learning as Becoming: Identity Formation in Situated Learning The second major theoretical strand of SLA research that examines issues of identity and agency has its origin in anthropology. Language socialization theory and the community of practice framework both foreground the social situatedness of learning, and conceive of learning as becoming an

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active, full participant in a particular community, which necessarily includes the construction of identities.

2.3.1 Language socialization Language socialization gained prominence through the work of Heath (1983), Ochs (1988), Schieffelin and Ochs (1986) and Watson-Gegeo and Gegeo (1986). Garrett and Baquedano-Lopez (2002) defined socialization as ‘the process through which a child or other novice acquires the knowledge, orientations, and practices that enable him or her to participate effectively and appropriately in the social life of a particular community’ (p. 339). A language socialization perspective posits that the socialization process is realized primarily through language, that is, novices are socialized to use language as well as through the use of language. Language socialization theory has been used to inform SLA research for well over a decade, examining a variety of contexts and learners. For example, research in second language contexts has examined the language socialization of ESL students (e.g., Harklau, 1994; Kephart, 2005; Lam, 2004; Willet, 1995) as well as adult immigrants (e.g., Duff, Wong, & Early, 2000; Gordon, 2003; Li, 2000). Other scholars have examined language socialization in foreign language contexts (e.g. Duff, 1995; Duff & Uchida, 1997; Ohta, 1999) and heritage language contexts (e.g., Bayley & Schecter, 2003; Brunn, 1994; Duff & Li, 2008; Jia, 2006; Lei, 2007). The issue of identity construction is central in language socialization theory. Ochs (1993, p. 288) defined social identity as ‘a cover term for a range of social personae, including social statuses, roles, positions, relationships, and institutional and other relevant community identities one may attempt to claim or assign in the course of social life.’ According to Ochs, social identities develop in the course of social interactions. Thus, identity is conceived as being contingent and socially constructed between the individual and others in a particular community. Watson-Gegeo (2004) introduced a contemporary language socialization theory, highlighting the importance of human agency in the socialization process and the importance of the social, cultural and political contexts in which learners interact with others and which affects the linguistic forms that are available to learners. Watson-Gegeo incorporated power relations and a more critical perspective of learning through language socialization, in contrast to earlier conceptions of language socialization as being an unproblematic process of enculturation. In addition, Watson-Gegeo’s

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contemporary language socialization theory included the community of practice framework (Lave & Wenger, 1991; Wenger, 1998), which I will describe and discuss in greater detail in the following section.

2.3.2 Legitimate peripheral participation and community of practice Lave and Wenger’s (1991) social practice theory of learning emphasizes learning as involving the whole person with a sociocultural history. A key premise is that the individual (agent), the activity in which the individual is engaged and the sociocultural context all mutually constitute each other (Lave & Wenger, 1991, p. 33). The concept of legitimate peripheral participation is a central defining characteristic in this framework: ‘Legitimate peripheral participation’ provides a way to speak about the relations between newcomers and old-timers, and about activities, identities, artifacts, and communities of knowledge and practice. It concerns the process by which newcomers become part of a community of practice. (Lave & Wenger, 1991, p. 29) Legitimate peripheral participation involves power relations, as power relations in the community determine whether one moves to full participation or one is marginalized and denied access to participation. Newcomers must be seen as legitimate participants, that is, accepted by others in a community of practice, in order to gain access to resources and opportunities for socialization. Access is key and crucial. Peripherality is a positive term that describes the engagement of newcomers in varying degrees of participation, which allows the newcomers to gradually increase their participation in terms of time, effort and responsibility. Thus, both legitimacy and peripherality are necessary in order for an individual to become a full participant in a particular community. Dahl (1997) drew attention to the interactional dynamics between a newcomer’s trajectory and the receiving community’s stance in Lave and Wenger’s situated learning model. When a newcomer wishes to join a community and/or the community is welcoming, then access to resources is relatively easy; however, if a newcomer withdraws from a community, and/ or the community obstructs the newcomer, then access to resources is problematic. I would add that there is also an interrelationship between being denied access to and not wishing to join a community. If a newcomer is rejected by a community, this may make the newcomer less willing to persist

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in efforts to become a participating member. Similarly, a newcomer’s unwillingness to join a community may also affect the community stance and result in reduced access. In Lave and Wenger’s (1991) situated learning model, learning is conceptualized as the historical production and transformation of a person that involves the (re)construction of identities (p. 53). This framework emphasizes the interrelationship between identity, learning and social membership. The development of identity is central to this framework, as is learning how to communicate in the manner of full participants. Lave and Wenger viewed human agency as mediated and relational; it is realized through the integration of agent, world and activity. This point reflects the influence of Vygotsky’s (1978, 1986) and Engeström’s (1999) work on Lave and Wenger’s framework. A key point that distinguishes Lave and Wenger’s framework from language socialization theory is that rather than merely reproducing the existing community, the entry of newcomers also entail changes and transformation of the community (1991, pp. 116–117). In Wenger’s (1998) development of the community of practice framework, Wenger defined practice in a community as having three essential dimensions: mutual engagement, a joint enterprise and shared repertoire, which includes artefacts, actions and language. Wenger drew attention to the importance of competence in the construction of identity: Our membership constitutes our identity, not just through reified markers of membership but more fundamentally through the forms of competence that it entails. . . . When we are with a community of practice of which we are a full member, we are in familiar territory. We can handle ourselves competently. We experience competence and we are recognized as competent. We know how to engage with others. We understand why they do what they do because we understand the enterprise to which participants are accountable. Moreover, we share the resources they use to communicate and go about their activities. These dimensions of competence . . . become dimensions of identity. (p. 152) Wenger also introduced issues of nonparticipation in addition to participation, maintaining that identities are produced not only through the practice we engage in, but also through the practices that we do not engage in (p. 164). Wenger compared the nonparticipation of peripherality with the nonparticipation of marginality: the former is enabling because it permits a newcomer to learn gradually, whereas the latter is constraining because a marginalized newcomer has restricted access to resources.

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Another important concept that Wenger (1998) elaborated upon, which I think is especially pertinent for second language learners and learning, is that identity entails multimemberships. Each person has membership in different communities of practice, which have different norms of behaviour and worldviews. However, in contrast to the post-structural view of identity as multiple and fragmented, Wenger argued that multimemberships require the work of reconciliation in order to maintain one identity across boundaries: The work of reconciliation may be the most significant challenge faced by learners who move from one community of practice to another. . . . e.g., when an immigrant moves from one culture to another . . . learning involves more than appropriating new pieces of information. Learners must often deal with conflicting forms of individuality and competence as defined in different communities. (p. 160) However, Wenger did not elaborate upon why it is necessary to maintain ‘one’ identity. I will address this point further in the discussion section of this chapter. Wenger added that ‘multimemberships may involve ongoing tensions that are never resolved’ and are in constant struggle (p. 160). Thus, a community of practice perspective views the negotiation of identities as potentially conflictual as learners move across the boundaries of different communities. Lave and Wenger’s (1991; Wenger, 1998) community of practice framework has been used by a number of SLA researchers to inform their studies of second language acquisition in various naturalistic contexts. These studies include earlier works by Haneda (1997) and Toohey (1996), as well as later works by Leki (2001), Marx (2002), Morita (2004), Norton (2001) and Toohey, Waterstone and Julé-Lemke (2000). I will review work by Morita (2004) and Norton (2001) in greater detail below. Both focused on adult second language learners, and revealed the importance of learners’ agency in shaping their own learning and participation. In addition, these works showed that acts of resistance and nonparticipation are also indicative of identity and agency. Morita’s (2004) ethnographic study examined the experiences of six female Japanese graduate students in a Canadian university. Morita found that the students faced major challenges in negotiating competence, identities and power relations, which were necessary for them to be recognized as legitimate peripheral participants in their classroom communities. The methods of negotiation depended on the context of a particular classroom

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community as well as on the student’s personal history, values and goals. The data clearly showed the contingent nature of the students’ identities, as their identities changed in different contexts or in the same context over time. For example, in one class, Nanako felt like a legitimate peripheral participant because the instructor acknowledged that there were different learning styles and that it was normal for international students to take some time to get accustomed to the North American style of classroom interaction. The instructor also told Nanako that as a newcomer, she had a valuable perspective to contribute. However, in another course, when Nanako appealed to the instructor for help, the instructor ‘did not seem to care’ and ‘offered no constructive advice’ (Morita, 2004, p. 589). In the latter context, Nanako’s limited participation was not peripheral but marginalized. Another important finding was the enactment of learner agency as resistance and nonparticipation. Rie actively resisted being marginalized in a course where the instructor and other students whose first language (L1) was English positioned the international students as deficient. As a result of the unsupportive atmosphere in the class, Rie consciously decided not to become a full participant as a way of ‘coping and exercising her personal agency’ (Morita, 2004, p. 594). These examples were also important in showing the value of learners’ perspectives. To an outside observer, Nanako and Rie may have appeared to exhibit similar behaviour, that is, limited participation. But the participants’ narratives showed that their identities were quite different in each case. For example, Nanako was a legitimate peripheral participant in one classroom context, and was marginalized as an outsider in another classroom context. Rie’s limited participation was an act of resistance to her marginalization. In a reanalysis of her research data, Norton (2001) drew upon Wenger’s (1998) concepts of nonparticipation and imagination to examine the agency of two of her participants. Regarding the role of imagination, Kanno and Norton (2003) argued that for some language learners, ‘their investment in the target language . . . can be best understood in the context of future affiliations and identifications, rather than prevailing sets of relationships’ (p. 244). For example, Katarina, one of Norton’s participants, had 17 years of teaching experience and was a highly respected professional in Poland. In Canada, she was unable to find work as a teacher, and her socioeconomic status decreased significantly. Katarina was eager to improve her English so that she could regain her professional identity. Thus, Katarina’s imagined community was a community of professionals, which

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was both a reconstruction of her past as well as an imaginative construction of the future. A critical incident occurred when Katarina was discouraged by her ESL teacher from taking a computer course that would give her greater access to her imagined community. According to Norton (2001), Katarina felt that her ESL teacher did not acknowledge her professional history and identity, and she resisted being positioned as an immigrant. As a result, Katarina dropped out of the ESL course. Norton explained that Katarina’s extreme act of non-participation was committed to preserve the integrity of her imagined community, which was central to her identity as a professional. Norton’s analysis of the importance of the participant’s professional identity in mediating her agency resonates with my research context. 2.3.3 Summary In summary, situated learning models such as language socialization and the community of practice framework construe second language learning as a complex and dynamic socially situated process that involves the construction of identity through participation. An important contribution of the community of practice framework to SLA is its focus on the contingent and socially constructed nature of language learning, learner identity and learner agency. This framework also draws attention to power relations in socially situated learning, which affect a newcomer’s access to a community’s resources. A number of SLA scholars working within different theoretical perspectives have incorporated concepts from the community of practice framework in their analysis of identity and agency in the SLA process: for example, Block’s (2007) discussion of a ‘broad post-structural approach’ in identityin-SLA research and theory; Pavlenko et al. (2001) and their post-structural approach to research and theory on gender and second language learning; Watson-Gegeo’s (2004) description of a contemporary model of language socialization; Menard-Warwick’s (2004) work on identity in SLA and literacy from a dialogic perspective; and Lantolf and Pavlenko (2001) and their discussion of second language acquisition from a sociocultural theory perspective, which I will discuss in greater detail in the next section. In my view, this shows that concepts from the community of practice framework – with its focus on learning as social practice and becoming a member of a community, and the necessary negotiation of access and identity – are compatible with other theoretical frameworks, and are useful for theorizing and researching identity and agency in second language learning.

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2.4 Mediated Mind and Agency: Sociocultural Theory Sociocultural theory of mind is attributed to the work of Russian psychologist, L.S. Vygotsky (1978, 1986). Vygotsky problematized the prevailing orientations in psychology in his time – psychoanalysis and behaviourism – which perpetuated the Cartesian dichotomy between mind and matter. Vygotsky argued that it was essential to incorporate human culture and history in the study of the human mind, and posited a dialectic relation between mind and the social milieu. A fundamental principle is that of mediation: Humans use physical tools and socioculturally and sociohistorically constructed symbolic artefacts, of which language is the most important, to control and master nature and themselves. With these tools and artefacts, individuals are able to shape their world and their relationships to others, which in turn, shape the individuals. According to Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory of mind, higher cognitive processes develop from social interactions that are mediated through language and other semiotic artefacts. A key point is that the social environment is not only the context for, but also the source of mental development. In this developmental process, a novice is first other-regulated, that is, receives mediated assistance from an expert who scaffolds the interaction in order to assist the novice to appropriate new knowledge (Block, 2003; Lantolf & Appel, 1994). Over time, the new knowledge is internalized and the novice becomes self-regulated. Lantolf (2000, p. 13) defined internalization as the ‘reconstruction on the inner, psychological plane, of socially mediated forms of goal-directed activity.’ The transfer and appropriation of higher cognitive processes from the intermental to the intramental plane occurs in the zone of proximal development (ZPD). While traditional approaches to the study of mental behaviour focus on the individual and what the individual is doing, sociocultural theory takes into account the complex and dynamic interaction between the individual, mediational tools and the sociocultural context. Sociocultural theory views individuals as ‘agentsoperating-with-mediational-means’ and posits a dialectic relationship between agent and mediational means (Wertsch, 1998). Thus, people are not ‘free’ agents, but their actions are enhanced or constrained by the tools that are available as well as by other affordances or constraints in the environment. Vygotsky’s theory was further developed by his students and colleagues (e.g., Galperin, 1969; Leont’ev, 1978; Luria, 1982), as well as by contemporary scholars in fields such as psychology, anthropology, education, (e.g., Cole, 1996; Holland, Lachiotte, Skinner, & Cain, 1998; Ratner, 1991; Robbins,

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2003; Rogoff, 1990; Wells, 1999; Wertsch, 1991, 1998) and in SLA (e.g., Donato, 2000; Lantolf, 2000; Lantolf & Appel, 1994; Lantolf & Thorne, 2006; Swain, 2000, 2006). In their introduction to a special issue on sociocultural and activity theory in educational research, Edwards and Daniels (2004, p. 1465) identified two strands that have developed from Vygotsky’s work: the sociocultural/ cultural-historic, developed by North American scholars Bruner, Cole and Wertsch; and activity theory, developed in Russia by Vygotsky’s contemporaries Luria and Leont’ev, and in more recent years by Finnish scholar Engeström. The North American strand, referred to as sociocultural theory, was connected with the disciplines of developmental psychology and cognitive anthropology, and focused on the socially mediated development of an individual’s higher cognitive functions. The strand referred to as activity theory focused on the activity system as the unit of analysis, and examined the complex interrelationships between the various components in an activity system. Edwards and Daniels noted the complementarity of the two strands, and in their work, they write about sociocultural and activity theory as a unified set of concepts. The following review discusses identityin-SLA work that is informed by the sociocultural theoretical concepts of mediation, internalization and agency. There is a growing body of SLA research that has used various Vygotskian concepts to further our understanding of the second language acquisition process. For example, previous SLA research has examined inner and private speech (e.g., de Guerrero, 2004; McCafferty, 1998; DiCamilla & Antón, 2004; Lee, 2006); collaborative dialogue (e.g., Belz & Kinginger, 2003; Buckwalter, 2001; Ohta, 2001; Swain, 2000; Swain & Lapkin, 1998); and the zone of proximal development (e.g., Aljaafreh & Lantolf, 1994; Donato, 1994; Kinginger, 2002). While there has been some work in SLA that has examined issues of learner agency and identity from a sociocultural theoretical perspective (e.g., Donato, 2000; Kramsch, 2000; Lantolf & Genung, 2003; Lantolf & Pavlenko, 2001; Marx, 2002; Pavlenko & Lantolf, 2000; van Lier, 2000, 2004), this research is fairly recent and less developed than other SLA research that is informed by sociocultural theory. Two earlier SLA studies informed by sociocultural theory, Coughlan and Duff (1994) and Gillette (1994), both drew attention to the importance of learner’s goals and agency in second and foreign language learning contexts. Coughlan and Duff’s study showed how the conditions surrounding a task as well as a second language learner’s goals changed the nature of the activity. Although the picture description task in this study was the same, the activity was different because of the learner’s own goals that were different

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from the researcher’s goals. Gillette’s study of French-as-a-foreign-language students also highlighted the importance of learners’ goals in affecting learners’ strategies and success in their university foreign language courses. In addition, Gillette’s data revealed that the learners’ goals were strongly influenced by their personal histories, experiences and values. Both of these studies showed that learners can be engaged in the same task, but differences in learners’ goals result in a different activity. An individual’s history, intentions, affect, identity and agency are central to Pavlenko and Lantolf’s (2000) argument that second language learning is a struggle for participation and membership in a new linguistic and sociocultural community. In their analysis of autobiographies written by adult immigrants who became bilingual, Pavlenko and Lantolf (2000) explored the importance of one’s inner voice in mediating the construction of one’s identity, and how the loss or attrition of one’s first language resulted in the loss of one’s identity. The authors maintained that the recovery and reconstruction of identity involves the appropriation of a voice in the second language, and that this necessarily depends on one’s agency: ‘It is ultimately through their own intentions and agency that people decide to undergo or not undergo the frequently agonizing process of linguistic, cultural, and personal transformation’ (p. 171). These themes were also explored in Vitanova’s work, as discussed earlier. In another work, Lantolf and Pavlenko (2001) further examined the participation metaphor and issues of agency in SLA. In addition to sociocultural theory, the authors also drew upon other theoretical perspectives such as post-structuralism and the community of practice framework. The authors posited that human agency is about significance, about things that matter to people, and that agency links motivation to action. The authors also stated that agency is socially and historically constructed, and that dispositions appropriated in childhood incline individuals to act and react in certain ways (Lantolf & Pavlenko, 2001, p. 146). Lantolf and Pavlenko viewed agency as both unique to individuals and co-constructed with other agents and the wider society; agency is shaped by a learner’s history and is mediated by artefacts and social interactions. From a sociocultural theoretical perspective, agency is always mediated. In their study of an adult foreign language learner, Lantolf and Genung (2003) explored issues of power in addition to identity and agency. This study was based upon written reflections by the second author (PG) of her experiences in a Chinese-as-a-foreign-language class. PG’s identity as a successful language learner and beliefs about language learning were challenged in this teacher-centred classroom, taught by an instructor who

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was not open to suggestions from the learners. This led to PG’s enactment of her agency as resistance to learning the language. Because PG was not able to affect change in the instructor’s teaching methods, PG abandoned her original goal of learning Chinese, and replaced it with her new goal of passing the course and fulfilling her graduate programme requirements, which she achieved by complying with the instructor’s expectations. As a result, PG’s motives and goals, as well as her mental and physical behaviour, changed. From the field of educational research, Edwards (2005b) introduced an alternative concept of agency from a sociocultural perspective. Edwards defined relational agency as ‘a capacity to align one’s thought and actions with those of others in order to interpret problems of practice and to respond to those interpretations’ (2005b, pp. 169–170). Edwards and D’Arcy (2004) argued that by ‘engaging with the disposition of others within a zone of proximal development, learners gain new insights into the phenomena they are tackling. They can draw on the histories and interpretations of others in their sense-making and are not riskily isolated’ (p. 150). I mention Edwards’ work to introduce her concept of relational agency, which I believe can be fruitfully explored in SLA research. To conclude, the works discussed in this section highlight the role of learner agency and goals in the second language learning process. As I mentioned above, identity-in-SLA research from a Vygotskian sociocultural perspective is fairly recent and less developed than other research that is informed by Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory of mind. One reason for the paucity of identity-in-SLA research from a sociocultural perspective may be because Vygotsky’s work did not focus specifically on issues of identity. In addition, as noted by Block (2007), post-structural perspectives became the approach of choice in the work of scholars who explored the connections between identity and second language learning. In the next section, I discuss the work of Penuel and Wertsch (1995) and Holland and Lachiotte (2006), who connected Vygotskian sociocultural theoretical concepts with the seminal works of two scholars on issues of identity and self: Erik Erikson and George Herbert Mead. 2.4.1 A mediated-action approach to Erikson’s identity formation In the mid-1990s, when the topic of identity was attracting the attention of some SLA scholars, Penuel and Wertsch (1995) proposed a sociocultural approach to the study of identity formation that connected elements of Vygotsky’s work on the development of higher mental functions with Erikson’s

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well known work on identity formation. Penuel and Wertsch noted that scholars who have used Eriksonian perspectives in the analysis of identity issues have tended to focus on the role of isolated individual experience, and that such a focus did not do justice to Erikson’s integration of sociocultural, historical and psychological factors in identity formation. Erikson, who was a psychoanalyst and had immigrated to the United States as an adult in the 1930s, is renowned for his work on identity and the life cycle. Erikson (1959) stated that the conscious feeling of having a personal identity is based on ‘the immediate perception of one’s selfsameness and continuity over time; and the simultaneous perception of the fact that others recognize one’s sameness and continuity’ (p. 23). Erikson (1968) viewed identity formation as a process that is located in the individual as well as in the individual’s communal culture; identity formation is a unity of personal and cultural identity. Furthermore, Erikson stated that this process takes place on all levels of mental functioning and is always changing and developing. Erikson emphasized that personal growth and communal change cannot be separated, and that identity formation is an ‘interplay between the psychological and the social, the developmental and the historical’ (1968, p. 23). Penuel and Wertsch (1995, p. 83) summarized Erikson’s notion of identity as ‘a sense, felt by individuals within themselves, and as an experience of continuity, oriented toward a self-chosen and positively anticipated future.’ According to Penuel and Wertsch (1995, p. 87), Erikson formulated the problem of identity as ‘the need for coherence and the need for community validation of one’s unified personal and cultural identity.’ Furthermore, validation of identity is essential for psychological well-being; Erikson maintained that without some form of validation, neurosis or pathology could develop in an individual. Penuel and Wertsch (1995) identified three domains in Erikson’s work in which an individual must make choices in order to form an identity: fidelity, ideology and occupation. Fidelity refers to commitment to a group of people and to a set of ideas. Ideologies mediate the choices of commitment, and the choice of an occupation is integral to the coherence and continuity of a person’s identity. As Penuel and Wertsch summarized: Taken together, commitments to others whom one can trust, to an ideology that promises a place in the world with a hopeful future, and to a career choice that can actualize those promises, form the three important domains of identity formation. To fashion these together into a sense

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of coherence, of ‘self-sameness’ is the task of the individual forming a healthy identity. (1995, p. 88) Penuel and Wertsch maintained that one of the most important insights of Erikson’s theory of identity formation is the status Erikson gave to the role played by the cultural and historical context: life history ‘intersects’ with the historical moment . . . The artifacts, images, and myths that are part of the environment of children growing up are traces of a culture’s history that, over time, become internalized to a greater or lesser degree by youth who grow up in that culture. (1995, p. 89) Penuel and Wertsch (1995) argued that integrating a Vygotskian sociocultural approach with Eriksonian conceptions of identity could further our understanding of how sociocultural processes shape individual identity formation. Penuel and Wertsch proposed the use of mediated action, rather than an inner sense of identity, as the unit of analysis. Their proposed sociocultural approach to identity formation emphasized the complex interrelationship between actions, cultural artefacts used in the action, the sociocultural context and the goals behind the action. Key points in their proposed ‘mediated-action approach’ to identity formation include the use of a genetic method, which ‘calls attention to the importance of studying identity in settings where forming identities are at stake in the course of the activity’; the integral role of cultural and historical resources (such as ideologies) as empowering or constraining tools for identity formation; and mediated action, rather than ‘an inner sense of identity,’ as the unit of analysis. Although Penuel and Wertsch did not discuss individual agency directly, they referred to Erikson’s belief that commitment requires action, and through action, individuals are able to achieve a sense of competence and mastery. Penuel and Wertsch (1995) stated that a sociocultural approach to identity formation examines how identity is shaped by mediational means or cultural tools, and ‘how individuals select, choose, and commit to different people and idea systems in the course of their activities’ (p. 91). A final point that Wertsch and Penuel made, which is especially relevant to my study, is that identity can be ‘conceived as a form of action that is first and foremost rhetorical, concerned with persuading others (and oneself) about who one is and what one values’ (p. 91).

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2.4.2 The Meadian self Holland and Lachiotte (2006) acknowledged the importance of Erikson’s work on identity formation, and Penuel and Wertsch’s (1995) sociocultural approach to Erikson’s notion of identity. However, Holland and Lachiotte offered an alternative sociocultural perspective on identity issues through the work of another renowned scholar, George Herbert Mead. As discussed by Edwards (2006), there are a number of similarities between the work of Vygotsky and the work of Mead. Mead (1934, 1964) is considered the founder of the American school of social psychology, from which the influential sociological perspective symbolic interactionism developed. Holland and Lachiotte (2006) noted that Eriksonian and Meadian notions of identity are oriented to different phenomena: The questions of the Eriksonian orientations have to do with processes of and obstacles to achieving an integrated, enduring, and consistent identity/self in social life; those of Mead have to do with the means by which individuals form senses of self – identities – in relation to roles, statuses, and cultural persona, and how these identities organize affect, motivation, action, and agency. (p. 104) Holland and Lachiotte defined identity, according to a Meadian perspective, as ‘a self-understanding to which one is emotionally attached and that informs one’s behavior and interpretations’ (p. 104). Holland and Lachiotte also clarified that the term identity is a relatively recent concept, and attributed the rise of this term in the social sciences to Erikson’s influential work in the 1950s. In Mead’s time, that is, in the early decades of the twentieth century, the term ‘self’ was used. Thus, in their work, Holland and Lachiotte used the terms self and identity synonymously. Holland and Lachiotte (2006) posited that Vygotsky’s view of the development of personality was similar to Mead’s view of self as an emergent phenomenon that is continually produced through social interaction, which is mediated by symbolic forms and provides resources as well as constraints for the development of a sense of self (2006, pp. 104–105). In addition to this shared view of the sociogenetic formation of self, both theorists emphasized active internalization, internalized self-other dialogues and the semiotics of behaviour. Active internalization refers to individuals’ novel variations in their imitation of social behaviour. Internalized self-other dialogues refers to Mead’s ‘I-me’ distinction and notion of the ‘generalized other.’ The Meadian self emerges from the dialectic relationship between the ‘I’ and the ‘me.’ The ‘me’ is the internalized norms

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of a social group, referred to as ‘the generalized other,’ while the ‘I’ is the impulsive and unpredictable actor: We actively internalize a sense of our own behavior as compared to the behavior of others acting in related roles and positions. We develop an inner sense of the collective regard that society is likely to have for our performances. Then, we craft our own way of being in roles and positions in relationship to this ‘generalized other’, the collective sense that we gradually develop from those who evaluate us. (Holland & Lachiotte, 2006, p. 107) As noted by Strauss (Mead, 1964, p. xxiii–xxiv), the ‘me’ is the controlling and limiting side of a person, whereas the ‘I’ introduces novelty and creativeness into a situation. It is the ‘I’ that creates the possibility for social change. The semiotics of behaviour refers to the meaning that is associated with words, gestures, artefacts and acts, and the transitivity of signs for self and others. Holland and Lachiotte drew attention to the important implication of semiotic mediation for human agency: Vygotsky argued that, without semiotic mediation, people would be buffeted about by the stimuli they happened to encounter as they went about in the world. Instead, semiotic mediation provides the means for humans to control, organize, and resignify their own behavior. (2006, p. 115) Holland and Lachiotte (2006) maintained that Meadian identities – which comprise thoughts, feelings, memories and experience – could be considered higher-order psychological functions that mediate behaviour. In addition, individuals pursue actions to enact and validate one’s claimed identity. Holland and Lachiotte concluded that a synthesis of Mead’s theory of self with Vygotsky’s concept of semiotically mediated agency can further our understanding of identity and identity processes, which, as higher mental functions, contribute to human agency and have the potential to affect social change (p. 116).

2.4.3 Summary In this section, I have discussed Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory of mind, and reviewed the work of several SLA scholars who have used sociocultural theoretical concepts to further our understanding of second language

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learning. A sociocultural theoretical perspective acknowledges the importance of an individual’s agency in the second language learning process. As Donato (2000) stated, in contrast to mentalist theories, a sociocultural theoretical perspective of SLA highlights the importance of learner agency in second language learning tasks and the situatedness of learning and development: ‘Learners bring to interactions their own personal histories replete with values, assumptions, beliefs’; learners ‘actively transform their world and do not merely conform to it’ (p. 46). As I mentioned above, issues concerning identity – its formation and its mediating function on human action – have not been much examined from a Vygotskian sociocultural perspective. A key concept that can be fruitful for understanding the nature of identity is how mediation and appropriation of culturally constructed artefacts such as beliefs can shape action. To my knowledge, few scholars in SLA have explored the construction of identity through Vygotskian concepts of mediation and internalization. Penuel and Wertsch (1995) and Holland and Lachiotte (2006) made important links between Vygotsky’s theory and the influential works of Erikson and Mead on the conceptualization of identity and self. I maintain that issues of identity and the relationships between identity and agency in the second language learning process can be further explored and theorized from a sociocultural theoretical perspective. I will further elaborate on this topic in the following section.

2.5 Theorizing Identity and Agency in SLA: Discussion In the preceding sections, I have identified three major strands of SLA research that focused on issues of identity and agency. In this section, I compare the various perspectives, and discuss some issues in identityin-SLA research. I also present my conceptual understanding of identity and agency, and the theoretical concepts that I will use in the analysis of my research data.

2.5.1 Summary of theoretical conceptions of identity and agency Table 2.1 provides a summary of the various theoretical conceptions of identity and human agency discussed in this chapter. All three theoretical strands take the perspective that identity and agency are socially constructed phenomena; however, there are differences in the ‘analytic primacy’ (to use Penuel and Wertsch’s term) of each theoretical approach.

Table 2.1 Conceptions of identity/self and agency Definition/conception of identity/self

Definition/conception of agency

Post-structural/ Feminist post-structural theory

• Identity (subjectivity) is viewed as ‘precarious, contradictory and in process, constantly being reconstituted in discourse each time we think or speak’ (Weedon, 1997, p. 32). • Identity is constructed by discourse and is fluid, conflictual, multiple, fragmented and contingent upon space/context and time.

• In post-structural theory, human agency is limited as individuals are subject to existing societal discourses that position and constrain them. • In feminist post-structural theory, human agency is afforded through the use of discourse to challenge positioning and to affect change.

Dialogism

• Dialogism views language as the basis for human consciousness, and as dynamic, interactional and contextdependent. • An individual’s consciousness and perception of self is constructed through dialogue: having a voice, being heard and being able to respond.

• Human agency exists in an individual’s ‘appropriation of others’ discourses and making them one’s own with our individual accents, desires, and actions’ (Vitanova, 2002, p. 41). • Human agency is established through a person’s active dialogic processes.

Language socialization

• Ochs (1993) defined social identity as ‘a cover term for a range of social personae, including social statuses, roles, positions, relationships and institutional and other relevant community identities one may attempt to claim or assign in the course of social life’ (p. 288). • Identity is conceived as being contingent and socially constructed through the interactions between the individual and others in a particular community.

• Human agency is accorded an important role in language socialization theory; according to Ochs (1993), individuals are active agents in claiming identities, and in deciding how to participate in social interactions. • Watson-Gegeo (2004) stated that individuals are not only active participants in their development (learning), but can also change their environment.

(Continued)

Table 2.1 (Continued) Definition/conception of identity/self

Definition/conception of agency

Community of practice framework

• An interrelationship exists between learning, identity formation and social memberships: ‘the development of identity is central to the careers of newcomers in communities of practice’ (Lave & Wenger, 1991, p. 115). • Wenger (1998) connected the notions of competence and multimemberships with identity: • ‘Our membership constitutes our identity, . . . fundamentally through the forms of competence that it entails’ (p. 152). • ‘We engage in different practices in each of the communities of practice to which we belong. We often behave rather differently in each of them, construct different aspects of ourselves, and gain different perspectives’ (p. 159).

• Lave and Wenger (1991) viewed human agency as mediated and relational; it is realized through the integration of agent, world and activity. • Wenger (1998) also discussed agency as resistance in the form of nonparticipation, which is also related to identity, as identity is produced not only through the practices we engage in, but also through the practices we do not engage in.

Sociocultural theory of mind

• Self/identity is conceived of as a higher psychological process, whose formation is mediated by language and other semiotic artefacts, and the sociocultural and sociohistorical context.

• Agency is both unique to individuals and co-constructed with other agents and the wider society; it is historically and socially constructed, shaped by an individual’s history and mediated by physical tools and socioculturally and sociohistorically constructed semiotic artefacts (of which language is the most important), as well as by social interaction (Lantolf & Pavlenko, 2001). • A dialectic relationship exists between agent and mediational means (Wertsch, 1998).

Erikson/SCT – Penuel and Wertsch (1995)

• Identity is ‘the immediate perception of one’s selfsameness and continuity over time; and the simultaneous perception of the fact that others recognize one’s sameness and continuity’ (Erikson, 1959, p. 23). • Individuals need external (others in the community) validation of one’s identity for psychological health.

• Human agency, mediated by sociocultural and sociohistorical context, is present in the choices that an individual makes in terms of commitments in three domains of identity formation: fidelity, ideology and work.

Mead/SCT – Holland and Lachiotte (2006)

• Identity is ‘a self-understanding to which one is emotionally attached and that informs one’s behaviours and interpretations’ and comprises ‘roles, statuses, and cultural persona’ (Holland & Lachiotte, 2006, p. 104). • Identity/self is an emergent phenomenon that is continually produced through social interaction, which is mediated by symbolic forms and provides resources as well as constraints for the development of a sense of self.

Norton (2000)

• Identity is ‘how a person understands his or her relationship to the world, how that relationship is constructed across time and space, and how the person understands possibilities for the future’ (p. 5).

MenardWarwick (2004)

• Identity is ‘various social personae that research participants claim as their own in discourse, especially narrative. ( . . . ) Although all of this takes place in discourse, and with some fluidity, it is my contention that identities generally remain relatively stable across multiple instances of discursive interaction’ (p. 23).

Hall (2002)

• Social identity is ‘membership in a range of social groups into which we are born such as gender, social class, religion and race’ as well as group memberships which we appropriate ‘though our involvement in the various activities of the social institutions that comprise our communities, such as school, church, family and the workplace’ (p. 32).

• Identity and identity processes, as higher mental functions, contribute to human agency, i.e., individuals pursue action to enact and validate their claimed identities. • Semiotic mediation provides the means for human agency.

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A discussion of the various theoretical perspectives on the nature of identity and agency requires a clarification of the term identity. As noted by a number of scholars who have examined these issues in SLA as well as in other disciplines (e.g., Côté & Levine, 2002; Holland & Lachiotte, 2006; Menard-Warwick, 2005; van Lier, 2004), the term and concept of identity is difficult to define. Holland and Lachiotte stated that ‘concepts of identity are often promiscuously mingled, producing a good bit of confusion and ambiguity’ (2006, p. 101). Menard-Warwick also noted the definitional confusion in the literature, with some scholars using multiple definitions for a single term, and other scholars conflating terms. Another issue is that some authors do not provide a definition of identity. In addition to the definitions of identity in Table 2.1 from the various theoretical perspectives, I have also included the definitions by SLA scholars Norton, MenardWarwick and Hall, who provided explicit definitions of the term identity in their work. Related to the issue of defining identity, is the use of the term ‘self.’ Van Lier noted that many psychologists treat self and identity as the same construct, whereas others, for example, Wiley, differentiated between self and identity, regarding ‘the self as an expression of general, universal nature (. . .) and identity as an individual self-concept, constructed both from social processes outside of the individual, and from within’ (van Lier, 2004, p. 124). As discussed in the previous section, Holland and Lachiotte (2006) viewed self and identity as the same construct, and explained that the term ‘self’ was used in Mead’s time whereas ‘identity’ is a relatively recent term which gained popularity in usage with Erikson’s influential work. Some authors (e.g., Norton, 2000; Menard-Warwick, 2004; Lantolf & Genung, 2003) focus on social identity as defined by Ochs (1993) and Hall (2002), whereas others (e.g., Vitanova, 2002; Lantolf & Pavlenko, 2000) focus on identity as a consciousness of self as existential being. In the next section, I will further address this issue of defining identity. From my review of the identity-in-SLA literature, I discerned three major issues concerning identity and agency: (a) the nature of identity and agency, which is interrelated with (b) how identity and agency are constructed and (c) the relationship between identity and agency. As I discussed in the first section, post-structural theory challenged modern, positivist perspectives that conceived of individuals as having a stable and unified identity that is independent of the social context, and as having the ability to enact personal agency that is based on rational thought and a free will, also independent from the social context. According to a post-structural perspective, identity (often referred to as subjectivity) is

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constructed in discourse, and is dynamic, conflictual and always in process. The focus on the discursive construction of identity is similarly espoused in a Bakhtinian dialogic view of the dialectic development of language, self and consciousness. However, as argued by Vitanova (2002, 2005), a dialogic view of self gives greater possibilities for human agency, as individuals are able to ‘accent’ societal, authoritative discourses with their own emotionalvolitional tone. This perspective is similar to a feminist post-structural perspective (Weedon, 1997) that maintains that discursive agency enables individuals to challenge positioning by societal discourses. A language socialization approach also highlights the central role of language in the construction of identity. However, language socialization theory has more in common with the community of practice framework as the analytic primacy of both of these approaches is the enculturation and socialization of newcomers (novices) into a certain existing community through their language and other social practices with established members in the community. Both of these approaches view the construction of identity as interrelated with learning and community membership. With regard to agency, as shown in Table 2.1, language socialization views individuals as active agents in claiming identities and in deciding how to participate in social interactions. In Lave and Wenger’s (1991) situated learning model, human agency is viewed as mediated and relational; their social practice theory emphasizes the integration of the agent, the sociocultural context and the activity. Furthermore, agency is viewed in terms of a newcomer’s trajectory, which is influenced by one’s history and memberships in other communities of practice. In Wenger’s (1998) later elaboration of the community of practice framework, Wenger discussed the need for individuals to reconcile multimemberships, and the potential conflicts in how different communities define competence, which Wenger posits is dialectically related to identity. Wenger also discussed the notion of nonparticipation; that is, individuals define themselves through practices that they do not engage in. Thus, identity can result in agency as resistance to adaptation. Third, a number of SLA scholars have addressed issues of a learner’s identity and agency from a Vygotskian sociocultural theoretical perspective, focusing on the concepts of mediation and internalization. For example, in their analysis of adult immigrant autobiographies, Pavlenko and Lantolf (2000) examined how one’s inner voice mediates the construction of identity: The attrition of one’s first language resulted in the loss of identity, and the appropriation of a voice in the second language helped some individuals to recover and reconstruct their identity. This view of the key role of

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language and discourse in identity formation is a common theme across the various theoretical perspectives. Regarding learner agency, other works from a sociocultural theoretical perspective have emphasized how the sociocultural histories and contexts of individuals affect their goals and desires. A sociocultural theoretical perspective views agency as shaped by a learner’s unique history and also as mediated by artefacts and social interactions. I also discussed the work of Penuel and Wertsch (1995) and Holland and Lachiotte (2006), who offered additional and valuable insights regarding issues of identity and agency by connecting Vygotsky’s theory of psychological development with the works of Erikson and Mead. Drawing upon Mead’s work on the social construction of self through interactions with others, Holland and Lachiotte focused on how identities – defined as social ‘roles, statuses and cultural persona’ – mediate affect, motivation, action and agency (2006, p. 104). Penuel and Wertsch maintained that a mediated-action approach to Erikson’s work on identity formation could provide important theoretical and methodological tools for understanding the relationships between sociocultural processes and identity formation. What I found particularly interesting about Erikson’s work on identity is his conception of identity as a perception of continuity, which contrasts post-structural conceptions of identity as in constant flux. However, as noted by Penuel and Wertsch (1995), Erikson’s conception of identity is not static, but is a process that is influenced by an individual’s sociocultural history and context. Another important contribution is Erikson’s psychoanalytic perspective, which maintains that individuals need to have a sense of a coherent identity, and need to have community validation of their identity for psychological well being. To date, few identity-in-SLA studies have explored identity from a psychoanalytic perspective. As Block (2007) suggested, a psychoanalytic perspective on identity issues can further our understanding of the relationships between identity and the SLA process. In addition, Erikson’s focus on commitment to an occupation as one of the essential components of identity formation is especially relevant to my study of immigrant professionals and the relationships between identity, agency and professional acculturation. In this chapter, I have reviewed SLA research that examined issues of identity and agency in the second language learning process from a variety of social perspectives. All of these socially informed approaches offer valuable insights on the second language learner as a complex social being. There are similarities between these perspectives, which have been heightened in recent years with scholars combining concepts from the various

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theoretical strands in order to attain a more complete understanding of identity and agency. Methodologically, these studies are similar in their use of qualitative data such as first person narratives, in-depth interviews and ethnographies, which provide emic and longitudinal perspectives. Many of the studies reviewed have shown the contingent and socially constructed nature of identity and agency. However, there are also differences in the various theoretical perspectives regarding the nature of identity and agency. One point of contention, as noted by Menard-Warwick (2004, 2006), is the debate concerning the stable versus fluid nature of identity. Regarding human agency, most of the theoretical perspectives and studies reviewed in this chapter emphasize the important role of human agency in the learning process. 2.5.2 A social and psychoanalytic perspective of identity and agency In this section, I discuss the theoretical conceptions of identity and agency that inform my analysis in the following chapters. As I mentioned above, one major issue in previous work regarding identity is defining what is meant by this term. To address the definitional confusion regarding the term identity, sociologists Côté and Levine (2002) developed a multidimensional model of identity that clarifies different aspects of identity. Côté and Levine’s model, which builds upon Erikson’s work on identity formation and House’s ‘personality and social structure perspective,’ includes social identity, personal identity and ego identity. In this model, social identity comprises positions and roles that develop from macro-structural factors. According to Côté and Levine (2002), individuals are socialized into roles and positions determined by institutionalized societal norms and conventions. These social roles and positions structure their behaviour, and give it meaning and justification (p. 132). These social roles and positions are also a mechanism for social control and the reproduction of social structure. Personal identity comprises behavioural and character repertoire that differentiates individuals and that develops from micro-interactional factors. Côté and Levine explained that personal identity develops from the internalization of the outcomes of ongoing, day-to-day interactions with others. Côté and Levine emphasized that during such interactions, people ‘actively define situations and develop individual constructions of reality’ [italics in original] (p. 132). An individual’s behaviour is ‘in part a product of past internalizations’ and ‘in part a result of their attempt to act appropriately in a given situation’ (p. 132). Ego identity is a subjective sense of temporal-spatial continuity

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that develops from individual, psychological factors. Côté and Levine defined ego identity as: . . . a subjective sense of continuity of being the same person over time and in different situations. If they have a strong sense of ego identity that is nurtured and reinforced in their lives, they should feel a sense of continuity with the past, meaning in the present, and direction for the future. If their sense of ego identity is weak, or has weakened for some reason, they may feel . . . who they felt they once were no longer applies. (2002, p. 121) This model emphasizes the dialectic relationship between all three aspects of identity, and conceives of identity as a social and psychological phenomenon. This conception is compatible with Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory of mind, a central tenet of which is the bridging of social interactions and contexts with an individual’s psychological development. I believe that this model and conception of the three aspects of identity is a useful heuristic for understanding different aspects of identity. Relevant to my work is Côté and Levine’s (2002) stance that ‘people are capable of “agentic” or intentional behaviors, even though they are often constrained by normed social structures’ (p. 9). This stance has also been espoused in the field of applied linguistics by Sealy and Carter (2004) and Ushioda (2007). In my work, following Côté and Levine (2002), I conceptualize identity as having three interrelated aspects: social identity, personal identity and self identity. Following Hall (2002), I define social identity as the roles that a person is born into or appropriates through various group memberships. I define personal identity as the dispositions of a person, such as perseverance, optimism and openness. Drawing upon Côté and Levine’s concept of ego identity, I use the term self identity to refer to a sense of self integrity and self coherence, that is, a sense of one’s identity as coherent and consistent over time and space. This understanding of self identity draws upon Erikson’s work on identity formation. This is identity at the intrapsychic level, a person’s sense of self that requires wholeness, coherence, affirmation and validation for psychological well-being. I believe that this concept of self identity clarifies Wenger’s (1998) claim that a person needs to reconcile multimemberships to maintain ‘one’ identity across boundaries. In addition, I maintain that Vygotskian sociocultural theory, and the concepts of mediation and internalization, can also be further explored in identity-in-SLA research. Regarding the nature of identity, I take a sociocultural theoretical perspective; that is, my understanding is that all three

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aspects of identity are socially constructed but also internalized. In contrast to a post-structural view of identity as constantly being recreated in discourse, according to a Vygotskian sociocultural perspective, identity is formed through the internalization of mediated activity, which suggests an element of continuity. To summarize, I conceptualize identity as comprising three dialectically related aspects: social identity, which comprises the roles that a person is born into or appropriates through various group memberships; personal identity, which comprises the individual disposition or temperament of a person; and self identity, which is a sense of self integrity and self coherence (i.e., a sense of wholeness and consistency) over time and space. I conceive of identity as socially constructed but internalized in the individual; as a process that changes over time and space, but also as a coherent and continuous psychological function that mediates agency. My conception of agency is also informed by a Vygoskian sociocultural perspective. Following the work of Wertsch (1998), I conceive of agency as mediated by tools and artefacts, as well as by interactions in a social context. I define agency as the mediated ability of individuals to act according to their goals and desires. In my analysis of identity and agency in the SLA process, I am especially interested in connecting Eriksonian and Meadian conceptions of identity with sociocultural theory, as discussed by Penuel and Wertsch (1995) and Holland and Lachiotte (2006). Erikson’s psychoanalytic perspective and Mead’s social psychological perspective provide different pieces of the picture on the formation of identity, and how identity mediates agency. As I discussed above, a number of SLA scholars have used concepts from Lave and Wenger’s (1991) community of practice framework in their identity-in-SLA work. My analysis also draws upon concepts from this framework. The notion of legitimate peripheral participation, which deals explicitly with power relations, and the centrality of issues of identity in this social practice theory of learning resonate with my research context of immigrant professionals who are learning a new language and culture, and seeking entry into a new community of practice. I believe that it is fruitful to use concepts from both sociocultural theory and the community of practice framework in examining issues of identity and agency in my study of the professional acculturation of internationally educated teachers. Both approaches highlight the importance of mediation and social interactions in learning, but each has a different emphasis. The community of practice framework focuses explicitly on identity formation in the learning process, and the notion of legitimate peripheral

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participation addresses power relations. However, as critics have noted (see Barton & Tusting, 2005), this framework does not adequately address an individual’s sociocultural history and how that may affect a newcomer’s trajectory. The strength of sociocultural theory, especially as it has been used in SLA studies, is its focus on the important role of a person’s sociocultural history, goals and agency in the learning process, and the role of mediation and internalization in the development of higher cognitive processes. However, as discussed above, Vygotsky did not deal explicitly with issues of identity. Some scholars (see Lewis, Enciso, & Moje, 2007) have also argued that issues of power and social justice are under-conceptualized within sociocultural theory. Thus, I maintain that combining these two approaches can provide insights and further our understanding of the relationships between identity, agency and second language learning.

Chapter 3

Qualitative Research in SLA

‘A central concern of social science is to contribute knowledge to ameliorate the human condition and enhance human dignity.’ This statement by Kvale (1996, p. 109) speaks to the goal of my research study. As I discussed in Chapter 1, the declassing of immigrant professionals is a major issue in many contemporary societies. My study aims to better understand the professional acculturation processes of high-skilled immigrants in order to improve their integration into their destination societies and hence, improve the quality of their lives. As I discussed in Chapter 2, the rise of social perspectives in SLA research since the mid-1990s resulted in an increase in the use of qualitative research methods that aimed to understand the experiences of language learners in naturalistic contexts and from the perspectives of the learners themselves. The studies discussed in Chapter 2 used a variety of qualitative methods such as interviews, autobiographies, diary studies, ethnographies and case studies. In this chapter, I discuss the use of qualitative research methods in SLA research. The first part of this chapter focuses on the characteristics of qualitative research. First, I discuss ontological and epistemological characteristics of qualitative research. Second, I describe three qualitative research methods that have been used in the study of identity issues in SLA – in-depth interviews, narratives and case studies – and the strengths and limitations of these methods. Finally, I discuss the evaluation of qualitative research. In the second part of this chapter, I discuss practical issues related to conducting qualitative research in SLA, including research design and sampling, data processing and analysis and research ethics. Throughout the chapter, I illustrate the various aspects of conducting qualitative research in SLA with examples from my study.

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3.1 Qualitative Research: Characteristics and Methods 3.1.1 Connecting research questions with research methodology First of all, a research study is framed by questions that one has about a particular phenomenon. My study was guided by the following questions: 1. What are the affordances and constraints to the successful professional acculturation of internationally educated teachers (IETs) in Ontario? 2. Are there relationships between identity, agency and IETs’ acquisition of professional language and culture in the Ontario public education system? If so, what is the nature of these relationships? I define ‘successful professional acculturation’ as the ability to fulfill professional functions, in this case, teaching-specific functions. Drawing upon van Lier’s (2004) work, I define affordances and constraints as any physical, social and symbolic elements in an environment that interact with a person (learner). Affordances facilitate goal-directed action while constraints limit goal-directed action. As I discussed in Chapter 2, I define identity as consisting of three dialectically related aspects: social identity, personal identity and self identity. I define agency as the mediated ability of individuals to act according to their goals and desires. In my study, ‘successful professional acculturation’ is operationalized by IETs’ and other individuals’ descriptions of IETs’ level of communicative ability (Canale & Swain, 1980) – which includes linguistic, sociolinguistic and strategic abilities – and the perceptions (by self and others) of IETs’ ability to function well in an Ontario English public school or college.1 Identity and agency are also operationalized by IETs’ self descriptions and descriptions of IETs by others. Because of the nature of my research questions, which seeks to better understand the lived experiences of immigrant teachers and their professional acculturation and integration into a new education system, I chose to use qualitative research methods. 3.1.2 Contrasting research paradigms Citing the work of Guba and Lincoln, Johnson (1992) discussed the ontological, epistemological and methodological differences between quantitative and qualitative research paradigms. Ontology deals with the nature of existence and reality; epistemology deals with the theory of knowledge. A quantitative paradigm holds a realist ontological view of the existence of

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an objective reality and an objectivist epistemology that inquiry and knowledge can be value-free. In contrast, a qualitative paradigm holds a relativist view of reality, which asserts that reality is cognitively and socially constructed, and that there are multiple realities. A qualitative paradigm has a subjective epistemology, which views knowledge as constructed in the interaction between the researcher and the object of research. In terms of methodology, Guba and Lincoln also contrasted the interventionist methodology of quantitative research and the hermeneutic methodology of qualitative research. Interventionist methodology involves the researcher’s manipulation of variables in a situation in order to determine causes of certain effects, whereas hermeneutic methodology involves a continuing dialectic of iteration, analysis and critique in order to understand a situation. As noted by Johnson (1992), this overview of the two contrasting paradigms was given by two scholars who favoured naturalistic and constructivist approaches to research. Johnson stated that the important point is awareness of the fact that all research is guided by philosophical assumptions about the nature of reality and knowledge. In more recent works on research methods in applied linguistics, both Dörnyei (2007) and Duff (2008) suggested that a more constructive approach is to view quantitative and qualitative research not as a dichotomy, but as a continuum. For example, Richards (2005, cited in Dörnyei, p. 25) pointed out that the numerical versus nonnumerical distinction between quantitative and qualitative research does not hold true since qualitative researchers also collect information in numbers, and quantitative researchers also collect non-numerical information. Croker (2009) discussed another approach to research that encompassed both qualitative and quantitative research – pragmatism. A pragmatic researcher focuses on the consequences or impact of research and selects methods based on the goals of the research rather than ontological or epistemological concerns. In a pragmatic approach to research, the use of quantitative and qualitative research methods is not mutually exclusive. This is the philosophical underpinning of mixed methodology research, which has become more prominent in applied linguistics in recent years. Johnson (1992) concluded that a diversity of methods is a positive development in applied linguistics research because it expands ways of examining and understanding phenomena.

3.1.3 Characteristics of qualitative research Merriam (1998) stated that qualitative research is concerned with understanding people’s lived or felt experiences and how people make sense of

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their world and their experiences. Qualitative research – also referred to as interpretative, naturalistic research – focuses on meaning in context. Its main means of gathering information are interviewing, observing and analysing documents. Given that the aim of my research study was to better understand the lived SLA experiences of internationally educated teachers, the use of qualitative research methods was suitable for this study. As discussed earlier, the key philosophical assumption of qualitative research is the view that reality is mentally and socially constructed. Merriam (1998) identified the following essential characteristics of qualitative research: the goal of eliciting and understanding meaning, the researcher as the primary instrument of data collection and analysis, the use of fieldwork, an inductive approach to data analysis and richly descriptive findings. Qualitative research assumes that meaning is embedded in people’s experiences, and thus, a key aspect of qualitative research is understanding a certain phenomenon from a participant’s perspective, that is, an emic, insider’s perspective. Furthermore, this meaning is mediated through the researcher’s own perceptions. Because qualitative research strives for a deep understanding of participants in a particular setting, the researcher must go to the participants and/or the sites in order to collect data in a natural setting. Qualitative studies are often undertaken because there is a lack of theory, or existing theory does not adequately explain a phenomenon (Merriam, 1998). Qualitative research findings are typically in the form of ‘themes, categories, typologies, concepts, tentative hypothesis, even theory, which have been inductively derived from the data’ (Merriam, p. 7). Regarding theory, Duff (2008) clarified that exploratory qualitative research is not atheoretical. In fact, ‘the researcher must articulate the theoretical framework guiding the study, the relationship between the study and other published research, the chain of reasoning underlying the study, and the theoretical contributions the study makes’ (p. 44). Another characteristic of qualitative research is an emergent design. Ideally, a qualitative study is flexible and responsive to the changing conditions of a study; however, in practice, such a design is not always possible because of the need to specify the research design in order to obtain approval from ethics review boards and funding agencies. Nevertheless, as I will demonstrate with examples from my study, a degree of flexibility is essential to qualitative research. Dörnyei (2007, pp. 39–42) discussed strengths and limitations of qualitative research for applied linguistics. Strengths include the use of qualitative research in exploratory areas, the ability of qualitative research to make

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sense of highly complex situations and the ability to reach a broader, fuller and deeper understanding of a phenomenon. Longitudinal qualitative research studies have the potential to examine the dynamic nature of processes studied in applied linguistics. The flexibility in the research process can assist in the gathering of meaningful findings. Finally, qualitative research often generates rich material for a research report, which makes it easier to produce a convincing and vivid case. Limitations of qualitative research include the small sample size that is typical in qualitative research, and hence, the lack of generalizability. Another limitation is the researcher as the primary instrument for data collection and analysis; thus, a qualitative study is affected by the competence, personal biases and idiosyncrasies of the researcher. Because of its focus on a few specific cases, qualitative research can lead to theories that are too narrow; because of its rich data, qualitative research can lead to theories that are too complex. Finally, Dörnyei mentioned the time-consuming and labour-intensive nature of conducting qualitative research. Many of the strengths and limitations of qualitative research are closely related to the fact that the researcher is the primary instrument for data collection and analysis. On the one hand, the researcher can maximize opportunities for collecting rich and meaningful data by responding to the situation and participants; on the other hand, the researcher can make mistakes and miss opportunities. In addition, as mentioned earlier, the researcher’s personal biases can affect the research process, so a qualitative researcher must be self aware and reflective. Merriam (1998) maintained that an effective qualitative researcher needs to have enormous tolerance for ambiguity, have sensitivity and be a good communicator. Because of the emergent design of qualitative research, a researcher needs to adapt to unforeseen events in data collection. A qualitative researcher also needs to be sensitive to the physical setting, the people, the overt and covert agendas, the nonverbal behaviours and the information being gathered. In addition, good communication skills are crucial in the data collection process in order to establish rapport with participants and an atmosphere of trust.

3.1.4 Qualitative research methods 3.1.4.1 In-depth interviews Interviewing is one of the main methods in qualitative research. Kvale (1996, p. 8) stated that ‘conversation is an ancient form of obtaining knowledge.’

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Dörnyei (2007, p. 134) summarized the appeal of research interviews: ‘The interview is a natural and socially acceptable way of collecting information that most people feel comfortable with and which can be used in a variety of situations and focusing on diverse topics to yield in-depth data.’ Interviews have been used regularly in a variety of applied linguistics research. An interview study can comprise single or multiple interview sessions with participants. Interviews can also be conducted with individual participants or with focus groups. There are three main types of interviews: structured, semi-structured and open (Richards, 2009). In a structured interview, the researcher employs a precisely worded interview schedule. As noted by Richards, this type of interview is a kind of spoken questionnaire that aims for precision and comparability. At the other end of the continuum is the open interview, which aims to explore a participant’s views, feelings or experiences in as much depth as possible, and in which the direction of an interview is determined primarily by the participant. In-depth semi-structured interviews are the most common type of interview for qualitative research. Dörnyei (2007) stated that a semi-structured interview offers a compromise between a structured interview in which the interview protocol is strictly adhered to and an open interview that is guided by broad topics. A semi-structured interview is guided by a list of questions, but allows for flexibility in the manner and sequence of the questions, and importantly, allows both the researcher and the participant to explore certain topics in greater depth. Dörnyei (2007) added that a semi-structured interview is appropriate when the researcher has sufficient knowledge of the phenomenon to develop questions in advance. In-depth qualitative interviews capture experiences that researchers may not otherwise be able to access, for example, experiences in real life contexts and retrospective accounts of experiences over time. In previous identity-in-SLA research, including the studies discussed in Chapter 2, in-depth interviews have often been used in combination with other qualitative data collections methods. For example, Morita’s (2002) case study of Japanese international students used a combination of weekly self-reports from the participants, researcher observations and in-depth interviews with the participants. Menard-Warwick (2004) also used in-depth interviews with her participants in addition to classroom observations. The quality of interview data depends on the researcher’s skills as well as the participant’s articulateness. In interview research, as in all qualitative research, the researcher is the primary instrument for collecting data. This has advantages as well as disadvantages. Kvale (1996) stated that interview

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research ‘is a craft that, if well carried out, becomes an art’ (p. 13). As Merriam (1998) explained, during a qualitative interview, the researcher needs to respond to the interview context and participant, for example, to probe with further questions in order to gather meaningful information. This requires the interviewer to be highly skilled and sensitive to the context and to the participant. Being sensitive means knowing when to probe, when to be silent and when to change directions in the interview. Merriam also stated that what is crucial for qualitative research interviewers is good communication skills. A good interviewer empathizes with participants, is able to establish rapport and is able to ask good questions and listen intently. Limitations of qualitative interview research are also related to the fact that the researcher is the primary instrument. Insufficient knowledge of the research topic or lack of sensitivity to the context and participant may impact the quality of the information collected. In addition, personal biases of the researcher may also affect the information gathered. In my study, in-depth semi-structured interviews were one of my main methods of data collection. Interviews with 34 IET participants across divisions, subject specializations and personal backgrounds – for example, countries of origin, ethnolinguistic backgrounds and professional histories – enabled me to explore similarities and differences in the experiences of IETs. I also gained additional perspectives on the professional acculturation of IETs by interviewing 15 school administrators and professional development facilitators who worked with IETs. 3.1.4.2 Narrative inquiry First-person narratives have been used in SLA research to investigate learners’ perceptions of themselves, their teachers and the language learning process (Oxford, 1995). Earlier studies include work by Bailey (1983), Schmidt (1983) and Schmidt and Frota (1986). More recently, as reviewed in Chapter 2, many studies of identity, agency and second language learning have focused on first-person narrative data. For example, the studies by Norton (2000), Morita (2004) and Lantolf and Genung (2003) all used learner diaries to capture the experiences of the participants. Pavlenko and Lantolf (2000) examined first-person narratives in published autobiographies of language learners. In its broadest sense, a narrative refers to anything recounted or told. In the educational research literature, the term narrative is often used synonymously with the term ‘story.’ Carter (1993, p. 6) stated that a story

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consists of ‘events, characters, and settings arranged in a temporal sequence implying both causality and significance.’ Narrative inquiry is a research methodology that uses the form of stories to explore human experience. Bell (2002) explained that the epistemological assumption of narrative inquiry is that human beings make sense of their experience through the imposition of story structures, and narrative inquiry involves the analysis of the underlying insights that the story illustrates. Polkinghorne (1988) distinguished between the analysis of narratives and narrative analysis. The analysis of narratives involves the collection and analysis of some form of narratives in order to arrive at common themes; narrative analysis typically involves case studies and producing storied accounts to make the data meaningful. Clandinin and Connelly (1994, 2000) described narrative as both phenomenon and method. To distinguish between the two, they call the phenomenon ‘story’ and the inquiry ‘narrative.’ Following a Deweyan view of experience, Clandinin and Connelly framed their narrative inquiry in terms of a three-dimensional space that consists of interaction (personal and social), continuity (past, present and future) and situation (place). In terms of research methodology, Clandinin and Connelly identified the significance of who the researcher is in relation to the narrator, the text and the interpretation of the text. Data collection methods for narrative inquiry include oral history, life history annals, personal and family artefacts, research interviews, journals, autobiographical writing, field observations and conversations. One of the main strengths of first-person narratives is that they offer an alternate way of knowing. Proponents of narrative inquiry in the social sciences maintain that the complexity and interconnectedness of human phenomena cannot be captured by traditional positivistic approaches (Lieblich, Tuval-Mashiach, & Zilber, 1998). Bruner (1985) distinguished between scientific knowledge and narrative knowledge: Whereas the former requires consistency and noncontradiction, the latter accommodates ambiguity and dilemma. Polkinghorne (1988) argued strongly for the need in the human sciences to develop ‘additional, complementary approaches that are especially sensitive to the unique characteristics of human existence’ (p. x), and claimed that narrative is the ‘primary form by which human experience is made meaningful’ (p. 1). Clandinin and Connelly (1994) echoed this claim by maintaining that ‘stories are the closest we can come to experience as we and others tell of our experience. A story has a sense of being full, a sense of coming out of a personal and social history’ (p. 415). According to McEwan and Egan (1995), a vital link exists between narrative form and human action and mind.

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Narrative inquiry also provides an emic, insider perspective, and gives voice to those who may have been previously silenced in educational research. In second language acquisition research, there has been an increase in the use of first-person narratives to understand second language learning experiences from the perspectives of learners themselves. As noted by Pavlenko (2002, p. 213), narratives allow ‘learners’ voices to be heard on a par with those of the researchers.’ Another argument made for the use of narrative inquiry is its potential to instruct and transform. From the field of teacher education, Olson (cited in Carter, 1993, p. 7) stated that ‘narrative structures provide a format into which experienced events can be cast in the attempt to make them comprehensible, memorable and shareable.’ Carter argued that teacher’s stories can help other teachers to learn, develop professionally and improve their practice. The potential of narratives to transform relates to the self-reflection that is encouraged by narratives. A number of SLA scholars have also noted the value of narrative research. Pavlenko and Lantolf (2000) spoke of the need for first-person narratives in SLA research as they ‘provide a much richer source of data than do third-person distal observations’ (p. 157). Pavlenko (2001) stated that language learning stories provide rich sources of information about language and identity in second language learning: It is possible that only personal narratives can provide a glimpse into areas so private, personal, and intimate that they are rarely – if ever – breached in the study of SLA, and that are at the same time at the heart and soul of the second language socialization process. (p. 167) Pavlenko (2002) maintained that narratives are a legitimate source of data in the hermeneutic tradition, which can complement more traditional empirical research, and that researchers can gain insights into learners’ motivations, struggles and ideologies that guide their learning. Bell (2002) stated that narratives can provide insight into people’s beliefs and experiences, and ‘allow researchers to present experience holistically in all its complexity and richness’ (p. 209). Furthermore, Bell argued that issues that affect learners’ experience of immigration, settlement and language learning are revealed in the stories they hold. As with any method of inquiry, there are limitations related to using firstperson narratives for research. One issue regarding narrative inquiry that has generated discussions and debates among scholars concerns the truth of narratives. Critics, such as Phillips (1997), stated that we do not always

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know, are not always conscious of or are not always honest about the reasons for our actions, and that sometimes, an etic, outsider, account is more veridical than a first-person narrative. Proponents of narrative research (e.g., Riessman, 2002) argue that the value of narratives is not so much whether it is reporting true events, but how narratives highlight issues of importance for the narrator. Fenstermacher (1997) stated that if a narrative helps a reader to make sense of an action, there is some ‘truth’ to the narrative. Kvale (1996) suggested that one way to address the issue of the truth of narratives is to draw insight from how the narrative is told. Whereas a veridical reading of narrative data views the information given by participants as reliable and ‘true,’ a symptomatic reading of narrative data sees the information as reflecting their relationship to the topic rather than the topic itself. Such a reading can provide insight on experience. Bell (2002) stated that narrative inquiry recognizes that people’s consciously told stories rest on deeper stories of which people are unaware, and that people construct stories that support their claimed identities. Bell argued that narrative inquiry goes beyond specific stories to explore assumptions and beliefs that shape the stories. Another issue concerning narrative inquiry is that people’s stories vary according to the context and time of the telling, and to whom the stories are told. As Bell (2002, p. 210) explained, ‘the constructed nature of truth and the subjectivity of the researcher are particularly evident’ in narrative inquiry. Bell also maintained that the constructed narrative and analysis of the narrative illuminates the researcher as much as the participant. Pavlenko (2002, p. 214) reiterated this point, stating that ‘narratives are not purely individual productions – they are powerfully shaped by social, cultural, and historical conventions as well as by the relationship between the storyteller and the interlocutor.’ Finally, ethical considerations are prominent in narrative inquiry. Clandinin and Connelly (1994) discussed the ethical dimensions of researcher-participant relationships in narrative inquiry: ‘When we enter into a research relationship with participants and ask them to share their stories with us, there is the potential to shape their lived, told, relived, and retold stories as well as our own’ (p. 422). Because the researcher is the one initiating the research relationship, the researcher needs to be especially careful about the impact of research texts on the lives of the participants. In my study, I use both ‘analysis of narratives’ and ‘narrative analysis,’ as defined by Polkinghorne. In Chapter 4, I present findings of common themes that emerged from a content analysis of the complete data set, including the first-person narratives gathered through in-depth interviews.

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However, noting the limitations of such an analysis of narratives, in Chapters 5 and 6, I focus on the ‘narrative analysis’ of the second language learning and professional acculturation stories of selected case studies. 3.1.4.3 Case study research A case study is ‘a study of a “bounded system”, emphasizing the unity and wholeness of that system, but confining the attention to those aspects that are relevant to the problem at the time’ (Stake, cited in Johnson, 1992, p. 76). Case study research is generally naturalistic, examining the individual or other entity in its natural state and environment (Johnson, 1992). Case study research enables the investigation of complex social units and multiple variables of potential importance in understanding a phenomenon. Furthermore, a case study provides a ‘rich and holistic account of a phenomenon’ (Merriam, 1998, p. 19). As noted by Duff (2008, p. 35), case study research has been an important component of applied linguistics research, especially in SLA, with its focus on individuals and their characteristics, knowledge and development. Duff also noted that case study research has been very productive and influential in applied linguistics; many models and hypotheses in SLA were based upon a small number of case studies, for example, Schmidt’s (1983) longitudinal case study of Wes. Johnson (1992, p. 76) stated that case studies can provide rich information about an individual learner: ‘They can inform us about the processes and strategies that L2 learners use to communicate and learn, how their own personalities, attitudes, and goals interact with the learning environment, and about the precise nature of their linguistic growth.’ Thus, case study research in SLA enables the investigation of the contextual basis of second language learning and ‘the interplay of individual mental processes, meanings, and actions as well as social interactions that occur within a particular time and place, and learning history’ (Duff, p. 37). Duff also discussed other strengths of case study research, including the depth of description enabled by the triangulation of data, its potential to generate hypotheses or models, and its potential to provide ‘counter-evidence to existing theoretical claims’ (p. 45). Case studies can be categorized into three types: exploratory, descriptive and explanatory (Yin, cited in Duff, 2008, p. 31). The purpose of an exploratory case study is to define questions and hypotheses of a subsequent study. A descriptive case study describes a phenomenon in its context, and an explanatory case study explains cause-effect relationships or to explain how events happened. Case study research can comprise single or multiple cases. Case study research may be longitudinal.

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Longitudinal case study research is particularly useful in SLA research as it enables the examination of language development over time. Dörnyei (2007) pointed out that longitudinal research must be defined in terms of both the data and the research design. The purpose of longitudinal research is to describe patterns of change, and to explain causal relationships. A research study that involves multiple points of data collection over time may provide breadth and depth of data, but may not show change. Such a study would not be considered longitudinal. Alternatively, in an in-depth life history interview, the data collection may take place on one occasion, but may provide data regarding change over time. Such a study would be considered longitudinal. Dörnyei (2007) cautioned against the use of retrospective longitudinal studies, stating that the quality of recollected data can be inaccurate, that retrospective accounts can be simplified or selective, and that past events might be reinterpreted to match the participant’s current perceptions or to fit a coherent storyline. Dörnyei maintained that if a study focuses on a relatively short period (weeks or months rather than years), a retrospective design may be appropriate, especially if the data primarily concerns events or behaviour rather than attitudes or beliefs. This view of retrospective narratives contrasts the view held by narrative researchers, who interpret and find meaning in the stories in retrospective narratives, as discussed in the previous section. Limitations of case study research include concerns about generalizability, the logistics of managing a large amount of data, objectivity versus subjectivity and research ethics. For longitudinal case studies, there is the additional challenge of attrition. Regarding concerns about generalizability, Duff (2008, p. 52) noted that the theoretical findings from groundbreaking early case studies, for example, work by Schumann and Schmidt, as well as more recent work by Norton, have contributed to important new understandings of second language learning and use, and thus, has achieved theoretical generalization. A practical strategy to enhance generalizability is to include multiple cases. In my study, I included case studies of eight internationally educated teachers in addition to the in-depth semi-structured interviews with 49 participants. My rationale for including case studies was because of the potential of case studies to provide a deeper and more holistic understanding of the professional acculturation experiences of some immigrant teachers. Some of the case studies were longitudinal. My case studies included a variety of data collection methods and sources, which I will describe in greater detail in the second part of this chapter.

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3.1.5 The quality of qualitative research Traditionally, research studies have been evaluated according to their reliability, validity and generalizability. Many qualitative researchers have eschewed these terms, which were commonly used to assess quantitative research, for terms such as dependability, credibility and transferability.

3.1.5.1 Internal validity and credibility First of all, there is the question of internal validity, that is, whether the findings are credible and congruent with ‘reality.’ However, even the term reality is open to interpretation. Merriam (1998) stated that ‘one of the assumptions underlying qualitative research is that reality is holistic, multidimensional and ever-changing; it is not a single, fixed, objective phenomenon waiting to be discovered, observed and measured as in quantitative research’ (p. 202). Having said that, there are strategies to increase the credibility of a qualitative research study. One strategy is to triangulate the data sources and data collection methods. For example, in my study, the credibility of my findings rests upon my research design, which includes multiple data collection methods and sources. My interviews with 34 IETs from diverse backgrounds, and my interviews with 15 other individuals who worked with IETs provided multiple perspectives. In addition, my use of different methods of data collection in the case studies enabled deeper insight and understanding of the experiences of the participants. Another valuable component of the case studies was the longitudinal aspect, which also contributed to the credibility of the findings. Completing member checks of the data is another strategy to increase the credibility of the data. Member checks are especially important with interview transcript data in order to ensure that the transcript is an accurate representation of the oral interview. Finally, some qualitative research scholars recommend sharing the researcher’s analysis and interpretation of the data with the participants, particularly with narrative research.

3.1.5.2 Reliability and dependability Reliability and dependability refer to the consistency of the research process. Qualitative researchers recommend the inclusion of a clear ‘audit trail’ (Merriam, 1998; Miles & Huberman, 1994), that is, a detailed description of the research design, and the data collection and analysis procedures.

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In my study, I followed certain procedures as consistently as possible. For example, all of the participants in the first and third phases of my study received the interview schedules in advance of our meeting. All of the interviews were audio-tape recorded and transcribed verbatim. I also personally checked and formatted all of the transcripts so that there was consistency in converting the interviews to texts. For the case study data, I also followed consistent procedures as often as possible. For example, I sent each case study participant an introductory email with suggestions for the case study data collection. I also tried to maintain consistency in my role as an observer during the classroom visits by sitting at the back of the classrooms and taking notes by hand. However, each case study was also unique; as a result, data collection methods varied. As Merriam (1998) maintained: Because information gathering is a function of who gives it and how skilled the researcher is at getting it, and because the emergent design of a qualitative case study precludes a priori controls, achieving reliability in the traditional sense is not only fanciful but impossible. (p. 206) Regarding reliability during the data analysis, I completed intercoder and intracoder agreement checks of my coding of the data, which I will describe in greater detail in a later section.

3.1.5.3 Generalizability, transferability and external validity Transferability is the third major criterion used in assessing research, that is, whether the findings can be applied to other contexts. Because of the uniqueness of human experience and the contextual conditions examined in qualitative research, findings can rarely be generalized in the traditional sense. However, the findings can nevertheless be useful. Providing detailed descriptions of the cases in the study enables ‘reader or user generalization’ (Merriam, 1998, p. 211); the reader can determine to what extent the findings could be applied to other cases and contexts. Miles and Huberman (1994) also discussed the ‘Utilization / Application / Action Orientation’ of research findings, that is, the importance of applying research to real world issues. Citing Lincoln, they described good qualitative research as enhancing ‘(a) levels of understanding and sophistication and (b) the ability of participants and stakeholders to take action during and after an inquiry and to negotiate on behalf of themselves and their own interests in the political arena’ (Miles & Huberman, p. 279). In addition,

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Miles and Huberman stated that findings should be intellectually and physically accessible to potential readers and ‘stimulate “working hypotheses” on the part of the reader as guidance for future action’ (Donmoyer, as cited in Miles & Huberman, p. 279). Thus, qualitative research aims to have a positive impact on individuals and the greater society through real life actions. This is also the raison d’être of applied linguistics research.

3.2 Conducting Qualitative Research in SLA In the following sections, I discuss practical issues in conducting qualitative research in SLA by describing aspects of my study. I begin with a description of the emergent process of research design and participant selection. I then discuss issues related to data collection, data processing and data analysis. Finally, I discuss ethical issues in conducting qualitative research.

3.2.1 Qualitative research design and participants: An emergent process I collected data for this study in three phases. In the first phase, I conducted in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 34 internationally educated teachers (IETs) in the publicly funded kindergarten to grade 12 (K-12) education system and system of postsecondary colleges of applied arts and technology (CAATs) in the province of Ontario, Canada. In the second phase, I conducted case studies of eight of these IETs who were interviewed in the first phase. In the third phase, I conducted in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 15 individuals who had professional contact with IETs, such as school administrators and professional development facilitators. In this section, I illustrate the emergent process of qualitative research by describing how my research study design evolved over the course of the study.

3.2.1.1 Phase one of study A key issue for any study is defining the population of the study. For this study, I define IETs as individuals who are currently teaching or seeking teaching positions, and who have been educated in another country. Many of the participants, particularly the IETs in the K-12 school system, were trained as teachers and had teaching experience before immigrating to Canada. However, because of the different hiring criteria for faculty at

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CAATs, for example, the importance of industry experience and the fact that CAAT faculty are not required to be certified teachers, some of the college division participants in this study were educated and had professional experience in other countries, but were not necessarily trained or had experience as teachers before they entered the college system in Ontario. Because I wanted to compare the experiences of IETs across divisions and to compare the experiences of IETs who were in the Ontario education system with those who were in the process of seeking entry into the system, I recruited and selected participants purposefully from different divisions and at different stages of entry into the system. There are differences between the K-12 system and the college system in how I define what constitutes successful entry into the system. For the K-12 system, I define successful entry as obtaining a full-time, permanent (FT) contract, as the nature of their work and working conditions are different from substitute teachers. In Ontario, these substitute teachers are referred to as ‘supply’ teachers. They substitute for a teacher on a short-term, often daily basis. Those who were not in the system were either substitute teachers or those who were still seeking entry. The definition of ‘IETs seeking entry’ and ‘IETs in the system’ for the college division differed because the structure and criteria for hiring are different. For example, there is no certification requirement and no formal system of substitute teachers in the college division, so it was difficult to find participants who were seeking entry or working as substitute teachers. For the college division, the category of ‘IETs seeking entry’ were part-time faculty who had part-time hours and/or short-term contracts, and the category of ‘IETs in the system’ were full-time college faculty. Most part-time faculty were relatively new to the system, whereas most full-time faculty had been in the system for many years. Given my research questions, my initial plan was to conduct in-depth semi-structured interviews with 30 internationally educated teachers, 10 from each division (elementary, secondary and college). In each division, I also wanted to include five IETs who were in the system, and five IETs who were seeking entry. In addition, I wanted to conduct one longitudinal case study of an IET from each of the six categories. Table 3.1 shows my initial research design. What emerged once I had completed a number of interviews with IETs in the K-12 system was that the narratives of IETs who had recently started teaching in the school system were in a different stage of professional acculturation from IETs who were well established in the system. For this reason, I subdivided K-12 IETs who were in the system into two categories: those

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Table 3.1 Initial research design

IETs in the system

Elementary division Kindergarten to grade 6

Secondary division Grades 7–12

College division Colleges of applied arts and technology

5 interviews + 1 case study

5+1

5+1

IETs seeking entry

5+1

5+1

5+1

Total participants

10

10

10

who were new in the system, and those who were established in the system. I also included two additional participants in the K-12 system. I also decided to include two additional participants in the college division. Estrella, who was on short-term contract professor of Spanish at a university at the time of our interview, was at the same time seeking certification and entry into the K-12 system. In fact, a number of the college participants had also applied for Ontario teacher certification. This shows that in reality, IETs may not fit in categories that are defined from the point of view of the Ontario education system. In fact, part of the process for some IETs was finding the division and teaching context in Ontario that corresponded to their previous experience in an education system that was structured differently. In addition, I interviewed Kerri, who was another unique case that I had not anticipated. Kerri had left Canada in her mid-20s, and had lived in Denmark for 19 years, where she completed her Masters and PhD and was professionally and socially well integrated in Danish society. She returned to Canada when she obtained a full time position at a college. Table 3.2 shows the main categories and number of participants in the first phase of my data collection. Pseudonyms are used for all participants and educational institutions in this study. Participants were invited to select their own pseudonym; when they did not have a preference, I made a suggestion, which was approved by the participants. An asterisk (*) indicates that the pseudonym was self selected. I will provide greater detail about the participants’ demographic and professional background in Chapter 4.

3.2.1.2 Phase two of study In the second phase, I conducted case studies of eight IETs (see Table 3.3). All of these IETs had completed the first phase interview and were interested in participating in the case studies. The case studies involved multiple methods of data collection that took place over the course of at least one

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Table 3.2 Participants in phase one First phase: Elementary division In-depth, Kindergarten to semi-structured grade 6 interviews

Secondary division Grades 7–12

College division Colleges of applied arts and technology

Established in the system (Full-time permanent contract)

IETs in the system

Wanda – India Serena – India Merida* – Venezuela

Full-time permanent contract

Victor* – Poland, Chile Evelyn – Austria Rose – India

New in the system (Full-time temporary or new permanent contract) Bud* – Belarus Galina* – Russia Elisa – Russia Marjorie – Hong Kong IETs seeking entry

Total

Emily* – Hong Kong Dragomir* – Moldova Christine* – Hong Kong Kameela – Egypt, France

Helena – Bulgaria Nemo* – Russia Peter* – Poland Sanjay – India Ella – Hong Kong Kerri – Canada/ Denmark

Substitute teaching or seeking teaching position

Part-time or short-term contract

Susan* – China Raj* – Mauritius Audrey* – Jamaica Lin – China

Clarissa* – Romania Lillian – Albania Autumn* – Philippines Lucy* – Kenya

Natalie – Romania Adnan – Pakistan Alex – Greece Isabel – Colombia Monsell* – Jamaica Estrella* – Philippines

11

11

12

Table 3.3 Participants in phase two Second phase: Case studies

Elementary division Kindergarten to grade 6

Secondary division Grades 7–12

College division

IETs in the system

Bud – Belarus (full-time temporary contract)

Emily – Hong Kong (full-time temporary contract)

Helena – Bulgaria General Arts and Science (full-time permanent) Peter – Poland Chemical Engineering (full-time permanent)

IETs seeking entry

Audrey – Jamaica (substitute teacher)

Lucy – Kenya (seeking entry)

Adnan – Pakistan Night School Programme (part-time contract) Estrella – Philippines University (short term contract)

Total

2

2

4

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academic semester. I had originally planned to have one participant from each of my six main categories, but I decided to include two additional case study participants in the post-secondary division. From the first phase interviews, I learned that there were notable differences between faculty who teach required specialization courses for a diploma or certificate, who often come from industry, and faculty who teach general arts and science courses, who often come from a teaching and academic background. Therefore, case studies for the full-time college faculty category included Peter, who taught in the chemical engineering department, and Helena, who taught in the general arts and science department. The case study participant for the part-time college faculty category was Adnan, who had a part-time contract in a night school programme. As I mentioned above, Estrella was a special case as she was teaching at a university, but was also applying for teacher certification for the K-12 public system.

3.2.1.3 Phase three of study In the third phase, I conducted in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 15 individuals who had professional contact with IETs, such as school administrators, mentors and professional development facilitators (see Table 3.4). As a number of qualitative researchers have noted, qualitative research design is emergent; phase three of my study was added after data collection was under way for the first and second phases. Two of my case study participants had suggested that I speak to their school administrator

Table 3.4 Participants in phase three Third phase: In-depth, semi-structured interviews

K-12

College division

Administrators

Don – school district administrator Gail – principal Tom – vice principal Rashad – vice principal Jim – department head

Noreen – department chair Anton – department chair Sarah – programme coordinator

Professional Development (PD) Facilitators / Mentors

Rene – PD facilitator Avinath* – PD facilitator Irene – PD programme administrator Anne – IET mentor

Roma* – PD facilitator Ariel* – PD facilitator Karen – PD facilitator

Total

9

6

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to gain additional perspectives. In addition, as a result of the ongoing data collection and analysis from the first and second phases, I felt that it would be valuable to have additional perspectives on the acculturation experiences of IETs, particularly from individuals in hiring positions and from individuals who provide support for the professional development of IETs. 3.2.1.4 Participant recruitment I recruited participants for this study through a variety of means, depending on the category and the phase. My primary recruitment procedure was distributing an electronic message about my study via listservs. For the K-12 divisions, I recruited IETs through two main avenues. To recruit IETs who were in the system, I contacted the Ontario Teachers’ Federation affiliates (English system): the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario, the Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association, and the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation. These affiliates placed a notice about my study in their newsletters. To recruit IETs who were seeking entry into the system, I contacted a provincial bridging programme for IETs (Teach in Ontario), as well as a teacher education programme at a university. For the college system, I contacted administrators at four colleges in the metropolitan area where the study took place. In all cases, my notice was distributed on my behalf by the administrators, and the participants self identified their suitability for study. As I mentioned earlier, my study was extended to include a third phase of interviews. Recruitment for this phase also varied according to divisions. To recruit school administrators in the K-12 divisions, I contacted the Ontario Principals’ Council. In addition, several of the administrators interviewed were referred to me by participants in the study. In order to recruit professional development facilitators for IETs in the K-12 division, I contacted a bridging programme administrator, an administrator of a language upgrading programme for IETs, and an administrator of a teacher induction programme. For the college division, I contacted the four colleges to request permission to extend my study and to distribute an information letter to administrators such as chairs, programme managers and to professional development facilitators. 3.2.2 Data collection methods and overview of data sources In this study, multiple perspectives and multiple sources of data provided a deeper understanding of the professional acculturation experiences of

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internationally educated teachers in Ontario. My research design combined in-depth interviews with a cross-section of IETs, school administrators and professional development facilitators with case studies of selected IETs. The primary source of data for this study was in-depth interviews, but the case studies also included a variety of data collection methods such as field observations, written reflections, surveys of students and other document

Phase one


in-depth, semi-structured interviews with a diverse group of 34 IETs in terms of:
teaching divisions
teaching subjects
countries of origin
first language backgrounds
age groups
gender
ethnic and racial backgrounds
stages of entry into the Ontario education system
stages of teaching career
length of time in Canada

Phase two



8 case studies data from different sources (varied in each case study) collected over a period of 1 to 3 academic semesters:
classroom observations by researcher
written reflections by participants
surveys of students conducted by researcher
follow-up interviews
other document data, including official teaching evaluations, and course feedback from students conducted by teachers

Figure 3.1

Phase three


in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 15 individuals who have professional contact with IETs:
K-12 school and school district administrators
college administrators
K-12 professional development facilitators
college professional development facilitators
mentors

Triangulation: Multiple methods and perspectives

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data. The sources of data varied for each case study participant, depending on their teaching situations and their preferences. The triangulation of various forms of qualitative data collection methods helped to increase the depth of understanding, and to reduce any bias that may result from reliance on one form of data. Figure 3.1 provides an overview of the multiple perspectives and sources of data in this study.

3.2.2.1 Pilot study In preparation for the main study, I conducted a pilot study (exploratory case study) with three participants: an elementary school teacher from Iran, a secondary school family studies teacher from Hong Kong and a secondary school English teacher from India. I conducted two interviews with each participant; each interview lasted one to two hours. The initial interview was not recorded and was an informal conversation to exchange information. These conversations helped me to establish rapport with the participants and to develop the interview schedule. The second interview was semi-structured and audio-recorded. The purpose of the pilot study was threefold: (a) to develop an interview schedule and to determine whether the interview questions were appropriate; (b) to gain experience with the research and interview procedures, which included an explanation of the research study and ethical considerations, as well as practical matters such as testing the quality of recording equipment; and (c) to do a preliminary analysis of the interview data. Transcribing and analysing the pilot data enabled me to make decisions regarding transcription conventions and to reflect upon different approaches to coding and analysing the data. My pilot data also enabled me to conduct a preliminary analysis of the data to determine the suitability of the theoretical frameworks (sociocultural theory and the community of practice framework) that I was interested in using to interpret the data.

3.2.2.2 Interview procedures and data The in-depth, semi-structured interviews for the first and third phases and the follow-up interviews for the case studies in the second phase all took place at times and locations that were convenient for the participant. Locations for the interviews included a seminar room at a university, schools and colleges where the participants worked, coffee shops that were convenient for participants to access and in a few cases, in the participants’ homes.

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Table 3.5 Summary of interview data Phase

Number of interviews

Average length of recorded portion of interviews

Range in length of interviews

Phase 1: In-depth, semi-structured interviews

34

69 minutes

41–121 minutes

Phase 2: Case studies Open-ended, follow-up interviews

15

48 minutes

18–82 minutes

Phase 3: In-depth, semi-structured interviews

15

45 minutes

25–74 minutes

Total

64

Recorded time = 3699 mins ≈ 62 hours

All of the participants received the interview questions prior to the interview (see Appendix A). All of the interviews were audio-recorded, with the permission of the participants. Table 3.5 lists the length of the recorded portion of the interviews. The entire interview was longer as I normally chatted informally with each participant at the beginning of our meeting, and then asked for permission to record. Often, after we had discussed all the questions on the interview schedule and I had turned off the recorder, our conversations continued for some minutes longer to bring closure to our meeting. In total, I conducted 64 interviews; the total recording time was approximately 62 hours. During the interviews, I also took notes by hand. Immediately after the interview, I listened to each recording in order to conduct a preliminary and ongoing analysis of the main themes while data collection was in progress. If there was any information missing or unclear, I followed up by email. In a few cases, the participants offered additional information that they wanted to share and had not mentioned during the interview. After the interviews, I sent the participants an email to thank them for their participation and to confirm that I would send them the full transcript once the transcription had been completed. I also invited them to provide me with a pseudonym.

3.2.2.3 Case study data As shown in Table 3.6, the data collected for each case study varied. Case study data included written reflections, classroom observations, follow-up interviews and surveys of students. The type and frequency of data collected

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were negotiated with each case study participant, and depended on their circumstances and preferences. In total, I conducted 59 hours of classroom observations, received 21 written reflections, surveyed 69 students in 4 different classes and collected 157 other pieces of document data. Written reflections were sent via emails from participants. At the beginning of the case studies, I sent each case study participant an email with general suggestions regarding topics for reflection. The written reflections provided an additional source of first-person narratives and were particularly important for the participants Audrey and Lucy, whom I was not able to observe in classrooms as they were both seeking entry into the education system. Written reflections (learner diaries and journals) have been used successfully in a number of recent socioculturally-informed SLA studies, for example, Norton (2000), Miller (2004) and Morita (2004). The advantage of diaries as a form of data is that they allow the participants the time and space to reflect on issues and experiences that are important for them. Another advantage of diaries is that they are time sensitive, that is, a participant can write whenever a significant event happens. In addition, written reflections kept over a period of time enable a participant and a researcher to reflect upon and analyse any changes in perceptions of experiences over time and thus, provide longitudinal data. On a practical note from a researcher’s point of view, a challenging aspect of using learner diaries as data is that diary writing requires the time and space to write and reflect. Also, not all individuals enjoy journaling. In my study, I was hoping to receive regular bi-weekly reflections from the case study participants. However, this did not happen, perhaps because of constraints of time and inclination. Classroom observations were conducted with the six participants who were at different stages of entry into the education system: Bud and Emily were both contract teachers in the K-12 system, Estrella and Adnan were post-secondary contract faculty and Helena and Peter were full-time college faculty. As shown in Table 3.6, the observations varied according to the teaching contexts of the participants. My original intention was to schedule the observations evenly over the course of an academic term. However, a 3-week long college faculty strike in the second half of the term impacted upon when the observations took place for the participants in the college division. This is also an example of the need to be flexible when conducting qualitative research. During my visits to the participants’ classrooms, my role was primarily an observer. I sat at the back of the classroom and took notes by hand.

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Table 3.6 Summary of case study data Participant

Division/ subject

Stage of entry/ certification

Data sources

1. Bud Belarus

• Elementary • French immersion

• Long-term contract • Not yet certified

• 2 day-long school visits: ≈ 14 hours total • 3 follow-up interviews • 2 written reflections

2. Audrey Jamaica

• Elementary

• Substitute teaching • Interim teaching certificate

• 2 follow-up interviews • 7 written reflections

3. Emily • Secondary Hong Kong • Family Studies

• Long-term contract • Certified by Ontario College of Teachers (OCT)

• 3 school visits: ≈ 15 hours total • 3 different classes observed and surveyed • 6 class observations • 3 follow-up interviews • 1 written reflection and other document data, e.g., certification process, course feedback from students

4. Lucy Kenya

• Secondary • Chemistry and Physical Education

• Not yet certified

• 1 follow-up interview • 6 written reflections

5. Helena Bulgaria

• College • General Science

• Full-time, permanent contract

• 3 college visits • 2 different courses observed • 3 class observations: 6 hours total • 3 follow-up interviews • 2 written reflections • document data, e.g., course materials, outlines, course feedback from students

6. Peter Poland

• College • Chemical Engineering

• Full-time, permanent contract

• 3 college visits • 3 different courses observed • 3 class observations: 6 hours total • 1 follow-up interview

7. Estrella Philippines

• University • Spanish and French

• Short-term teaching contract • Seeking OCT certification

• 4 university visits • 2 different classes observed • 4 observations: 9 hours total • 1 class surveyed • 2 follow-up interviews • 3 written reflections • document data, e.g., official teaching evaluations, professional portfolio

8. Adnan Pakistan

• College • Health Sciences

• Part-time teaching contracts at private and public colleges

• 3 college visits • 2 courses observed • 3 class observations: 9 hours total • 1 follow-up interview • document data, e.g., course information

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The exception was when I visited Emily; on all three occasions I also spent the lunch hour with Emily and her department colleagues. During these lunch hours, my role was a participant observer as I was able to take part in their conversations and at the same time, observe the interactions between Emily and her colleagues. These visits were valuable in increasing my understanding of the themes that had emerged in the participants’ interviews. In all cases, my observations confirmed the IETs’ perspectives on their challenges and successes in the classroom. In two cases, Emily and Estrella, I was able to survey the students at the end of the semester. The surveys were completed voluntarily and anonymously. The open-ended questions in the survey elicited general feedback regarding the course and teaching, as well as one specific question related to internationally educated teachers. The survey was designed in this way so that the teachers would also benefit from the feedback. Following standard procedure regarding student evaluation surveys, I compiled the results and sent them to Emily and Estrella after the term had ended and the marks for the students had been submitted. My intention was to conduct longitudinal case studies, so I planned multiple instances of data collection over time. However, as I discussed earlier in the section on case study research, a longitudinal case study must show change and development. According to this criterion, four of the case studies – Bud, Audrey, Emily and Lucy – qualify as longitudinal case studies as they showed change in the participants and development in their professional acculturation. While the other four case studies – Helena, Peter, Estrella and Adnan – enabled me to obtain a deeper understanding of the experiences of these participants, I did not find evidence of change over the course of these case studies. In contrast, many of the retrospective narratives of participants who were established in the system, including Merida and Evelyn who are the focus of Chapter 5, were also longitudinal because of their accounts of their language development and professional acculturation over time. 3.2.2.4 Limitations of study This study was limited to the perspectives of certain groups of individuals. For example, I did not interview parents or colleagues. In addition, this study relied on participants’ self assessment and self report of language acquisition and proficiency, which is a limitation. However, the verbatim transcripts of the interviews with IETs provided another indication of their language proficiency. My observations were limited to a few visits of each

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participant, so I could not gather the depth of data that would be possible in an ethnographic study where I would spend more time in a participant’s teaching context. Also, because my observations were not recorded, it was not possible to capture the interaction between the teachers and their students in detail. Such a study would no doubt provide important insights into the professional discourse acculturation of IETs.

3.2.3 Data analysis In this section, I describe my data processing and analysis: converting data to texts, member checks, coding and other data analysis procedures.

3.2.3.1 Converting data to texts According to a number of qualitative interview researchers (e.g., Kvale, 1996, Oliver, Serovich, & Mason, 2005; Riessman, 1993), analysis of interview and narrative data begins with the transcription and decisions regarding how to represent a live conversation in a text format. All of the interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. I engaged two companies to complete the initial transcription of most of the recorded interviews, but I checked and reformatted all of the transcripts according to my transcription conventions (see Appendix B). For example, transcripts included repetitions in speech, incomplete utterances, overlapping and interrupted speech and descriptions of nonverbal sounds such as laughter and sighs. For the classroom observations, I took notes by hand and later inputted my notes into rich text format (RTF) files. Other textual data, for example, written reflections sent via email, surveys of students and other documents were also converted to RTF files.

3.2.3.2 Member checks All of the interview transcripts were sent to the participants for verification and approval. Given the personal nature of the information conveyed in the interviews, and the fact that one of the reasons for using first-person narratives as data was to give voice to the participants, member checks of the transcripts were an important component of the study. The participants had the opportunity to review the transcript and to make any corrections, deletions or other changes that they wished to make. Some of the participants edited their transcripts slightly for content and grammar, but overall,

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few changes were made in the transcripts. Appendix C provides a summary of the changes made by the participants. The rationale for having member checks at this stage is because ethically, I wanted the participants to see how their spoken words appeared in text, and to feel comfortable with the form and content of the narratives before the data were made public. As discussed, given that a transcript is a textual representation of a conversation, the participants were also checking my understanding and interpretation of their speech. Thus, this was the first level of analysis of the interview data. 3.2.3.3 Coding procedures All of the text files were coded using ATLAS.ti, a qualitative data analysis software program. Prior to coding each interview transcript, I listened to the recording to get a sense of the whole interview and the interview context. The texts (interview transcripts, written reflections, field notes) were coded for content. Each text was segmented into meaning units that were assigned a code. Ratner (2001), from the field of cultural psychology, defined a meaning unit as a coherent and distinct segment in a text that can be composed of any number of words, but must preserve the psychological integrity of the idea being expressed (paragraph 4). Ratner also maintained that meaning units can only be identified once the researcher is familiar with the entire text/transcript and thus, can determine what constitutes a coherent and distinct theme. I completed open coding of the texts, following a grounded theory approach (Charmaz, 2001; Strauss & Corbin, 1998); that is, I coded inductively, developing codes by using the method of constant comparison (Merriam, 1998). However, as Dey noted, ‘an open mind is not an empty head’ (cited in Bong, 2002, paragraph 15). I agree with Bong’s contention that there is a tension between having a hypothesis/theory and keeping an open mind when coding data. Merriam (1998, p. 183–184) stated that categories (codes) should ‘reflect the purpose of the research,’ should be exhaustive and mutually exclusive, should be named in a way that clearly reflects what is in the data and should be conceptually congruent. Miles and Huberman (1994, p. 65) also offered the following rule of thumb regarding coding: ‘Assign the single most appropriate (“better,” more encompassing) code among those related to a given research question.’ Guba and Lincoln (cited in Merriam, 1998, p. 185) stated that ‘there should be a minimum of unassignable data items, as well as relative freedom from ambiguity of classification.’ Merriam further stated that ‘the set of categories should seem plausible given the data from which they emerge, causing independent investigators to agree

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that the categories make sense in light of the data’ (p. 185). I followed the above guidelines in my coding of the data. Appendix D provides two examples of how I segmented and coded the data. 3.2.3.4 Intercoder and intracoder agreement checks After I completed the coding of all of the data, I checked the consistency of my coding by completing intercoder and intracoder agreement checks, as suggested by Miles and Huberman (1994). For both the intercoder and the intracoder agreement checks, 12 per cent of the data set was randomly selected for re-coding. I opted to check whole transcripts and texts that amounted to 12 per cent of the data set, rather than a similar proportion of all transcripts and texts because it was important to have a sense of the complete interview (and other texts), in order to better contextualize the text. Also, as mentioned above (Ratner, 2001), a number of qualitative researchers advise the reading of the entire text before segmentation and coding. I trained two coders to recode the data. An intercoder agreement rate of 84 per cent was achieved before discussion. I discussed areas of disagreement with the coders, and after discussion, an agreement of near 100 per cent was reached. I achieved an intracoder agreement rate of 97 per cent. As I was using the constant comparative method, and was continually reviewing my coding, intracoding agreement was unproblematic. Differences in intracoding agreement were mainly due to later additions of codes to a segment. 3.2.3.5 Other data analysis procedures After open coding the data, further analysis of the textual data was approached in several different ways, following Kvale (1996): meaning condensation, categorization and interpretation. Meaning condensation involved listening to and reading the interview transcripts to get a sense of the whole conversation and to identify major themes. This was important to get a sense of the whole interview in order to contextualize the coding. Categorization involved grouping the coded meaning units in the textual data. This strategy was useful for identifying dominant themes for my first research question regarding the affordances and constraints to successful professional acculturation. Interpretation involved writing memos linked to meaning units in the texts. I wrote 77 memos during my coding of the data. Many of these memos related to the concepts of identity and agency, and the relationships between identity, agency and the acquisition of professional language and culture,

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which was my second research question. Analysis for the second research question was more interpretative and holistic. The memos enabled a more in-depth analysis of complex concepts. The final stage of analysis involved interpreting the findings through my theoretical concepts, that is, examining whether or not the data provided evidence for my theoretical conceptions of the relationships between identity, agency and acquisition of professional language and culture. 3.2.4 Ethics, the researched and the researcher Ethical considerations in qualitative research include informed consent, confidentiality, reciprocity and the relationship between the participants and the researcher. Throughout the research process, I made efforts to conduct my study with ethical considerations and respect for the well-being of the participants in mind. 3.2.4.1 Informed consent and confidentiality First of all, participation in this study was entirely voluntary, and informed consent was obtained from all participants. I included the interview schedule with my information letter to give potential participants the opportunity to review the questions prior to consenting to participating in the study. Another major ethical issue involves protecting the privacy of the participants through confidentiality and anonymity. Regarding confidentiality, my information letter and consent form clearly stated how the data would be accessed, stored and used. Regarding anonymity, pseudonyms were used for all participants and institutions. However, anonymity is problematic for participants in an in-depth interview study as the amount of details given about an individual may identify them to those in their social and professional contexts. For this reason, all of the participants were sent a copy of their interview transcripts and were given the opportunity to review their transcripts, and to remove or alter details that may identify them or that they did not wish to include in the study. Member checks of transcripts also gave the participants the opportunity to confirm the accuracy of the transcription and to clarify any details. 3.2.4.3 Reciprocity Kvale (1996) maintained that participants in interview research generally enjoy sharing their experiences and opinions. For some individuals, participating

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in an in-depth interview may be therapeutic, or may increase their selfawareness and understanding. Many of the IET participants appreciated the fact that a researcher was interested in their experiences, and appreciated the opportunity to tell their stories. Participating in the study was in itself an act that affirmed their professional identity. The participants may have also gained satisfaction from taking part in the study by contributing to findings that may potentially assist other high-skilled immigrants in achieving professional success. 3.2.4.4 Relationship between participants and researcher Another ethical issue regarding in-depth interviewing and case study research is the nature of the relationship between the participants and researcher. Johnson (2002) stated that in-depth interviewing has distinct ethical considerations, as the information sought ‘usually concerns very personal matters, such as an individual’s self, lived experience, values and decisions, occupational ideology, cultural knowledge or perspective’ (p. 104). In-depth interviewing also entails a greater involvement of the researcher’s self, as there is a natural tendency to self-disclosure in order to build rapport and trust. Johnson further noted that an effective in-depth interview resembles talk between close friends because of the development of rapport and intimacy between the researcher and the participant. However, although resembling an intimate conversation, a clear difference is that the purpose of the talk is to gather research data. Thus, for ethical reasons, it was especially important for the participants to have the opportunity to review their interview transcripts after our meeting, and to make sure that they felt comfortable with what they disclosed during our conversation. Regarding the case study data, as I mentioned earlier, the methods of data collection for the case studies were negotiated with each participant. This was done to respect the preferences and the comfort level of the participants. For example, the questions on the student survey that was distributed in two of the participants’ classes were approved by the participants in advance. 3.2.4.5 Position of researcher As the researcher is the main research instrument in a qualitative research study, it is essential to provide some information about the background and position of the researcher. I shared some commonalities with the IET

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participants in this study. First of all, I am an experienced teacher and have taught in both the K-12 and college systems in Ontario; thus, I have a good understanding of the professional contexts of the IETs in this study. I also had the experience of applying for re-certification in another country (Germany), as well as in another Canadian province (British Columbia). Thus, I could empathize with the experiences of IETs trying to enter a different education system as an ‘outsider.’ In addition, as I discussed in Chapter 1, I am a first-generation immigrant. Although my immigration and acculturation experiences in Canada were different from my IET participants because I came here at a young age and I had learned English as a child, I was also an adult immigrant to Germany. I moved there for the first time at the age of 30, and had to learn the German language and culture as an adult. Because of my own immigration experiences, I could empathize with the immigrant professionals in this study. I am a visible minority and a woman. This helped me to connect with many of my IET participants, many of whom were women and members of visible minority groups. On the other hand, this may have also affected my interviews with the phase three participants, most of whom were white and Canadian born. That is, my being a visible minority and immigrant to Canada, which helped me to develop rapport with the IET participants, may have affected my rapport with the phase three participants who were not visible minority. For example, it may have affected what these participants chose to say regarding issues related to race and discrimination. Thus, as discussed in the first part of this chapter, in qualitative research, it is essential to take into consideration the background of the researcher and how that may impact the research process.

Chapter 4

Affordances and Constraints in the Acquisition of Professional Language and Culture

In this chapter, I discuss my findings concerning the affordances and constraints to the successful professional acculturation of internationally educated teachers (IETs) in Ontario. The findings presented in this chapter are derived from a thematic analysis of the complete data set, which comprised phase one interviews with 33 IETs1, phase two case studies of eight IETs and phase three (hereafter referred to as P3) interviews with 15 individuals who work with IETs, namely, administrators, professional development facilitators and mentors. As I discussed in Chapter 3, all of the textual data were segmented into meaning units, open coded and then grouped into topics. This chapter is divided into four sections. First, I describe the participants in greater detail. I then present the findings related to the constraints and affordances to IETs’ successful professional acculturation in the Ontario public education system. Finally, I discuss the main themes, and their relationships to issues of identity, agency and communities of practice. In my selection of interview excerpts to illustrate the various themes, I have tried to include the voices of as many participants as possible.

4.1 The Participants 4.1.1 Phase one and two participants: Internationally educated teachers Tables 4.1, 4.2 and 4.3 list the participants according to teaching division and stage of entry into the Ontario public education system. The tables also provide demographic and professional background information about the participants, which I summarize below.

Table 4.1 Phase one and phase two (case study) participants – elementary division Pseudonym (*self selected)

Teaching subject/ grades

Teaching employment status (at time of interview)

Country of origin

Gender

Approx. First English age language(s) learning (years) [L1] background [L1, ESL, EFL]

Teaching Teaching Number experience experience of years (total years) (in Canada) in Canada

1.1

Wanda

Gr. 4 – 6

Full-time

India

Female

50–59

English, Hindi

English as L1 in home and school in India

34

9

9

1.2

Serena

K – Gr. 3

Full-time

India

Female

30–39

English

English as L1 in home and school in India

9

5

6

1.3

Merida*

Special Ed, Full-time Gr. 1 – 3

Venezuela Female

40–49

Italian, Spanish

ESL as adult 11 in Canada

8

13

1.4

Bud* French Long-term (case study) immersion, contract Gr. 4

Belarus

Male

30–39

Belarusian, Russian

EFL in school in Belarus

10

<1

<1

1.5

Galina*

French Long-term immersion, contract Gr. 6

Russia

Female

30–39

Russian

ESL as adult 15 in Canada

<1

2

1.6

Elisa

French Long-term immersion, contract Gr. 1

Russia

Female

30–39

Russian

ESL as adult 15 in Canada

<1

1

1.7

Marjorie

Gr. 6

Long-term contract

Hong Kong

Female

50–59

Cantonese

EFL in school in Hong Kong

20

3 (Parttime)

16

1.8

Susan*

K – Gr. 6

Substitute

China

Female

30–39

Mandarin

EFL in school in China

4 (Parttime)

4 (Parttime)

5

1.9

Raj*

French Seeking immersion, K – Gr. 8

Mauritius

Male

30–39

Bhojpuri, Mauritian Creole

EFL in school in Mauritius

9

–

2

1.10 Audrey* K – Gr. 8 (case study)

Substitute

Jamaica

Female

40–49

English

English as L1 in home and school in Jamaica

25

<1

1

1.11 Lin

Seeking

China

Female

40–49

Mandarin

EFL in school in China

4

<1

4

K – Gr. 6

Table 4.2 Phase one and phase two (case study) participants – secondary division Pseudonym (*self selected)

Teaching subject

Teaching Country of Gender employment Origin status (at time of interview)

Approx. age (years)

First English language(s) learning [L1] background [L1, ESL, EFL]

Teaching experience (total years)

Teaching Number experience of years (in Canada) in Canada

1.12

Victor V.*

Biology

Full-time

Poland

Male

50–59

Polish

EFL at university in Sweden and ESL in United States

20

6

8

1.13

Evelyn

Family Studies

Full-time recently retired

Austria

Female

60–69

German

EFL in school 34 in Austria

31

34

1.14

Rose

History, English, ESL

Full-time

India

Female

60–69

English, Hindi

English as L1 in home and school in India

16

18

1.15

Emily Chan* Family (case study) Studies

Long-term contract

Hong Kong

Female

40–49

Cantonese

EFL in school 16 in Hong Kong

1+

3+

1.16

Dragomir*

New full-time private school

Moldova

Male

40–49

Moldovian

EFL as adult in Moldova

>1

2

Math and Physics

27+

10

1.17

Christine*

English

New full-time

Hong Kong

Female

30–39

Cantonese

EFL in school 8 in Hong Kong

>1

2+

1.18

Kameela

French

Long-term contract

Egypt/ France

Female

40–49

French

EFL in school 10+ in Egypt

1+

2

1.19

Clarissa Anton*

Art

Not yet certified

Romania

Female

30–39

Romanian

EFL in school 4 in Romania

–

3

1.20

Lillian

Chemistry and Biology

Substitute

Albania

Female

50–59

Albanian

EFL in school 25+ in Albania

5

7

1.21

Autumn*

Biology

Seeking

Philippines Female

40–49

English, Tagalog

EFL in school 15+ in the Philippines

–

5

1.22

Lucy* (case study)

Chemistry and Phys Ed

Not yet certified

Kenya

40–49

Kikuyu

EFL in school 14+ in Kenya

–

2.5

Female

Table 4.3 Phase one and phase two (case study) participants – college division Pseudonym Teaching (*self Subject selected)

Teaching Country of Gender Approx. First employment origin age language(s) status (at (years) [L1] time of interview)

English learning background [L1, ESL, EFL]

Teaching Teaching experience experience (total yrs) (in Canada)

Number of years in Canada

1.23 Helena (case study)

General Science

Full-time

Bulgaria

Female

40–49

Bulgarian

EFL as adult 10+ in Bulgaria and ESL as adult in the United States

4

4

1.24 Nemo*

English

Full-time

Russia

Female

40–49

Russian

EFL in school in Russia

11

12

1.25 Peter* (case study)

Chemical Engineering

Full-time

Poland

Male

40–49

Polish

ESL as adult 10+ 10+ 17 in Canada (Part-time) (Part-time)

1.26 Sanjay

Hospitality

Full-time

India

Male

40–49

English, Kannada

English as L1 in home and school in India

6

6

20

1.27 Ella

Fashion Design & Merchandizing

Full-time

Hong Kong

Female

40–49

Cantonese

EFL in school in Hong Kong

2

1

2

19

1.28 Estrella* (case study)

Spanish, French

Part-time university

Philippines Female

40–49

English, Tagalog

EFL in school in the Philippines

11+

1+

2

1.29 Natalie

English

Part-time

Romania

Female

50–59

Romanian

EFL in school in Romania

18+

3

3

1.30 Adnan (case study)

Health sciences Part-time

Pakistan

Male

50–59

Urdu, Punjabi

EFL in school in Pakistan

8+

1+

2

1.31 Alex

Fashion

Greece

Male

50–59

Greek

EFL in school in Greece

1

1

32

1.32 Isabel

Cross-cultural Part-time communication

Colombia

Female

30–39

Spanish

EFL in school in Colombia

6+

>1

4.5

1.33 Monsell*

Business

Jamaica

Male

40–49

English

English as L1 in home and school in Jamaica

3

3

4

Part-time

Part-time

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The 33 IET participants came from a variety of countries of origin, including three from Africa (Egypt, Kenya, Mauritius), six from East Asia (China and Hong Kong), five from South Asia (India and Pakistan), two from Southeast Asia (the Philippines), two from the Caribbean (Jamaica), two from Western Europe (Austria and Greece) and eleven from Eastern Europe (Albania, Bulgaria, Belarus, Moldova, Poland, Romania and Russia). In the primary and secondary divisions, 18 out of the 22 participants were female; in the college division, 6 out of the 11 participants were female. Regarding age, eight of the participants were in their 30s, 15 were in their 40s and nine were 50 or older. Their length of time in Canada ranged from less than 1 year to over 30 years. The participants came from diverse ethnolinguistic backgrounds. Their first languages included Albanian, Belarusian, Bhoipuri, Bulgarian, Cantonese, English, French, German, Greek, Hindi, Italian, Kannada, Kikuyu, Mandarin, Mauritian Creole, Moldavian, Polish, Punjabi, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Tagalog and Urdu. Most of the participants had learned English as an additional language (25 out of 33). Five grew up multilingually, with English as one of their first languages. Seventeen participants had learned English as a Foreign Language to varying degrees of proficiency prior to coming to Canada, while eight participants learned English as an adult in Canada. Although this study focuses on IETs who speak English as an additional language, I included three speakers who identified English as their primary first language. These participants were differentiated from the five participants who grew up multilingually with English as one of their first languages. All three participants who spoke English as a first language were visible minorities – two were from the Caribbean, and one was from India. Regarding teaching experience, only three of the participants were new to teaching, which I define as having 3 years of teaching experience or less: Alex, Ella and Monsell, all in the college division. Eleven participants had 4 to 10 years of teaching experience, 14 participants had 11 to 20 years of teaching experience and five participants had over 20 years of teaching experience. Thus, the IET participants were at different stages of their teaching careers. Some were near the beginning of their teaching careers, while others were retired or close to retiring. The participants were also diverse in terms of their professional backgrounds, that is, their subject specializations. In the elementary division, seven of the participants were in the regular English programme. In Ontario, teachers in this division teach all subject areas, for example, language arts, mathematics, science, social studies, fine arts and physical

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education. Five of the participants were specialists in French, and taught French immersion or core French2. However, because these participants were teaching in the English public system, they were required to use English to communicate with administrators, colleagues, parents and even the students when the students had difficulties comprehending instructions in French. In the secondary division in Ontario, teachers are required to have two subject specializations. The participants taught a variety of subjects, as shown in Table 4.2. In the college division, most of the participants were specialists in their fields before beginning their college teaching career. Only Nemo had formal teacher training before coming to Canada. Helena, Natalie and Isabel had taught at universities before immigrating to Canada.

4.1.2 Phase three participants: Administrators, mentors and professional development facilitators Eight of the 15 participants in the third phase of this study were administrators, and seven were professional development facilitators and mentors. Some participants had dual roles: for example, Anne was a mentor for an IET but was also a school administrator; Jim, who was a department head, also had a mentorship role. Eight of the participants were female, and seven were male. Two participants were in their 30s, five were in their 40s and eight were 50 or older. Most of the participants were Canadian-born; only three participants were immigrants themselves, and only one participant had learned English as an additional language, Anton from Peru. Table 4.4 provides additional background about the P3 participants.

Table 4.4 Phase three participants Division

Pseudonym (*self selected)

Position

Country of origin

Gender

Approx. age (years)

First language (L1)

3.34

K-12

Don

Administrator school district

Canada

Male

50–59

English

3.35

K-12

Gail

Administrator principal

Canada

Female

50–59

English

3.36

K-12

Tom

Administrator vice principal

Canada

Male

30–39

English

(Continued)

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Table 4.4 (Continued) Division

Pseudonym (*self selected)

Position

Country of origin

Gender

Approx. age (years)

First language (L1)

3.37

K-12

Rashad

Administrator vice principal

Canada

Male

30–39

English

3.38

K-12

Jim

Dept. head/ mentor

Canada

Male

50–59

English

3.39

K-12

Rene

PD facilitator

Canada

Female

40–49

English

3.40

K-12

Avinath*

PD facilitator

India

Male

60–69

English

3.41

K-12

Anne

IET mentor/ Administrator principal

Canada

Female

50–59

English

3.42

K-12

Irene

PD administrator

Canada

Female

50–59

English

3.43

College

Noreen

Administrator chair

Canada

Female

50–59

English

3.44

College

Anton

Administrator chair

Peru

Male

40–49

Spanish – learned EFL in Peru

3.45

College

Sarah

Administrator programme manager

Canada

Female

40–49

English

3.46

College

Roma*

PD facilitator

Scotland

Female

50–59

English

3.47

College

Ariel*

PD facilitator

Canada

Male

40–49

English

3.48

College

Karen

PD facilitator

Canada

Female

40–49

English

4.2 Constraints to Professional Acculturation Table 4.5 shows the eight main topics related to constraints to professional acculturation, that is, the acquisition of teaching-specific language and culture. These topics are listed in descending order according to the number of participants who spoke about this topic, and the number of meaning units that were coded in the textual data. I have grouped the topics into four broad themes in order to facilitate a discussion of the various constraints. There are different ways to group and examine these topics. I have grouped the eight topics into the following themes: (a) differences in language and culture; (b) differences in interactions with students and parents; (c) differences in professional beliefs and behaviours; and (d) discrimination in the workplace.

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4.2.1 Differences in language and culture As shown in Table 4.5, language issues were discussed by 25 participants, thus, representing the topic that was discussed by the most participants. The IET participants spoke about various constraints related to using English, depending on their background and teaching context. Main issues included accent and pronunciation, colloquial English and lexical differences. For example, Lin and Susan, both speakers of Mandarin Chinese as their first language, spoke about constraints related to accent and pronunciation. Lin, an IET in the elementary division, said: The thing that is bothering me is my pronunciation and if I teach primary, I have to teach them phonics and some certain sounds I just can’t do it no matter how hard I try. (Lin – 11: 174)3 As I mentioned in Chapter 1 regarding the acquisition of foreign languages, the participants who spoke a language that was not a European language had greater difficulties with learning English. Also, both Lin and Susan had limited proficiency in English prior to their immigration to Canada.

Table 4.5 Constraints to professional acculturation: topics and themes Topics and subtopics

Total no. of participants who discussed topic

Total no. of meaning units

1. Language

25 (15 IET, 10 P3)

74

2. Students – student diversity – student attitudes – student ability – cheating and plagiarism

23 (16 IET, 7 P3)

3. Classroom management

19 (10 IET, 9 P3)

4. Teaching/learning style

19 (7 IET, 12 P3)

32

5. Curriculum

16 (11 IET, 5 P3)

43

6. Discrimination

16 (9 IET, 7 P3)

26

7. Canadian culture

13 (6 IET, 7 P3)

27

8. Parents

7 (6 IET, 1 P3)

16

113

Themes

(a) Differences in language and culture (Topics 1 and 7) (b) Differences in interactions with students and parents (Topics 2, 3 and 8)

61 (c) Differences in professional beliefs and behaviours (Topics 4 and 5) (d) Discrimination (Topic 6)

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Clarissa, Christine, Emily and Dragomir, all IETs in the secondary school division, discussed the challenge of the colloquial language of teenagers. For example, Dragomir said: It’s very tough for me. English is not my native language but . . . you have to learn, especially when you’re dealing with students, they have their own slang language so you have to adjust to this language. So it’s not simple. (Dragomir – 16: 140) This comment speaks to the different registers of a language. For teachers working with youth, it was very important to be aware of current informal expressions. In addition, although Autumn (from the Philippines) and Lucy (from Kenya) grew up multilingually and were fluent in English, both spoke about the lexical differences between the English that they spoke and Canadian English, particularly the politically correct terms used in the education system. For example, in the following excerpt, Lucy described the challenge of using Canadian politically correct terms when writing a report about a student. Lucy spoke about the term ‘exceptional student’ that is used to describe students with learning or behavioural difficulties, and how that confused her: In this country you don’t say a weak student, poor student, you use another nice word. (. . .) That’s what scares me when I start writing the letter, wait wait wait wait wait. It might be taken the wrong way. To me it sounds alright because if it was my British headmaster he would know, well this is how you tell me, but in this place, I realize people are so sensitive. (. . .) They say exceptional students, it sounded like nice kids, but I go to the school, it’s kids – I don’t want to be discri – but I don’t know, exceptional? (Lucy Int 1 – 22: 353–359)4 Ten P3 participants also discussed constraints related to language, including difficulties in communicating subject matter to students, understanding ‘idiomatic nuances’ (Gail) and establishing rapport with students. Noreen mentioned how she had to fire somebody because the teacher couldn’t speak proper English: That was based on a lot of classroom observations and also a lot of complaints from students. (. . .) this one individual that I ended up firing, obviously had difficulties with the language that were not apparent in the

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interview, in the initial hiring interview, and she was dealing with a very technical subject and it was very difficult to understand her. (Noreen – 43: 33) Don, Gail and Anton talked about the two sides of communication for IETs: being understood by students and understanding students who speak English as an additional language. Noreen and Ariel both voiced the opinion that impressive credentials did not outweigh the importance of communication and language skills. Roma, a college professional development facilitator from Scotland, talked about resistance of faculty to improving language skills. Roma said: I think English, people are very sensitive about their English skill. You know, I’m sensitive about mine. I can imagine other people are. (. . .) I think that there’s lots of teachers in the college that could benefit from improving their English, communication skills, but I think would never agree to it. (Roma – 46: 97) Five P3 participants spoke specifically about the issue of accent. Ariel, who was a professional development facilitator at a college, also discussed the resistance of an IET with whom he had professional contact: He has his PhD in English, from a different country. And so his writing skills are excellent, his grammatical skills are excellent. But when it comes to speaking, he’s got a heavy, heavy accent. And it’s very difficult for people to understand. (. . .) I told him that. I don’t mince words. I’m to the fact. This is the reality. This is what you need to do {to improve}. He’s not interested. He said, ‘You know what, if I have to understand all the diverse students, they have to understand me.’ I said, ‘Well that’s fine. Then you’re going to have a problem.’ (Ariel – 47: 111, 115) A related topic identified by 13 IETs and P3 participants was Canadian cultural norms. The Canadian cultural norms discussed included cultural nuances and appropriate communication style. Rene, a professional development facilitator in a bridging programme for IETs, described the Canadian style of communication as being ‘very self effacing and courteous’ (39: 95). Lucy concurred; even though she spoke English fluently, she said: I’d still be scared to talk to a parent because I don’t know whether I’d use the words that would make their child look . . . [laughs] I think

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Canadian English is so nice. It’s so polite. [laughs] (. . .) I can see, you have the language, but how to communicate with a person and have them in the right frame of mind to accept what you’re saying and not get aggressive with you. (Lucy Int 1 – 22: 374, 376) This comment speaks to the importance of ‘soft skills’, that is, interpersonal communication skills in the contemporary workplace, which I mentioned in Chapter 1. Thus, it is necessary for newcomers not only to learn linguistic forms, but also to have competence in cultural nuances in communication. While linguistic and cultural knowledge are important in the integration of all professionals, it is perhaps even more crucial in the field of education because teachers are expected to transmit the cultural norms of the society. Lastly, four participants, Emily, Ariel, Sarah and Tom discussed the importance and challenge of becoming familiar with popular culture. The participants discussed how important it was to be aware of what the students are interested in, and how the lack of knowledge of popular culture affects the ability of teachers to connect and establish rapport with their students. 4.2.2 Differences in interactions with students and parents The second major theme regarding constraints to professional acculturation concerned interactions with Canadian students and parents. Issues concerning students were discussed by 23 participants, classroom management was discussed by 19 participants and dealing with parents was discussed by 7 participants. 4.2.2.1 Issues concerning students Constraints regarding students included student diversity, student attitudes and behaviours, student ability and cheating and plagiarism. Both IET and P3 participants agreed that the diversity of the student body in the Ontario publicly funded education system was a challenge for internationally educated teachers who were used to teaching a more homogeneous group of students. Student diversity included diversity in linguistic and cultural backgrounds, as well as diversity in ability and needs. Isabel, who taught a course in cross-cultural communication at a college, compared teaching in Canada with teaching in Colombia and Ecuador: It’s ten times more challenging. First of all, there, the group is homogeneous, they’re all studying psychology, and they’re all Spanish speaking,

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and they all come from the same city and from the same background because universities are not accessible for everyone – well, kind of but not as accessible as here, so you have like a very homogeneous group. Here it’s very diverse. I have people from all over the world, in a very small group, because it is a fifteen-student group and I have people from everywhere and with different backgrounds, different perspectives and so that’s one thing that is challenging. (Isabel – 32: 178) Anton said that this is particularly challenging if both the teacher and the students are from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. Participants from the college division also identified the divide between international students and Canadian-born students. Other diversity issues discussed included differences in student ability and the need to accommodate special needs students, differences in learning styles and differences in the socioeconomic backgrounds of students. In the college system, there were also issues related to the two distinct groups of students, that is, younger recent high school graduates and adults returning to college to upgrade or extend their qualifications. Student attitudes and behaviours were another major constraint. This constraint was discussed mainly by teachers in the secondary and college divisions. The most frequently mentioned issues were lack of respect, lack of interest and motivation and how students were primarily motivated by marks. Evelyn, Emily and Kameela all discussed the lack of respect from Ontario students, compared to students in their previous teaching contexts. Kameela, who had taught French in Egypt, Saudia Arabia and France, stated: They {Canadian students} were not raised with the idea that the school authority or the teacher authority is something that you have to respect. (Kameela – 18: 108) Working only for marks was discussed by Isabel and Emily. For example, Emily said: I’m kind of disappointed, you know, with the young people now. They are very tricky, they are very tricky, very pragmatic, I mean they just want to get marks. They don’t mind what you teach. They don’t mind if they learn a lot or not. (Emily Int 2 – 65: 234) Related to this topic is the problem of cheating and plagiarism, discussed by Emily and three college faculty members: Monsell, Peter and Estrella.

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For example, Monsell was taken aback by the rampant cheating in college courses: There is a serious culture of cheating. I spent hours trying to make a test different, to simply prevent them from cheating. I didn’t think – I didn’t learn that culture until I came here. I didn’t know that until I came here. I just thought if I set a test, they’ll just sit down and just do their work. (Monsell – 33: 416) Lack of interest and motivation was another issue. For example, Helena, who taught general science courses, described the attitude of college students who were taking a course merely to satisfy programme requirements: But the problem was that their major was architectural technology or something like that. This was a required course in natural science. They didn’t like it in the first place, so they had this initial negative attitude. And I didn’t expect that, of course, because to me, how can anybody be not interested in natural sciences. [laughs] I didn’t have the perspective. (Helena Int 1 – 23: 88) 4.2.2.2 Classroom management Challenges related to classroom management was a strong theme, discussed by nine P3 participants and ten IETs, mainly from the elementary and secondary divisions. In the elementary division, Bud, Serena and Marjorie discussed classroom management issues. For example, Bud, who was a French immersion teacher, explained that he had chosen to teach grade three because he thought that he would get along with 8-year-old children since he had a daughter who was the same age. However, when he first started teaching in Ontario, he found the behaviour of Canadian pupils to be a challenge: I got it wrong a little bit, because my kid was very different from those ones. My kid was very calm, very focused and very concentrated on studies. (. . .) Sometimes I have this feeling that I just cannot handle it anymore. They are like, how do you call it? Unruly. Like screaming and running all over. (Bud Int 1 – 4: 229, 231) Related to classroom management, Audrey voiced what several other IETs (Bud, Kameela, Victor) had also mentioned about the lack of consequences

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for misbehaving students in Ontario schools. In the following quotation, Audrey described a group of special education students whom she was teaching. She felt that these students had internalized the label of being ‘exceptional’ (special ed) students, which resulted in a lack of responsibility for their own behaviour: They know that there are no consequences to their behaviour, because where I’m from, you have consequences. So here, you don’t have a lot of consequences. You know, ‘time out’ doesn’t work. (. . .) you can’t give them detention, they’re ‘exceptional.’ (Audrey Int 3 – 64: 7). In the secondary division, classroom management issues were discussed by Victor, Rose, Emily, Christine and Kameela. A common theme was the teacher’s authority in other education systems compared to the Ontario education system. Christine, who taught English in a secondary school, said: Like in Hong Kong, as a teacher when you say something, students automatically listen to you, (. . .) because you’re a teacher and they just listen. Here, if they don’t listen, they really don’t listen. They pretend that you are invisible, they don’t look at you and they’re talking with themselves. (Christine – 17: 107) 4.2.2.3 Dealing with parents Another major topic that emerged for IETs in the elementary and secondary divisions was how to communicate with parents in Ontario. I discussed the topic of political correctness and the Canadian style of communication in the previous section on differences in language and culture. Tom, a school administrator who grew up in Ontario, explained how communicating with Canadian parents was a particularly delicate matter: In our society, you have to be so cautious at times of how you’re presenting some of the information. You want to give the parent and the community the detailed information that they need to have, but it’s also important as educators that we do so in a way that is . . . accepted and well received by the community and the parent. (Tom – 36: 98) Several IETs (Bud, Marjorie, Evelyn) also spoke about this same issue. Evelyn said that learning to communicate with parents in this Canadian

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style was one of her biggest challenges. Other issues regarding parents included dealing with parents who were not involved in their child’s education or who were not supportive. Bud also spoke about parents who were demanding, and who questioned his assessment of their child. These issues are also related to IETs’ perception of lack of respect for teachers in Ontario, and teachers’ lack of authority, which I will discuss in greater detail below. 4.2.3 Differences in professional beliefs and behaviours The theme of differences in professional beliefs and behaviours as a constraint for IETs was discussed by five IETs and nine P3 participants. A frequently discussed topic was the ‘traditional’ teacher-centred culture where the teacher is a figure of authority, which was often associated with other countries, versus the student-centred culture in Ontario schools. Nemo, a teacher of English from Russia, talked about her first teaching experience in an ESL class for adult immigrants: At first I hated it. I cried, I cried. (. . .) I had never taught such students before. (. . .) And my first class was actually very, very rough, because they gave me a hard time. (. . .) Because I approached them like the students I had taught in Russia, and it was a totally different case, excuse me. I was accustomed to the teacher-centred setting. All of a sudden it was student centred, and they were telling me to do something and who are they to tell me? So I had this kind of attitude, and certainly it backfired, normally, of course. (Nemo – 24: 162, 164, 166) Several participants discussed how the teaching and learning style was also related to beliefs about the teacher’s role, which in turn affected classroom management issues. Roma described such a case: What I’ve experienced is faculty having sometimes, well just going into the classroom with different expectations, going into the classroom with a feeling that they are an authority, they have authority because they are the teacher. (. . .) I know one teacher who had a very upsetting experience. You know, she just was shocked by students challenging her, questioning some of the content that she produced. So whereas another teacher might say, ‘Isn’t this good. The students are thinking critically, and they’re verbal, and they’re engaging you in a dialogue.’ You know, she felt very attacked by that and felt they weren’t being respectful and so then the relationship kind of deteriorated. (Roma – 47: 57)

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Eleven IETs and five P3 participants discussed constraints related to the curriculum and curriculum delivery. IET participants discussed the advantages and disadvantages of greater flexibility in the curriculum and curriculum delivery in Ontario. On the one hand, some teachers enjoyed this flexibility; on the other hand, some teachers felt that the curriculum was disorganized and felt overwhelmed by the amount of preparation that was needed. P3 participants also mentioned the challenge of adjusting to the Ontario curriculum. Anne, who had been in the Ontario public education system as a teacher and administrator for many years, mentioned how she had never seen so many new documents from the ministry as in recent years. In addition, Rashad and Avinath discussed the challenge for IETs to adjust to the approach to student assessment in the Ontario education system, which emphasized the learning process, used rubrics to assess cognitive and social skills and focused on project work. Some of these assessment practices were new to IETs who were used to tests as a primary form of assessment. 4.2.4 Discrimination in the workplace The fourth theme related to constraints to professional acculturation concerned discrimination in the workplace. Many of the comments made regarding discrimination related to language. In the college division, administrators Anton, Noreen and Sarah all described complaints from students because of an IET’s accent. Noreen also noted that complaints came particularly from some students who spoke English as an additional language (EAL) themselves. These students wanted and expected to have a professor who spoke perfect English. Sarah concurred about the discrimination from EAL students, who perceived that they were not learning ‘Canadian English’ (Sarah – 45: 81). Roma mentioned that internationally educated teachers who have language problems have a vulnerability that students can take advantage of: ‘Students will often, if they are upset, take advantage of any teacher’s vulnerability’ (46: 57). Ariel pointed out the double standard that existed in the Ontario education system: Whereas we might try and put the effort to understand the learner and say, okay, you know, different cultures, different background, different things, we try and accommodate that. Our students are not as accommodating, (. . .) because it takes a little bit more effort to pay attention to what’s happening. (Ariel – 47: 95, 97)

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This problem was also prevalent in the K-12 school system. Rashad explained: If (. . .) the person is communicating very effectively, then you shouldn’t be concerned about, you know, something like an accent is not a concern, (. . .) Some parents use that as a concern but it’s false. There are people who have been here since they were 15 and have accents and they’re fantastic teachers. But they {parents} cling to that as a way to sort of – I think that it’s a weapon that a parent can use when their kid’s not doing well. You know, ‘They didn’t understand you’. (Rashad – 37: 53) In addition to discrimination regarding language, a number of IETs and P3 participants also discussed other forms of discrimination from students, administrators, colleagues and parents. Several participants (Audrey, Rose, Sanjay and Emily) spoke about racial discrimination. For example, Rose and Sanjay both grew up multilingually in India and spoke English fluently; therefore, language was not the issue. Rose said: I don’t have an issue with language, with culture, I don’t think so. However, I sometimes wonder if your race ever plays a part in the minds of people. (Rose – 14: 316) Sanjay had an exceptional career in the hospitality industry before he became a teacher and administrator at a college. Sanjay was an articulate and eloquent speaker of English, but nevertheless faced discrimination from some students: There are students who come with a certain bias. So regardless of how good I am, I mean, I will be perceived in a certain way (. . .) (Sanjay – 26: 109) Emily mentioned that she thought that her white students would prefer a white teacher. Audrey, who was a substitute teacher in different schools, noticed how her treatment by the school community varied according to the socioeconomic status of the school: In the schools that are not as affluent, the teachers are much nicer . . . They are a little bit more humane. They show you a little more warmth. They are more, you know, accommodating to you. In the other schools,

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like, if you walk in, being a minority, I’m usually out-numbered. I’m usually the raisin in the vanilla ice cream. (. . .) They’ll pass and not say ‘Good morning,’ or they’ll avoid looking at you. But in the other schools where it’s a (. . .) normal middle or lower class, lower income, they’re warm, you know. Even the parents, they’ll see you and say, ‘Good morning!’ They assume that you’re a teacher. You go to some schools, and it’s – they come to the class, and ‘Where’s the teacher?’ You are standing there. (Audrey Int 2 – 61: 71, 75) It is interesting to note that Audrey and Emily, who were both recent arrivals to Canada, spoke more directly about their perception of racial discrimination in contrast to the more cautious statements by Rose and Sanjay, who had been in Canada for many years. IETs Rose, Kameela, Lillian and Victor discussed other types of discrimination from administrators and colleagues. Lillian, a chemistry teacher from Albania, contrasted the students’ acceptance of her with the subtle discrimination of a colleague: One teacher, one day, after he asked me about my problem with the certification process, and he wanted to encourage me . . . to say some warm words . . . ‘But you know, Lillian, don’t give up. You see where you are?’ It was . . . I don’t know how to explain it . . . surreptitious way of expressing the discrimination. Where I was, where I had been in all my life, in a high school. So, even {though} he was willing to comfort me or to express something . . . you know, the nuance, I can’t express it. ‘You know where you are?’ Meaning that you are coming from a developing country and you are now in a high school in Canada. So, it exists . . . something discriminating in every turn. (Lillian – 20: 127) Audrey and Bud discussed discrimination from some parents. Bud, who taught in a school with almost no immigrants, wrote in one of his reflections: Some of the parents showed some condescension, they talked to me and looked at me as if they would like to say: ‘Oh, you are just an immigrant, you are new in the system.’ (Bud Reflection 2 – 52: 17) P3 participants Rashad, Anne, Ariel and Karen discussed discrimination faced by IETs in the hiring process and in the classroom. Although Anne’s

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mentee had no major issues with language or culture, she felt that her name may have affected her job prospects. Anne said: She’s very well spoken, and she took the bridging course which is all communication in teacher-speak. So she had that under control, and even the cultural piece was not big in her case. She dressed like we dress, she had no difficulty making eye contact and so she did not have all of those issues . . . but she did at one point, and this was so sad, and really upset me. She couldn’t wait till she had been here a year, so she could change her name, because she thought that if she had a name that wasn’t – did not sound foreign, she would get more interviews. (Anne – 41: 97) Kameela perceived discrimination when she worked in the English public system5: If you are someone who speaks French, and you are in an English environment, I mean Anglo-Saxon environment, there is a kind of discrimination. (. . .) I decided not to work in English public {system} again. Never. It’s another feeling in the French, I worked with the French board, it’s completely different. They are very friendly, they help you a lot, when you are new. It’s completely different. (Kameela – 18: 202, 210) In summary, the major constraints to IETs’ professional acculturation were related to language and culture, interactions with students and parents, professional beliefs and behaviours and discrimination. These themes were identified in the data from both groups of participants: the internationally educated teachers, and the administrators and professional development facilitators who worked with the IETs. Many of the topics were discussed by participants across all three divisions, whereas some topics were specific to certain divisions. For example, classroom management problems were more frequently discussed by teachers in the elementary and secondary divisions, and problems with student attitude were more frequently discussed by teachers in the secondary and college divisions. While the constraints identified in this section focus on the experiences of immigrant teachers, the broad themes can also inform other professional contexts, such as the importance of soft skills and communication styles, differences in professional beliefs and norms and discrimination. I will analyse and discuss these constraints in greater detail in section 4.4. In the next section, I present the findings related to affordances to professional acculturation.

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4.3 Affordances to Successful Professional Acculturation Table 4.6 shows the seven main topics related to affordances to successful professional acculturation. As in Table 4.5, these topics are listed in descending order according to the number of participants who spoke about this topic, and the number of meaning units that were coded in the textual data. As in the previous section regarding constraints to professional acculturation, the topics related to affordances to professional acculturation are grouped into four broad themes. The topic ‘Overcoming Language Challenges’ included a variety of strategies and affordances that related to other themes. For this reason, I have included this topic in the other themes. The four themes related to affordances are: (a) social support, (b) professional development courses and resources, (c) observation and practice and (d) beliefs and attitudes.

Table 4.6 Affordances to professional acculturation: topics and themes Topics and subtopics

Total no. of participants who discussed topic

Total no. of meaning units

1. Social support – colleagues – mentorship – administrators – parent/school community – other support networks

37 (24 IET, 13 P3)

163

2. Professional development courses and resources

32 (17 IET, 15 P3)

93

3. Observation and practice

27 (17 IET, 10 P3)

58

4. Connection with students

21 (13 IET, 8 P3)

40

5. Overcoming language challenges

14 (10 IET, 4 P3)

29

6. Beliefs

8 (8 IET)

13

7. Attitudes

8 (4 IET, 4 P3)

11

Themes

(a) Social support (Topics 1, 4 and 5) (b) Professional development courses and resources (Topics 2 and 5) (c) Observation and practice (Topic 3) (d) Beliefs and attitudes (Topics 5, 6 and 7)

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4.3.1 Social support The affordance of social support was by far the most frequently discussed topic by IETs and P3 participants. Thirty-seven participants (out of 48) discussed forms of social support such as support from colleagues and administrators, mentorship, support from the parent and school community and support from other social networks, including family members. I have also included in this theme the affordance of positive relationships with students; if good rapport with students was established, students were also an important source of support for IETs in this study. 4.3.1.1 Support from colleagues and administrators Over half of the participants from both groups talked about the importance of support from both Canadian and other IET colleagues. Frequently mentioned forms of support included help with the curriculum, help with learning about the culture of both the school and the wider society and help with language. The 18 IETs who spoke about the support from colleagues conveyed a great sense of gratitude to colleagues who were always ready to help and to answer any questions, who gave useful advice and suggestions, who generously shared their teaching materials and who worked together with them to plan lessons. Support from colleagues was discussed by participants across all three divisions. Bud explained: First of all, they {colleagues} were open to answer any question of mine. They have this tradition, only in the third year {grade three}, to plan, the weekly plan. They have like a get-together and they plan all the subjects and it was very useful. So if there had not been any planning like that, I would not have been able to get in this way. It was great. (. . .) They were all experienced teachers and they shared their material with me and they showed me how to deal with these materials. I am so grateful, I wouldn’t ever be able to thank them enough, both of them. (Bud Int 1 – 4: 243, 245) Helena, in the college division, also mentioned how her colleagues provided different types of support during her first year as a full-time faculty: I always get help whenever I need. (. . .) In terms of procedures sometimes. Sometimes English, like how better to phrase something. (Helena Int 4 – 91: 78, 80)

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Ten IETs also spoke about support from administrators. Administrators provided helpful suggestions and advice regarding curriculum delivery, classroom management and communication with parents. In many cases, the IETs spoke about their administrators’ caring attitude and understanding of the challenges faced by IETs on staff. Furthermore, many administrators showed appreciation for the IET’s contribution to the school, which provided great encouragement. Galina said: The principal and vice principal, they are always – ‘Galina, do you have questions?’ ‘Galina, do you need help?’ They are so good people and so good – the principal . . . the best worker I saw in Canada. (Galina – 5: 202) Christine was also impressed by the dedication of her administrator: Two weeks after starting in this new school, the vice principal called me and he talked to me about my situation, how I was feeling in teaching in this school. I was impressed because I know that they are very busy and he called me in his personal time at night, so this is the kind of good things, support I feel from him. (Christine – 17: 227) Bud, who had a difficult start to his teaching in Ontario because he had to take over a French immersion class in October that had had several substitute teachers since the start of the school year, was truly touched when he spoke about the greatest compliment that he received during his first teaching contract in Ontario: It was at the end of December, {the vice principal} said something like, ‘When people like you come to Canada, it makes Canada a better place.’ [jokingly dabs at eyes] Sorry, I’m going to cry. (Bud Int 4 – 55: 89) I remember this moment in the interview very clearly. Although Bud made a joke about it, he was visibly moved when he told me what his vice principal had said. Tears had welled up in his eyes.

4.3.1.2 Mentorship Another form of social support was mentorship. Seven IET participants across all divisions spoke about individuals who provided special guidance and who believed in the teacher’s capabilities. Isabel, who was a professor

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of psychology in Colombia and Ecuador, discussed how important it was to have a mentor who could see her abilities and potential: Yeah, my boss, I think he was my angel because he was like, ‘Isabel do this,’ or ‘Go to this meeting,’ he gave me a voice. If it wasn’t for him, probably no one would have listened to me. You always need someone behind you to support you, because otherwise they see you as the cute little girl who came from Colombia, ‘She’s so cute,’ and it’s really funny but that’s the way it is. It’s like – they don’t listen to you unless someone big listens to you. (Isabel – 32: 112) I will discuss the topic of mentorship in greater detail in the following chapters.

4.3.1.3 Support from parent and school community and other social networks IETs and P3 participants also discussed support from the parent and wider school community. Merida, Galina, Elisa and Emily spoke about support from parents, while Evelyn emphasized the importance of acceptance by the school staff. Several IETs who taught in a school community where there were many immigrants felt that the immigrant parents were especially appreciative of the teachers’ efforts. A number of P3 participants discussed support networks beyond the school community, for example, a support network of other IETs who shared common experiences and understanding. Indeed, Emily confirmed that even though her Canadian colleagues were supportive, for some issues, for example, when she felt discrimination from some students, she felt more comfortable talking to other IETs: It’s hard to tell them, you know, because my colleagues in my department all of them are native {Canadian-born} teachers. I try to talk to some teachers who are overseas teachers, we know our difficulties as new teachers and we can understand the situation very well. I don’t want to mention too often my difficulties. How do you say that? I try to discuss some difficulties with them {Canadian colleagues} but not this type. (Emily Int 2 – 65: 60) Three IETs, Merida, Emily and Evelyn, also spoke about the support of family members. Merida’s Canadian relatives had helped her with her

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English language skills while she was doing coursework for recertification; Emily and Evelyn both talked about the support and encouragement from their spouses as they went through challenging times in their professional acculturation process.

4.3.1.4 Connection with students Another important type of social support was connection with students, discussed by 13 IETs and 8 P3 participants. Many participants expressed how a genuine caring for and interest in students could facilitate curriculum delivery and improve classroom management. Participants across divisions, both IETs and P3, discussed the importance of developing good rapport with students, and thus, gaining their support and understanding. Other topics discussed included learning about student/youth culture, getting feedback from students and making an extra effort to help students. A number of participants also discussed how developing a good relationship with students helped the IETs to overcome language barriers. In the K-12 system, Clarissa, Susan and Lin all emphasized the positive effect of a good relationship with learners. Clarissa said: First of all you have to respect them and you understand them, and I think everything will be good. (19: 259) Audrey, Anne and Lillian, who had substitute taught in the intermediate and senior divisions, had few classroom management problems because of their rapport with students. Lillian said: I love teaching, that’s all, that’s the secret. There’s no other secret. If you love teaching, if you love students, if you want to help them, they feel it. (Lillian – 20: 145) This theme of caring for and understanding students was also present in the college division, discussed by IETs Ella, Helena, Monsell and Sanjay and P3 participants Ariel, Noreen, Roma and Sarah. Roma said: I think our students need to feel there’s a personal connection. So there’s, you know, in terms of teaching, everyone is aware of the cognitive aspect, but I think there are also social and emotional aspects. (Roma – 48: 63)

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Emily, Jim, Rashad, Sarah and Ariel also discussed the importance of understanding students and their culture and interests in order to connect with them. Rashad spoke at length about youth culture, and how crucial it was for the success of secondary school teachers to be comfortable with youth and their culture. Another way to connect with and show interest in students was participating in extracurricular activities, mentioned by Evelyn and Ariel. The importance of open communication, getting feedback and learning from students was also discussed. Several IETs explained that because of their positive relationship with students, the students helped them with language issues. For example, in the elementary division, Susan said: Although I had some difficulties about my language, my culture, sometimes I’m not really familiar, but that connections make the students feel I am part of that classroom. And they’re becoming more forgiving, they can understand more about you, they can help you. (Susan – 8: 59) Lin, also in the elementary division, described her experience during one of her teaching practica: And the kids – [laughs] I really feel grateful to my kids. And they were not picky at my English at all. Sometimes I made grammar mistakes and they’d just say, ‘Oh, Miss L., it should be . . . ’ and I said, ‘Oh yeah, you’re right.’ And they didn’t laugh at me at all. And that was really encouraging. (. . .) I think maybe first I should thank my associate {sponsor teacher}. She just encouraged me and she also like the kids to understand people from different backgrounds, and people speak different English, they have accent. She talked about that, about accent and ESL in the whole class, and I think the kids got the idea and really took that seriously. (Lin – 11: 268, 278) In the college division, Helena had challenges adjusting to teaching Canadian college students when she first entered the system, but her openness to students’ suggestions and advice helped her to adapt. In the math course, I had two or three people who were even older than me, mature students, especially one of them. She was a grandma and she was very direct. Initially she was complaining to me, ‘Oh you are teaching us very difficult things!’ Of course it was difficult for her, because she never had any normal math for many years. But she helped me see

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the things, and then I would ask her, even occasionally I would ask her, ‘Okay, now if you don’t understand this, tell me how to explain it to you so you would understand. Sometimes even she would tell me the phrases that I have to use. Like, say I’m explaining how to take derivatives and I explain it in a more science related way, more formal language, because I don’t know any other. [laughs softly] And then she would say, ‘Oh just say, you pull this down,’ something like this, or some very profane, in my opinion, language that they would understand better, because it relates better to them. So it’s kind of slangish, a slang. And it was very helpful. So in this sense, what was – the main thing that was helpful for me was communicating with my students and getting feedback. (Helena Int 1 – 23: 92) 4.3.2 Professional development courses and resources The second major affordance to professional acculturation was professional development workshops, courses and resources, which was discussed by 17 IETs and 14 P3 participants. In addition, several P3 participants discussed the importance of lifelong learning, that is, to continually reflect upon and improve their practice. Both IETs and P3 participants in the K-12 division discussed the helpfulness of the bridging course, the language upgrading courses for IETs offered by a local settlement agency, and the workshops offered by school boards. Other courses and resources mentioned include orientation courses for newcomers to Canada, internet resources for teachers, TV and other media that assisted with the acquisition of language and culture. 4.3.2.1 Bridging and professional development courses The IET participants who had taken part in the bridging programme (Teach in Ontario) were unanimous about its helpfulness to their professional acculturation. This bridging programme provided information and counselling about the certification process, teaching-specific language upgrading courses and a 6-week employment preparation course. Audrey explained: I liked it because it dealt with the school system. But also it dealt with actually living in Canada, it exposed you to the culture, it made you aware, it heightened awareness about what you need to do in order to adjust quickly, to fit in, and so on. It talked about networking, it talked about

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things that were not culturally appropriate, (. . .) I learned a lot and I also had the opportunity to meet other people from different cultures, which was wonderful. (Audrey Int 1 – 10: 89) Participants who did not take a bridging course also talked about the need for such a course, for example, Emily, Victor and Anton. Emily became recertified before the bridging programme for IETs in Ontario began, so she was not aware of its existence. However, she described the importance of such a programme: So to make life easier, (. . .) some kind of transitional programme. (. . .) Because before I teach here, I have no idea what the school is like. I don’t know anything! I don’t know the attendance system, I don’t know the class system. I don’t know anything. If there was some kind of information it would be much better. (Emily Int 4 – 76: 120, 122) Some IET participants in the K-12 division also discussed courses such as the Additional Qualification (AQ) and Additional Basic Qualification (ABQ) courses. These are professional development courses that are accredited by the Ontario College of Teachers, and many IETs are required to take these courses in order to be recertified in Ontario. Although some IETs did not find the AQ or ABQ courses that they took useful, a number of IETs found some of these courses helpful to their professional acculturation. IET participants who were new full-time faculty in the college division discussed the professional development courses for new faculty, which were mandatory at some colleges. For example, Peter mentioned that the weekly professional development sessions were useful as new faculty could share experiences and strategies in a supportive, non-evaluative environment. Several P3 participants in the college division also discussed the importance for faculty to take courses in adult education, particularly faculty from industry who have little teaching experience, or faculty who had secondary school teaching experience. 4.3.2.2 Resources Another affordance mentioned by a number of IETs and P3 participants (Gail, Anton, Emily) was the use of various tools and aids, for example, overheads, handouts, writing on the board and Powerpoint. Emily said: My strategy is, make everything simple. Make use of those overhead transparency, Powerpoint presentation and handouts. You have to make

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use of this stuff otherwise you know, they may not understand what you’re talking about. (Emily Int 4 – 76: 118) The use of visual aids not only helped IETs to deliver the content of the courses that they were teaching, but was also helpful to students who were speakers of English as an additional language. 4.3.3 Observation and practice The third theme related to the professional acculturation of IETs concerned activities that helped them to gain experience and familiarity with the education system, such as observation, volunteering, substitute teaching and teaching in private schools in Ontario. First of all, 13 IETs and P3 participants discussed the helpfulness of observations of other teachers or teaching practicum. Nemo said that observing her colleagues was key to her professional acculturation: I was just watching what other people were doing. (. . .) I was sharing the classroom with another instructor, and I was just watching her and that’s how I learned. Simply by watching, by imitating, by copying, and by – I was really like a blind man, feeling my way through this whole thing, and it was very stressful, but I learned it. (Nemo – 24: 228, 230) More than half of the P3 participants also discussed the importance of practical experience in the professional acculturation process. Don, a school district administrator, felt that the bridging programme was helpful, but that IETs needed more time in Ontario classrooms: The academic part of the training is one thing, but that’s the easy part, to be honest with you. I think we should be looking at trying to provide what I’ll call, for lack of a better term, practicum opportunities for these people so they can spend some serious time in Ontario classrooms, seeing how the system really works on a day-to-day basis, and gaining the benefit of working with an experienced teacher who is trained in Ontario, that would again, try to mentor them and acclimatise them to how things are done here. (Don – 34: 33) Since this interview, the bridging programme has responded to this need and has added a longer classroom observation component. A number of IETs and P3 participants also discussed volunteering as being helpful to the professional acculturation process. Elisa, Lin, Susan,

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Clarissa, Marjorie and Raj all spent time as volunteers in Ontario classrooms. Volunteering is often suggested to newcomers as a way to learn about a profession in the Canadian context, but this is problematic for newcomers who are sole or primary income earners for their household. For Audrey, Galina and Lucy, volunteering was problematic. Other ways in which IETs gained experience was through substitute teaching and teaching in private schools. Audrey, Bud and Merida all discussed how substitute teaching was helpful as they were able to see different schools, grades and classrooms. Audrey said: It has been a learning experience, because it’s very different from my own experience and you kind of get a chance to sort of compare schools in terms of how they are set up, how they operate. You see the students, the difference with students in terms of where one school is situated or, you know, the environment in which a school is. (Audrey Int 2 – 61: 69) Elisa, Wanda and Natalie all taught in private schools before entering the public system. Wanda discussed the advantages of having worked in a smaller and supportive school community: I was fortunate that I went into a private school first before the board. Because this school, the total number of students was eighty. I had a class of just ten. So I looked and learnt (. . .) from the other teachers. (. . .) And then it was like I had five years to practice, so by the time – before I had to go for an interview {at the school board}, I was already thoroughly familiar with the Ontario curriculum. (Wanda – 1: 213, 215, 217) Finally, for several IETs, including Victor and Helena who had taught in the United States, their previous teaching experience in their country of origin or other countries of residence helped them in their adjustment to teaching in Ontario. 4.3.4 Beliefs and attitudes The fourth theme regarding affordances to professional acculturation related to beliefs and attitudes. As I will be making references to these terms in my analysis, I will now discuss my definitions and understanding of these terms. Seah (2002), who conducted research on IETs in Australia, used the term ‘cultural values’ to encompass assumptions, attitudes, beliefs and

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values that correspond to a particular home culture. As noted by a number of scholars who have examined the construct of teacher beliefs in educational research (see e.g., Borg, 2003; Nespor, 1987; Pajares, 1992; Richardson, 1996), the term ‘belief’ is difficult to define and separate from other related terms such as values and attitudes. In his discussion of research on teacher beliefs, citing Sigel’s work on teacher beliefs, Pajares defined beliefs as ‘ “mental constructions of experience – often condensed and integrated into schemata or concepts that are held to be true and that guide behaviour” ’ (1992, p. 313). In addition, Pajares described Rokeach’s explanation of the interrelationship between beliefs, values and attitudes: Rokeach argued that all beliefs have a cognitive component representing knowledge, an affective component capable of arousing emotion, and a behavioral component activated when action is required. (. . .) When clusters of beliefs are organized around an object or situation and predisposed to action, this holistic organization becomes an attitude. Beliefs may also become values, which house the evaluative, comparative, and judgmental functions of beliefs and replace predisposition with an imperative to action. Beliefs, attitudes, and values form an individual’s belief system. (Pajares, 1992, p. 314) In my work, I draw upon Sigel’s definition of belief and Rokeach’s conception of beliefs, values and attitudes. I define beliefs as cognitive and affective constructions of experience that guide behaviour. Following Rokeach, I define values as the evaluative and judgemental functions of beliefs that determine the principles that are considered worthwhile and desirable. Values and beliefs are closely related and contribute to the formation of attitudes. I define attitudes as predispositions to behave or react in a characteristic way. I agree with Rokeach’s description of the interrelationship between beliefs, values and attitudes. In addition, in my analysis, I maintain that beliefs, values and attitudes have been internalized by individuals during their enculturation process, and are enduring higher psychological functions that mediate a person’s behaviour. Indeed, Nisbett and Ross found that ‘beliefs established early on in life are resistant to change even in the face of contradictory evidence’ (cited in Borg, 2003, p. 86). Regarding beliefs, two topics discussed by IET participants were alignment of beliefs and acceptance of Canadian cultural norms. For several IETs, alignment of beliefs was easy because they found the Canadian education system more compatible with their personal beliefs about education.

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Susan, Merida and Raj expressed dissatisfaction with aspects of the education system in their country of origin; they all preferred the Canadian system. For example, Raj explained that he preferred the practical and hands-on approach to learning that he observed in a Canadian classroom, as well as the emphasis on meeting diverse students’ needs: I’ve seen how the special ed teacher, you have a special ed teacher, it’s wonderful. I like it very much. Back home we don’t have it. (. . .) This exceptional student learns really good and he has been able to master it. So with individual attention, all this, it really works. I think Canada is one of the countries that is really focused, is really practical (. . .) Everything makes sense to me and what I was thinking, my way of thinking, back home, a teacher should teach like and here I do find it. (Raj 9: 118, 120, 126) Clarissa, an artist and visual arts teacher, was used to a student-centred in teaching fine arts. Thus, for these IETs, there was no conflict in beliefs and values about what constitutes effective teaching. However, there were IETs who had beliefs that differed from Canadian educational beliefs about teaching and learning. These differences in beliefs were constraints to these IETs’ adaptation. Several IETs, Evelyn, Lin and Nemo, strongly believed that an IET must adapt to Canadian norms in order to achieve professional success. As Lin said: If something really is not your style but if it’s something you have to do then you have to do it and don’t say, ‘Oh no, no, it’s not my culture. It’s not my values.’ Do in Rome as Romans do. [laughs] (Lin – 11: 308) Nemo’s acceptance of Canadian norms was closely connected to her background, goals and identity: I think it’s simply in line with the general culture in this society and this is how it should be. It’s not for me to judge whether it’s good or bad or whatever. I just have to do it this way. I must comply. That’s all. (. . .) I wanted to come here, right? I severed my ties with my motherland, because I don’t respect it as a country, as a society and a culture, I don’t want to have anything in common with them. (. . .) I’m grateful to Canada for many, many things that it has done for me and for my family, truly, I’m grateful, because I know that the same things can be done in a

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much harsher way, and they were never done this way here. I think it’s a very humane culture, humanistic, and I really appreciate it. So I will do everything, you know, to uphold this culture, and I associate myself with Canadians. I consider myself a Canadian. I’m not hyphenated. (Nemo – 24: 268, 270) Several IETs and P3 participants discussed the importance of attitudes, namely, ‘going the extra mile,’ that is, making a strong effort, having a positive attitude and being open-minded. Ella, college faculty and specialist in the fashion industry, said: It could be frustrating for some people, if they can’t get a job they want, within a year. But on the other hand, if they really try to be optimistic as well as . . . don’t mind about the pay, don’t mind about the work. Just do something that gives them exposure and gives connections, to get in touch with the people that are here so that they could learn about the culture. They should be open mind, and try different ways and doors will open afterwards. That’s my thinking. (Ella – 27: 185) Finally, several IETs discussed how their attitudes and acceptance of themselves as speakers of English as an additional language facilitated their acquisition of English. Galina, Merida, Isabel and Peter were all comfortable with their identity as EAL speakers, and were comfortable asking for help. For example, Galina, who was teaching grade six French in the English public system, had learned English upon arriving in Canada 2 years before: To everybody I said, ‘Sorry, for my English,’ and then I began to speak. It’s worked well. I don’t know. And they want to help me. (. . .) Maybe because the first phrase is ‘Sorry for my English, I want to learn it, help me please.’ It’s enough for people. (Galina – 5: 246, 252) Isabel used a similar strategy with her college students: The other thing that worked out is making fun of my English sometimes, so they will laugh with me, or sometimes I don’t know the word and so I ask them for the word, I’m like ‘How do you say these things?’ and they explain to me, so I give them the power to teach me (. . .) So that worked out, instead of trying to pretend I know everything and being like defensive and ‘Don’t question my English,’ it was like very open and

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they can totally laugh at my English all the time and I laugh with them so that works. [laughs] (Isabel – 32: 192) I will examine this theme in greater detail in the following chapters on selected case studies.

4.4 Discussion: Identity, Agency and Communities of Practice In this section, I analyse the connections between the themes regarding affordances and constraints with theoretical concepts related to identity and agency from the community of practice framework and sociocultural theory. As discussed earlier, the main constraints that I identified from the data were differences in language and culture, differences in interactions with students and parents, differences in professional beliefs and behaviours and discrimination. The main affordances were various forms of social support, resources, observation and practice, and beliefs and attitude. These themes can be analyzed through sociocultural theoretical concepts of mediation and internalization, the interrelationship between identity, competence and membership in a community of practice, and the concept of legitimate peripheral participation.

4.4.1 Constraints, identity and membership in a community of practice As Wenger (1998) posited, a person’s identity is fundamentally constituted through forms of competence. When individuals are full members in a community of practice, they experience competence and are recognized as competent by others in the community. They know how to engage with others and to use resources in an appropriate manner. In addition, as discussed in Chapter 2, Wenger maintained that one of the greatest challenges faced by learners when they move from one community of practice to another is to reconcile different conceptions of competence. These two key points speak strongly to the constraints discussed by the internationally educated teachers in this study. Three of the themes concerning constraints related to learning a new way of being, which included learning a new language and culture, learning to interact with students and parents in a different way, and learning how to teach according to Canadian educational norms. In the case of internationally educated

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teachers, moving across cultural and linguistic borders is especially challenging because teaching is a linguistically and culturally dependent profession (Remennick, 2002). In teaching, language skills are crucial in communicating subject content. In the elementary division, as Lin pointed out, teachers also have to teach phonics and pronunciation. Another constraint discussed by the participants was the Canadian way of communicating. For example, even though Lucy spoke English fluently and had taught in an English-medium education system in Kenya, she still felt apprehensive about communicating in an appropriate manner, especially with parents. Thus, learning an additional language entails learning multiple skills, as indicated by Canale and Swain’s (1980) communicative competence model. Furthermore, teaching, particularly in the public education system, is about the enculturation of young people into the values of the mainstream society. Thus, it is particularly important for internationally educated teachers to be culturally, as well as linguistically, competent members of the destination society. The issue of identity and competence also relates to the constraints faced by IETs regarding interactions with Canadian students and parents, and differences in teaching and learning styles. Both deal with knowing how to act according to the norms in the particular community of practice, in this case, the Ontario public education system. One key point related to teacher–student and teacher–parent interactions is the understanding of the roles and responsibilities of teachers, students and parents. Differences in beliefs and values about roles and responsibilities were the source of constraint to some IETs’ professional acculturation. For example, one major topic was the respect and authority of teachers in other countries’ education systems compared to the IET participants’ perception of the lack of respect and authority for teachers in Canada. This mismatch in beliefs about roles, and hence expectations concerning appropriate behaviour, contributed to problems with classroom management, which was identified as another major constraint. Differences in teaching and learning styles are also related to beliefs and expectations about roles and responsibilities of teachers and students. In addition, teaching and learning styles reflect beliefs about what constitutes effective teaching, and therefore, how a ‘good’ teacher is defined. I maintain that conflicting beliefs and values about effective teaching and learning is a major constraint because beliefs and values are central to a person’s identity. In addition, from a sociocultural theoretical perspective, beliefs are higher psychological functions that have developed through social interactions in individuals’ previous life experiences and enculturation,

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and have been deeply internalized. Beliefs formed in early life are enduring and mediate behaviour. The fourth major constraint identified in the data was discrimination against IETs. Whereas the other three constraints discussed earlier related to an IET’s identity, values and beliefs, this constraint comes from the attitudes and beliefs of others in a community of practice, which were manifested in their interactions and relationships with IETs. This is a clear example of the rejection and obstruction of newcomers by established community members. Both IETs and P3 participants discussed discrimination from a variety of sources: students, parents, colleagues and administrators. Many of the examples of discrimination related to language ability and accent. Interestingly, not only Canadian-born students who spoke English as a first language discriminated against IETs; several P3 participants who were administrators mentioned that complaints about an IET’s accent came from students who themselves were speakers of English as an additional language, as they wanted to learn ‘Canadian English.’ 4.4.2 Affordances, agency and legitimate peripheral participation In this section, I discuss the relationships between affordances, agency and legitimate peripheral participation, and how IETs were able to overcome constraints. The major affordances were social support, resources, observation and practice, and beliefs and attitudes. A number of these affordances relate to Lave and Wenger’s (1991) concept of legitimate peripheral participation. As I discussed in Chapter 2, both legitimacy and peripherality are needed in order for a newcomer to become a full member of a community of practice. It is essential for newcomers to be accepted by other members of a community of practice in order to gain access to resources and opportunities for practice and socialization. In the case of IETs, the affordance of social support from colleagues, administrators, students and parents reflects the importance of the acceptance of IETs by established members in their professional community. With this acceptance comes access to material resources and social practices. For example, many participants discussed the crucial support from colleagues who shared not only material resources such as lesson plans, handouts, assignments and tests, but also valuable information about expectations regarding professional practice and cultural norms. Bud explained that the team lesson planning in his teaching context was instrumental to his attainment of success in teaching in the Ontario education system. The team lesson planning enabled Bud to be scaffolded in his

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learning of the Ontario curriculum and its delivery by his more experienced colleagues. Bud also mentioned how his colleagues were open to answering any questions he had, which was also essential to his professional acculturation. In addition to the social support that provided resources and information about practice, another key component of the social support discussed by the participants was that of emotional support and affirmation. A number of IETs spoke about mentorship, often from an administrator, whose belief in the IET’s abilities affirmed their identity as a professional and gave them confidence and encouragement, which enabled them to succeed. Wenger (1998) stated that participation ‘is a complex process that combines doing, talking, thinking, feeling and belonging’ (p. 56), but Wenger did not discuss the impact of affect on learning in any great detail. From Erikson’s psychoanalytic perspective on identity formation, affirmation of one’s identity by other members in one’s community is crucial to an individual’s psychological well-being. I maintain that the affordance of mentorship shows how identity and agency are socially constructed; that is, the affirmation of IETs’ identity gave the IETs self confidence, which contributed to their ability to achieve their goals of professional success. Immigration is a psychologically difficult process for adults who experience a loss of competence and identity as full members in society. I maintain that this may be especially difficult for high-skilled immigrants, who had the additional identity and membership in a professional community of practice prior to immigration. Therefore, it is not surprising that social support in the form of affirmation of an IET’s professional identity was an important affordance to the successful acculturation of the immigrant teachers in this study. Another important affordance was access to resources and opportunities for observation and practice. This affordance speaks to the importance of peripheral participation in the process of becoming a full member of a community of practice. According to my findings, IETs who were not yet employed as full-time teachers in the public education system were able to gain access to peripheral participation through professional development workshops and courses, such as the bridging course for K – 12 teachers, through teaching in the private school system that was often easier to access, through volunteering and through substitute teaching. Finally, beliefs and attitudes also constituted an important affordance to acculturation. This affordance also relates to identity issues, as discussed earlier. For some IETs, their beliefs conflicted with certain beliefs in the Canadian education system and thus, their beliefs were a constraint.

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However, beliefs and attitudes can also be an affordance. IETs whose beliefs were aligned with Canadian beliefs about teaching and learning had fewer difficulties in adapting. In addition, many IETs and P3 participants spoke about the affordance of attitudes, which I maintain is an aspect of personal identity. Characteristics such as perseverance, optimism and openmindedness contributed to an individual’s agency in learning and accepting new ways of being, which facilitated the professional acculturation process.

4.4.3 Summary In this chapter, I focused on some broad themes related to the affordances and constraints to the professional acculturation of immigrant teachers in Ontario that I identified from my research data. Because the IET and P3 participants in this study were from different ethnolinguistic backgrounds, different divisions of the education system and different professional backgrounds, the findings reflect perspectives from a diverse group of individuals. While the findings focused on the case of immigrant teachers in Ontario, the themes concerning affordances and constraints and my analysis of the findings are relevant to other professional and national contexts. The findings reported in this chapter highlight the importance of cultural nuances and norms in interpersonal communication, and the need to reconcile conflicting beliefs and values in the professional acculturation process. In addition, the findings draw attention to the importance of social support, access to resources and opportunities for practice in order for high-skilled immigrants to attain professional success in a new context. While the findings in this chapter provide useful information, a thematic analysis of a broad database has its limitations. The quotations are decontextualized since the details regarding individual cases are not provided in a broadly based content analysis. For this reason, the following three chapters focus on five purposively selected cases and provide a more holistic analysis of each of these participants’ acculturation experiences. In addition, I will examine issues of identity, agency and the acquisition of professional language and culture in greater depth through an analysis of the participants’ narratives.

Chapter 5

The Professional Acculturation Journeys of Two Schoolteachers from Different Times and Places

This chapter focuses on the retrospective narratives of two internationally educated teachers and examines in greater detail issues related to identity, agency, affordances and constraints in the acquisition of professional language and culture. I selected one IET participant from the elementary division and one IET participant from the secondary division in order to compare experiences in different teaching contexts: Merida, an elementary school teacher from Venezuela; Evelyn, a secondary school teacher from Austria. My selection of these two cases1 was based on two criteria. First, both participants learned English as an additional language, and their stories of second language learning were prominent in their narratives. Second, both participants were able to achieve success in teaching in a new language and education system. Merida and Evelyn both had permanent, full-time positions as teachers in the Ontario publicly funded education system and were successful practitioners. In this chapter, I first present findings for each participant and then discuss the findings.

5.1 Evelyn: A Secondary School Teacher from Austria Evelyn, a secondary school teacher from Austria, had been in Canada for over 30 years at the time of our interview, and had taught in the Ontario public school system for 31 years. Evelyn taught family studies for 12 years in the secondary division, and then became a school librarian, a position she greatly enjoyed. At the time of our interview, Evelyn had been retired from full-time teaching for 3 years, but was working as a substitute teacher. Evelyn said that she had a hard time leaving the profession that she loved so much. She found substitute teaching (referred to as supply teaching in Ontario) a good way to transition from her teaching career: ‘It’s a good

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system in Canada that you can do it, that you can still supply a little bit, and slowly phase out’ (13: 243). At our interview, Evelyn told me that she had substitute taught in an all-girls secondary school the day before, and she had thought about our upcoming meeting and reflected upon her professional journey in Canada. The students were curious about her and had asked where she was from. She promised that if they did their assigned work, they could have a chat at the end of the period: So I had a game with them. ‘Okay, what continent do you think?’ Well then they said ‘Europe.’ So they come up with everything but Austria because I have Christian sounding name, so they come up with all sorts of – so we had a little game at the end. The bell rings and they said, ‘You’re cool, Miss, you’re cool.’ [both laugh] And I was thinking, I would have given anything if someone ever thought thirty years ago I was cool! Because they didn’t think that for sure! (13: 199) This anecdote showed Evelyn’s ease and rapport with Canadian secondary school students, which was particularly impressive because it is often difficult for substitute teachers to establish rapport with students. However, as Evelyn had alluded to, and as her narrative will reveal, her professional acculturation journey was far from easy.

5.1.1 Immigrating to Canada in the 1970s Evelyn completed her teacher education and had taught for 3 years in Austria before coming to Canada in the 1970s. She had grown up in a small town near Vienna, completed her teacher education in Vienna and then returned to teach home economics in a secondary school in the town where she had grown up. However, she did not like it there: ‘I was driving everyday with my Volkswagen to the school, and I said, “This is going to be my life?” ’ (13: 15). She decided to take a leave of absence to travel and see the world: ‘I had no intentions of immigrating. I really just wanted to see the world, a bit out of the very tunnel vision environment I lived in’ (13: 17). She chose Canada as her destination because she had a cousin who lived here, and she had also thought about learning more English. Although she did not intend to immigrate to Canada, she met her Austrian-Canadian husband-to-be here, and stayed.

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As Evelyn’s initial goal in Canada was to travel and have different life experiences, Evelyn did not seek recertification immediately upon arrival. She had several other jobs; for example, she worked as an au pair, a waitress and a home economist and test kitchen manager for the gas company. After being in Canada for 4 years, she found out that it would be possible to be recertified as a teacher in Ontario. Evelyn’s recertification process involved completing a 1-year bachelor of education programme at an Ontario university. Evelyn’s narrative of her professional acculturation journey highlighted the many challenges to her identity, beliefs and values, and the difficult process of adaptation. Evelyn recounted vivid stories of learning English for the teaching profession and her professional acculturation. Major themes were her language identity, conflicting values and beliefs, and the importance of mentorship and support from her professional community. 5.1.2 English language learning: Challenges to identity Evelyn had a strong interest in language and literature. She had learned English and French as foreign languages in the Austrian school system. When I asked Evelyn if she enjoyed learning foreign languages in school, she replied, ‘I did. I was more a language person than math’ (13: 33). After obtaining her teaching certificate in Ontario, Evelyn continued to upgrade her qualifications and completed a bachelor of arts degree in comparative literature. She had started a master’s degree in German literature, but decided to complete a master’s degree in education instead. Later in the interview, when I asked Evelyn whether it was challenging to write assignments in English when she was in the teacher education programme in Ontario, she said, ‘That was challenging but I’m a language person’ (13: 94). Thus, Evelyn identified herself as a ‘language person.’ This was an important aspect of her identity, and one that mediated her language learning experiences. It was important for Evelyn to speak well, so she was sensitive about her language ability in English. In the following excerpt from our interview, Evelyn described when she started learning English and how she learned English with an accent: From grade five on, but it was school English, so my teachers also had an accent. As a result, I learned English with an accent. Later when I looked into that, I realized that I met people who never had any English in their native country, yet when – then they came to Canada and had barely an accent. I was thinking, how is that? And then I realized, yes, it was because

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they learned it fresh, right from the babe’s mouth here, and yes, I researched that. Up to the age of sixteen it’s possible. Then it’s not possible anymore. Then everybody has more or less an accent acquired in their country of origin. I realized my English accent was always quite strong because I learned it with an accent. (13: 25) Another example that revealed Evelyn’s identity as a ‘language person’ related to my member check of interview transcripts. As discussed in Chapter 3, I sent the transcripts to the participants for their verification and approval, and gave them the opportunity to edit the text. From my assessment, Evelyn was a highly proficient English speaker and had not made any grammar errors; however, Evelyn chose to edit some text as she felt that it sounded incoherent. For me, this was also an indication of Evelyn’s identity as a language person, and the importance for her to express herself well. Evelyn had learned English as a foreign language during her schooling in Austria, so she thought that she had the language skills to function in Canada. However, when she arrived, she faced a different reality: In regards to my spoken English, I was quite stunned how poor it seemed. I thought it would have been much better. Carrying on a conversation proved difficult, and was done at a very low level. I soon realized that I had to learn a better quality of English. (13: 37) Thus, Evelyn’s perception of her English skills was challenged when she first arrived. While it was fairly unproblematic for Evelyn to learn conversational English and to function well in Canadian society, learning English at the academic and professional level was more difficult. When she enrolled in the 1-year bachelor of education teaching programme at the local university 4 years after her arrival in Canada, her identity as a good English speaker was once again challenged: I passed the Michigan Test with a grade of 83%. It had proved to be no problem. Yes, but the grade was misleading. I remember some of my first university classes. It was in teacher’s college there. I could not understand a word. (. . .) I remember coming home, I was on the subway. I was crying my eyes out. I said to myself, ‘I didn’t understand a word he {the professor} said. How will I survive?’ . . . It took months, but slowly I started to feel that I could follow cognitively. I could now understand what he was saying and what it meant. (. . .) Even though I could speak English

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quite well, it was English at the academic level that made life difficult. I would not recommend the Michigan Test as it was in 1974 as a measuring tool for future teachers because the results are misleading. I would say, ‘So what’s the big deal? Nothing.’ And then, oh yeah, there was quite a difference. (13: 73, 79) This statement highlights the difference between conversational language proficiency and academic language proficiency. Evelyn’s comment also speaks to the issue of standardized tests of English proficiency for admission to university, which Evelyn believed was not a good indication of ability to function well in that environment. Evelyn was able to complete the degree programme successfully, and was offered a full-time position teaching family studies at a secondary school upon graduation. Evelyn was one of the few IETs in this study to obtain a full-time teaching position in the publicly funded education system without having to substitute teach first, because there was a high demand for teachers at that time in the mid-1970s. Entering the Ontario secondary school context was another major step in Evelyn’s learning of English: Teaching proved really difficult. Even though at that time I had an Ontario Teaching Certificate, and I had passed all my English courses, and so on, when you’re under pressure, you still make grammatical errors. I could hear them, I knew this was not a correct use of language . . . but the kids have no mercy. The moment they feel a sense of weakness, that’s it. So it was truly hard to establish myself. I remember the first four or five years were really difficult. (13: 195) Evelyn had to struggle to reach a place inside herself, to feel comfortable with who she was and how she spoke English: You have to feel really comfortable with yourself. At the beginning, I didn’t feel comfortable with myself yet because I knew my language skills weren’t quite the way they should be. The moment there is an insecurity within you, they {the students} pick up it instantly. (. . .) For example, the kids would imitate my accent. I would feel uncomfortable and offended. Well, as the years went on, the kids would do it, and I would respond with, ‘You know, you have to practise a bit more because your accent will not make the grade. I do not pronounce it that way.’ That takes the wind out of the sail. So nobody imitates me now, and I still have an accent. You learn, but it’s a long process. (13: 197, 205)

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Evelyn was eventually able to accept her ‘English with an accent’ and was even able to joke about it, but as she said, it took her a long time to reach that comfort level within herself. Another major issue related to language use was adapting to the Canadian style of communication, particularly when dealing with parents. Evelyn said that at the beginning, she had a lot of complaints and a lot of parents would personally attack her. The main problem was how Evelyn communicated with her students’ parents. She was used to being direct and honest regarding the quality of the students’ work, but this was often not well received. Evelyn recalled how she learned how to communicate with Canadian parents from her colleagues: I would tell my colleagues, ‘You know, this parent called me and blasted me for whatever mark I gave Johnny. Well, he did not do well, what should I say? (. . .) And then the parent would call you up, ‘This is more than C. He was working – I don’t know how many evenings.’ Yeah, (. . .) he might have been working three evenings on it, but what he produced was not more than 65 per cent. One very nice teacher friend taught next door. She would see my struggles, and she would say, ‘You don’t have to be so direct. Say it a bit more diplomatically. You have to change your vocabulary and your mannerism. First tell what the student did do well and then sneak in where he is lacking. And if he did not do well, you do not have to lie. Stand your ground. Your comment to the parent could be something like: “Well, I’m sorry you feel that way. As far as I could tell, this work did not amount to more than 65 per cent, but he’ll have another chance.” ’ You see, I had to learn that. And I learned that from my colleagues. (13: 313) Evelyn said that at the beginning, this style of communicating with parents was ‘very revolting’ to her: With my temperament, and my upbringing, you were always supposed to be honest. Well, it’s not that I’m not honest now, but I learned to ‘package’ the information appropriately. Now I wouldn’t start by telling the parents what the child is unable to handle. Now, I start to tell them all the good things first, and gradually bring in the weaknesses and how to correct them. (. . .) It took me so long to clue into that because it was against my principles. I had a hard time with that, not being direct, not being totally honest, and so on. So that took me a long time. (13: 277, 281)

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In retrospect, Evelyn said that communicating with parents was the ‘biggest adjustment’ for her. She emphasized that it ‘seemed to take forever to learn’ (13: 277). Evelyn was able to learn this style of communication, but even after 31 years of teaching in the Canadian context, she still did not completely agree with this way of communicating: The Canadian way is still one with which I do not completely agree. However, it is the culture to which one must adapt. It is very political and I do not like to be political. (13: 277) This comment also shows Evelyn’s belief that one must adapt to and adopt the cultural values and norms of the society. This theme of an immigrant’s need to adapt to the destination society’s norms recurred throughout Evelyn’s interview, as I will show in the next section. 5.1.3 Professional acculturation: Challenges to beliefs For Evelyn, adapting to teaching in Canada was a difficult and often painful process. For example, she was used to Austrian students who showed ‘enormous respect towards teachers’ (13: 185) and who completed homework that was assigned. She encountered a totally different attitude in Canada: I thought, My goodness, what am I going to do? So of course I would yell at them, because that was the style to which I had been accustomed. So I received a lot of complaints. (13: 185) Evelyn also described how she planned too much as she was used to covering a lot of information in her classes. She once suggested that the students come a few minutes earlier to set up for class, and this backfired: I remember saying to a class that I was to have right after lunch, ‘You know what guys, why don’t you come ten minutes earlier to set it up, you don’t have to rush through it’ and so on. I was willing to give up time in my lunch hour, why couldn’t they? Well, this suggestion started a pile of complaints. I remember one mother came to the principal, ‘My daughter doesn’t have time to eat her lunch. You know, this new teacher is terrible, she has these Hitler methods,’ and so on. My principal calls me down, and he said, ‘I have to talk to you. This doesn’t go.’ I said, ‘But listen, I’m willing to give up my time.’ He said, ‘But this is Canada, Evelyn, you

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cannot do this here.’ Oh my gosh. It was heartbreaking. I remember coming back, and sobbing. I was thinking, I don’t see how I can stay here. They are not willing to do any work. (13: 185) This excerpt reveals how Evelyn’s beliefs about competence as a teacher conflicted with the values of the Canadian students and parents in her teaching community. She felt that she was doing a good job, and was shocked when her actions resulted in complaints from students and parents. The dominant theme in Evelyn’s journey to becoming a successful teacher in Canada was the need to reconcile her beliefs and values with those of the Canadian education system. For Evelyn, this adaptation required her to change her beliefs: It got better because I changed. I had to change in order to fulfil the needs of the system and its students. I learned that this is a different culture and I cannot impose my values on them. But this takes a lot of rethinking, and reconditioning of yourself. It was not an easy process. Every time I would see people who came from different cultures, I knew exactly what they were going through, and felt for them. Because even though on a cognitive level you understand it, emotionally you haven’t quite worked it through. This takes a long time. Teaching is not a simple and easy career to pick up. Even if you have experience, even if you have been in a classroom, in a different environment, you begin a whole new ballgame. (13: 197) Evelyn compared the change in her attitude by referring to the anecdote mentioned earlier in the introduction: Like let’s say when you think about my class yesterday, had that been thirty years ago, and the kids started to do something else than they were asked to, I would have started a hassle with them. (13: 213) These excerpts also speak to Wenger’s statement that reconciling conflicting forms of individuality and competence may be the greatest challenge for a person who moves from one community of practice to another. Evelyn’s journey shows that becoming a teacher in a new teaching community is not simply a matter of appropriating new pieces of information, but requires both cognitive and emotional adjustment, especially when the beliefs of the new community conflicts and challenges one’s deeply internalized beliefs and values that were learned in another community.

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5.1.4 Affordances to professional acculturation: Mentorship, acceptance and support from the community of practice Evelyn said that her first principal was instrumental to her remaining in the profession. As shown in the excerpts given, Evelyn was at times so discouraged that she thought about leaving the teaching profession. Her first principal provided mentorship and support throughout the difficult first few years. He was honest with her, and gave her guidance and encouragement. After a career spanning over 30 years, Evelyn still vividly recalled how her first principal helped her to adapt to the Ontario education system: My first principal was the fellow who pointed me on the right track to successful teaching in this country. He was exceptionally bright. Altogether I’ve had ten principals. He stands out because I felt understood, and at the same time, he was really honest. He didn’t say, ‘You’re doing a fabulous job.’ No, he said, ‘We can’t have so many complaints. This doesn’t go.’ I thought I was doing a good job. He was honest, (. . .) That’s one thing. And then he would monitor a bit. I remember he helped me with two kids who gave me a really hard time. (. . .) He observed, he discussed my progress, and sort of watched out for me, which usually people don’t do. Mentoring. I think a foreign educated teacher needs mentoring, either with an administrator or with another teacher. At least, I would say, in my experience. A good mentor is honest with you, he tells you what’s good, what’s not so good. He takes an interest. (13: 227) From a community of practice theoretical perspective, this principal accepted Evelyn as a legitimate peripheral participant. He was able to see her strengths and potential, and guided her by sharing his knowledge about the school system and how it worked. He helped Evelyn to become a full participant who was eventually accepted by other members in this new teaching community. Evelyn also mentioned the support that she received from her husband, both during her bachelor of education programme, when she had felt overwhelmed by the demands of academic English, as well as during her early teaching years: And I remember, thankfully I have a very understanding husband, so I was always talking things over with him, and I would prepare my lessons. So slowly, I adjusted to the culture. (13: 193)

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In addition, Evelyn discussed the importance of acceptance from colleagues in the professional community: It’s absolutely critical or crucial that you have a friendly staff, that accepts you for who you are. (. . .) If you are in a school where you don’t feel comfortable, you don’t feel accepted, I don’t know how you could thrive. (13: 265, 273) Fortunately for Evelyn, when she began teaching in Ontario, she was at a school where she became good friends with her colleagues with whom she could discuss her difficulties and who provided support and guidance. Regarding professional acculturation, Evelyn was adamant that a newcomer must adapt to the destination society, and an IET must pass along those values to students: I think it’s your emotional – your personality as such. You really have to have a look at yourself and say, ‘Can I do this? Can I teach in this culture with these values?’ That’s the only way. You will not make it any other way. (13: 239) Thus, Evelyn expressed her belief that in order to achieve professional success in the Canadian education system, an IET must adapt to the way things are done here. 5.1.5 Advocating for other newcomers Evelyn’s own immigration experiences enabled her to contribute to her school community. In Evelyn’s case, her difficulties in acculturation to teaching in Canada made her sensitive to the difficulties faced by other newcomers. Evelyn became an advocate for immigrant parents. Evelyn said that when she had parents who could not speak much English, she would find someone who could speak their first language. Evelyn explained that when she started teaching in Ontario in the 1970s, there were no provisions for translators for parents as there are today. Evelyn had also arranged a parents’ night for immigrant parents who were not familiar with the Ontario secondary school credit system, and would make sure that they had people who could speak the first language of the parents. Evelyn added: I would also encourage them to speak up, and to let people know if they did not understand a comment or anything else about school and about their children. (13: 287)

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Evelyn said that the immigrant parents were positive and respectful in their attitude towards her. Evelyn also felt that she could empathize with other immigrants: On a human level, I have much more understanding for people or students who have difficulties, since you have experienced the difficulties of learning the language, the difficulties of adjusting to another culture, these are real struggles. I think I have much more compassion than some of my colleagues because they have never experienced these struggles. (3: 223) Evelyn also told me a touching story of how her kindness to an immigrant student had a lasting impact on this person: I had one incident. I think of that often. Last year, I walked into this store, and there comes this Middle Eastern looking woman with lots of black hair, and I thought, she looks familiar. (. . .) And I remember in family studies we started to bring in the other cultures, like the multicultural thing. And I went to this one convention where they suggested, the kids should bring from their home one food to introduce to the classmates. And that was when I was harping on that, ‘You don’t say “This is gross” because it’s insulting the person who prepared it.’ And this kid comes in, and brings tabouleh, which I had never had before. And the other kids – I had trained them, ‘Don’t you ever say “This is gross.” Just say, “I don’t like it, or this doesn’t suit my taste”.’ And I’m trying this tabouleh, oh my god, this wheat, this bulgur wheat, it’s in my teeth, and all the parsley in there. But I said, ‘Mmm.’ But anyway, I was thinking, ‘Oh I can’t embarrass this kid.’ So I said, ‘It’s very nice.’ And nobody else said anything in this class. And then I realize she’s picking up that nobody likes it. So I said, ‘This is different in taste,’ which is true, ‘but I really like it. This is very good. And nutritionally it’s so healthy.’ And so I was telling them about all the nutritional stuff. You know, this was 28 years ago. I walk into this store. This kid, the first thing she says to me, she said, ‘You made me feel so good with my tabouleh.’ I almost cried there! I said, ‘You remember that.’ (. . .) She said, ‘You made me feel good.’ And this was because I understood how she felt. This is because you’re an immigrant yourself you know. (13: 291–299) In addition to her understanding and support of other immigrants, Evelyn also felt that she brought a certain professional ability and work ethic: I think I brought the ability to organize and structure teaching programmes. I also think I was conditioned to be committed to the profession and

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expectations of performance. I came with high standards and was willing to work hard to achieve them. (. . .) Often people, like my colleagues, ‘Oh, don’t worry about this, and don’t worry about that.’ Well I would go into such details, because that was how I was trained you see. And I would have kids, afterwards they would tell me, ‘The way you taught me this, I will never forget.’ (. . .) I felt the way I was conditioned, you have to do it 100 per cent, thorough, and you go into detail and so on, and I felt that . . . it was different. (13: 223, 225) Thus, although Evelyn was adamant that an internationally educated teacher must adapt to the mainstream society, these examples show how Evelyn had deeply internalized aspects of her professional skills and attitudes that remained with her. Evelyn’s narrative revealed how her earlier life experiences and education persisted throughout her teaching career. Evelyn had only taught for 3 years in Austria before coming to Canada, and most of her teaching career, over 30 years, was in the Ontario education system. Yet her values and behaviours from her early schooling and training remained with her, and was manifested in her teaching in Canada and impacted on her community of practice.

5.2 Merida: An Elementary School Teacher from Venezuela At the time of our interview, Merida had been in Canada for 13 years. Merida had been teaching in the Ontario school system for 8 years, and expressed a high level of satisfaction and enjoyment with her teaching. Merida had taught a special education class for 5 years, a split grade two/three class for 1 year and then became a grade one teacher, which she loved: When the kids come to school, some of them don’t even know how to zip up their coats. And they leave grade one writing simple stories. (. . .) So for me that is magic. That is a whole bunch of me that will be in those children, for many years to come, because what they learn in grade one, it will be the basis for everything that’s coming. So I think that is what keeps me going. And I come to school every morning saying, ‘I can’t do everything, but if I could at least teach one more thing to these kids, so that by the end of the day they can go home and say, “Today I learned . . . ” then I will feel good.’ That’s my philosophy of teaching, basically. (3: 296, 298)

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Merida’s narrative highlighted two central aspects of her identity: her professional identity, and her multilingual, multicultural identity. In addition, Merida discussed a number of affordances, namely, substitute teaching, mentorship and the compatibility between her beliefs and values about teaching and learning with the values espoused in the Ontario education system, all of which facilitated her professional success in the Ontario education system. 5.2.1 Immigrating to Canada in the 1990s Like Evelyn, Merida had completed a teacher education programme and had taught full-time for 3 years before coming to Canada. She had met her Italian-Canadian husband-to-be who was on vacation in Venezuela. Merida immigrated to Canada to join her husband in the mid-1990s, leaving a full-time position in a private elementary school in Venezuela. Because Merida’s parents were immigrants from Italy and wanted their children to be educated in their home language, she had attended a private bilingual school in Venezuela where the mediums of instruction were Italian and Spanish. As a result, she had not learned English as a foreign language in the school system and came to Canada with little knowledge of English. She recalled her experience upon arriving in Canada: Over there, I was already 26, 27 years old when I came. And I was driving my vehicle, I had my friends, I had my job, I had everything. And all of a sudden, I come here, I can’t drive because being a resident you have to have a Canadian-issued licence. You can’t communicate, because I couldn’t say hello. It was traumatic, it was awful. It was awful. (3: 94) Over a period of 5 years, Merida went from not knowing any English, to teaching in an English-medium elementary school. In addition to obtaining a full-time, permanent teaching position in the school system and her self-report of professional success, Merida also shared with me an official teaching evaluation, which further confirmed her success as a classroom teacher in Ontario. Although it was a long process to learn English and to become recertified to teach, Merida’s narrative showed her determination and agency to do everything necessary to attain her goal of teaching in Canada. Merida brought to our interview a thick binder of documents to show her long journey to becoming a successful teacher in Canada. In addition to her qualifications to teach in the elementary division (kindergarten to grade six), Merida had also completed numerous

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specialization courses, including courses in teaching ESL, reading and special education.

5.2.2 Professional identity in mediating the acquisition of English Merida’s identity as a teacher was central in her narrative. After graduating from secondary school, she had studied computer science in Italy for two and a half years, but then decided to return to Venezuela to pursue a career in teaching, which she felt was a better fit for her: I was going to be dealing with people, rather than machines. And it’s not written on stone, nothing is written on stone when you’re dealing with people. And you’re constantly exploring better ways of doing things. Soon after I began that career in pedagogy, I felt more and more that that was what I really wanted to do. And again I went back to my games when I was a child. I used to play teacher with many of my friends, so I said, maybe I should really listen to these messages. (3: 42) Merida’s accounts of her learning English as an adult immigrant in Canada was strongly connected to her desire to resume her teaching career. Merida said she learned English ‘from scratch’ in Canada. She took all the government-sponsored ESL courses for new immigrants offered by the local civic centre. Learning English as an additional language as an adult immigrant was ‘a big challenge.’ However, Merida persevered and after about ten months, she was able to read a letter, understand what people were saying and go shopping by herself. Merida said: At some point, I think I said, ‘You know, I’m going home. Why do I have to do this?’ It seemed like too much at that time. But it happened. I kind of put my foot down, and I said, ‘No way I’m going back. I’m here now, so I have to make it work.’ And that’s why I did it. I think I put all the effort that I could into those English courses, and then I applied, at the time it was the Ministry of Education. (. . .) And so I applied to see if my documents from Venezuela were valid in here to teach. (3: 100, 102) In order to be recertified to teach in the Ontario publicly funded education system, Merida was required to complete a number of courses in pedagogy and other subjects at an Ontario university. At the same time, she continued

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to take English courses. Merida’s narrative showed her commitment to complete the coursework in order to gain recertification: My very first one was that educational psychology that I talked to you about. I remember very clearly because my first son was born December the first in ‘94, and I remember leaving the examination room to go breastfeed the baby who was waiting in the car with my husband. (. . .) And then return to the examination room, so . . . I remember very clearly. (3: 162) Merida’s perseverance and determination to be recertified as a teacher in Canada was also shown by Merida’s account of her recertification process. Although not the focus of this book, the process of recertification is problematic for many IETs, particularly the need to provide documents and transcripts from the country where the IETs had completed their teacher education. Merida spoke about how difficult it was to access documents, and how she needed the help of her brother in Venezuela. At the time when Merida applied for recertification in 1994, teacher certification in Ontario was in the process of transferring from the Ministry of Education to an independent professional regulatory body, the Ontario College of Teachers. During this changeover, Merida’s documents were lost and she had to reapply and to resubmit all her documents. Regarding academic writing, Merida had assistance from her husband’s relatives with writing term papers: I would write the essay and they would change the spelling mistakes or whatever was needed at the time. It was kind of hard at the beginning I have to say, because you feel very inadequate. You feel that you don’t know anything, when in fact you do know, it’s just that you don’t have the words to express it. (3: 114) Also, during her first 5 years in Canada, she raised two young children, both born in Canada, so she was not always able to take English classes. Nevertheless, Merida continued to learn on her own. I used to borrow the tapes from the library as well. I got myself a card, a library card, and with the card I would borrow the English courses, you know the ones that have six or seven tapes, or eight tapes, so there is a lot of repetition, a lot of listening. I used to watch all the children’s programmes, all of them, Sesame Street, (. . .) because they do try to stress the pronunciation and they give you many visual clues about the

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meaning of the words. I never – I tried as much as I could not to watch the Spanish channels, or the news or anything. I really exposed myself to the English, more than anything else. (3: 128, 130) Merida’s strong determination to learn English was central in her narrative: I tried to expose myself to the English, even though it was going to be much easier to listen to the news in Spanish. . . . I had to get out of this hole. That’s the way I felt. I felt that I was in a hole. Some people even told me, ‘Choose a pediatrician that speaks Spanish.’ ‘No way!’ (. . .) So that was part of the reason why my English became better over time, because I just exposed myself to many opportunities to learn, and mimic as much as I could, because I was not choosing the commercial movies kind of English where sometimes they cut the words out, or they have those idioms that you don’t understand, right? I just tried to listen to good English. (3: 262, 264) Even though Merida did not feel that the content of the mandatory recertification coursework was useful for her professional development as a teacher, she recounted how she used these courses to learn more English: I knew I was doing all that, just because I wanted to get my papers. I know it was not the best learning situation for me, because it was just bits and pieces, that’s the way I felt anyway. It was just bits and pieces. They only wanted the credits. I kind of understood that. I used the opportunity to learn more English, to improve and refine my – especially my oral skills. (3: 200) Thus, Merida’s ultimate goal of continuing her teaching career in Canada framed her activities. She was able to use the courses as opportunities to learn more English, rather than focusing on the actual content of the courses. Similarly, although Merida spoke Italian as one of her first languages, she was required to take an introductory Italian course in order to fulfil certification requirements for teaching Italian in the school system: ‘It’s the paper you see, the paper had to speak for me’ (3: 178). In this particular course, with the encouragement of the course instructor, Merida used this opportunity to help the other students and to practise her teaching: We ended up having kind of a – we worked together. Like she was teaching and at the same time I was sort of helping the students. So it was a way for me to practise my teaching skills. (3: 180)

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After 5 years of English courses and upgrading courses at the university, Merida obtained her teaching certificate and was hired as a substitute teacher by a school board. Merida said that she initially felt resistance to being required to upgrade her professional qualifications, but in retrospect, she felt that completing the additional coursework was helpful to her acquisition of professional language and culture: When I first received the letter from the ministry asking me to complete those extra courses, my first reaction was ‘I’m not doing it. All that work, after I already did all that, I’m not doing it.’ But now thinking back, all those courses really helped me. (. . .) Because those courses gave me the vocabulary, the English, the understanding of this school system. Without those courses, just relying on my skills as a teacher in Venezuela, I would have had a very hard time just entering into a classroom and teaching. It was a nice transition, just to get introduced to a different teaching environment. Especially coming from a country in which education is so traditional, like in Venezuela. (3: 382) 5.2.3 Multilingual identity and second language learning Another prominent theme in Merida’s narrative was her multilingual and multicultural identity. This aspect of her identity also mediated her acquisition of English for the teaching profession. Merida’s parents had immigrated to Venezuela from Italy, and Merida and her two siblings grew up bilingually and biculturally. They attended the bilingual private school where she later became a teacher, and every summer, the family travelled to Italy. Thus, Merida had close contact with Italy, with family and friends, and with the language and culture. As I mentioned earlier, Merida had also studied for over 2 years at an Italian university, which she said had further reinforced her connection to the language and culture. What is interesting is that although Merida was determined to learn English and to use English as much as possible, as shown in the given excerpts, Merida and her husband raised their two children bilingually; Merida spoke Spanish with her children, and her husband spoke Italian with them. Like her parents, she took her children to Italy and to Venezuela regularly, so that they would have contact with these two communities. Merida said: Every year, I put money aside, you know, during the year, instead of having – the children having like an extra toy, or you know, brand name shoes or whatever, I try to save the money to travel at the end, because

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I do feel that it’s necessary. We travel to Venezuela, we travel to Italy, you know, and they are multilingual as well. (3: 88) Merida’s multilingual identity was an important affordance in her process of becoming a teacher in the English-medium Ontario education system. As discussed in Chapter 4, issues of English language proficiency and accent were prominent for many IETs who spoke English as an additional language. Rather than being positioned as a non-native speaker of English, Merida positioned herself as a multilingual speaker who was learning English as an additional language. As Merida stated: ‘I’m from here, from there, a little bit from everywhere, that’s the truth. My parents being Italian, me being born in Venezuela, and now being here. In countries that are really different from each other’ (3: 390). Merida described her strategy for learning English: I always try to be very open, with my co-workers, my family, my friends. ‘If you hear me say something that is not right, please tell me. Like I will not get offended, just tell me how it is, and I will correct it’. That has been my attitude towards learning English. I don’t make a big deal out of making a mistake. I tell the kids the very first day of school that sometimes my words come out, and they sound kind of funny, because I do speak other languages. If they don’t understand, ‘Just put your hand up and I’ll try, I’ll try to be as clear as I can, I’ll try to tell you again.’ That is my attitude towards language. (3: 260) Several times during our interview, Merida mentioned this strategy of being upfront with others in her professional community, for example, school administrators and colleagues, and explained why it was effective: That breaks the ice quite a bit. So the person already knows, if I make a mistake, they know the reason why. And I already know, Hey, if I make a mistake, it’s not a big deal. (3: 272) Merida accepted this aspect of her identity, saying, ‘It’s not something bad that I have, but it’s something that comes with me’ (3: 366). 5.2.4 Affordances to professional acculturation: Alignment of beliefs and the social construction of identity Three main themes emerged in Merida’s narrative regarding affordances to her professional acculturation success: substitute teaching, mentorship

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and the compatibility between her beliefs about effective teaching and learning for elementary school pupils with the values espoused in the Ontario education system. What was interesting was how positively she viewed her 2 years of substitute (supply) teaching, in contrast to many teachers who do not perceive supply teaching as ‘real’ teaching. In fact, Merida said that she chose to substitute teach in order to fulfil her 200 days of teaching, which was required to gain permanent teacher certification in Ontario: So I chose to do that by supply teaching, just to get some more experience, you know, about the Canadian education system and getting – and entering the classrooms of other teachers who would give me ideas, you know, the age group that I was going to like, the kind of programme that was for each grade level, so in doing that, those two years were very very important, you know, to help me decide. (3: 228) Merida said that her substitute teaching experience contributed to her later success as a teacher in Canada: It was difficult because it was my first experience, and I was not fluent in English. But I really wanted to do it. So I think my attitude kind of went over and beyond my feelings of insecurity. I knew I really wanted to do it. I was aware of my limitations, but at the same time, I just took a risk. And another reason why I started with the supply teaching was because it gave me an easy way in. I was not going to be put in a spotlight, having to write big comments on a report card, or having to teach long lessons, not knowing maybe all the vocabulary that I was going to need. So those years of supply teaching were a great way to diminish the impact of that language barrier on my career. (3: 358) From a community of practice perspective, substitute teaching gave Merida the opportunity to be a legitimate peripheral participant in a new teaching community. Through other teachers’ lesson plans and classrooms, she had access to resources and guidance to help her learn about and adapt to the Ontario school system. Thus, for Merida, substitute teaching facilitated her professional acculturation in a new education system and teaching in a new language. It is also important to note that Merida said that she chose to do substitute teaching. This may have contributed to her positive attitude towards substitute teaching, in contrast to teachers who must substitute teach because they are not able to obtain a full-time teaching position.

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Merida also spoke at length about the school principal who gave Merida her first full-time teaching contract in Ontario. This was a temporary contract that later became a permanent, full-time position. This principal believed in Merida, and respected and trusted Merida’s abilities as a teacher: And in my mind, she gave me the opportunity because she looked and she saw beyond my English proficiency. So somehow that lady knew that I was going to be effective in that class. She saw in me the qualities to handle a behavioural {special education} class. It was a big challenge. (3: 300) Merida described how the principal told Merida that she was ‘one of the most amazing people she’d ever met, (. . .) coming into a new country, being placed in such a difficult position’ (3: 302). Merida made great efforts to continually develop professionally, but she explained that the support from this principal was key: And it came a point, especially in the last year of the behavioural class, she said, ‘You’re the one that really knows what those kids need, better than I do, so if you need anything for that class, or you want to do anything, you need my approval, don’t even tell me, come here, I’ll sign the paper for you.’ So she gave me that confidence, she trusted me and that is for me very valuable. (. . .) And being my first experience, it’s basically the foundation of my whole teaching career. You know, that at the very beginning when my English was not very good, and it was for me, my very first experience in Canada. She just trusted me. And so that made it, that made it. (. . .) And so it was extremely challenging, but again she trusted me, and somehow, I knew that I could not disappoint this lady, [both laugh] who had put so much trust in me, who believed in me, and so I had to make it work. And it did work. (3: 304, 306, 312) The given excerpts show how this principal viewed Merida as a capable professional and a special education expert. This support gave Merida confidence in her abilities, enabling her to rise to the challenge of teaching a behavioural class and to achieve success as a teacher in the Ontario public education system. In addition to support from her principal, Merida also spoke about support from the wider school community: In this particular school, I am very happy with the community. The community is mostly ESL, like immigrants. (. . .) mostly {from} East Asia.

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And so I do feel that they are . . . how would I say . . . They appreciate the efforts we do in the school to help the children get used to the new system, to the new language. Parents are positive. You don’t have the parent that gets the school and gets in your way and demands certain things. That doesn’t happen here. (3: 346, 348) Merida’s transition to teaching in Canada was also facilitated by her beliefs about teaching and learning, which were compatible with the public education system in Ontario. Merida said emphatically: I do believe in cooperative learning, I do believe in children sharing ideas among themselves, I do believe in teachers listening to children, and not just children listening to teachers. (. . .) I do believe in learning centres for example. In Venezuela, I was never exposed to that, to learning centres, the use of manipulatives, for example. ‘Oh that’s playtime!’ [in a mocking tone] (. . .) I do value activity centres, and I think activity centres, for me in my class, they’re a great way to practise skills, in geometry, in math, even in writing and printing, even social skills, like you know, taking turns, sharing. I think the Canadian classroom is very suitable for learning that kind of social skills. Those things really made it, gave me one more reason, to want to teach in Canada. I think it was something I was looking for, in a teacher and in a classroom, being able to explore those strategies. I was thrilled. (3: 276, 278) In contrast to Evelyn’s narrative, Merida’s narrative conveyed that it was fairly unproblematic for her to adapt to teaching in Canada because her values and beliefs about competence as a teacher and what constitutes a good learning environment were in alignment with educational values in Ontario. In fact, she said that the reason why she became a teacher was because she was dissatisfied with the way she had been taught, that is, with the pupils all sitting in rows and copying notes from the blackboard. She wanted to study pedagogy because she felt that there was a better way to teach and to learn. In Canada, she found what she had been looking for in an education system. 5.2.5 Contributing to a community of practice Merida was not only able to adapt to teaching in Ontario; she also brought her unique skills and abilities that enabled her to contribute to her school community. As she had mentioned, her school community comprised

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mainly immigrants from East Asia. Merida explained that because of her multilingual background, and particularly as she had taught in a multilingual school with children from diverse backgrounds in Venezuela, she was able to assist her ESL students in Canada: I developed strategies to include those children into my Spanish lessons, if they did not speak Spanish or into my Italian lessons, if they did not speak Italian. So, coming in here, and finding myself in a multicultural environment, that experience was useful. Things that for other teachers, for example, teachers who have always taught in Canada, this multicultural environment was a big change, when it came. ‘How do I help this kid, that doesn’t understand when I’m reading a story?’ Or, ‘How do I help this kid that doesn’t know how to put on paper, the things that he or she has learned?’ For me, it was already second nature because I had done it. (3: 386) Merida also mentioned that she was a bridge for Spanish speaking students and their parents: I’ve had a couple of opportunities of students whose first language was Spanish at home, and so I was kind of the middle person, the middle man between their teachers or the principal and their parents because of my multilingual kind of background. (3: 288) Thus, Merida’s multilingual background and experiences not only facilitated her acquisition of language and culture for the teaching profession, but enabled her to make positive contributions to her diverse school community.

5.3 Discussion In the preceding sections, I have described the journeys of two internationally educated teachers who attained professional success in two different teaching contexts in Ontario. In this section, I interpret the findings, focusing on four topics: (a) the relationships between identity, agency and second language learning; (b) affordances and constraints in professional acculturation and achieving professional success; (c) transformation in a community of practice; and (d) the nature of identity.

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5.3.1 The relationships between identity, agency and second language learning The narratives of Evelyn and Merida clearly present their view of themselves, their identities. These two narratives also reflect the multifaceted nature of identity, which comprise social identity and personal identity. The social identities that were especially prominent in Evelyn’s and Merida’s narratives were their language learner identity and their professional identity. In this section I discuss how the various aspects of these two participants’ social and personal identities mediated their learning of an additional language and culture. The findings speak to Holland and Lachiotte’s (2006) claim that identity contributes to agency. Holland and Lachiotte maintained that identities motivate action, and that individuals pursue actions that validate their identity.

5.3.1.1 Language learner identity The language learning stories of Merida and Evelyn offer some interesting similarities and differences. As mentioned in the previous sections, Merida had not learned any English before arriving in Canada, while Evelyn had some school English. Both participants were in their mid-20s when they arrived in Canada, and were able to acquire a high level of proficiency in English. Merida’s transcripts are verbatim, thus, giving an indication of her proficiency in English. Evelyn, whom I thought was one of the most proficient speakers of English in my study, had elected to edit some text in her interview transcript. However, the changes made were not to correct grammar, but to clarify information and to improve the coherence of her speech, for example, by completing incomplete phrases. Evelyn had commented on how she felt that she sounded incoherent in the transcript, as she had never seen her oral speech in written form. She realized that there was a difference between oral and written language, but nevertheless wished to improve the coherence in her interview transcript. I maintain that Evelyn’s concern about how her speech is presented to others is an indication of her identity as a language person; associated with Evelyn’s identity as a language person was the importance of having excellent language skills. In terms of second language learning experiences, there were some differences between Merida and Evelyn. Merida grew up bilingually, and was fluent in Italian and Spanish. Thus, English was Merida’s third language.

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Merida positioned herself as a multilingual and multicultural person. Her narrative reflected her acceptance of her identity as a language learner and a speaker of English as an additional language, and she did not report feeling self conscious about how she spoke English and asking others to correct her. Her acceptance of her identity as a second language learner facilitated her learning of English. I suggest that there is a connection between the two: Perhaps because Merida was already fluent in two languages, she saw herself as a successful language learner. Thus, her multilingual and multicultural identity and her identity as a successful language learner mediated her learning of English. In contrast, Evelyn said that it took her a long time before she became comfortable with herself as a speaker of English as an additional language, who spoke English with an accent. While it was not easy for either participant to learn English, that is, they both described their effort and perseverance, Evelyn described how emotionally taxing it was for her to learn English at an academic level. For example, when she started the Bachelor of Education programme after being in Canada for 4 years, she said that she was ‘crying her eyes out’ because she could not understand what her professor was saying. I maintain that Evelyn’s discomfort with her accent and her traumatic experience at university is connected to the fact that Evelyn saw herself as a ‘language person’ who had a strong interest in language and literature. This aspect of Evelyn’s identity was also evident in her professional specialization; she switched from being a family studies teacher to becoming a school librarian, a position that fit her interests and that she greatly enjoyed. Being a ‘language person,’ it was important for Evelyn to be able to express herself well in words, a fact that is supported by Evelyn’s wish to edit her interview transcript. Thus, it was more difficult for Evelyn to be confronted with limitations in her English ability, and to accept herself as a speaker of English as an additional language. Another possible explanation for the different experience of Evelyn, compared to Merida, may be found in Erikson’s work on identity formation. According to Erikson, an individual requires affirmation of their identity for psychological well being. In Evelyn’s case, first of all, her identity as a language person, that is, someone who is interested in and good at learning language, was important for her. Thus, she felt more vulnerable when this identity was threatened, for example, when she discovered her limitations in her English language skills upon arrival in Canada, and later, upon entry into university. Because Merida already had a strong sense of herself as a multilingual speaker, she was aware of her language

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abilities and her self identity was not as vulnerable. Thus, she was more open to positioning herself as a second language learner, and asking others for help. 5.3.1.2 Professional identity Merida’s social identity as a teacher was central in her narrative. As mentioned earlier, she said that she ‘used to play teacher’ with her friends when she was a child, and after studying computer science for 2 years, she decided to become a teacher, because the teaching profession was a better fit for her. Merida’s narrative revealed her strong desire to gain entry into the teaching profession in Canada, and this desire mediated her agency to learn English, to take all of the settlement English courses, and to complete all of the recertification requirements. She said, ‘It was always in my mind that I wanted to go back to teaching’ (3: 282). Her goal to continue her teaching career in Canada also mediated her activities. For example, when she had to complete the numerous courses that were required for recertification, she changed the activity by using the courses as opportunities to improve her English. Also, in the introductory Italian course that she was required to take in order to qualify to teach Italian (even though she was fluent in Italian), she used the course to practise her teaching skills by helping other students. Similarly, she used the 2 years of substitute teaching, which she did in order to receive her permanent teaching certificate, as an opportunity to learn about the Ontario school system: Having those two years of opportunities to visit different classrooms, to visit classrooms at different grade levels, it helped me decide in which age group I wanted to work, and what was going to be my starting teaching style. And then from there, I modified as I thought it was necessary. So nowadays I have my own teaching style, but I have to acknowledge that many of those ideas came from the supply teaching years. (3: 246) Thus, Merida’s professional identity mediated her agency in aligning her activities with her goal of becoming a teacher in Ontario, and facilitated her acquisition of professional language and culture. In contrast, Evelyn’s professional identity, which was also interrelated with her personal identity, resulted in constraints and conflicts in her acquisition of professional language and culture. Evelyn reported great difficulties in learning how to communicate with Canadian parents in the

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Canadian way, which she felt was indirect and ‘political.’ This manner of communicating was in sharp contrast to Evelyn’s temperament and upbringing, which valued directness and honesty in communication. Evelyn’s narrative conveyed how difficult it was for her to adapt to this way of communicating. She said that at the beginning, it was ‘very revolting’ to her, as it was against her principles, her deep beliefs and way of being. In Evelyn’s case, her professional and personal identities resulted in her resistance to Canadian communication norms. Evelyn was able to learn this way of communicating, but it took her a long time. As she said, even though she understood it cognitively, she struggled to accept it emotionally. What is also interesting is that even though Evelyn was able to adapt, and to become a successful teacher in Ontario, she still did not agree with this Canadian way of communicating even after 31 years of teaching in the Ontario school system. Evelyn’s narrative revealed the stability of her deeply internalized beliefs and related aspects of her identity. 5.3.1.3 Personal identity In addition to their social identities mediating their professional acculturation, the narratives of Evelyn and Merida also reflected how they viewed their personal identities, that is, their dispositions, and how their dispositions mediated their language learning and adaptation. Evelyn spoke about her ‘temperament’ of being honest and direct in communication; this aspect of her disposition made it difficult for her to adapt to the more indirect way of communicating in the Canadian education context that valued political correctness. Merida’s narrative revealed her disposition of persistence and determination in learning English, for example, when she insisted on having an English speaking pediatrician although having a Spanish speaking pediatrician would have been easier, and when she said that she told her husband not to order Spanish cable television so that she could expose herself to the English language as much as possible. 5.3.2 Affordances and constraints in professional acculturation Regarding affordances and constraints in the professional acculturation of Evelyn and Merida, three key concepts of the community of practice framework are useful for interpreting the findings: the need for legitimate peripheral participation, the community stance and the negotiation of beliefs and values entailed by multi-memberships.

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In both cases, the newcomer teachers needed to be legitimate peripheral participants in order to access the physical and human resources of the new community. Lave and Wenger (1991) maintained that access to the community’s resources is key and crucial to the newcomer’s learning and becoming a full participant. For Merida, substitute teaching gave her access to the resources of other, more experienced Canadian teachers. She was able to learn about the Ontario school system and curriculum delivery through the lesson plans of other teachers and by being in their classrooms, with all their material artefacts. The ease of these two teachers’ professional acculturation also depended on the peripherality of their participation, that is, whether they were able to enter gradually. Merida was able to participate peripherally through substitute teaching. Evelyn, who started teaching full-time as soon as she obtained recertification, did not have a transitional phase to ease into teaching in Ontario. Even though Evelyn had successfully completed the 1-year bachelor of education degree programme at an Ontario university, she found teaching in a real classroom quite challenging. She said that the first 4 or 5 years were very difficult. Another factor that impacted upon these two teachers’ acculturation was the community stance. The community of practice framework emphasizes that learning is socially situated and depends on the interaction between the newcomer and others who are already in the community. Evelyn recounted more difficulties in being accepted by some members in her teaching community, especially the students and their parents. In contrast, Merida’s narrative revealed how established members in her professional community of practice accepted her as a legitimate teacher. This was evident in Merida’s description of her initial job interview: If I sometimes have difficulty coming up with words, or the words that will better express my ideas right now, just imagine ten years ago, right? However, those people, the principals for School District Two, and even the human resources personnel from the Catholic district school board, they were understanding, very flexible. And I felt at that time, that my fluency was not going to be hindering the results of my interview. They were really looking at the ability that I had to take over a classroom, keep the kids for a day2, and teach them something, rather than just the fluency or how many words per minute I could say. (3: 260) Thus, for both participants, the degree of the community’s acceptance of them as legitimate members impacted on their acculturation process.

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The third major theme that I wish to highlight is the importance of beliefs in the professional acculturation process. For Evelyn, whose beliefs about teaching and learning were in conflict with the Canadian norms, adjustment was much more difficult. Evelyn had to adapt to the Canadian norms before she could become a successful teacher in Canada. For Merida, whose beliefs about what constitutes good teaching and learning were in agreement with the Canadian education system, adjustment to teaching in Ontario was fairly unproblematic.

5.3.3 Transformation in a community of practice These two narratives also show how the participants brought with them their unique histories, and as argued by Lave and Wenger (1991), newcomers can contribute to change in the community of practice into which they enter and become full participants. Not only did the participants change themselves by adapting to the Ontario education system, but they also brought their values and skills into the education system. For example, Merida’s experience and skills in teaching in a multilingual environment in Venezuela enabled her to contribute her knowledge and skills to her linguistically diverse school community in Ontario. Evelyn described how she brought skills and knowledge acquired in the Austrian school system to her Ontario teaching context. By exposing her students to a different teaching style, she was also affecting change in her community of practice. The key point is that in both cases, Evelyn and Merida were able to affect change only after they became full members in their communities of practice. Their acceptance as legitimate peripheral participants by established members in their professional communities enabled Evelyn and Merida to become full members. Although Evelyn reported greater conflict in achieving this status, particularly with students and parents in her first few years of teaching in Ontario, the support and acceptance that she received from her school administrator and colleagues enabled her to become a successful member in her professional community.

5.3.4 The nature of identity The retrospective narratives of these two IET participants also provided indications of the nature of identity, namely, the socially constructed nature of identity, and the enduring nature of identity across time and space.

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First, analysis of the narratives revealed the socially constructed nature of identity. For example, Merida’s principal’s belief in her abilities as a teacher helped to construct and affirm Merida’s identity and capabilities as a teacher. It gave her confidence in herself, and the psychological support that she needed to become a successful teacher in Ontario. This speaks to Erikson’s (1968) view of the importance of affirmation of one’s identity from others in one’s community. Similarly, Evelyn’s professional identity was also affirmed by others in their communities. In Evelyn’s case, her first principal played a key role in supporting her professional identity, which was initially not validated by some students and parents in her school community. Thus, identity is not formed solely in an individual but requires validation from others in one’s community. Second, in contrast to post-structural views of identity as being fragmented, conflicted, fluid and constantly shifting in discourse, these participants’ narratives present their identities as socially constructed but internalized and enduring across time and space. This speaks to the concept of self identity, which I discussed in Chapter 2. Self identity refers to identity at the intramental level. It is a person’s sense of an enduring and coherent self that requires affirmation for psychological well-being. For example, Merida’s professional identity was presented throughout her narrative as an enduring aspect of her sense of self. In Evelyn’s case, her disposition, which was related to her deeply internalized beliefs that were formed in her early life experiences in Austria, persisted despite decades of living and teaching in Canada. Evelyn encountered difficulties when this aspect of her self identity was not validated by others in her new community of practice in Canada. The findings in this chapter also speak to several points made by Penuel and Wertsch (1995) regarding a sociocultural theoretical perspective on Erikson’s psychoanalytic theory of identity formation. First, the findings show how identity is shaped by mediational means such as social interaction (social acceptance and social support) and cultural tools such as beliefs. In addition, the narratives of Evelyn and Merida speak to the crucial role of commitment to an occupation in the formation and maintenance of a coherent and enduring identity. This point explains why the affirmation and maintenance of professional identity were of great importance to both participants. Lastly, the narratives also confirm Penuel and Wertsch’s statement that identity can be seen as a form of rhetorical action that persuade oneself and others of who one is. Through their narratives, the participants constructed a coherent and enduring self, which is necessary for a sense of psychological well-being.

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5.3.5 Summary These two internationally educated teachers’ narratives of their experiences revealed the role of identity in mediating their acquisition of an additional language and culture. The findings also revealed the importance of the community’s attitude towards the newcomer teacher and the importance of beliefs about teaching and learning to the successful professional acculturation of internationally educated teachers. Finally, these findings show that identity, agency and the process of learning an additional language and culture are socially mediated. The journeys of these two teachers offer encouragement to other newcomer teachers as they show that it is possible to become a successful teacher in a new language and a new education system. As Merida stated: It was not easy, but it was worth it. So to another teacher that has to come to Canada and has to go through a similar process, I would say, I cannot promise it will be easy, but I can definitely promise it will be worth it. (3: 382)

Chapter 6

Professional Integration in Two Contexts: A Chemical Engineer in Canada and an Architect in Denmark

In this chapter, I focus on the retrospective narratives of two high-skilled migrants in two different professions and two different contexts: Peter, a chemical engineer in Canada and Kerri, an architect and interior designer in Denmark. At the time of our interviews, both Peter and Kerri had obtained full-time permanent teaching positions in the previous academic semester at colleges in Ontario. For both, teaching full-time at a college was a second career. Both had left their countries of origin when they were in their mid-20s and had spent a similar number of years in their destination countries. As in the previous chapter, the narratives of Peter and Kerri highlight their initial second language learning experiences and their journeys to professional integration in a new society. Kerri was a special case in my study because she was originally from Ontario, Canada, but had left for Denmark when she was 26 years old. Kerri had lived in Denmark for 19 years before moving back to Canada. In this chapter, I compare the experiences of high-skilled migrants in two different national contexts. As I discussed in Chapter 1, in recent years, the professional integration of high-skilled migrants in Europe has been a major issue. Denmark is an interesting case to consider because it has been actively recruiting highskilled migrants and because it has a national language that is scarcely spoken beyond its borders. In this chapter, I first present the main themes from each narrative and then discuss the findings.

6.1 Peter, Chemical Engineer When I interviewed Peter in January 2006, Peter had just completed one semester of full-time teaching at a college in Ontario. However, Peter was not new to teaching because he had taught part-time in the chemical

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engineering department at the same college for 10 years while working full-time as a chemist in research and development. In the autumn of 2005, he obtained a permanent full-time teaching position at the college. As Peter was one of my phase two case study participants, I was able to observe Peter teach three different courses. Peter clearly demonstrated his expertise in chemistry and in teaching, as well as his enjoyment of teaching and rapport with students. Peter expressed great satisfaction with his teaching career: The contact with young people and opening their eyes, telling them about . . . because I have lots of experience from industry, telling them about what’s happening there, how the real life looks like. (. . .) It’s very rewarding and I really like that. (25: 146) Because Peter was one of my case study participants, we had two in-depth interviews. In this chapter, I focus on Peter’s retrospective narrative of his language learning and acculturation experiences in our first interview. 6.1.1 Why I left Poland At the time of our interview, Peter had been in Canada for 17 years. He was a food chemist with a Masters degree in chemistry from Poland. He had completed his mandatory military service and had worked for 1 year in Poland before coming to Canada. When I asked Peter what brought him to Canada, he replied: It was a very personal reason. I’m gay. So Poland is a very Catholic country, and this kind of behaviour and lifestyle is not accepted in Poland. So that was a very personal reason. That’s why I am here. (25: 12) Thus, in contrast to Evelyn and Merida, Peter made the decision to immigrate to Canada on his own and to leave behind a society that did not accept him. I asked Peter why he chose Canada. He replied: I had three options, U.S., Canada or Australia. Australia is too far away, U.S. is a little bit too wild, so Canada was the best choice. (25: 18) Peter explained that he had come to Canada legally in 1989 before the fall of the Iron Curtain, so he could go back any time he wants, but he has never been back.

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Unlike Merida and Evelyn, Peter did not have any friends or relatives here in Canada, so Peter had more constraints during his settlement. Like Merida, Peter had not learned English in his country of origin: When I came here I know how to say ‘okay,’ ‘the end’ from the movies, and sorry, I knew how to say ‘fuck.’ So that was all, three words. (. . .) I started learning English in Poland like two or three months before I came here, but that was like basically nothing. (25: 82) Like Evelyn and Merida, Peter achieved professional success in Canada. He was able to continue his career as a chemist in the food industry as well as begin a teaching career. From knowing ‘three words’ in English, Peter was able to acquire an additional language and culture to function successfully in his two professions – chemical engineering and teaching. Peter’s second language acquisition experiences and professional acculturation in the Ontario public education system offer an interesting contrast to the experiences of Merida and Evelyn. The following sections highlight Peter’s narrative of his second language learning and acculturation experiences in three phases: initial settlement, re-entry into his profession and entry into teaching. 6.1.2 Learning English during initial settlement Peter had learned Russian in school and was fluent in German, which he had learned in school and university as well as during visits to Germany every summer, but as I mentioned earlier, he had almost no knowledge of English upon arrival in Canada. In contrast to Merida and Evelyn, Peter learned English without taking any formal English courses. Peter described the hardships during his initial settlement period, the 2 years while he was waiting for his landed immigrant visa. Although ‘officially’ he had many sponsors – the Polish-Canadian Congress, the Polish Church and private people – in reality, no one was taking care of him. In fact, rather than taking care of him, his private sponsors took advantage of him, making him clean their homes. Peter said understatedly, ‘It wasn’t pleasant’ (25: 82). He had to work odd jobs in order to survive, and said that he was walking to work because he could not even afford to take the subway at first because it was too expensive (25: 178). Because of these circumstances, Peter had to learn English on his own: And when I came here I had tapes, books, exercises and I spent every day learning English at home. I couldn’t go to school because I was working

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full time, mostly nights, whatever I could get, so you know, I was constantly tired and my day was upside down. (. . .) So I learned on my own. Then you know, TV, radio, newspapers and I was talking to people constantly. (25: 82) Given Peter’s reason for leaving Poland, and his problematic relationship with his Polish sponsors, Peter distanced himself from the Polish-Canadian community: Unfortunately for the first half a year I ended up in a Polish area, where everyone speaks Polish and I hated it. Because my attitude and my understanding was I’m here, I have to learn English in order to survive. Sure I could survive in a little Polish area or little Poland or whatever you call it. But that wasn’t my goal. (25: 82) Peter also added that his sponsors had been in Canada for almost 30 years and they barely spoke English: ‘It was kind of pathetic. I didn’t want to be like them’ (25: 166). As soon as he was able to, Peter moved out and away from the Polish neighbourhood. Ironically, he ended up renting a room from another Polish immigrant: But she was a doctor from Poland and she was working on her degree and evaluation because she wanted to be a doctor here. So despite the fact that she was Polish, we forced ourselves to speak English at home. And we started correcting each other, because we were in the same boat. Yeah, and sometimes we couldn’t say something in English, so we switched to Polish. (25: 170) So Peter did not automatically reject all people from Poland; he did, however, want to be with people who he thought could support his goal of learning English: I didn’t really want to hang around with immigrants at that point, with you know, with people who spoke broken English, because I wanted to learn proper English. So I was very selective about who were my friends. [laughs] I was doing my best. I was trying to survive! (25: 172) Peter’s attitude towards the Polish-Canadian community shows the complexity and contingency of identity and agency. Unlike social psychological models that have been critiqued by some SLA scholars1 for conceptualizing

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in- and out-group relations as consistent over time and space, Peter’s narrative showed how his rejection of the Polish-Canadian community was contingent; that is, he did not automatically reject all Polish-Canadians as he did develop a positive relationship with another Polish-Canadian immigrant because they shared the same goals. Peter mentioned several times that the greatest help for him in learning English was talking to people: The biggest help I was getting from people, I talked to them. And because I was very open about that. You know, like Canadians are very polite and Canadians wouldn’t correct your English by any means because they don’t want to hurt your feelings. I was talking to people and I was like, ‘Listen, I’m learning English. You hear, when I say something wrong correct me, please.’ So the biggest help I was getting from other people. And of course you know, reading, listening to radio, watching TV, that helped. But the live interaction with the people was the biggest help. (25: 172) Upon receiving his landed immigrant status that permitted Peter to work officially, Peter worked for one and a half years in a coffee shop. Peter said: Working in a coffee shop was great. I was constantly talking to people. So that improved my English again because I was yak yak yak yak yak . . . I was either talking to customers or my colleagues. So it was like an eight-hour English lesson for me. That’s how I thought about that. Still I was doing the job because I needed the money to survive. So I was serving small, large and double-double. But then I was talking all the time, ‘Hi, how are you, what’s new, the weather is great, this, that,’ you know. (25: 376) Peter explained that he was not only learning the language, but also the culture, for example, what was considered acceptable in terms of behaviour and communication style. His co-workers would tell him when he made a faux pas, such as being too direct. Like Merida, Peter accepted his identity as a newcomer. By positioning himself as a person who is learning English as an additional language, he actively sought the help of others. Peter also demonstrated his agency in insisting on being corrected. Peter described how he elicited help from his Canadian co-worker when he was working in a coffee shop: I had to train him and I said, ‘Listen,’ his name was Jeff, so I said, ‘Jeff listen, when I talk to you, when I make a mistake, you correct me.’

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‘Oh, Canadians just don’t do that.’ I said, ‘I don’t care. You will be doing that.’ And I said that should be written in the Canadian constitution that English speaking people in Canada should correct immigrants. [laughs] He couldn’t understand that but then he was helping me. (25: 378) From a sociocultural theoretical perspective, an interesting aspect of Peter’s anecdote about working in a coffee shop is that through his goal of learning English, he changed the activity of serving ‘small, large and double-double’ into an ‘8-hour English lesson.’ In addition, the excerpt given shows how Peter was able to change the behaviour of his Canadian colleague. As Peter said, he ‘trained’ his co-worker to correct his English. This is an example of how Peter was able to affect change in his co-worker, an established member in the destination society. Peter also explained that they became good friends and that because of their friendship, Jeff became interested in Europe. Jeff even learned some Polish from Peter, and travelled to Poland, where he visited and stayed with Peter’s parents. Thus, Peter’s contact with Jeff resulted in widening Jeff’s experiences. Although Peter said that he liked working in a coffee shop, he also mentioned that it was a survival job. After one and a half years, Peter was ready to seek re-entry into his professional field of chemical engineering. 6.1.3 Transitioning into a professional community Peter had his qualifications from Poland assessed. His Masters degree in chemistry was recognized, and qualified him to work as a chemist in Canada. However, Peter decided to get some Canadian education: I was scared to death to go to a university, so I went to a college and I took chemistry. And originally they didn’t want to accept me because you know, they looked at my documents, my papers and they were like ‘Okay, you have master’s degree in chemistry and you’re taking chemistry at the college? College level?’ But I insisted on that because I said ‘I want, I need, I want to have some Canadian education.’ (25: 62) Completing a college diploma in Ontario was an important affordance in Peter’s re-entry into his profession in Canada. First, one of the reasons why Peter did not try to enrol in a university was because he would have to take the TOEFL, a standardized test of academic English proficiency, and at that point, he thought his English ‘wasn’t there yet’ (25: 388). The college had its own internal test of English, which Peter was able to pass. Second, the

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coursework and the language skills needed to complete the coursework did not pose any challenges because Peter was already familiar with the content. As Peter stated: Despite the fact that my education is from a foreign country but it’s science. Science is science. Two plus two equals four in Poland and two plus two equals four in Canada. So you know, benzene has the same structure in Poland and the same structure in Canada. (25: 342) Third, completing the 2-year college diploma programme gave Peter Canadian qualifications, which, combined with his graduate degree in chemistry from Poland, enabled him to obtain employment as a chemist in the Canadian food industry: And only because I had that education I was able to get my first job. Because when I got the interview for my first job, they looked at my Canadian education and the manager was very impressed with that. And he said, ‘Oh, and you have master’s in chemistry as well on top of that.’ So it paid back. (25: 58) Peter enrolled in the college diploma programme approximately 4 years after he arrived in Canada. He said that the biggest surprise was discovering that the majority of the professors and students in the chemical engineering programme were immigrants. Out of ten faculty members, only two were native English speakers: And the rest of them were immigrants, well everyone spoke English of course, but it was English with heavy-duty accent. (. . .) So my biggest surprise was like . . . I expected everyone to be Canadian and speaking the perfect Queen’s English. And I was like ‘Whoa!’ So I’m not alone obviously. (25: 90, 92) Thus, in his professional community, Peter felt that he was a legitimate member from the start. The department where Peter was currently a fulltime faculty member was equally diverse. Six out of the seven faculty members were immigrants, and 60 per cent of the students were immigrants. Peter said that in one of his courses, only 3 or 4 out of 18 students were Canadian and the rest were from all over the world. In the next section, I focus on Peter’s experiences with language and culture as an internationally educated faculty in an Ontario college.

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6.1.4 Professional acculturation: Entry into a diverse community of practice Approximately 2 years after Peter completed the diploma programme, Peter was approached by one of his college professors, who was also the coordinator, to teach a part-time evening course. Peter said that both of his parents were teachers, so he grew up with ‘teaching and teachers and students’ (25: 120). Thus, when he was offered the opportunity to teach, he decided to give it a try. Because he enjoyed the teaching, he continued to teach part-time for 10 years while working full-time as a chemist in the food industry. He taught one or two courses at night-school every semester. When a full-time position came up at the college in the chemical engineering department, Peter was one of 46 applicants for the job. Given his strong industry and teaching experience, he was successful in obtaining the position. So the decision of going to college paid back because I was teaching there part-time for ten years, different courses at night school. And then when two teachers retired, they advertised the position. I was right in front of the line because they were looking for someone with teaching experience. Teaching experience and I worked full-time as a chemist in the industry. That’s what they were looking for. And . . . I think 46 people applied for that job, and I got it. (25: 74) Peter’s acculturation experiences to teaching in Canada offer an interesting contrast to the K-12 teachers discussed in the previous chapter. First of all, as mentioned, in the chemical engineering department at the college, the majority of both faculty and students were immigrants. Thus, Peter was not self-conscious about his English language skills: I knew this kind of culture. I didn’t have any problem with you know, talking in front of – my first class was kind of big. It was like forty-five students. I didn’t have any problem with that. I didn’t have any problem with you know, my English, and the fact that I had an accent. I got over that very quickly. Because my attitude was, if you don’t understand me, you don’t want to understand. You don’t want to listen to me. I know my pronunciation is clean enough and people can understand me. And if someone keeps saying ‘Huh? Huh?’ It’s like . . . Okay, don’t bother. Move on. So I didn’t have a problem with that. (25: 182)

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This comment clearly shows Peter’s confidence and comfort level with his English language ability. It also shows that he ardently resisted being positioned by others as a deficient English speaker. I asked Peter whether he thought that his immigrant students liked the fact that he was also an immigrant. Peter replied: Yes, I figured that out a long time ago when I had the first lecture. I opened my mouth, I started talking, and I can see the relief on the immigrant students’ faces. They are like, ‘Oh, thank God, he’s one of us. He doesn’t speak English.’ Meanwhile, Canadians are usually like [groan], ‘Another immigrant who doesn’t speak English.’ Yeah, but they have no choice, yeah. So for immigrants students it’s much easier on them that, you know . . . English is not my first language and obviously you know, my English is much better than some of them. (25: 308) So the fact that the majority of faculty and students in Peter’s department were immigrants contributed to his sense of membership in this community of practice. Another important difference between Peter’s teaching context and experience, compared to Merida and Evelyn, was that he was teaching chemistry, which had its own language. Peter said, ‘We are not teaching English poetry, we are teaching science’ (25: 106). Later in the interview, Peter reiterated: It’s not like we are teaching English literature, we’re not teaching them how to write poetry. And you know, it’s a technical language, a technical approach to everything. So English is not very elaborate. It’s not dressed in little phrases and unusual words. We try to make it as simple as possible. (25: 322) Peter also explained that although he learned chemistry in another language, he was able to translate everything into English and share his knowledge with his students. However, this is not to say that there were no challenges with language in his professional context. Peter said the lecturing in English was challenging: I’m at a point that I’m not exactly clear what language I think in. It’s kind of strange when you know, everyday talk like our conversation, I don’t even think how to say things, what words to use. When I talk about very

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technical issues, very often I translate from Polish on the go. And sometimes it happens that I do not know the proper word or terminology for a given phrase. And then I have to work around that somehow. So that’s very challenging. So but . . . I’m doing my best. (25: 298) Peter explained that classroom communication was also problematic because of some students’ English language abilities: Some of my students don’t speak English. Their English is very poor. They have very strong accents and it’s very hard to understand them. So and they ask me questions and I’m not sure if the question is kind of screwed up because of his English or because he or she doesn’t understand it. (25: 298) Peter noted that it was not only immigrant students who had problems with language: But then surprisingly when I mark tests or lab reports, and I’m talking about Canadians, I see spelling errors, I see grammar errors and I’m like, ‘Well it’s your language, you don’t know how to write it?’ (25: 322) Regarding teaching in Canada, Peter said that the biggest surprise was that he thought teaching in Canada was done in the same style as teaching in Poland, that a professor lectured and the students took notes: So during my first lecture I started talking, everyone was sitting and staring at me. And I was like, ‘Guys aren’t you going to take notes?’ And they said, ‘Oh you didn’t tell us to write it down.’ And I was like ‘Okay, so I have to tell you, “Write this down”?’ And they said ‘Yeah. How would we know what to write down?’ They were just sitting and staring at me. So I started giving them handouts. And that was the biggest surprise. (25: 182) He had to adjust his teaching style to include more guidance and more visual aids for the students. However, he said that he learned that fairly quickly. Once he realized that he needed to change his teaching style, it was not difficult for him to do so: Yeah, after that I learned very quickly that I must prepare you know, overheads. I must give them handouts. And materials, I have to supply to them. And then we were okay from that point on. (25: 184)

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Peter’s acculturation to teaching in Canada was in a number of ways much easier than it was for Evelyn or Merida. In his community of practice, given that the majority of his colleagues and students were immigrants, Peter had an ‘insider’ status from the start. Also, Peter started his teaching career in the part-time night school programme, which was attended mainly by highly motivated, mature immigrant students: They work full-time. They want to learn something because they have jobs which are not that great. They want to upgrade their knowledge. As soon as they can get some sort of a certificate or they have completed four or five courses, they will be promoted at work, they will be making a dollar, two dollars more per hour, and they work very hard towards that. And they really appreciate any help. (25: 194) In contrast, the student body in the full-time day programme were mainly recent graduates from high school, some of whom were in the programme because of parental pressure rather than personal choice. Thus, student attitudes and behaviours were quite different between the day and night programmes at the college level. Although professional acculturation for Peter was fairly unproblematic, Peter did mention that he had much support from the college, which had a formal programme of professional development and mentorship. Peter commented on the importance of having more experienced teachers on staff to help new teachers: There are some issues when you meet someone with experience, you can’t find that in books. You can’t find that on Internet. You can’t ‘google’ it. You need a live person with experience in teaching to help you. (25: 354) Peter also described the support that he received from a college professor who recently retired from his department. This faculty member helped him by sharing her notes with him and coaching him. When I asked Peter what he felt contributed to his professional success in Canada, he said, ‘My attitude.’ (25: 332). He said that he always did his best: I had this attitude for any job I did, even when I was working in a coffee shop I was doing my best. (25: 336)

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Peter said that it was difficult for high-skilled immigrants to get back on track in their field: You have to be highly motivated. You have to keep networking. You have to talk to people. You have to be outgoing. (. . .) A lot of that is personality. A lot of that comes from motivation. But in my case my glass is always half full. Even when it is empty it’s half full. So I have this kind of an attitude. (25: 364, 366) Upon reflecting on his journey to professional success in Canada, Peter said that the initial recognition of his credentials when he first arrived was crucial: Obviously English was a big obstacle at first. It was a big problem because I was learning a new language. And then again I was very highly motivated. I was like okay, I have to learn. I have to learn another word. I have to learn another rule, blah, blah, blah. And I will get somewhere with that, because I was very pleased when my diploma, university degree was evaluated by the university. I was extremely pleased with that and it was like thank god. It means that my knowledge, my university degree will be recognized in this country. That was the biggest point and I thought okay, because the university, which is a huge institution, said, ‘Okay, we agree with you, you have your Masters degree,’ I thought ‘Okay, I will get somewhere with that. I will use it. Sooner or later I will use it.’ (25: 368) Thus, institutional recognition of Peter’s previous education in Poland gave him great encouragement by affirming his education, his capabilities and his identity as a professional.

6.2 Kerri, Architect Kerri’s migration experiences reflect some of the recent trends in global migration, that is, circular migration and transnationalism. At the time of our interview in June 2006, Kerri had been back in Canada for 6 months after living in Denmark for 19 years. Like Peter, Kerri had had a career in another field before embarking on a teaching career. Kerri said that she loved the contact with students and explained that teaching developed naturally through her PhD programme, and that teaching put things into

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perspective for her and put the pieces of her career into a framework that made them usable together: I had this degree in interior design, then I had this degree in architecture and the master’s, and then I had the PhD. I had work experience in design and architecture, and then I did films. It was sort of like I was just sort of like jumping around, all over the places, different areas, both in the theory and in the practice and sort of methods of communication. And I think sometimes I kind of question like, you know, when are you gonna get serious with your life and actually get a job, you know, do something here? When I taught, I had this feeling that, Oh man! Like all the pieces just kind of came together. (113: 136) In this chapter, I focus on Kerri’s narrative of her language learning and professional acculturation experiences in Denmark. Kerri’s narrative was unique because she was one of the few participants who made explicit references to her identity and the connections between language and identity.

6.2.1 Why I went to Denmark Like Evelyn, Kerri left her country of origin because she wanted to experience a different culture. She had graduated with a degree in interior design, and had worked as an interior designer for 5 years when she went to Denmark in the mid-1980s at the age of 26. Because of her professional interest in art history and architecture, Kerri had travelled to Europe and had met a Dane in Paris. After a long-distance relationship for 2 years, Kerri decided to make the move to Denmark: I think for me, it was definitely an adventure, you know, to move to another country, to learn another language, to experience another culture as being actually a part of it, and with a design background and that’s sort of an international language in its own. Drawing is something that you can do regardless of your spoken language. So I figured it may be an easier move for me than for the Danish guy that I was involved with, because he was a business major. So there you really are much more dependent on language, sort of precision of language, which he didn’t have in written English. So I moved. (113: 18)

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Like Merida and Peter, Kerri had almost no knowledge of Danish before she went there. Kerri said that she could say two things: I could say tak, which is ‘thank you,’ useful. And then I could say this strange thing that translates to, it’s something apparently parents say to their children, it means ‘Eat my little pig, because tomorrow you go to the slaughterhouse.’ (. . .) You know, they’re not eating their supper, you kind of threaten them lovingly with this expression, but it’s not very useful in job interviews. [laughs] So those are the two things I could say. (113: 28, 32) In the following sections, I present excerpts from Kerri’s narrative that highlighted themes related to language and identity, social and professional integration and Kerri’s attainment of professional success.

6.2.2 Learning Danish: Losing and gaining one’s identity When Kerri arrived in Denmark, she said that she felt quite lost. She didn’t know the language, and everything around her was very different. Kerri said that people didn’t seem to take her seriously, and for her, the issue of identity was strongly linked with language: That whole issue of identity was really important for me. I think I felt when I went to Denmark and realized that, oh my god, I can’t speak this language. I kind of lost some of my identity or felt I’d lost it. I felt like about a three-year-old in a 26-year-old body, you know. It was like I can’t say anything. You know, I can’t communicate the person I am. (113: 70) Kerri said that she started questioning a lot of things about her identity, and that was related to language, ‘that whole idea of verbal expression, but that kind of strikes to deeper things, to personal expression’ (113: 78). In addition, the culture was different; the way people dressed and looked was different: ‘women dressed sort of more provocatively than we did in Canada. And they were all really tall and blonde and you know, that wasn’t me at all’ (13: 78). Kerri said that her identity in Denmark was a combination of rethinking and re-understanding who she was. For example, most people she met assumed that she was American, and when she told them she was Canadian,

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the response was ‘Oh it’s the same thing’ (113: 78). Kerri felt that it was important for her to make the distinction: Growing up as a Canadian and knowing there’s a difference between Canadians and Americans, but the rest of the world maybe perceiving us as being one, I had to be very aware of what those differences – I mean you feel them when you grow up here, but you’re not maybe aware of exactly what they are. So I think that I maybe became more aware of my Canadian identity in Denmark. So the identity I got in Denmark is maybe a greater awareness of who I was as a Canadian. (113: 78) Kerri also said that being in Denmark gave her an opportunity to look at herself from a distance, which is something that people don’t often experience when they are in the flow of their own life in their own society; being uprooted and planted down into another culture gives individuals a rare opportunity to look at themselves. Thus, in Denmark, Kerri became more aware of who she was. Upon returning to Canada, Kerri realized that 19 years is a long time in a life and in another culture. Because she had immersed herself in the Danish culture and society, that culture became a part of her identity. In fact, upon her return to Canada, she was referred to as ‘that person from Denmark’ (113: 78). When Kerri arrived in Denmark, she enrolled in an intensive Danish course. At that point in her career, she wanted go back to school for architecture and needed to have a certain level of Danish before she could apply to the school of architecture. Kerri explained that Denmark had a strong welfare system, and part of that was making sure that people coming to the country have the opportunity to learn the language. Kerri remarked that the learners in her class learned quickly to communicate with each other, but communicating outside the classroom was a different story: It was interesting in the class, because we could communicate with each other. And we kind of figured, ooh we got this cracked, you know. We know how to speak Danish now. And then when we – as soon as you would go out, you know, if you ask somebody what time it was or wanted to buy a banana or whatever, it was ‘What? What did you say? What did you say?’ I don’t know if they refused to understand or because maybe . . . because their ears hadn’t really been tuned into other ways of speaking their language. So the accent was maybe too strong or whatever. I found it very difficult to make myself understood outside of my little group of you know, sort of foreign Danish things. So that was kind of, that was

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difficult. It took a long time to kind of, I think build up the security in yourself to actually use the language, to just kind of throw it out there and say okay, well I’m speaking it, you know, they’re gonna have to understand it at some point. So that was a little difficult in the beginning. (113: 50) Kerri described the process of learning Danish, and recalled the different phases of learning. Kerri’s first phase of learning was being able to distinguish words and phrases from what sounded at first like ‘just noise’ (113: 52). Kerri identified the next stage as being able to communicate but needing to translate things into English and then back into Danish if she wanted to say something. This worked in a one-to-one conversation, but in a group, in the best case scenario, she was just following the conversation: But actually contributing was out of the question, because by the time I sort of did the translation in my head and figured out what I wanted to say, they’re like five miles further. [laughs] (113: 52) The other challenge that Kerri faced was that many Danish people could speak English quite well, and everyone wanted to practise their English. Kerri said that she had to insist on speaking Danish. It was especially difficult to make this transition with people she had met in English when she first arrived: That was really difficult, because there are a few things involved in that, one is how you get to know a person, which is sort of a subconscious thing. You sort of think in that particular language, or you think that person in that language, I think. (. . .) I guess it was just sort of having to consciously say, okay, to people, okay, I wanna do this in Danish. We have to, you know, try and do this in Danish. (113: 52) She found that making the transition from English to Danish, with the man whom she was together with as well as their friends, took a lot of time and effort: In the personal situation, I found it very difficult to sort of insist on my new Danish identity, because we got to know each other in English and I got to know those friends in English too. So it was very difficult to make that transition and say ‘Okay, now I’m also a person in Danish.’ (113: 86)

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After 1 year of learning Danish, Kerri was accepted into the school of architecture. Six months later, her relationship with the Danish man ended. Kerri decided to stay in Denmark on her own: I think it was there that I really felt . . . I had the tools to be there. And part of that had to do with language. Yeah, after a year and a half, you know, I had been in language school for the year and I had been at the school of architecture. I met, I had met people that were my friends, not you know, an extension of some other person. I had enough language to really feel I could communicate and that I could actually take part actively in the culture, whereas before I felt very much like an observer. I was sort of on the sidelines. And it was only at that point that I felt that, wow, you know, I can really be a part of this. (. . .) And I’m a very stubborn person. I mean I remember feeling that you know, I’m not going to be kicked out of this country. I’m not going to leave with my tail between my legs. I’m going to – it’s going to be my decision to leave and on my own terms. And I really felt that at that time, it was where I had the tools to actually be in that society and be a part of that society and I really wanted to give that a go and see how it went. And I never in my wildest dreams imagined though that it would be 19 years. (113: 116) Kerri’s conscious decision to stay in Denmark marked a turning point in her acculturation and integration into Danish society. As she said, she felt that she had the tools at that point to be a part of the society, and she wanted to see where it could lead. The following section follows Kerri’s journey in establishing herself as a professional and member of society.

6.2.3 Social and professional integration: Different identities in different communities It is interesting that Kerri decided to stay in Denmark, because she had not been very happy there. Kerri said that she found it difficult to be there, and that the people were not as warm as they were in Canada. Overall, she did not feel that it was a welcoming society: I don’t think that the Danish society as such is particularly welcoming of foreigners. For me, I – I mean I’m not a visual minority, so I kind of fit in better, I had an easier time of it. But Denmark, it’s a very small country. Five million people and it’s been very sort of protected from ‘invasion’ (. . .) Other cultures haven’t really come to Denmark that much. I mean there was, I think in the ‘30s and ‘40s, Yugoslavians came to Denmark and

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there was work building railways and that sort of stuff and they helped with that. And they were there 30 years and when the work they had to do was done, the Danes expected them to leave, which I mean if you’ve been there 30 years, you have established a life. You maybe have met someone, married, had a family. So that was kind of an odd thing for the Danes to think that well these people actually wanted to stay here. And I think that situation sort of said something about the ‘us’ and ‘them’ that is still I feel prevalent in Danish society. And something I’ve noticed coming back to Canada that immigrants to Canada very quickly seem to say, ‘we’ and talk about themselves as Canadians. Whereas in Denmark, I still after 19 years said ‘they’ when I talked about Danes. (113: 40) Kerri also mentioned that there had been a shift to the right in Denmark, and that people have become less tolerant of groups that are not Danish and blond and blue-eyed: It’s kind of a sad thing actually, because in so many ways, the Danish society is very liberal and very caring of its members. But it’s precisely that. Who are the members of this society, which is kind of the question. (113: 42) Kerri’s first-hand observation of issues concerning migrants in a contemporary European society concurs with the literature regarding ethnic tensions and problems with social cohesion in numerous European nations that I discussed in Chapter 1. When Kerri first arrived, she felt a loss of identity not only because she did not have the language skills to express herself, but also because there was no recognition of previous education and professional experience: My entire background, you know, whatever I had experienced before I stepped off the plane when I arrived in Denmark, didn’t really matter, you know, school experience didn’t count for anything. Work experience was kind of, well, can you use that for here? So there was a lot of stuff that I just, you know, I guess I didn’t feel that welcome all the time. (113: 118) Unlike Peter, whose credentials were recognized in Canada, Kerri did not receive any credits from her previous postsecondary education. Although things have changed in recent years, at the time when she arrived, the education system was ‘very closed’: They didn’t recognize any education outside of their own country or countries they knew like Germany, so I had to start at the very beginning

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of an architecture programme, which in Canada, I probably would have gotten one or two years credit. (113: 54) However, like Merida and Peter, Kerri said that it was okay to repeat coursework because she used the opportunity to improve her language skills: It was okay because I knew the material so I could sort of concentrate on the language. And then I had to actually insist on people speaking to me in Danish. I also had professors asking me if I wanted to do my critiques in English. And it was very nice of them to say that. And they also made a point of saying, ‘If you don’t understand something, let us know. There shouldn’t be anything you don’t understand.’ But everybody wants to practise their English. So you know, you just sort of have to say, ‘Okay, I want to, you know, I want this in Danish.’ (113: 54) In Chapter 1, I discussed some current trends regarding high-skilled migrants and the use of English as a transitional language for newcomers in Denmark. However, it is interesting to note that in Kerri’s case, being a native English speaker made it difficult for her to have opportunities to speak Danish. As shown in the given excerpt, Kerri had to exert her personal agency frequently in order to speak Danish. Kerri said that she didn’t understand a lot at the beginning of her postsecondary studies in Denmark, but she had three aids. First, she knew the material already, so she could focus on learning the language. Second, in architecture, there are many images and the professors frequently used slides in the lectures: I had the visual material to work with and I actually knew that material, so I could kind of match the words with what they were saying. (113: 56). Third, Kerri explained that because Danish is a Germanic language, there were many similarities to English. However, learning profession-specific vocabulary was challenging, especially back then when there were no bilingual dictionaries for specific professions. In contrast to her feeling like an outsider in the wider Danish society, Kerri said that in her school context, which was her professional context at that time, she felt ‘very comfortable very quickly’: And part of that was because I had this sort of background with me. And I could, you know, again what I said about drawing being a different kind of language than the spoken language. I could communicate my

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ability through drawing, through projects, you know, architectural projects. I could communicate my ability to do that. And because I had five years work experience and four years education, I was like way ahead of a lot of those students. So I felt very comfortable with that. When I had to write things – and I did use writing quite a bit as a tool. That’s just sort of the way that I work – I usually wrote in English. So that was okay. Yeah, they could understand enough English. So in that context, I felt comfortable quite quickly. And the language was in that way sort of secondary. (113: 87) Kerri’s comment about drawing being like a language is similar to Peter’s comment about math and science as being universal languages. Thus, in certain professions, there are other means to communicate that enable high-skilled immigrants to demonstrate their ability and knowledge, and reduce communication constraints caused by a lack of proficiency in the destination country’s language. Kerri’s comment also speaks to the connection between language and identity: Through the language of drawing, Kerri was able to communicate her ability and her identity as a professional. I asked Kerri how long it took her to feel comfortable in Danish. Kerri replied that it depended on the context. She recalled inviting some schoolmates over for dinner one night, and not feeling that she was really a part of the conversation: I could follow. I knew what was going on and I could contribute. But the nuances, making jokes or being angry, those kind of extremes there, I didn’t have those things yet. And so I had for myself these, I guess you call them goals, that I sort of felt when I could make a joke, an intentional joke I mean, because sometimes you say really funny things, but when I could make an intentional joke and when I could get angry without people – well and people take it seriously, then that – I felt that that’s when I’ve learned the language. So I would say, you know, to actually communicate in Danish at a level where I was understood, I think that took about a year on a very, very basic level. But about a year and a half, I would say, had grasped the language, could make myself understood. But I’d say about two years before I could actually . . . say things. (113: 68) Kerri also mentioned that she felt most comfortable with the friends whom she had met in school because they were the ones she met on own rather than through her Danish partner. According to the community of practice

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framework, in this professional context, Kerri was a full participant. She had the ‘language’ to communicate her expertise and experience, she shared common interests with her peers, and she had something to contribute. This context affirmed Kerri’s identity as a professional. Over the course of completing her combined bachelor’s and master’s degree in architecture, Kerri became fluent in Danish and wrote her master’s degree in Danish. 6.2.4 Achieving professional success It took Kerri 10 years to complete her combined bachelor’s and master’s degree in architecture. During her studies, she took two maternity leaves of absence, which extended the length of her studies. Even though higher education is tuition free in Denmark, because of the high cost of living, she went back to Canada almost every summer to work in order to earn enough money to support herself through the school year. After completing her degree, Kerri chose to do free lance work for a variety of personal and professional reasons. She said: ‘I felt that I was too old and had too much experience to just be doing other people’s work’ (113: 100). She also knew that 80-hour weeks were the norm for architects and she did not want to miss those years with her young children. She had her own small business and did office design for a few years. During that time, Kerri explored different avenues concerning her career, including successfully producing several short films on architecture for Danish television. Kerri mentioned that she narrated in Danish in the film and said with a laugh: ‘So I kind of cringe when I hear it now cause I am really aware of my accent’ (113: 102). In recounting this exceptional professional achievement, which Kerri described with modesty, Kerri also recalled an incident that occurred during the production of the films: But I had a weird experience when I was making those films, because not often when I – as I said I’m not a visual minority there, so people wouldn’t sort of approach me and be rude or anything. But when I speak, I have an accent. And although I’m fluent in Danish now, I will never lose that accent. When I was doing these films, there was this drunk guy on the street. He was really interested in the filming, you know, I had a camera person and an editor and stuff. (. . .) And this guy came up to me and said, ‘Oh what’s going on? What are you doing?’ I told him that, you know, they were these films for television, for Danish television, short films on, you know, architecture and whatever. He got so angry at me and started yelling at me and saying, you know, ‘What do you know about

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Danish culture? You’re a foreigner. You don’t know anything about it. How dare you make films and try and tell us about our culture?’ It was hor – I was really shocked by it, but I was also really hurt. (. . .) I felt bad, you know, I’ve come this far, I understand enough about this culture and I can combine it with my knowledge of architecture and experiencing the city and that sort of thing. And then to just be slapped in the face with, you know, ‘you’re an outsider’. That was really hard. And I think for me, a picture of what’s constantly lurking in Danish society, the sort of, you know, it’s a very closed society in a lot of ways. So yeah, I mean I kind of sloughed it off. But it hurt, you know, it stung. (106) This story speaks to the issue of the insider-versus-outsider status of migrants in a destination society, and confirms the observations that Kerri had made about Danish society in the previous sections. As Kerri recounted, even though she had made great efforts to be integrated into Danish society and had reached a point where she could make a valuable contribution, she was still considered an outsider by certain members of the mainstream society. In contrast to Kerri’s professional context where she was treated as a valuable member, she felt excluded in mainstream Danish society. Because of her strong interest in theoretical aspects of architecture, she decided to pursue a PhD. Kerri described the process of applying for PhD positions and was successful in obtaining one of very few positions available. Like Evelyn and Merida, Kerri mentioned that she was fortunate in having a mentor, who helped her to attain her professional goal. In Kerri’s case, the mentor was a professor whom Kerri described as being key to her education in many ways: I think he believed in me at that time and could see the more theoretical side of it, and there were projects that I had done that he – I just had really a lot of positive feedback from him that was very encouraging. (. . .) It was lucky for me to meet him, because he’s always believed in the ability for research to be relevant in field of architecture. And so I had this person that, you know, made it real for me too. So anyway, he – I did apply for the PhD. And I was lucky enough to get it. (113: 110) Over the course of Kerri’s PhD programme, Kerri’s career path became clear. Because of the teaching component of the PhD programme, Kerri had the opportunity to develop lectures and workshops on different topics,

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and was often asked to do lectures in different areas of the school. Kerri said that she loved the contact with the students: I loved the communication part of it with the students. I loved . . . their approach to the world, you know. I mean I really felt that I was learning . . . from them. You know, I could maybe teach them things, but I was certainly learning from them. (113: 132) Kerri taught in Danish. I asked Kerri if the students accepted her as a professor, and she answered, ‘Absolutely’ (113: 150). In contrast to her feelings of not being welcome in the wider society, in the school of architecture, Kerri felt like she belonged: And it’s funny because at that point I don’t think I ever thought of myself as not being Danish. I just thought Oh I’m here, you know. And I had been at that school forever, you know. I did my degrees there, I did my PhD there and then I was teaching there. (. . .) I felt very at home there. And I guess I just felt like one of them. So I never really thought of myself as being an outsider. But I think they’re also very good at making use of diversity. You know, they’re interested in, you know, my experience in Toronto. Anyway as a designer and architect working for architectural firms, they love to have people from different places. You know, it just brings kind of spice and different perspectives into the mix and that’s something that’s actually sought after. (113: 152) Kerri explained that in this particular professional context, even 20 or 25 years ago, there was a great appreciation of diversity, and it was common to have a variety of nationalities in architectural offices. Kerri also mentioned that the students were taught to be open minded: And they go on study trips to different countries and part of that is also to experience the culture there and really absorb it and try to understand it. So you know, there was an openness there that maybe I didn’t meet in other places in society quite as strongly. But I mean I actually did feel like I just was one of them. [laughs] (113: 154) A few years after completing her PhD, Kerri accepted a full-time teaching position at a college in Ontario. It was at this time that we met and had our interview. However, about 1 year after our interview, Kerri and her family

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decided to move back to Denmark for various reasons. During her time back in Canada, she realized that a greater part of her identity was Danish than she had thought, and she said that it was important to have found out.

6.3 Discussion In the following analysis and discussion, I focus on three main themes in Peter’s and Kerri’s narratives about their journeys to professional integration and success: the socially constructed/contingent and individual/stable nature of identity, affordances in professional integration and the social and individual nature of agency.

6.3.1 Identity: Contingent and continuous One similarity in the narratives of Kerri and Peter was their sense of belonging in their professional community of practice. Both felt comfortable in their professional context from the start, albeit for different reasons. When Peter began the diploma programme in the chemical engineering department at the college in Ontario, he was surprised to discover the ethnolinguistic diversity of both faculty members and students. As he said, he had expected everyone to speak ‘the perfect Queen’s English,’ but instead found that the majority spoke English with a ‘heavy-duty accent.’ Because of this ethnolinguistic diversity and the high proportion of immigrants in his professional context, Peter felt that he was not alone. I maintain that the diversity in Peter’s professional community of practice was an important affordance to his successful integration. Peter’s narrative clearly revealed his confidence in his English ability. He felt that his pronunciation was clear enough, and he resisted being positioned as a deficient speaker of English by people who conveyed that they did not understand his English. Peter had ample experience with both faculty members and students who were less proficient in English than he was and who spoke English with stronger accents, so Peter had a sense of his ability in English. When he started teaching, he also discovered that even Canadian-born students made errors in their writing. Thus, using English in his professional context was relatively unproblematic for Peter. Given the ethnolinguistic diversity of his professional context, Peter felt that he was a legitimate member from the start. Kerri also felt a sense of belonging in her professional context of interior design and architecture, which welcomed diversity. Her background and

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previous experiences were valued in this context. As she said, the students in this field were taught to be open minded and to appreciate different cultures and different perspectives. Kerri’s sense of belonging in this context can also be attributed to her ability to demonstrate her knowledge, experience and skills through the language of art and drawing. Like Peter, Kerri felt that she was a legitimate member in her professional community of practice, and this enabled her professional integration. Kerri’s narrative also revealed the contingency of her identity and community membership. In her professional community of practice, Kerri said that she never thought of herself as not being Danish. She felt that she was actually ‘one of them.’ However, in the wider society, Kerri did not have this sense of belonging. As Kerri said, even after 19 years, she still referred to Danes as ‘them.’ Kerri’s narrative also revealed how her social identity evolved over time and place. When she first arrived in Denmark, she said that she became more aware of her Canadian identity. During her time in Denmark, she developed an identity ‘in Danish’ and was referred to as ‘that person from Denmark’ when she returned to Canada. After one and a half years back in Canada, Kerri realized that a greater part of her identity was Danish than she had thought. Thus, being in different places with different languages and cultures increased Kerri’s awareness of different aspects of her identity. In contrast to the contingent and co-constructed nature of social identities just discussed, the narratives of Peter and Kerri also revealed the importance of their personal identities, which were presented as individual and stable over time. Like the narratives of Evelyn and Merida, the narratives of Peter and Kerri reflected how they viewed their personal identities, and how their personal identities mediated their language learning and acculturation. For example, when I asked Peter what he thought contributed to his professional success in Canada, Peter replied: A lot of that is personality. A lot of that comes from motivation. But in my case my glass is always half full. Even when it is empty it’s half full. So I have this kind of an attitude. (25: 266) Thus, Peter attributed his successful acculturation in part to his positive attitude. The excerpt given conveys his optimistic outlook. Peter said that he always did his best, even when he was working in a coffee shop. Through their narratives, both Peter and Kerri conveyed their determination and persistence, which were particularly important in their second language learning. For example, Peter sought help from others, and insisted

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on being corrected when he made mistakes in speaking English. Peter’s second language learning also differed from the other participants because he was not able to attend English courses and had to learn through self study and interaction with people. Such independent learning requires even greater determination and self discipline. In Kerri’s case, being a native English speaker was an impediment because many Danish people were able to speak English and wanted to practise their English. Kerri had to insist on speaking Danish. Thus, Kerri’s and Peter’s persistence and determination contributed to their acquisition of a high proficiency in an additional language. 6.3.2 Affordances in professional integration The narratives of Peter and Kerri also highlighted specific affordances to their successful professional integration, namely, the role of language in different professions and the role of postsecondary studies in their destination countries. Both Peter and Kerri noted the role of profession-specific language in their successful professional integration. In Peter’s profession as a chemist, the language of science mediated his acquisition of English. He said that the field of chemistry has its own language; it is a scientific language that is international. As Peter said, two plus two equals four and benzene has the same structure in Poland and in Canada. In addition, Peter emphasized that English for his profession is different from English for the arts: ‘We are not teaching English poetry, we are teaching science. (. . .) it’s a technical language’ (25: 106, 322). As he explained, the English used in his professional community of practice was not elaborate. Thus for Peter, the universal language of science and math mediated his acquisition of English. Similarly, Kerri said that in her professional field of art and design, drawing was also a form of language. Kerri was able to convey her knowledge and ability through the language of drawing, and this facilitated her professional integration in Denmark. In fact, this was one of the reasons why Kerri had decided to go to Denmark in the first place; she felt that it would be easier for her to continue her profession in another country because of the universal language of art and design. Another affordance to the successful professional integration of Peter and Kerri that they highlighted in their narratives was enrolling in postsecondary programmes in their destination countries. However, their circumstances were different. Peter enrolled voluntarily in a college diploma programme in Ontario even though his master’s degree from Poland was

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recognized in Ontario. Peter said that he wanted to have Canadian education. Enrolling in a college programme proved to be an excellent strategy for Peter in several ways. First, the language requirement for colleges was lower than for universities; Peter was able to pass the English proficiency test at the college without difficulty. Another advantage of taking the college English proficiency test was that it was an internal test. Universities usually require a certain score on a standardized test of academic English proficiency. The cost of such tests, especially because candidates often need to take the test numerous times in order to achieve the required score, is a major barrier for many high-skilled immigrants seeking entry into their professions. In addition, because Peter already had an advanced degree in chemical engineering, completing the college coursework was unproblematic. Peter’s experience also highlighted how Canadian employers favoured his Canadian credentials. According to Peter, his 2-year Canadian college diploma was instrumental to his getting his first professional position in Canada. The fact that he had a master’s degree from Poland was considered an additional, but not essential, asset. In addition to getting Canadian credentials, attending college in Canada was important for Peter in terms of networking. He said that because he was a mature student, that is, he was in his late 20s and was older than most of the other college students, he became friends with many of the professors. After Peter graduated, he kept in touch with the coordinator, who asked him to teach a night school course. This course marked the beginning of Peter’s teaching career. For Kerri, completing a postsecondary degree programme in Denmark facilitated her learning of Danish for her professional context. Unlike Peter, Kerri’s previous education in Canada was not recognized in Denmark, so she had to complete all of the undergraduate courses in the architecture programme. However, like Merida, Kerri used the opportunity to focus on improving her Danish and learning professional vocabulary. The visual nature of her profession greatly facilitated her comprehension. The combination of art as a form of communication and the fact that she already knew the material helped her to learn Danish. In addition, being an English speaker also facilitated her professional integration. As Kerri mentioned, her professors were supportive and gave her the option of submitting work in English, which helped her at the beginning of the programme when she was still learning Danish. Thus, Kerri was able to use English as a transitional language. Another important affordance of postsecondary studies for Kerri was the immediate sense of belonging that she felt. She was back in her professional

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context, and her professional identity was affirmed. It gave her confidence because, like Peter, she was already an experienced professional; thus, she felt that she had much to contribute to her peers and felt that she was ‘way ahead of them’ professionally. Also, like Peter, being at a postsecondary institute enabled Kerri to develop her own social network, which contributed to her sense of belonging in Denmark. 6.3.3 The individual and social nature of agency The narratives of Kerri and Peter also speak to the social and individual nature of agency, and how agency is interrelated with identity. As I discussed earlier, both Kerri and Peter revealed their personal agency to learn the national language of their destination countries. Although Kerri was able to use English as a transitional language, she had a strong desire to learn Danish. Because so many Danes spoke English and liked to practise their English, Kerri had to insist upon speaking in Danish. Kerri recounted a number of times throughout our interview how she had to persist in asking people to speak in Danish. Kerri’s decision to remain in Denmark also revealed her personal agency. As she said, when her first relationship ended, it was a natural break and it would have been easy for her to return to Canada at that point, but she decided to stay because she felt that she had the tools to be a part of the society and had a strong desire to ‘give it a go and see how it went.’ Peter’s accounts of his language learning also demonstrated his agency. The fact that he was able to learn English without formal classes is an exceptional achievement. Peter described how he learned from books and other media, but most importantly, through his interactions with people. In addition, his agency was revealed though his ability to affect change in his Canadian co-worker’s behaviour. Rather than accepting the fact that Canadians do not correct people’s English, as his co-worker in the coffee shop had explained, Peter insisted on being corrected and therefore, changed his Canadian co-worker’s belief and behaviour concerning what Canadians do and do not do. Peter’s co-worker’s willingness to help him, and thereby giving him access to the linguistic and cultural resources of a Canadian-born English speaker, contributed to Peter’s success in learning the language and culture of English Canadian society and becoming a full member in this society. As in the cases of Evelyn and Merida, the narratives of Peter and Kerri also demonstrated the social nature of agency. For Peter, Canadian institutional acknowledgement of his credentials from Poland was crucial in

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affirming his professional identity and giving him the confidence to seek entry into his profession in Canada. Even though Peter’s narrative revealed his strong personal agency in his successful professional integration, Peter said near the end of our interview that the ‘biggest point’ was the institutional recognition of his previous education and credentials; because of this recognition, he felt that he would ‘get somewhere with that,’ and he did. Kerri, Evelyn and Merida all spoke about the role played by a mentor in their journeys to professional success. In all three cases, a mentor offered guidance and support, and was instrumental to these participants’ career path. Merida’s mentor was the principal who gave Merida her first teaching contract, who saw beyond her English proficiency, and who believed in her teaching abilities. Evelyn’s mentor was her first principal, who took an interest, who was honest with her and who guided and encouraged her. Kerri’s mentor was a professor, who understood Kerri’s vision, who helped Kerri to enter a PhD programme and who believed in Kerri’s potential to contribute to the field of architecture. In all three cases, the mentor contributed to the participant’s agency in achieving their goals.

6.4 Summary and Commentary: Retrospective Narratives In this section, I comment upon the use of narrative inquiry in SLA research and summarize some common themes across all four retrospective narratives. As discussed in Chapter 3, first-person narratives offer a glimpse into the intimate lives and experiences of individuals that cannot be accessed through distal third-person observation. The stories told by these four participants revealed issues that were important in their second language learning, professional acculturation and integration into their destination societies. Their stories also revealed their personal histories and provided insight into their beliefs and motivations. As noted by Pavlenko (2001), language learning stories provide rich sources of information about language and identity. Narratives cast experiences into a comprehensible and shareable form, which can help other learners. In contrast to the broadbased analysis of narratives in Chapter 4, the in-depth narrative analysis in Chapters 5 and 6 provides a more holistic presentation of the rich and complex experiences of the four participants. As noted by Bell (2002), narrative inquiry recognizes that people’s consciously told stories rest on deeper stories of which they are often unaware,

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and that people construct stories that support their claimed identities. In addition, first-person narratives collected from interviews are guided by the researcher’s interests and goals, and are constructed through the conversation between the researcher and the participant. Furthermore, in the analysis and presentation of the narratives, the researcher interprets and re-stories the stories. Therefore, although qualitative and narrative inquiry in particular seeks a holistic understanding, it is not possible to get the whole picture. Narrative research is based on what the participants wish to share and how they wish to present themselves, how the information is constructed through the interaction between the researcher and participant by the rapport and the questions asked, and how the researcher reconstructs and interprets the narrative. Therefore, as Bell (2002) maintained, narrative analysis is characterized by its constructed and subjective nature that reveals the researcher as much as the participant. Thus, given my interest in issues of identity and agency in second language learning, my presentation and analysis of these four retrospective narratives highlight the nature of identity and agency, and the role of identity and agency in the acquisition of professional language and culture. Some common themes across the four narratives include the social and individual aspects of identity and agency. Through these narratives, I explored the different aspects of identity: social, personal and self identity. Social identities, such as professional identities, are contingent upon the context and are co-constructed with other members in a community of practice. Personal identities are perceived and presented as individual dispositions that are enduring. Self identity is a sense of continuity and coherence over time and place. All three aspects of identity mediate agency. My analysis also focused on the individual and social nature of agency and the role of agency in the learning of an additional language and the process of professional acculturation. The affirmation of professional identity by mentors or institutions contributed to these four participants’ agency in achieving professional acculturation success. The narratives also revealed the importance of individual agency in the second language learning process. A recurring theme was the importance of the participants’ persistence and determination in achieving their goals. The important point of narrative analysis is whether personal stories and the use of stories to convey experience can offer insight into the second language learning process and can help other learners. Whereas previous identity-in-SLA research, given its predominant feminist post-structural orientation, has often focused on gender issues (e.g., Menard-Warwick, 2009; Langman, 2004; Norton, 2000; Pavlenko et al, 2001), the narratives in

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my study highlight the importance of professional identity and the need for its validation by other members in a community of practice. In addition, my analysis examines how professional identity mediates the agency of highskilled immigrants in their integration into their destination societies. While narrative analysis can offer insights into personal experiences, as discussed, the use of this form of inquiry in SLA research is not without limitations. In the following chapter, I explore the professional acculturation experiences of a participant through another form of qualitative research: a longitudinal case study.

Chapter 7

The Lived Professional Acculturation Experiences of a Teacher from Hong Kong: A Longitudinal Case Study

This chapter focuses on the case study of Emily Chan (pseudonym), a secondary school family studies teacher from Hong Kong. Data collection for this case study took place during Emily’s first three semesters of teaching in an Ontario secondary school. In contrast to the retrospective narratives of Merida, Evelyn, Peter and Kerri in the previous two chapters, this case study shows the lived experiences of an internationally educated teacher during her initial period of teaching in a new education system. In addition, the different sources of data such as classroom observations, interviews with other individuals who worked with Emily and surveys of students provide multiple perspectives on the professional acculturation experiences of an immigrant teacher. The findings regarding Emily’s process of acculturating to teaching in the Ontario public education system focus on three dominant themes that I identified from Emily’s case study data: (a) constraints and conflicts, (b) affordances and agency and (c) professional acculturation and identity. Before elaborating upon these themes, I provide some background information about Emily, the case study research methods and Emily’s entry into the Ontario public education system.

7.1 Case Study Information 7.1.1 Participant background Emily immigrated to Canada with her husband and their two young children in the autumn of 2002. Emily’s third child was born in Canada in 2003, 1 year after their arrival. Emily explained that she and her husband wanted to have a change in lifestyle, which Emily described in her written

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reflection that she had completed voluntarily and gave to me at our first interview: Both of us enjoyed our high paid jobs but the work load was a lot and we didn’t have much time spending with our kids during weekdays. (. . .) We wanted to have a change in life so we tried to apply for the immigration to Canada in 2001. (Emily – written reflection – June 2005) I had not requested any additional information from Emily for our first interview. However, Emily voluntarily provided me with her written reflections about her reasons for immigration and her settlement experiences. She also provided written information about the education system in Hong Kong as well as her recertification process in Canada. This was indicative of Emily’s thoughtfulness and helpfulness, which she demonstrated throughout her participation in this study. As a research participant, she was open and generous about describing her experiences. She had also suggested that I survey her students and interview her administrator and department head in order to gather additional perspectives. In addition, Emily voluntarily gave me student feedback forms from her first and second semester courses. At our first interview, Emily also said she was ‘that kind of person who likes new challenges, new changes’ (Emily Int 1 – 15: 564). In addition, Emily explained her motivation for being an educator: I like meeting with young people and I have a strong belief that education acts as an important tool for a better growth in children. (. . .) I want to provide not only knowledge but also useful life skills and guidance to children. (Emily – written reflection – June 2005) Prior to immigrating to Canada, Emily had taught for 16 years in a secondary school in Hong Kong. Emily’s specializations were family studies and teacher librarianship. In addition to completing a teacher education programme in Hong Kong, Emily had completed a Bachelor of Education degree at a university in England through a distance programme, and a Masters degree in education in Hong Kong. In Emily’s written reflection, Emily critiqued the Hong Kong education system as a ‘ “Peking Duck-style education,” meaning that students are learning “force-fed” by being made to memorise books for examinations’ (Emily – written reflection – June 2005). Emily also mentioned that schools in Hong Kong ‘typically have strict codes of discipline.’

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7.1.2 Participant-researcher relationship I had first met Emily in July 2004 when she was enrolled in a TESL certificate course that I had taught at a postsecondary institute in Ontario. Although Emily was already certified by the Ontario College of Teachers at that time, she said that she was interested in developing professionally and exploring other subject areas. Emily stood out among the many TESL trainees with whom I have worked over the years. Emily consistently demonstrated her positive attitude as well as her humility. I was impressed with her enthusiasm and her openness to learning and improving her professional practice. Emily also stood out in my memory as she showed much kindness and generosity towards her peers. For example, on many occasions, I observed Emily assisting her peers who were new to the teaching profession. In these ways, Emily demonstrated her character as well as her competence as a teacher in the course. Approximately 6 months after this course ended, I received a telephone call from a school administrator who had interviewed Emily for a limited term contract teaching position at a secondary school. The administrator pointedly asked me whether I thought Emily would be able to handle Canadian secondary school students, as classroom management could be quite a challenge. I had replied that I was certain that with Emily’s positive attitude, extensive experience and openness to learning, she would be able to handle any challenges that may come her way. I met Emily again in June 2005, almost a year after the TESL course. At this time, I was conducting a pilot study for my research study. Emily was one of several individuals who had responded to my recruitment email. We had the first of four audio-recorded interviews in June 2005. At this time, Emily was just finishing her first semester of teaching family studies at a secondary school. Emily expressed interest in participating further in my research study and agreed to be a case study participant.

7.1.3 Case study research methods The data for this case study included four in-depth interviews with Emily, three school visits, six classroom observations, interviews with a school administrator as well as the head of Emily’s department, three informal meetings with Emily and her colleagues, a survey of 49 students in the third semester, course feedback surveys conducted by Emily of 21 students in the first semester and 22 students in the second semester and other document data.

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As I just mentioned, we had our first interview in June 2005. Our second interview took place during Emily’s second semester of teaching in November 2005. In her third semester, February to June 2006, I visited Emily’s classes on several occasions, conducted two follow-up interviews with Emily and met her colleagues and administrators. I also conducted audio-recorded interviews with the vice principal, Rashad, and the department head, Jim, and conducted a survey with Emily’s students at the end of the third semester. All of the interviews were audio-taped and transcribed verbatim. The transcripts were sent to the participants (Emily, Jim and Rashad) for member checks. Field notes were made during the class observations and after the informal meetings with Emily and her colleagues.

7.1.4 Emily’s entry into teaching in Ontario Emily began teaching in an Ontario secondary school in February 2005. Upon receiving her Ontario teacher certification, she began applying for teaching positions. After being invited for ten interviews over a period of eight months, Emily received a limited term teaching contract as a secondary school family studies teacher. The secondary school was located in a racially diverse, mixed income suburb of a metropolitan area. There was a high proportion of first- and second-generation immigrant students from diverse backgrounds: Africa, the Caribbean, China, India, Latin America, the Middle East, Pakistan and South Korea. Emily was grateful to her department head, Jim, who had made the decision to hire her. As in the case of Merida and the school principal who hired her, Emily felt that Jim gave her this valuable opportunity because of his open-mindedness regarding hiring an internationally educated teacher. Interestingly, when Jim spoke about Emily’s interview, he relayed that there was some hesitation on the part of the other administrators at the interview: There were concerns about accents and things like that. (. . .) Not everyone in that interview process was sold, but I just had a good feeling about Emily {doing a good job}. And I didn’t have any problems following her during the interview. Perhaps other people did or whatever. But it was clear to me that she would be a good fit. So language wasn’t a barrier to me at the time. But maybe to a colleague it was. (Jim – 38: 45, 49).

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When I interviewed Rashad, he was clearly more cautious about hiring IETs: We’ve had varied experience with international teachers. You know, we’ve had some come in, you know, you wonder about the language, you wonder about the cultural abilities, you’re searching for examples, but you know what, your gut tells you to go with them. They come in, kids love them, everything’s great. Other one, office is full of kids. They just cannot be – they’re too inflexible. (. . .) There is a fear every time I look across the table that this person – and it’s not language to me. It’s cultural nuance. (Rashad – 37: 83, 85) Rashad’s parents were first generation immigrants from Pakistan, and he was sympathetic to the challenges faced by newcomers. He mentioned that although he was born and raised in Canada, when he entered the professional world after graduating from university, he became aware that he, coming from a visible minority immigrant family, lacked the social and cultural capital of white Anglo Canadians. Thus, he empathized with newcomers to Canada. However, in his role as a school administrator, his primary concern was the ability of internationally educated teachers to function well in his secondary school. Fortunately for Emily, Jim made the final hiring decision. At that point, Emily had not had much local teaching experience. Emily had taught an extracurricular Cantonese-as-an-international-language course for K-12 students for 1 year. This part-time course was offered by a local school board and took place on Saturday mornings. Nevertheless, Jim felt that Emily had experience in the areas they were looking for, and that Emily would go the extra mile to be an effective teacher: I just had this feeling, she would go the extra mile to be clear, to communicate, to do the things that are necessary to get kids to learn. (Jim – 38: 45)

7.2 Constraints and Conflicts In her first semester of teaching, Emily was assigned three family studies courses: ‘Living and working with children,’ ‘Parenting,’ and ‘Individuals and families in a diverse society.’ The first two were grade 11 courses, and the third was a grade 12 course. In our first interview, Emily spoke at length

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about three main constraints that she faced during her first semester: the curriculum and workload, the attitudes and behaviours of students and language barriers. 7.2.1 Curriculum and workload Emily had a heavy workload in her first semester, compounded by a 3-hour daily commute to her school. Emily was faced with learning to teach in a different school system with its rules, procedures and expectations, and having to prepare for three different courses in an intensive semester system. In the semester system, the curriculum delivery time is compressed, so there are more contact hours per week, and assessment in the form of tests and assignments are also more frequent. In addition, Emily was challenged by the courses that she was assigned to teach: I started teaching in February, everything is so new to me, especially the sociological course. Something is very . . . how do you say that? Ironical? Yeah, unbelievable. In this course you know what, what I have to teach. [takes deep breath] In this course I have to teach what is normally here. . . . For example, how young adults facing the society, so, family problems here, divorce, . . . child abuse, something like that, old people with their problems, I have to teach all those social issues! [laughs] (. . .) By a new immigrant! [laughs] (Emily Int 1 – 15: 282) Emily felt that it was ironic that she, as a newcomer to Canada, had to teach Canadian students about Canadian society. In addition, sociology was not her area of specialization. Emily spoke at length about how difficult the first semester was: I have a lot of frustration, a lot of – I even want to quit. [laughs] (. . .) Because it’s so hard, it’s so hard for me because I don’t have enough energy. (. . .) Yeah, everytime they {my children} asked me, to read night time story, I say, ‘I’m sorry, I’m so tired.’ (Emily Int 1 – 15: 326, 328, 330) With the preparation for teaching three new courses, and teaching in a semester system with its intensive delivery of course content and the need to frequently evaluate the students’ progress, Emily said that she was getting an average of 3 or 4 hours of sleep per night. Even for someone as positive

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and as experienced as Emily, this was a difficult start to her teaching in Ontario. Emily explained that it was only with her husband’s encouragement and support that she was able to persevere. In contrast to findings from other studies of immigrant women and constraints because of childcare responsibilities (e.g., Menard-Warwick, 2004), Emily’s husband stayed home and took care of the children and other household responsibilities, which enabled Emily to focus on her teaching. 7.2.2 Attitudes and behaviours of students The second major constraint that Emily faced was the attitudes and behaviours of her students. There were two main issues: (a) lack of respect and (b) students fighting for marks. Coming from an education system where teachers had authority and respect, Emily found classroom management to be a challenge during her first semester. Like Evelyn, Emily found the behaviour of high school students different from what she was used to: They {the students} tend to be very talkative in the class, not showing respect to you at the beginning, not doing the work you want them to do, yeah, just keep talking, sometimes they leave the room without your permission. (Emily Int 1 – 15: 390) It was emotionally trying for Emily: So, you know what, I cried . . . in front of my husband. [laughs] Yeah, because it was so hard for me, I never experienced so difficult times like that. In my culture, yeah, I mentioned to you, my own culture, students, although they are not that respectful but not . . . as rude as students here. They just do what they want. (Emily Int 1 – 15: 428) The problematic behaviour of some students was confirmed by comments in the course feedback surveys that Emily conducted at the end of the first and second semesters. In response to a question regarding the quality of classroom instruction, some students wrote: ‘Try to control the students more.’ (Semester 1 Sociology course feedback) ‘Should be more firm.’ (Semester 1 Sociology course feedback) ‘It was poor, most of the time half the class was out of control.’ (Semester 2 Food and Nutrition course feedback)

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‘Weak students usually become out of control, they also become annoying for the other students. Students argue, swear and fight!’ [Very large exclamation mark next to this response on feedback form.] (Semester 2 Food and Nutrition course feedback) ‘It’s pretty good, but you have to be more rude to the people who talk back to you. Otherwise it’s good.’ (Semester 2 Food and Nutrition course feedback) ‘Rude people are in this class in large amounts!!! They need to learn some manners.’ (Semester 2 Fashion course feedback) Rashad had also mentioned that classroom management was one of the biggest issues for all new teachers in the system, but especially for internationally educated teachers: But the biggest thing that I notice when they {internationally educated teachers} arrive and they start to teach is they’re surprised how behaviour is their job to establish. It’s not a given. (Rashad – 37: 57) Jim concurred that classroom management issues were problematic for Emily: There’s been a few times she’s come to me about ‘what do you think about’ situations that have been more conflict issues. And I would give my point of view. But the bottom line is you should leave it up to the person to handle it as they see fit. (Jim – 38: 59) What is interesting about Jim’s comment is that it also showed his approach to mentoring other teachers. He gave his opinion, but he respected the teachers as professionals who were able to make the most appropriate decision for their situation. Another recurring theme was the students fighting for marks. Emily was surprised to experience the rampant cheating in her classes, even by the ‘good’ students. In addition, she was taken aback by students who questioned her evaluation of their work, and who tried to convince her to raise their marks: I don’t appreciate a system like that. They {the students} told me some teachers, they are very loose, they give them high marks, they give them time to make up their work even . . . after due date. So every single teacher they have different system. It is not good, not consistent. Yeah, to be teachers like me, I’m not that strict, but I would like to stick to some

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rules. It is very difficult for me. I have to argue with them – ‘Why we don’t get so many marks here? Why, why – ‘They always bring back their assignment, ‘Why you don’t give mark for this?’ It’s so . . . you know, time consuming. Yeah, and they request – one of the students . . . his parents have very high expectations on him. He begs marks, for the first term marks, because they should have those marks to enter university. Some of them beg marks from me. (Emily Int 1 – 15: 430) It was interesting that after Emily started teaching in the Ontario education system, she gained a different perspective and appreciation of the exam system in Hong Kong. Although it was stressful to prepare students for these high stakes university entrance examinations, Emily felt that higher and more consistent standards were maintained, in comparison to the system of evaluation in Ontario. The disrespectful behaviour of some of her students was also problematic for Emily: Student behaviour. [laughs slightly] I never had the feeling that I didn’t like this student, never had it before, but here, I have it. I don’t like some of the students, to be honest, but . . . but I try to tell myself, I’m the teacher, I cannot do that, okay? So I try to accept them. I have this kind of feeling maybe a short while, I never had it before, I don’t like this student, how he’s being so mean to me, so . . . unrespectful. One of these students, he never did any work during the class. He accused me of losing all his assignments, but this is not true! But I cannot – sometimes it’s hard to prove it because, you know, I show my marks but he keep accusing me like that. (Emily Int 1 – 15: 412) The given excerpts show how the attitudes and behaviours of some Ontario high school students challenged Emily’s identity as a teacher and her beliefs about how teachers and students should behave. However, Emily’s narrative also reveals how her identity as a teacher contributed to her agency. Her role as a teacher and beliefs about how a teacher should behave mediated her feelings and helped her to find a way to develop a more positive relationship to the students. 7.2.3 Language issues Emily frequently spoke about constraints regarding language. Language issues were a recurring theme in all of the interviews. Emily had attended

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English-medium elementary and secondary schools in Hong Kong, but she explained that there were few opportunities to speak English. In Canada, she spoke Chinese at home with her family, so she mainly had contact with English at school with her colleagues and students. At the beginning, I had difficulty to listen to every single word . . . from my colleagues and from my students. (. . .) I cannot hear what they say, they speak so fast. (. . .) Especially my students. And me myself, (. . .) sometimes they have difficulty to understand what I mean. (Emily Int 1 – 15: 368, 372) On the course feedback forms as well as the student surveys that I conducted, several students had made comments about difficulties in understanding Emily at times, thus, confirming communication problems in Emily’s classes. Constraints regarding language affected how Emily was positioned by some of her students, and also how Emily positioned herself. For example, Emily mentioned that some students corrected her pronunciation. Emily said that she was open to their correction as long as it was done in a polite manner, and looked upon such instances as opportunities to learn. However, some students were openly rude and made fun of her pronunciation. I observed this behaviour in several classroom observations, and this was also evident in some of the course feedback forms from students. For example, on one course feedback form from the second semester, a student had made fun of Emily’s pronunciation right on the feedback form. At the bottom of the form where there was space for additional comments, the student, commenting on the APA referencing system that Emily had taught in preparation for their major research project, had written in large, block letters ‘APA STY-OH’ and had drawn a caricature of Emily and the student, with Emily (labelled ‘Mrs. Chan’) saying ‘Oh ya, APA sty-oh’ and the student (labelled ‘me’) responding with ‘WTF’s goin on?’ Thus, the positioning of Emily by some students as an ESL speaker challenged her authority and legitimacy as a teacher. With regard to interactions with her colleagues, Emily positioned herself as a newcomer in order to overcome her feelings of embarrassment regarding language barriers: They {colleagues} are very nice too, so everyone seems to be very supportive, but just the language barrier we have. Sometimes my colleagues – I cannot explain very well in specific words or terms. I have to explain

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more, and sometimes it seems that she cannot understand what I’m talking about. Sometimes it make me a bit embarrassed, but I try to tell myself it’s okay because you’re a new immigrant, you’re not so familiar with their culture, their language . . . (Emily Int 1 – 15: 462) However, unlike Merida and Peter, who expressed acceptance of their status as a speaker of English as an additional language, Emily was not completely comfortable with this identity: They {the colleagues} talk so fast with each other. They’re native speaker. But sometimes even you don’t understand you won’t ask every single question, you know. You try to understand by yourself. If you don’t understand just let it be. [laughs] You don’t want to be stupid. [laughs] (Emily Int 2 – 65: 293) Language issues varied depending on the subject matter that Emily taught. It was especially difficult for Emily to teach the sociology courses. In the second semester, Emily was assigned to teach two new courses: a fashion course and a food and nutrition course, in addition to the grade 12 sociology course that she had taught in the first semester. At our second interview, which took place in the middle of Emily’s second semester of teaching, I asked how things were going. Emily replied: I can say okay but sometimes I also find it difficult, because to be honest, I find that there is a communication problem, because English is not my native language. For fashion classes, it’s okay because I know most of the terms okay. For the food and nutrition classes it’s also okay. But for the sociology I find I have some problem because the textbook, the material is all about the social problem in Canada. As a newcomer, I do not know much about them. I just can read the data from the statistics, with the text and then maybe newspaper, but I’m not that familiar with all the scenarios in this society. I would like to learn most of them because it’s helpful for me too. When I’m doing the discussion with them, I find it hard to lead the discussion to a very deep level. (Emily Int 2 – 65: 98) Thus, in terms of language and content, it was more challenging for Emily to teach the sociology courses compared to the other family studies courses such as fashion and food and nutrition. Although student behaviour and language issues remained challenging for Emily throughout the three semesters, by the end of the third semester, Emily reported that there was some improvement.

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7.3 Affordances and Agency In this section, I discuss three affordances that helped Emily to overcome the constraints discussed, namely: tools and material resources, community and family support and relational agency. 7.3.1 Tools and material resources Emily used a number of tools to facilitate her teaching in English. Emily explained: I have to spend a lot of time on my preparation, because my English is not that local, I’m not that fluent as them, as theirs, so I need to make sure, I have to prepare teaching aids to help me to speak fluently. (Emily Int 1 – 15: 374) When I visited Emily’s classroom in the third semester, I noticed the detailed and organized notes on the chalkboard. However, this tool was only available during the third semester as Emily taught three courses in food and nutrition, and therefore, had her own specially equipped classroom. In previous semesters, she had to go to different classrooms for each course, so it was not possible to prepare the board work in advance. Emily also used other tools such as overhead transparencies, Powerpoint presentations and handouts. In addition, Emily received resources from her colleagues, who generously shared their teaching materials and examinations. During our interview at the beginning of the third semester in March 2006, Emily described how she started to use a point system in order to manage student behaviour: I have a point system for them, in order to motivate them to learn or behave well. So everyday I give them twenty points to the maximum, and sometimes even more. So five for being punctual and not late in class, and then five for first activity, (. . .) and then there’s five points for them if they’re involved, five points for participation, maybe just filling out the work sheet, having discussion, involved in the activity, and five for completion of worksheet or assignment. Yeah, so I add them together, it’s twenty. I find it very useful because they’re eager to have the marks. (Emily Int 3 – 68: 40) Emily had learned this strategy from a colleague who was also an internationally educated teacher. Emily’s use of a point system was an interesting

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example as it showed how Emily adapted to something that she actually disagreed with, the fact that most Canadian students were primarily motivated by marks. 7.3.2 Support from professional community Throughout the interviews, Emily spoke about the support from her colleagues, department head and administrators. Emily felt that Jim, her department head, was a great mentor for all of the teachers in the department. From my observations and interviews, it was apparent that Jim established a supportive professional community in their department. Emily also frequently mentioned throughout all of the interviews how fortunate she was to have the support of her colleagues. Not only did colleagues share their handouts and other materials, as mentioned earlier, but they also provided important emotional support and acceptance of Emily as a legitimate member of their community. For example, regarding language, Emily’s colleagues told her that a lot of people have come from different countries: And they encourage me, even you speak English with an accent, . . . don’t mind. Most of us are like that! [laughs] (Emily Int 1 – 15: 448) Emily’s colleagues also provided valuable guidance regarding unspoken rules of professional practice that are important for a teacher who is new to the system. Emily explained that the administrators were supportive, and they told her that teachers could send students who were misbehaving to the office. However, Emily’s colleagues told her: ‘Don’t do it too often. You don’t want them {the administrators} to believe that you are unable to handle them {the students}.’ (Emily Int 2 – 65: 40) This important piece of advice confirmed what Rashad had said when he compared what he considered to be a good versus a bad internationally educated teacher. As he said, some internationally educated teachers, ‘They come in, kids love them, everything’s great. Other one, office is full of kids’ (Rashad – 37: 83). So even though Emily was told by administrators to send misbehaving students to the office, in reality, a teacher who did this too frequently may be perceived by administrators as a bad teacher. Had Emily’s colleagues not told her about this unspoken rule, Emily may have taken

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what the administrators said at face value. In doing so, she would have risked being labelled as an incompetent teacher, which may have had a detrimental impact on the renewal of a teaching contract or being offered future positions. Emily also described the emotional support that she received from her colleagues: At the beginning when I was teaching I was so frustrated. I didn’t know how to handle the problem with the students, because they were quite different from the problems I had in my previous school {in Hong Kong}. So she talked to me, showed me, she shared with me her experience. She seems to be understanding. Even being understanding is enough. [laughs] So that’s why I say emotional support. Even at lunch time sitting together, having some kind of talk. (Emily Int 4 – 76: 94) When I asked Jim about the type of support that would be helpful for internationally educated teachers, Jim also discussed the importance of the support that Emily received from her colleagues: I know Emily has spoken about a lot of help from her colleagues, like other workers in the department have gone the extra mile to provide her with some extra materials, to explain things to her, so she’s got a lot of colleague type help. And I think that’s been valuable to her, certainly. (Jim 38: 59) During my three school visits, I had the opportunity to spend time and interact with Emily and her colleagues, who often ate lunch together in Emily’s classroom. I can concur that Emily’s colleagues were supportive and inclusive; they treated her with respect and as an equal, and at the same time, provided assistance. An excerpt from one of my field notes provide an example of my perception of Emily’s relationships with her colleagues: During one lunch time, we were chatting and one of Emily’s colleagues said that she had to ‘catch up’ on something. Emily understood ‘ketchup’ and made a comment about ketchup, which was out of context. What I found interesting was that the colleague gently clarified that she had said ‘catch up,’ and then explained what she had meant. For me, this showed a certain comfort level between them, that Emily’s colleague was able to do that, and it also showed support of Emily’s acculturation.

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From my observation, Emily’s interactions with her colleagues definitely confirmed the supportive atmosphere that Emily had described. (Field note, school visit 2 – 70: 35–36) 7.3.3 Relational agency Another affordance that helped to improve Emily’s teaching effectiveness and adaptation was her relational agency, which I discussed in Chapter 2. Relational agency is the term developed by Edwards (2005b) to describe the capacity of an individual to align his/her thoughts and actions with others in order to gain new insights on problems of practice. Emily’s relational agency centred on her efforts to understand Canadian students’ needs and behaviours. Students’ style, their learning style, . . . or their attitude towards teacher, at the beginning, as a teacher from Asian country, Chinese people, Chinese teachers, I don’t want them to respect me in higher level, but at least having some kind of respect. However, when you start to know oh they are like this. That doesn’t mean that they don’t respect you. But they just strive for what they want. That’s why they misbehave, or they yell, they speak in a loud voice, but the next day, they’re fine. So, if you know their purpose of doing that, or you understand, (. . .) then their misbehaviour will decrease. So you can see some people I have to talk to them privately or after the class or take the time to talk to them because they have some kind of problem in handing in the work. (. . .) So I think, when I compare my teaching at the beginning and my teaching now, I find that the conflicts are decreasing. (Emily Int 4 – 76: 42) Thus, for Emily, understanding the students’ intentions, goals and agency helped her to change her perception of their behaviours, and helped her to relate to her students more effectively. Emily also explained how she reached out to the parents in order to better understand her students and their issues, and to know what was happening at home. Emily was comfortable dealing with parents because she was used to having close contact with parents in her previous teaching context: To me it’s not hard because I have a lot of experience dealing with the parents, even in Hong Kong I am in the parent teacher association.

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I am a committee member working with parents all the time. I find that it’s very effective, to call them right away when their kids have problems. (. . .) Actually the parents, here it’s a bit different from Hong Kong. I find that teachers in Hong Kong, they are more willing to call the parents. Parents receive a lot of calls, but here it seems that parents and teachers don’t contact too often. I don’t know, because most parents just tell me they appreciate my calls very much, they don’t receive a lot from the teacher, because sometimes those misbehaved kids at the end they fail, the parents are so sad to know that but it’s almost at the end and they can do nothing. (Emily Int 3 – 68: 62) Emily’s relational agency and interaction with parents not only facilitated the improvement of her rapport with students and her effectiveness as a teacher; the positive feedback that she received from parents also affirmed her professional competence and identity, which in turn mediated Emily’s agency to successfully fulfil her teaching responsibilities.

7.4 Professional Acculturation and Identity Over the course of her three semesters of teaching, through the affordances discussed in the previous section, Emily was able to achieve success in her teaching. In this section, I discuss three themes related to Emily’s professional identity: Emily’s adaptation to the Canadian education system, Emily’s resistance to certain aspects of the Canadian education system and Emily’s contribution to transformation in the system. It is important to note that in the third semester, Emily was teaching three food and nutrition courses (two grade ten courses and one grade 12 course), which was one of her strong subjects: I think this is the best semester, as far as I know, because in terms of the courses I teach, they are all food and nutrition courses, I’m more confident in teaching them. Because I am very experienced in teaching all the food and nutrition courses, even in Hong Kong. That’s why I’m so happy. (Emily Int 4 – 76: 8) In contrast to teaching the three courses about families and individuals in Canadian society in Emily’s first semester, teaching these food and nutrition courses in the third semester enabled Emily to demonstrate her

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competence. At our third interview, which took place in the third semester, Emily said: They are good kids, and you know being a teacher here for almost one and a half years, I get used to the environment. I mean, I get to know them more and more. I know their characteristics. (Emily Int 3 – 68: 56) 7.4.1 Identity and adaptation Emily’s adaptation and increased understanding of Canadian students and their attitudes and behaviours were evident in her use of the point system to motivate students, as discussed earlier. Emily also used other tools that indicated her adjustment to Canadian students, such as giving a riddle at the beginning of class: Their motivation, their concentration will last longer as it’s interesting. I learned this here. You know, I always tell my husband, people here, they are so humorous, it’s very interesting. You do not find a lot of students in Hong Kong who say ‘Oh I’m joking.’ It’s not common, but here they just say ‘Miss I’m joking.’ [laughs] I like that, yeah. I’m that kind of person. Laid back, that’s how I learned the term, laid back. One of my students I asked him to give me comments, verbally. One of them said ‘Oh Miss you’re kind of laid back.’ (Emily Int 3 – 68: 146) Through her interactions with her Canadian students, Emily became aware of this aspect of her disposition. Her comment also reflects how she gained an understanding of how to reach and motivate Canadian secondary school students. In addition, not only did Emily develop an understanding and acceptance of Canadian students, by the end of the third semester, Emily began to appreciate the different learning style: I think the learning style, they are very creative, expressive. And they are not afraid to give their opinion and they’re very friendly. Yeah, that’s what I like. (Emily Int 4 – 76: 46) These excerpts indicate that some of Emily’s values and beliefs about teaching and learning changed, and along with that, her conceptions of

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the role and behaviour of teachers and students. During my class visits at the end of the third semester, I observed how Emily interacted with her students in a ‘Canadian way,’ as indicated in the following field note: What I did notice was that Emily seemed to have good rapport with these students. For example, when the students were leaving, a couple of male students gave Emily a ‘high five’ and a thumb-up handshake. With another student, Emily did a fist shake. I presume that she had learned these moves from the students, and thought that it showed a certain comfort level and a good relationship between Emily and the students in this class. (Field note, school visit 3 – 72: 7) For me, this indicated how Emily had changed and adapted to teaching Canadian students.

7.4.2 Identity and resistance However, there were some aspects of the Canadian education system that Emily strongly disagreed with, and chose not to adapt to. I just think the whole education system is spoiling the students you know. It seems that – there is anything being excused, they can do anything they miss. Even they can make up the missed assignment. Right before the exam, even after the exam. The guidance teacher came to see you, ‘Ms Chan, can this student make up the assignment to bring up his or her marks?’ I don’t think it’s doing for the benefit of the students. (Emily Int 4 – 76: 72) Emily felt that such a system did not promote responsible behaviour in students. Emily resisted this Canadian educational norm and asserted her own values in her teaching: And maybe to them I’m quite strict because I always exert my rules in the class. I know maybe some teachers they don’t want to do that. I want to bring more discipline to the class. I don’t know if I’m successful or not. I try my best. And sometimes they say I mark their grammar too much. I don’t know, but I say ‘You have to learn something, that’s why I mark your grammar.’ (Emily Int 4 – 76: 132)

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Emily also mentioned that she did not want her students to think that she was ‘that kind’ of teacher, that is, a teacher who was too lenient and did not uphold standards, as indicated by some students in the first semester feedback. Emily’s resistance is an example of her nonparticipation, which, as Wenger (1998) argued, is also an expression of identity. Emily noted that because of her adherence to her standards for work, she noticed an improvement in her students, for example, regarding submitting work on time. This aspect of Emily’s identity and her agency to uphold standards and values were also confirmed by her department head: I think Emily has got a pretty decent situation here, because mostly kids here want to learn and they respect her because of her background. But sometimes if you’re perceived to be a weak character in a tough school, it could be very difficult. And I’ve seen that sometimes where someone maybe with a little bit of a language difficulty, only because of their background, was perceived the wrong way, but they didn’t have the character to deal with it. I’ve seen Emily. She can be pretty tough. She’s very firm, but very fair. And she’s got that ability to do that. (Jim – 38: 69)

7.4.3 Identity and transformation The findings also confirmed the positive contributions of an internationally educated teacher and the potential contributions of internationally educated teachers to changing attitudes toward diversity: My comfort zone to them is bigger than maybe the local teachers, because I can understand some newcomers. Or some, even if they are not very new, I know people from different cultures, they have different habits or thinking or philosophy. Yeah, I think I would be more sensitive to their needs. Or I can appreciate their cultures more. Let me take one example. We have a kind of different cooking in my grade ten classes, and some of the students don’t want to taste other student’s food because maybe it’s Indian, they don’t want to taste their food. Actually they even don’t want to try. I remember I have a taste of the vegetarian foods, some locals – I know they are local students, they don’t want to try. So you see, but for some immigrant students, new immigrants, they’re willing to try. So I think maybe some new teachers like me, I can expose them to more cultures. (Emily Int 4 – 76: 130)

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This was confirmed by student comments on the survey that I conducted at the end of the third semester. A number of students commented about the value of having an internationally educated teacher: ‘I thought Ms. Chan was a great teacher and gave us different views on different topics.’ ‘Taught us about different cultures.’ ‘ I liked the different perspective and techniques.’ ‘It helps you understand other cultures.’ (Survey Class C – doc 75: survey numbers 73, 74, 75, 80) Jim also discussed how the Canadian education system and its students benefit from IETs like Emily: What a wealth of experience she brought (. . .) She tells the kids about situations in other countries that she’s been at. And I know the kids like learning about that type of stuff. So that is certainly a benefit. You get someone who has experienced different systems and I think they can add, you know. She’s made us stronger, because of the things that she has brought in into her nutrition classes and so on. I think it’s her experience, just the fact that she has traveled. And I know that she shares them with the kids. I’m just a big believer that experience, personal experiences can be a great teacher. (Jim – 38: 69) Emily’s comments, as well as the comments from her department head and her students, provide evidence that Emily not only adapted to the Canadian educational context, but also contributed to positive transformation in her classroom community.

7.5 Discussion The findings from this case study of Emily’s experiences in her first three semesters of teaching in the Ontario public education system highlight the relationships between affordances, constraints, identity and agency in her professional acculturation process. This case study reveals the complex and multifaceted nature of identity, and the key affordances in an internationally educated teacher’s acculturation process. One dominant theme, which I have also discussed in the previous chapters, was the socially constructed nature of identity and agency. Emily’s

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life experiences and previous teaching experience were important factors in constructing her identity, which both facilitated and constrained her adaptation to teaching in a different education system. For example, Emily’s personal identity as a life-long learner and a person who is open to new challenges helped her to overcome English language barriers in her professional context. However, Emily’s professional identity, which developed from her experiences of teaching and learning in a different education system, resulted in conflicts between Canadian norms and some of Emily’s conceptions of effective teaching and learning. This resulted in Emily’s resistance to adaptation; for example, Emily resisted the students’ lack of self responsibility that appeared to be accepted in Canadian secondary schools. Emily’s identity was also constructed by social interactions in multiple concurrent settings. For example, in Emily’s professional community of practice, which included her department head and other colleagues, Emily’s identity and competence as a professional were affirmed. In community of practice terms, Emily was welcomed as a legitimate peripheral participant and was given full access to resources to support her professional acculturation. In Emily’s classroom communities, however, Emily’s identity and competence as a teacher were not validated by some students who positioned Emily as a non-native English speaking immigrant. This was one of Emily’s greatest challenges in her acculturation process. I suggest that the affirmation of Emily’s professional identity in her professional community of practice comprising her department colleagues enabled her to maintain her professional identity in her classroom community of practice where her professional identity was not validated by some students. This affirmation of her professional identity mediated her agency to fulfil teaching responsibilities in her classrooms. Another major theme was the affordances to professional acculturation. In Emily’s case, her professional acculturation was mediated by material resources, social support and relational agency. These affordances enabled Emily to overcome challenges and to achieve professional success in a new education system. Emily’s achievement of professional success also helped her to re-establish her professional identity. The findings also show the varied nature of affordances. The multiple sources of data and perspectives – Emily’s own perspective, the perspective of her students and her department head and my observations of Emily’s classrooms – revealed that Emily’s attainment of professional success at the end of the third semester was a combination of material resources and teaching subjects, as well as Emily’s subject specializations. As I discussed in

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the previous section, the fact that Emily had her own classroom in the third semester enabled her to complete her board work in advance. As Emily herself had mentioned, the use of artefacts such as Powerpoint slides and overhead transparencies helped her to teach in English and to speak more fluently. A second major affordance was the fact that Emily was teaching three food and nutrition courses in the third semester. This was her strongest subject, the subject she felt most confident about. Teaching this subject, in contrast to the sociology courses, enabled Emily to demonstrate her competence as a teacher. In addition, Emily said that the students enjoyed these courses, and this also contributed to their more positive attitudes and behaviour in class. In summary, this case study examined the complex, and at times conflictual, process of professional acculturation. Interpretation of the data through sociocultural theory and the community of practice framework can illuminate the types of affordances – for example, mediating tools, social interactions and relational agency – that facilitate this process. In addition, as with the other cases discussed in the previous chapters, the findings from this case study also show the potential of internationally educated teachers to enrich and transform a community of practice.

Chapter 8

From Local to Global: Research Findings and Their Application to Other Contexts

In this final chapter, I summarize the empirical findings to my research questions regarding the affordances and constraints to the professional acculturation of internationally educated teachers (IETs) in Ontario and the relationships between the identity, agency and the acquisition of professional language and culture. I also discuss the theoretical conceptions of identity and agency that were developed through my analysis of the findings. Lastly, I discuss the practical and policy implications of my study and their relevance to other professional and national contexts.

8.1 Affordances and Constraints to Professional Acculturation In this section, I summarize the themes related to the affordances and constraints to the successful professional acculturation of internationally educated teachers in Ontario.

8.1.1 Constraints to professional acculturation From the data collected in three phases – in-depth interviews with 33 internationally educated teachers in phase one, case studies of eight IETs in phase two and in-depth interviews with 15 educational professionals who work with IETs in phase three (P3) – I identified four broad themes related to constraints to professional acculturation: (a) differences in language and culture, (b) differences in interactions with students and parents, (c) differences in professional beliefs and behaviours and (d) discrimination.

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Regarding differences in language and culture, some key findings include the challenge of learning another language not only in terms of grammar, lexicon and phonology, but also cultural appropriateness in communication. What a number of IETs found challenging was the Canadian manner of communication that valued political correctness and an indirect way of communicating that was considered polite. This was especially important when communicating with parents, particularly when there was a problem or issue with a student’s ability or behaviour. Other challenges that the IETs faced included understanding popular culture and the colloquial language of youth. Differences in interactions with students and parents were another major constraint to internationally educated teachers’ professional acculturation. Regarding interactions with students, constraints included teaching students who were diverse in terms of needs, ability and linguistic and cultural background. For internationally educated teachers who were used to a more homogeneous student body, this diversity was especially challenging. Other issues concerning students included the attitudes and behaviours of Canadian students, in particular, the fact that respect for teachers was not a given, and that classroom management was a teacher’s responsibility to establish, as Rashad, a school administrator, had pointed out. This was challenging for teachers who were used to students who automatically paid attention and behaved respectfully. As I just mentioned, dealing with parents was also a challenge for many internationally educated teachers. In addition to the need to be politically correct, some internationally educated teachers were used to education systems where the authority of the teacher was respected by parents, who did not question a teacher’s judgement, for example, in the assessment of a student’s ability and the assignment of marks. Another constraint was differences in professional beliefs and behaviour, which in this case related to teaching and learning styles and curriculum delivery. A topic that was frequently mentioned was the teacher-centred versus learner-centred delivery of curriculum. This was related to the roles, responsibilities and expectations of teachers and students. For example, Roma, a college professional development facilitator, recalled one internationally educated teacher at her college whose knowledge and authority were challenged by students. As Roma explained, while another teacher may have been pleased that the students were thinking critically and engaged in the subject matter, this teacher felt attacked and disrespected. Also related to learner-centred curriculum was the fact that teachers in

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Ontario had a greater variety of curricular materials. Some internationally educated teachers enjoyed the flexibility that they had, but others found the curriculum quite disorganized and felt overwhelmed by the amount of preparation needed. The fourth theme regarding constraints was discrimination. A number of internationally educated teachers and phase three participants discussed discrimination related to language, especially accent. In the college division, discrimination came not only from speakers of English as a first language, but also from students who were themselves speakers of English as an additional language, and who felt that they were not learning ‘Canadian English.’ Several administrators pointed out that accent was not an issue if communication is clear, but that sometimes students and parents used it as a weapon if the student was not doing well in school. Other forms of discrimination included racial discrimination and discrimination of immigrant teachers’ skills because the immigrant teachers’ country of origin was considered a ‘developing’ country, and therefore, the belief that the immigrant teacher’s skills and experience were not on par with a Canadianeducated teacher. An overarching theme concerning constraints to professional acculturation was differences in beliefs about issues such as the roles and responsibilities of teachers, students and parents. I will discuss this point further in section 8.2.

8.1.2 Affordances to professional acculturation From the research data, I identified four types of affordances to successful professional acculturation: (a) social support, (b) professional development courses and other material resources, (c) observation and practice and (d) beliefs and attitudes. The affordance of social support was by far the most frequently discussed affordance. Both IET and P3 participants identified various forms of social support, including support and guidance from teacher colleagues and administrators, mentorship, support from the parent and wider school community and support beyond the school community, for example, from other IETs and from family members. Eighteen IETs spoke, with much gratitude, about support from colleagues who generously shared their teaching resources, and gave advice and suggestions when needed. Administrators were also an important source of support. In addition to guidance and advice, a number of IETs attributed their attainment of professional

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success to the mentorship of an administrator who provided emotional support by encouraging the IET and affirming the IET’s abilities. IETs who established good rapport with their students also found their students to be understanding and willing to work with, rather than against the IETs. A number of IETs across divisions spoke about how students even helped them with language. Another affordance to professional acculturation was professional development courses, for example, the bridging course for IETs, as well as other material resources. However, many IETs and P3 participants felt that observation and practice in real Ontario classrooms was the best way to learn. IETs were able to gain such practice through volunteering, substitute teaching, or teaching in the private school system, which was often easier to access. Lastly, IETs and P3 participants spoke about attitudes and beliefs as affordances. For example, a number of participants felt that a positive attitude, an openness to different ways of doing things, and ‘going the extra mile’ were important to successful professional acculturation. This is related to an individual’s disposition, what I refer to as personal identity. In addition, when an IET’s beliefs and values about teaching and learning were aligned with Canadian beliefs and values, acculturation was much easier.

8.1.3 Affordances, constraints and communities of practice As I discussed in Chapter 4, the affordances and constraints in the professional acculturation process of IETs can be interpreted through Lave and Wenger’s (1991; Wenger, 1998) community of practice framework. The findings speak clearly to the notion of legitimate peripheral participation. As discussed in Chapter 2, in order for a newcomer to become a full participant in a community of practice, the newcomer needs access to the resources and social practices in a community. The affordances discussed by IETs and P3 participants in this study reveal the importance of acceptance by established members in a community of practice, which then enabled access to material resources, guidance and opportunities for practice. Regarding constraints, three of the four themes – differences in language and culture, differences in interactions with students and parents and differences in teaching and learning styles – speak to Wenger’s (1998) conception of identity as closely related to beliefs and values about competence as a full member in a community of practice. IETs who were enculturated in a professional community in another country

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often faced conflicts in beliefs and expectations about the roles and responsibilities of teachers and students, which constrained their professional acculturation in Canada. 8.1.4 Identity, agency and the acquisition of professional language and culture My second research question focused on the relationships between identity, agency and the acquisition of professional language and culture. My findings reveal that social identity, personal identity and self identity mediated a person’s agency in accepting or resisting the norms of a new community of practice, which include its language and culture. As mentioned earlier, the findings highlight the relationship between personal identity and agency. A number of IETs and P3 participants spoke about, or revealed through their narratives, personal characteristics such as openness, optimism and perseverance, which mediated their agency in accepting and adapting to a new community of practice. In terms of social identity, for some IETs, their professional identity mediated their agency in learning language and culture for the teaching profession. For example, a strong and consistent theme in Merida’s narrative was her goal of continuing her teaching career in Canada. The importance of her professional identity mediated her agency to complete the long recertification process. In addition, Merida was also agentive in framing her activities to reach her goal. For example, Merida used the coursework required for recertification for her own purpose – to improve her English skills. Merida also saw substitute teaching, which is often marginalized in the teaching profession and is not considered ‘real’ teaching, as an opportunity to learn more about the Ontario education system. In another case, Emily’s identity as a teacher mediated her adaptation to teaching in an Ontario secondary school by helping her to overcome conflicts with some students, and to create a positive relationship with her students. The findings also show the mutually constituting relationship between identity and agency: A person’s agentive actions also reinforced their identity. However, in the case of other IETs, their professional identity mediated their agency in the form of resistance to acquiring language and culture for the teaching profession in Canada. For example, Evelyn initially felt ‘revolted’ by the Canadian style of communication that conflicted with her deeply internalized beliefs and values about honest and direct communication. Even though Evelyn did eventually learn this style of communication, and was able to achieve professional success and a great satisfaction

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from teaching in Ontario, she never did completely accept this Canadian norm of political correctness when dealing with parents. Another example of social identity mediating agency in learning an additional language and culture was an IET’s identity as a second language learner. Those who accepted and felt comfortable with this identity, for example, Galina, Isabel, Merida and Peter, were able to ask for help from others in their community of practice, which facilitated their learning. Those who did not feel comfortable with this identity resisted being positioned as a second language speaker, and in some cases, resisted making change. For example, P3 participants Ariel and Roma both discussed the resistance of some faculty to suggestions that they improve their English skills. An important point is whether or not an individual accepts a particular social identity. This relates to self identity, which I will discuss further. Interrelated with social and personal identity is the concept of self identity, a coherent sense of self that is essential for psychological well-being. In relation to self identity issues, and drawing upon concepts from Erikson’s psychoanalytic perspective, my findings show the importance of affirmation and validation of a person’s self identity. I maintain that agency as acceptance or resistance is related to whether or not one’s identity is affirmed or validated by other people or institutions. In this study, given its focus on internationally educated teachers, the findings reveal that the affirmation of an IET’s professional identity played a key role in their agency to accept or resist acculturation. When a person’s professional identity is not acknowledged, there is a tendency to resist acculturation because one’s self identity is threatened, and there is a psychological need to protect one’s sense of self. However, when a person’s professional identity is affirmed and validated, there is more openness and willingness to accept new ideas. My research findings reveal the interrelationships between identity and agency. Adult immigrant professionals arrive in the destination country with a self identity developed from their participation in previous communities of practice. Their professional identity, which is associated with beliefs, values and ways of being, are deeply internalized. Crossing borders into a new environment results in challenges in maintaining coherence in one’s sense of self identity. I argue that for many IETs, their agency is related to the preservation of their self identity. For example, for a number of IETs, the agency to learn and adapt was related to their goal and need to re-establish their professional identity. For other IETs, because of their need to maintain their previous professional identity and their self identity, their agency may take the form of resisting adaptation to a Canadian educational community of practice.

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My findings also reveal the socially constructed and mediated nature of identity and agency. For example, a number of IETs spoke about the importance of mentorship to their successful professional acculturation. Through the encouragement and validation from mentors, the IETs’ identity was affirmed. This affirmation strengthened the IETs’ self identity, which in turn, enabled the IETs to enact their agency to further learn and develop professionally. For example, in the case of Peter, institutional approval of his overseas qualifications affirmed his professional identity and mediated his agency to seek entry into his profession in Canada. In summary, the findings from this study show that the professional acculturation of IETs is closely related to issues of identity. As Wenger (1998) maintained, the reconciliation of multimemberships as individuals cross boundaries is such a difficult process because the maintenance of identity ‘is at the core of what it means to be a person’ (p. 160). As discussed in Chapter 2, Wenger also maintained that reconciliation of multimemberships is necessary in order to maintain one identity across boundaries. I suggest that the findings from this study, and also the concept of self identity, clarify and provide support for Wenger’s claim. The findings reveal the importance of a coherent self identity, which includes social and personal identities that is enduring across time and space. This view of identity is compatible with a sociocultural perspective on identity formation, which highlights the importance of a person’s sociocultural history and the internalization of values and beliefs and ways of being.

8.2 Theoretical Conceptions of Identity and Agency Revisited In this section, I discuss my theoretical conceptions of identity and agency, and the relationships between identity, agency, learning and membership in communities of practice, in light of my findings. My discussion focuses on the nature of identity and agency, the role of power relations and emotions and transformation in communities of practice.

8.2.1 The nature of identity and agency The findings from this study provide support for the conception of identity and agency as socially constructed phenomena. From a sociocultural theoretical perspective, identity is constructed first on an intermental plane, through interactions with other people as well as material and symbolic artefacts; identity then becomes internalized and intramental. With regards

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to agency, a sociocultural approach views an individual’s agency as coconstructed with other artefacts, people and social interaction. In addition, sociocultural theory emphasizes how an individual’s unique history contributes to the development of higher mental functions, including a belief system that is integral to a person’s self identity. Because an individual’s identity is constructed in different social contexts, identity is multifaceted, yet strives for coherence. The findings also highlight the interrelationship between identity and agency. As Holland and Lachiotte (2006) maintained, identity informs one’s behaviours and interpretations; identity mediates agency. Previous studies in SLA have discussed this interrelationship between identity and agency. However, the question that has not been directly addressed is why there is a strong link between identity and agency. I maintain that Erikson’s psychoanalytic theory can provide some additional insights regarding this question. As discussed in Chapter 2, Penuel and Wertsch (1995) stated that the key aspects of Erikson’s view of identity is the need for a coherent and enduring sense of self, and the need for community validation of one’s unified identity; identity coherence, continuity and validation are necessary for psychological well-being. I argue that it is the human need for psychological well-being that mediates a person’s agency. In other words, a person’s agency and actions serve to reinforce his/her self identity; when self identity is threatened, then agency can take the form of resistance in order to preserve one’s self identity. 8.2.2 The role of power relations My findings demonstrate the relevance of Lave and Wenger’s (1991) concept of legitimate peripheral participation to understanding the professional integration of high-skilled immigrants. Power relations exist between individuals as well as between an individual and institutions, which can enable or constrain a person’s agency. The concept of legitimate peripheral participation deals with power differentials between newcomers and established members in a community of practice. Established members have the power to accept or reject a newcomer, but newcomers can also exert their power by joining or withdrawing from a community of practice. This is related to agency to accept or resist. Power relations affect a newcomer’s access to resources and the possibility of becoming a full participant in a community of practice. A recurring theme throughout my findings was the importance of acceptance of newcomers by members who are full participants in a community of practice. Both IET and P3 participants spoke about the affordance of

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social support from colleagues, administrators, students and parents. Acceptance of newcomer teachers gave them access to the resources and opportunities for socialization, both of which are essential to becoming a full participant in a community of practice. As demonstrated in the case of Peter, institutional recognition and acceptance also play an important role in the professional integration of high-skilled immigrants. 8.2.3 The role of emotions in identity and agency The findings from this study also support the work of other scholars on the importance of emotions in the SLA process (see e.g., Imai, 2007; Oxford, 1995; Pavlenko, 2005). In this study, emotions play an important role in issues related to identity and agency. As I just discussed, from Erikson’s psychoanalytic perspective, every person needs to be affirmed, validated and valued for psychological well-being. This need for affirmation of identity is an emotional process, and one that contributes to the enactment of agency. I was struck by the intensity of emotions that arose in the interviews with the IETs as they recounted their past and current experiences in seeking entry into the Ontario public education system and their professional acculturation experiences. As shown in the excerpts, there were mentions of tears, frustration and discouragement during the difficult initial period of learning an additional language and professional acculturation. Merida said that it was ‘traumatic’ and ‘awful’ when she first arrived in Canada and did not have the ability to speak English. Similarly, Kerri recounted how she felt like a three-year-old when she first arrived in Denmark and felt that she had lost the ability to communicate who she was. There were also mentions of positive emotions such as gratitude for the support of colleagues and others, and satisfaction and joy when goals were achieved. Also notable were the strong and powerful emotions conveyed in the narratives even when the experience took place many years ago, for example in the case of Evelyn, who vividly recalled her initial years of teaching in the Ontario school system almost 30 years before, and when Kerri recalled the incident when she was making a film about Danish architecture and culture and was blatantly rejected and cast as an outsider by a Dane. 8.2.4 Change and transformation Lastly, my findings provide evidence of the potential of immigrants to change and transform not only themselves but also the community of practice that they enter. Lave and Wenger (1991) emphasized that a newcomer

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joining a community does not merely reproduce existing practices, but also transforms the community. Edwards (2005a) stated that the ultimate goal of the work of Vygotsky and his colleagues was to create a Marxist psychology that sought to explain ‘how the collective was incorporated into the individual through processes of mediation and which could be used to transform ways of thinking and acting to the benefit of the greater good’ (p. 52). In previous identity-in-SLA work, this aspect of change and transformation has not received much attention. With regard to entry into a community of practice, scholars working from a feminist post-structural perspective have focused on power differentials between newcomers and oldtimers, problems of access and the marginalization of newcomers. My findings show that IETs who were successful in becoming full participants in a community of practice did have an impact on the community, and contributed to the transformation of community and its members. The IETs brought with them different experiences and worldviews, which they were able to share with their students and enrich their community of practice.

8.3 Practical and Policy Implications As I discussed in Chapter 1, my study was motivated by two key issues in contemporary migration trends: increasing diversity, and the underemployment of high-skilled immigrants. While my study examined the case of internationally educated teachers in Ontario, the practical implications of the findings can provide insights for other internationally educated professionals and also for other national contexts. In the following discussion, I focus on three key themes that recurred throughout the study: (a) access to a community of practice, (b) acceptance by a community of practice and (c) negotiating multimemberships.

8.3.1 Access to a community of practice The findings from this study showed that access to a community of practice is crucial for a newcomer professional to become a full participant. The practical and policy implication and question is: What can be done to help high-skilled migrants to gain access to resources and opportunities for practice that are essential for successful professional acculturation? While my study focused on professional acculturation issues, stories of recertification barriers were prominent in the narratives of many IET

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participants. Some participants considered obtaining recertification the most difficult hurdle to professional integration. A number of participants were required to or voluntarily completed postsecondary studies in Canada in order to acquire local credentials. This was one means of gaining initial access to a professional community of practice, which was helpful for some participants. For others, enrolling in postsecondary studies was not possible because of financial constraints. Some participants in this study were also able to gain access to their profession through volunteering, substitute teaching and teaching in private schools. These contexts gave them valuable opportunities to make contacts, to learn about the system and to gain local experience. However, volunteering and substitute work are often problematic for immigrants who need to support themselves and their dependents. A number of internationally educated teachers suggested that working as teacher’s assistants would enable them to acculturate professionally while earning an adequate income. However, because of union regulations, certified teachers are not allowed to work as assistants, so some immigrant teachers who had attained certification had to work in low-skilled survival jobs that were unrelated to their profession. This points to the need for policy changes and the creation of programmes that would enable high-skilled immigrants to work in intermediate positions in their fields in order to facilitate their professional integration. Because high-skilled immigrants bring diverse linguistic, cultural and professional experience, they are not merely receiving knowledge and skills from the local context, but they are also able to contribute to the local context. Another strategy used by the immigrant teachers in this study to gain access to their professional community of practice was taking part in a bridging programme. All of the internationally educated teachers who participated in the bridging programme spoke about its helpfulness. The bridging programme provided essential information regarding the local professional context and practices, and helped these immigrant professionals to develop social networks and to make contact with prospective employers. In addition, this particular bridging programme included a 6-week occupation-specific language course. Participating in the bridging programme was also important in providing social support and affirming the professional identity of these individuals. Being among colleagues in a community of practice contributed to these immigrant teachers’ sense of well being. However, this bridging programme was only available to teachers in high-demand subject areas such as French, math and science, and was only available in three cities in Ontario. Another problem with bridging programmes is short-term funding. Given the importance of bridging

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programmes to the integration of high-skilled immigrants, it is essential for policy makers to continue and to extend funding for such programmes so that they are accessible to all high-skilled immigrants. 8.3.2 Acceptance by a community of practice My findings also show that it was not only important to gain access, but for newcomers to be accepted by others in a community of practice. Thus, a key question is: How can stakeholders and institutions create more receptive professional communities of practice for high-skilled immigrants? First of all, my findings show that people in leadership positions, such as administrators at all levels of an organization, played a crucial role in establishing a welcoming environment for newcomers. This is one place to start the creation of a supportive community of practice. Creating awareness in other members in a community of practice – for example, colleagues, other staff members, and other stakeholders – of the important role and influence that they have on a newcomer’s integration may also motivate these established members to contribute to creating a more supportive environment for newcomers. Some administrators also noted that it was important to advocate for immigrant professionals by highlighting their strengths and contributions in order to gain support from the receiving community. This is particularly important when the immigrant professionals are working in a community where there are not many immigrants, as my findings show that the internationally educated teachers in this study were more readily accepted in school communities where there were more immigrants than in communities where there were mainly Canadian-born Anglophones. However, communities of practice do not function in isolation, but interact with the wider society and its values. One way to promote greater receptivity is through official policy. Changing individual attitudes and beliefs is a difficult proposition, but I maintain that official policies that are supportive of newcomers do make an important statement about societal values. In Ontario, the mandatory induction and mentorship programme for teachers is one example of policy support for the creation of more supportive and welcoming environments for all new teachers, including internationally educated teachers. 8.3.3 Negotiating identity, beliefs and values in the professional acculturation process My findings also reveal the complex and difficult process of the professional acculturation of high-skilled immigrants. The practical question from this

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finding is: How can we help internationally educated professionals to negotiate beliefs and values that may be in conflict with their own? My findings concur with the work from other scholars regarding how psychologically difficult the immigration process can be (e.g., Lantolf & Pavlenko, 2000; Menard-Warwick, 2004; Vitanova, 2002). One key finding from my study is the importance of affirming a person’s self identity. As I argued, once a person’s self identity is affirmed and validated, there is more psychological space to accept other ways of being. Bridging programmes and other networking opportunities provide valuable contexts for high-skilled immigrants to be affirmed as professionals, as reported by a number of participants in this study. It is also important for psychological well being to feel that one is a part of a group, that one is not alone and isolated in the difficult process of settlement and acculturation. Sharing the strategies and affordances in immigrant professionals’ success stories can help other high-skilled immigrants in their acculturation. Likewise, increasing awareness of potential challenges to professional acculturation is also an important first step to developing strategies and support to help high-skilled immigrants to become successful professionals in their destination countries. Regarding professional expectations, beliefs and behaviours, support through induction workshops and ongoing mentorship from empathic professional development facilitators and mentors would be helpful for high-skilled immigrants not only to increase their awareness and self reflection, but also to validate the expertise of these individuals and of their potential contributions to their professions in a different context. Finally, the experience and strategy of some immigrant teachers regarding their acceptance of their identity as speakers of English as an additional language may be helpful for other internationally educated professionals. Instead of focusing on perceived deficiency, it would empower high-skilled immigrants in their professional context to emphasize their other language and cultural abilities and knowledge, and that English is an additional language that they speak. Furthermore, these newcomers can contribute and enrich a community of practice, as shown in my findings.

8.4 Concluding Thoughts The findings from this study of internationally educated teachers in Canada, and the analysis of the relationships between identity, agency and the professional acculturation process reveal that identity and agency are

From Local to Global

221

socially constructed phenomena that are internalized in an individual. Individuals have a unique sociocultural history that contributes to the construction of their identity. In addition, one’s identity mediates one’s personal agency, and ongoing social interactions continually influence the construction of identity and agency. The findings also show that professional acculturation is a complex and mediated process between individuals and affordances and constraints in the environment. Furthermore, professional acculturation is a two-way process. The willingness of both the newcomer to learn and change, and the receiving community of practice to accept and change, is necessary for successful professional acculturation. This finding reflects the reciprocal integration model, which emphasizes the need for both newcomers and the host society to accommodate and adjust (Winnemore & Biles, 2006). Given the increasing scale and scope of migration in this era of globalization and the growing diversity in our societies, social cohesion is a pressing issue in many contemporary societies. To create socially cohesive communities, it is essential for members to have a sense of belonging and to share a common vision (Spencer, 2008). Socially cohesive communities value diversity and give people from different backgrounds equitable access to opportunities, which include access to their professions. Thus, the integration of high-skilled immigrants can contribute to the creation of socially cohesive communities. My research study provides some insights into the professional acculturation of internationally educated teachers in Ontario, which is a small part of the picture of internationally educated professionals in Canada, and an even smaller part of the picture of internationally educated professionals in the global context. While there are many issues still to be addressed, and many questions still to be answered, my study aimed to further theoretical understanding of the second language learning process through an empirical examination of the professional acculturation experiences of one group of internationally educated teachers. Above all, it was my hope that the findings from this study would be able to initiate change and transformation towards greater acceptance of newcomers in various communities of practice. In the spirit of the work of Vygotsky and those who have been inspired by his work, the ultimate goal of my study was to further understanding in order to transform our societies for the greater good.

Appendices

Appendix A: Interview Questions for IET Participants I. Background information 1. 2. 3. 4.

How long have you been in Canada? Could you tell me about your life before and after you came to Canada? Could you tell me why you decided to become a teacher? What are your professional goals?

II. Previous education and teaching experience 1. Could you tell me about your previous education and the education system you attended? z z

elementary, secondary, post-secondary teacher education program

2. Could you tell me about your teaching and/or other professional experience before coming to Canada?

III. Teaching in Canada 1. Could you tell me about your teaching experiences since your arrival in Canada? 2. Could you describe the certification/re-certification process? (K-12 teachers) 3. What are your experiences in gaining entry into the Ontario public education system? 4. What are your experiences with the application/interviewing process? 5. Regarding teaching in a different education system (from your own education or teaching): z z

What do you like? What do you dislike?

Appendices z z

223

What do you find easier? What do you find challenging or more difficult?

IV. Acquisition of professional language & culture 1. In relation to your teaching and/or seeking a teaching position in the Ontario education system, are there any issues related to language or culture that stand out in your mind? 2. How does classroom/teaching-related language and culture compare to your country of origin? 3. Is there anything you find particularly challenging about teachingrelated language and culture in Canada? 4. What are some strategies that have helped you in the acquisition of teaching-related language and culture?

V. Other Is there anything else you would like to share about your experiences as an internationally educated teacher/professor in Canada?

Appendix B: Transcription Key underline en dash – [ ] { } (x) (xx) (xxx) ( ?) , ... = bold (. . .)

simultaneous speech incomplete word or abrupt break in speech nonverbal sounds, e.g., laughter additional text added by researcher to clarify content incomprehensible item, probably one word only incomprehensible item of phrase length incomprehensible item beyond phrase length uncertain transcription slight pause longer pause latched speech word (or syllable) stressed omitted text

Appendix C: Member Checks Participant

Member check

Types of changes made in transcripts

1. Wanda

• reviewed & approved

• no changes

2. Serena

• reviewed & approved

• no changes

3. Merida

• reviewed & approved

• no changes

4. Bud

• reviewed & revised

• correction of content details, e.g., proper names

5. Galina

• reviewed & approved

• no changes

6. Elisa

• sent to participant

• no changes

7. Marjorie

• reviewed & approved

• no changes

8. Susan

• reviewed & revised

• completion of phrases; some grammar corrections

9. Raj

• reviewed & revised

• correction of content details, e.g., words noted as unclear in the transcript

10. Audrey

• reviewed & revised

• completion of phrases, addition of phrases to clarify content

11. Lin

• reviewed & approved

• no changes

12. Victor

• sent to participant

• no changes

13. Evelyn

• reviewed & revised

• changes in wording to improve coherence; more formal grammar

14. Rose

• reviewed & approved

• no changes

15. Emily Chan

• reviewed & approved

• no changes

16. Dragomir

• reviewed & approved

• no changes

17. Christine

• reviewed & revised

• deletion of text, corrections of typos, a few addition of phrases or word change to clarify content

18. Kameela

• transcript checked; sent to participant

• no changes

19. Clarissa

• reviewed & revised

• clarification of two proper names

20. Lillian

• reviewed & approved

• no changes

21. Autumn

• reviewed & revised

• completion of phrases, change of phrases to clarify content

22. Lucy

• reviewed & revised

• completion of phrases, addition of content where transcription was uncertain due to inaudibility

23. Helena

• reviewed & revised

• addition of phrases to clarify content, and some editing of grammar, e.g., verb tense (Continued)

Appendices

226 Participant

Member check

Types of changes made in transcripts

24. Nemo

• reviewed & revised

• clarification of proper names

25. Peter

• reviewed & revised

• clarification of proper names, content, correction of typos

26. Sanjay

• sent to participant

• no changes

27. Ella

• reviewed & revised

• change or addition of phrases to clarify content, completion of phrases, changes in wording and sentence structure, deletion of incomplete or redundant phrases

28. Estrella

• reviewed & revised

• deletion of some text, change or addition of phrases to clarify content, some changes in grammar, e.g., tense, prepositions

29. Natalie

• sent to participant

• no changes

30. Adnan

• reviewed & approved

• no changes

31. Alex

• reviewed & approved

• no changes

32. Isabel

• reviewed & revised

• correction of typos, a few changes in words to clarify content

33. Monsell

• reviewed & approved

• no changes

34. Kerri

• reviewed & approved

• no changes

35. Don

• reviewed & approved

• no changes

36. Gail

• reviewed & approved

• no changes

37. Tom

• reviewed & approved

• no changes

38. Rashad

• reviewed & approved

• no changes

39. Jim

• sent to participant

• no changes

40. Rene

• reviewed & revised

• correction of proper names

41. Avinath

• reviewed & revised

• addition or change of phrases to clarify content; correction of proper names

42. Anne

• reviewed & approved

• no changes

43. Irene

• sent to participant

• no changes

44. Noreen

• reviewed & approved

• no changes

45. Anton

• reviewed & approved

• no changes

46. Sarah

• reviewed & revised

• addition of phrases to clarify content

47. Roma

• sent to participant

• no changes

48. Ariel

• reviewed & approved

• no changes

49. Karen

• reviewed & revised

• change of one word to correct content; insertion of one word that was inaudible

Appendix D: Examples of Segmentation and Coding Example 1: Interview transcript – P1 interview with Ella [segments indicated by brackets, and bolded and italicized text] 104. Ping: Right. That’s interesting. That leads us actually to the next section, which looks at teachingspecific language and culture, language and culture in the workplace. So in relation to your teaching here in Ontario, are there any issues related to language or culture, language in the classroom or the workplace – or education culture here, any issues? 107. Ella: Well, I can’t think of anything in particular. [Say language, yes, there’s still some language barrier issues, because sometimes some students – see, well first of all, English is not my first language. So quite often I have to think of the right word and the most appropriate word to use, in order to deliver what I’m trying to tell them. And just some words, for example, in England, they call it an NT cutter. And in Canada, they call it as an exacto knife. I just give you this as an example. In the beginning, I always wonder what is an exacto knife. And actually, my term is a cutter. It’s an NT cutter. A cutter is like some instrument that you cut paper. And here they call it exacto knife. So I had to understand in order to communicate with them. And these are some usage of language issue.] And the other is, maybe also, because the students they come from different countries, sometimes they – have [well I would say that, I also have an accent, that I don’t think I could ever change. You are brought up that way. And unless you really try so hard, but otherwise, it’s not easy to change an accent. But I feel that my student understand me quite well. They don’t really say, ‘Huh? What are you saying?’ It seldom happens, actually it’s quite good.] [But on the other hand, some of my students, they come from some country that has even a heavier accent like some African country, even if they speak English, they have some very heavy accent or some times they speak so fast, in a very quick pace. I actually have to listen to them quite attentively in order to understand them. Or sometimes I ask them to repeat it, in order that I could fully understand what they are asking.]

Codes [in brackets]

This was one meaning unit, which was double coded as: [prof acculturation challenge – language] & [identity – language ability]

[identity – language ability – accent]

[prof acculturation challenges – student diversity – ESL/ international students]

(Continued)

228

Appendices

Example 1: Interview transcript – P1 interview with Ella [segments indicated by brackets, and bolded and italicized text] [So yeah, it happened. I mean that’s the kind of language issue. But I know that it doesn’t just happen to me. It happened to a lot of teachers, even well-experienced staff in the college.] [30:00]

Codes [in brackets] [prof acculturation challenges – language]

Note: All Phase Two (P2) data were cross-coded. I used codes that were specific to a case study, so that I could identify themes within a case study. I also coded the data using the codes developed in the Phase One (P1) data, in order to identify themes throughout the data set.

Example 2: Interview transcript – P2 Interview 4 with Bud [segments indicated by brackets, and bolded and italicized text]

Codes [in brackets]

15. Bud: (. . .) [And after this training, I had my first supply work. One hour after that. 16. Ping: Wow. Oh my gosh. 17. Bud: I had to supply in my school. 18. Ping: In your school. Okay great. 19. Bud: And it was Wednesday, and they kept me busy for Thursday and Friday and Monday and Tuesday= 20. Ping: = Different classes? 21. Bud: Two or three different classes. In almost all of the cases, I had to stay one or two days with the same class.] 22. Ping: Oh yes. 23. Bud: [So it was pretty much okay and first I was a little bit . . . not afraid but maybe apprehensive, working on all the different grades, since I remembered how long it took, how many days it took for me to get used to the grade threes. But I found this experience, supplying experience, extremely enriching. Working for different grades gives you such a large perspective. It gives you an overall view of all the – not only school, I would say the educational system. Because you deal with not only different grades but sometimes different aspects.] [You know what? I had to teach even English! [laughs] 24. Ping: Interesting. And what grade was that? 25. Bud: Grade four. 26. Ping: Okay. 27. Bud: It was like the first year in French immersion school where they start English. So it was from the level – well, it was more or less basic for me too. [[Because even if my speaking English is not very good, I can still read and write well, and I know all the grammar and linguistic conventions.]] 28. Ping: What did you have to teach in that English lesson?

[cs bud – supply teaching] [prof exp – teaching – Can – supply]

[cs bud – aids – supply teaching] [prof acculturation aids – supply teaching]

[cs bud – supply teaching] [prof exp – teaching – Can – supply]

[[cs bud – teaching competence – knowledge & skills]] This segment is embedded in the larger segment coded. (Continued)

Appendices Example 2: Interview transcript – P2 Interview 4 with Bud [segments indicated by brackets, and bolded and italicized text] 29. Bud: It was lexicology, I would say. Synonym words, and homonyms, the words which sound the same.] 30. Ping: Sure, yes. So what other grades have you been in, during those supply teaching days? 31. Bud: [I had to teach grade five, grade four, and the two other grade threes. 32. Ping: Oh, wow. So that’s great, to see other classes, and then of course, you get to see the teachers’ lesson plans too, right? 33. Bud: Sure, sure. So you’re not only seeing the different grades, but you’re also seeing different strategies, different ways of the teachers to deal with the curriculum. Because those four or five were really different teachers. All of them. So I got to see their ways of doing stuff.]

229 Codes [in brackets]

[cs bud – aids – supply teaching] [prof acculturation aids – supply teaching]

Notes

Chapter 1 1

The recruitment of teachers from overseas also raises important issues concerning the brain drain from source countries. See McNamara, Lewis and Howson (2007).

Chapter 3 1

This study relies primarily on participants’ self assessment and self report of language acquisition and proficiency, which is a limitation. However, the verbatim interview transcripts provide an additional indication of language proficiency.

Chapter 4 1

2

3

4

5

I did not include Kerri’s data in this part of the analysis because unlike the other IETs, she was originally from Canada. However, I discuss Kerri’s narrative of her acculturation experiences in Denmark in Chapter 6. French immersion refers to programmes where French is the medium of instruction; core French refers to French taught as a subject. I have identified each quotation used with the name of the data source (participant’s name or text name), the document number and the turn or paragraph number. For example, this quotation is from the interview with Lin, document number 11, turn 174. For quotations from the case study participants, I have identified the interview number as well as the other information included for all quotations. In Ontario, there are four publicly funded education systems: English public, French public, English Catholic and French Catholic.

Chapter 5 1

Merida and Evelyn were both interviewed once, that is, they were not case study participants. However, I have selected these two cases for in-depth analysis in this chapter because of the longitudinal data in their retrospective narratives, as I discussed in Chapter 3. Both Merida and Evelyn spoke at length about their

Notes

2

231

acquisition of professional language and culture, and how they were able to achieve professional success. I am aware that both are non-visible minority IETs, and that this may have impacted on their experiences in the Ontario education system. Chapter 7 focuses on the longitudinal case study of a participant who is a visible minority IET. Merida was interviewed for a position as substitute/supply teacher.

Chapter 6 1

See, for example, Norton’s (2000) and Vitanova’s (2002) critiques of Schumann’s acculturation model.

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Index Note: Page numbers in italics denote entries taken from tables.

academic language proficiency 129 accent 12–13, 24, 26, 47, 95, 97, 103, 104, 112, 122, 127–30, 142, 148, 161, 162, 164, 175, 178, 189, 198, 210 acceptance, importance of 134 acculturation 10, 15, 72, 79, 84, 123, 124, 151, 156, 157, 162, 179, 206, 213, 220 see also professional acculturation activity theory 35 adaptation 2, 13, 47, 118, 127, 132, 150, 200, 202–3, 206, 212 Additional Qualification 114 adult foreign language learner 36–7 adult immigrants 19, 21, 22, 24, 25, 47, 84, 126–53, 190, 213 affect 17, 23, 36, 40, 48, 123 affirmation 123, 148, 153, 184, 206, 213–14, 216 affordances 54 and agency 122–4, 197–201 and constraints 150–2, 208–12 and legitimate peripheral participation 122–4 in professional integration 180–2 see also social support Africa(n) 2, 12, 189 agency 14, 18, 54 affordances and 122–4, 197–201 dialogism and 24, 25 emotions in identity and 216 human 20, 22, 27, 28, 30, 36, 41, 47 and identity, nature of 214–15 and identity and professional language and culture acquisition 212–14

individual and social nature of 182–3 learner 31, 32, 35–6, 48 mediated mind and 34–42 personal 173, 182, 183 and post-structural identity and 20–2 relational 37, 200–1 social and psychological perspective of identity and 49–52 theoretical conceptions of identity and 42–9 agent 29, 36, 47 and meditational means, relationship between 34 Albania 92, 105 Aljaafreh, A. 35 American Federation of Teachers 10 Amin, N. 12 anthropology 27, 35 Antón, M. 35 Appel G. 34 appropriation 24, 26, 34, 36, 42, 47, 50–1, 132, 209 artefacts 14, 30, 34, 36, 39, 42, 48, 51, 60, 151, 207, 214–15 Asia(n) 2, 7, 12, 20 assimilation 22 ATLAS.ti 80 attitudes and beliefs 116–20 Australia 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 156 Austria 2, 3, 5, 92, 125, 136, 153 authoritative discourses 12 autobiographies 14, 36, 47, 53, 59 Bailey, K. M. 59 Bakhtin, M. M. 23, 24 Bakhtinian perspective 24, 47 Baquedano-Lopez, P. 28

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Barthes, R. 19 Barton, D. 52 Bascia, N. 12 Basran, G. S. 7, 8 Bayley, R. 28 behaviourism 31, 34, 37, 40–1, 49, 99–103, 117, 122, 136, 144, 182, 192–4, 196–8, 200–1, 209, 215 Belarus 92 Belgium 2, 4, 5, 7 belief alignment and social construction of identity 142–5 Bell, J. S. 18, 60, 61, 62, 183, 184 Belz, J. 35 Beynon, J. 11 Biles, J. 221 Blackledge, A. 19, 27 Block, D. 17, 19, 23, 33, 34, 37, 48 Bong, S. A. 80 Borg, S. 117 Boswell, C. 2, 3, 10 Bourdieu, P. 21 Boyd, M. 8 bridging programme(s) 8, 113–14, 218–19, 220 Bruner, J. 35, 60 Brunn, M. V. 28 Buckwalter, P. 35 Bulgaria 92 Butler, M. B. 12 Cain, C. 26, 34 Canada 1, 2, 4, 6, 12, 13, 15, 20, 21, 32, 93, 113, 118, 131–2, 145, 146, 149, 153, 156, 172–3, 180, 186, 190, 195, 196, 212, 214, 218, 220 immigrant professionals in 7–10 immigration to, in 1970s 126–7 immigration to, in 1990s 137–8 see also individual entries Canadian Labour & Business Centre 7 Canale, M. 54, 121 capital 3, 21 Caribbean 189 Carr, P. R. 9 Carter, B. 50 Carter, K. 59, 61

categorization and SLA research 81 CBMercer & Associates 9 Central Europe 20 Chaloff, J. 3, 5 Charbonneau-Gowdy, P. 20 Charmaz, K. 80 Chassels, C. 9 cheating 98, 99–100, 193 Chee, A. E. L. 21 Cheng, L. 12, 13 China 92, 189 Clandinin, D. J. 60, 62 classroom management 100–1, 102, 106, 109, 111, 121, 188, 192–3, 209 classroom observations 26, 58, 76, 79, 96, 115, 186, 195 coding procedures 80–1, 227–9 Cole, M. 14, 34, 35 Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology (CAATs) 8, 67–8 colloquial language 95, 96, 209 Colombia 110 Commonwealth countries 11 see also individual countries communicative ability 54 community membership 47, 122, 179 community of practice 13–14, 27, 36, 47, 51–2, 143, 151 acceptance by 219 access to 217–19 affordances, constraints and 211–12 contributing to 145–6 diverse 162–6 legitimate peripheral participation and 29–33, 133 transformation in 152 community stance 30, 150–1 competence 30, 31, 98 confidentiality and SLA research 82 Connelly, F. M. 60, 62 constructivism 55 contingency 20, 28, 32, 33, 49, 158–9, 184 and continuous identity 178–80 conversational English 128 conversational language proficiency 129

Index Cook, L. S. 14 Corbin, J. 80 Côté, J. E. 46, 49–50 Coughlan, P. 35 Croker, R. A. 55 Cruickshank, K. 12 cultural norms 97–8, 117, 122 cultural nuances 6, 97, 98, 124, 190 curriculum 103, 108–9, 111, 123, 151, 209–10 and workload 191–2 Dahl, T. 29 Daniels, H. 35 D’Arcy, C. 14, 37 declassing, of high-skilled immigrants 5–7, 25 de Guerrero, M. C. M. 35 Dei, G. 9 Denmark 3, 4, 5, 6, 155, 166, 167, 168–72, 173, 175, 178, 179, 181 Derrida, J. 19 descriptive case study 63 deskilling 5 destination societies 2, 3, 22, 53, 121, 131, 134, 160, 183, 185 insider-versus-outsider status of migrants in 175–6 Deutsche Welle 10 dialectics 34, 40, 47, 50, 51, 54, 55 dialogism and identity 23–7 diaries 20, 59, 76 DiCamilla, F. J. 35 Dichupa, M. 11 discourse 1, 12, 47–8, 51, 79, 153 dialogism and 23–7 norms 22 post-structuralism and 19–23 discrimination 11, 12, 84, 110, 120, 122, 210 racial 104–5 workplace 103–6 discursive agency 21, 22, 26, 27, 47 disposition 36, 37, 50, 51, 150, 153, 184, 202, 211 diversity 1, 10 attitude towards 204

249

cultural 2, 9 student 95, 98–9 Donato, R. 35 Donmoyer 66 Dörnyei, Z. 55, 56–7, 58, 64 double voicing 26 Duff, P. 28, 35, 55, 56, 63, 64 Early, M. 28 Eastern Europe(an) 12, 20, 24 economic integration 2, 8, 15 Ecuador 110 Edwards, A. 14, 35, 37, 40, 200, 217 Egan, K. 60 ego identity 49–50 Egypt 92, 99 Elbaz-Luwisch, F. 13 elementary school 92, 95, 100, 101, 106, 112, 121, 125, 136–46, 195 emergent design 56, 57, 66 emic 27, 49, 56, 61 emotional support 198–9, 211, 123 emotional-volitional tone 24, 26 emotions 25, 40, 111, 117, 123, 132, 134, 148, 150, 192, 198–9, 211, 214, 216 Enciso, P. 52 enculturation 28, 47, 117, 121, 211 enduring sense of self 215 Engeström, Y. 30, 35 English acquisition mediation, professional identity in 138–41 English as an additional language (EAL) 11, 92–3, 97, 103, 115, 119, 122, 125, 138, 142, 148, 159, 196, 210, 220 English-as-second-language (ESL) 18, 33, 138 English language learning and challenges to identity 127–31 English learning 157–60 entry barriers 11 epistemology 54 Erikson, E. H. 37–9, 44, 48, 153, 215, 216 identity formation, mediated-action approach to 37–9 ethics 53, 56, 62, 64, 74, 80, 82–4, 135 ethnography 18, 31, 49, 79

250

Index

ethnolinguistics 59, 92, 124, 178 etic 62 Europe 2, 4 European Union 1, 4 exceptional students 96, 101, 118 explanatory case study 63 exploratory case study 63

Goodson, I. 12 Gordon, D. M. 28 Gordon, J. A. 9 Greece 2, 92 Greve, A. 7, 8 Gulf States 1 Guo, W. 11

family studies 125, 129, 135, 148, 186–90, 196 feminist post-structural theory 20, 21, 27, 43, 47 Fenstermacher, G. D. 62 Fenwick, L. T. 9 fidelity and identity 38 first-person narratives 59–62, 184 Firth, A. 17 Flores, M. R. V. 12, 14 focus groups 58 foreign credentials 5, 7 Foreign Service Institute (FSI), of US Department of State 6, 7 foreign trained teachers 8 Foucault, M. 19 France 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 20, 99 French immersion 93, 109, 230n. 2 (Ch 4) Frota, S. 59 Fry, P. G. 14 Fuller, S. 12

habitus 26 Hall, J. K. 17, 23, 45, 46, 50 Haneda, M. 18, 31 Harklau, L. 28 He, M. F. 13 Heath, S. B. 28 hermeneutic methodology 55 heteroglossia 26 heuristic inquiry 14 highly educated immigrants 5 high-skilled immigrants 166, 218, 220, 221 declassing of 5–7 trend 2–5 high-skilled migrants 3, 4–5 high-skilled migration 4 high-skilled occupations 5 Holland, D. 26, 34, 37, 40, 41, 45, 46, 48, 51, 147, 215 Hong, C. E. 20 Hong Kong 74, 92, 101, 194, 195, 199, 201 Howson, J. 230n. 1 (Ch 1) Huberman, M. 65, 66, 67, 80, 81 Hugo 2, 3 human agency 20, 22, 27, 28, 30, 36, 41, 47 human capital 3 Hutchison, C. B. 12, 13

Gagné, A. 12 Galperin, P. I. 34 Garrett, P. B. 28 GCIM 3, 5 Gegeo, D. W. 28 gender differences 25 generalizability 64 generalized other 40–1 General Professional Proficiency 6 Genung, P. 18, 35, 36, 46, 59 Germany 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 10, 15, 84, 157 Gilette, B. 18, 35, 36 Global Commission on International Migration 1, 2 globalization in local context 7–10

identity and adaptation 202–3 and agency, nature of 214–15 and agency and professional language and culture acquisition 212–14 coherence and 184, 215 continuity and 184, 215 emotions in agency and 216

Index fluid versus stable nature of 26 and resistance 203–4 and transformation 204–5 see also individual entries identity formation, in situated learning 27 language socialization 28–9 legitimate peripheral participation and community of practice and 29–33 ideology and identity 38 Ilieva, R. 11 imagination and community 32 Imai, Y. 216 immigrant children 9 immigrant parents 134–5 immigrant professionals 2, 5, 7–10, 15, 16 immigrant students 12, 20, 135, 163–5, 189, 204 Inbar, O. 12 in-depth interviews 57–9, 64, 83 India 1, 74, 92, 104, 189 informed consent and SLA research 82 inner voice 36, 47 insider 18, 56, 61, 165 -versus-outsider status of migrants, in destination society 175–6 instrument 56–9, 83 integration 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 10 professional, of IETs 11–14 social and economic 8, 15 internalization 34, 47, 49, 51, 52, 101, 117, 120, 122, 132, 136, 150, 153, 212, 213, 214, 221 active 40–1 International Labour Organization (ILO) 2 internationally educated teachers (IETs) 8–10, 15, 59, 65, 67–72, 84, 85–93, 101–6, 109, 114, 119–22, 136, 139, 208, 210, 211, 214, 218 current issues in professional integration of 11–14 see also individual entries

251

international migrants see individual entries international migration 1 globalization in local context 7–10 high-skilled immigrants and 2–7 IET, professional integration and issues in 11–14 issues, personal experiences and connections 14–16 international teachers see internationally educated teachers (IETs) interpersonal communication skills 6, 98, 124 interpretation 37, 56, 60, 65, 81–2, 207 interventionist methodology 55 interviews 20, 22, 26, 53, 56, 59, 65–9, 72, 79–81, 82, 85, 127–8, 147, 151, 156, 163, 184, 187–90, 197–8, 202, 216 in-depth 57–9, 64, 83 procedures and data 74–5 semi-structured 58, 59, 64 intrapsychic level 50 investment 21, 25, 32 Iran 74 Ireland 2, 3, 4, 6 Israel 11, 12, 13 Italy 3, 137, 138, 141, 142 Jackson, A. Y. 14 Jamaica 70, 77, 87, 91, 92 Jane, B. 13 Japan 3 Japanese 20, 31, 58 Jia, L. 28 Johnson, D. M. 55, 63 Johnson, J. M. 83 joint enterprise 30 journaling 76 journal writing 23 Julé-Lemke, A. 23, 31 Kadkhoda, A. 8 Kamler, B. 12 Kanno, Y. 32 Kenya 92, 121 Kephart, K. L. 28

252

Index

Kindergarten-to-Grade-12 (K-12) school system 8, 67–9, 71, 72, 84, 104, 111, 113, 114, 123, 162 Kinginger, C. 35 Klassen, T. R. 9 Kostogriz, A. 12 Kramsch, C. 23, 35 Kristeva, J. 19 Kunz, J. 8 Kvale, S. 53, 57, 58, 62, 79, 81, 82 labour migration 2, 3–4, 8 Lacan, J. 19, 23 Lachiotte Jr, W. 26, 34, 37, 40, 41, 45, 46, 48, 51, 147, 215 Lam, W. S. E. 28 Langman, J. 184 language and post-structuralism 20 language barrier 4, 5, 7, 8, 13, 111, 143, 191, 195, 206 language instruction 6–7, 8 language issues 194–6 language learner identity 147–8 language learner’s identity and discourse, relationship between 21 language proficiency 4, 7, 8, 10, 22 language skills 7–8, 15, 121 language socialization 28–9 Lantolf, J. 17, 18, 33, 34, 35, 36, 44, 46, 47, 59, 61, 220 Lapkin, S. 35 Larsen-Freeman, D. 17–18 Latin America 2, 189 Lave, J. 14, 19, 29–30, 31, 44, 47, 51, 122, 151, 211, 215, 216 learner agency 48 and goals 35–6 learner diaries 59, 76 Lee, J. 35 legitimate peripheral participation 215 and community of practice 29–33, 51, 133 Lei, J. 28 Leki, I. 18, 31 Lemaitre, G. 3, 5 Leont’ev, A. N. 34, 35

Levine, C. G. 46, 49–50 Lewis, C. 52 Lewis, S. 230n. 1 (Ch 1) lexical differences 95, 96 Li, D. 28 Li, Z. 7, 8 Lieblich, A. 60 life history interview, in-depth 64 limited participation and identity 32 linguistic identity 23 lived experiences 54, 186–207 longitudinal case study research 64, 78 Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Canada 8 lower skilled occupations 5 Lum, L. 9 Luria, A. R. 34, 35 Magnan, S. 17 Maheux, H. 8 mainstream society 25, 121, 136, 176 Marchenkova, L. 23 marginalization 11–12, 22, 29, 30, 212, 217 resistance to 32 Marx, N. 31, 35 Marxists 217 Mason, T. L. 79 Mauritius 92 Mawhinney, H. 13 McCafferty, S. G. 35 McEwan, H. 60 McIntyre, F. 9 McKay, S. L. 18, 20 McNamara, O. 230n. 1 (Ch 1) Mead G. H. 37, 48 on self 40–1 meaning condensation and SLA research 81 meanings and post-structuralism 20 meaning units 80–1, 85, 94, 107 mediation 13, 14, 47 mind and agency and 34–42 member checks 79–80, 225–6 memberships and identity 31, 50, 120–2, 150, 214 memo writing 81–2

Index Menard-Warwick, J. 18, 23, 25–7, 33, 45, 46, 49, 58, 184, 192, 220 Mendez-Negrete, J. 12 mental functions, higher 37, 41, 215 mentor 13, 71, 93, 110, 115, 133, 176, 183, 184, 198, 214, 220 mentorship 13, 93, 109–10, 123, 127, 133, 137, 142, 165, 210–11, 214, 219, 220 Merriam, S. 55, 56, 57, 59, 63, 65, 66, 80 Mexico 3 Michael, O. 12 Middle East 7, 189 Milan, A. 8 Miles, M. B. 65, 66, 67, 80, 81 Miller, J. 18, 20, 76 Miller, P. W. 10, 11 Moje, E. B. 52 Moldova 92 Moore, C. 14 Morita, N. 18, 31–2, 58, 59, 76 multiculturalism 2, 9–10, 137, 141, 148 multifaceted identities 13, 17 multilingual identity 22, 92, 96, 104, 141–2, 146, 148, 152 multimembership 31, 47, 50, 214 Münz, R. 1 mutual engagement 30 Myles, J. 13 narrative inquiry 18, 59–63, 183, 184 narrative knowledge 60 narrative research 61–2, 64, 65, 184 Nespor, J. 117 Netherlands, the 2, 5 networks 7, 113–14, 166, 181, 220 newcomers 7, 9, 13, 15, 98, 122, 151, 159, 173, 191, 196, 215–17, 219 advocating for 134–6 and community 29–30 integration of 2, 5 and volunteering 116 New Zealand 2, 4 non-native speakers 17, 20, 142 nonparticipation 32, 33, 47 of peripherality and marginality 30

253

North America 2 Norton, B. 18, 20, 21–2, 31, 32–3, 45, 46, 59, 64, 76, 184, 231n. 1 Norway 4 novice 28, 34 see also newcomers occupation and identity 38 occupation-specific language 10, 13 Ochs, E. 28, 43, 46 OECD 2, 3, 4, 10 official language 2, 5, 7–8, 11 proficiency 4, 6, 8 Ohta, A. S. 28, 35 Okawa, M. 20 Oliver, D. G. 79 Ontario 2, 68, 72, 84, 98, 100–3, 109, 115, 134, 136, 143, 155, 160, 189, 194, 205, 208, 210, 211, 212, 216, 221 immigrant professionals in 7–10 Ontario College of Teachers 114, 139, 188 ontology 54 open interview 58 overseas trained teachers 8, 10, 11 Oxford, R. 59, 216 Pajares, M. F. 117 Pakistan 92, 189, 190 Parks, S. 18 participant-researcher relationship 188 Pavlenko, A. 18, 19, 21, 22, 27, 33, 35, 36, 44, 46, 47, 59, 61, 62, 183, 184, 216, 220 Peeler, E. 12, 13 Penuel, W. R. 37–9, 40, 44, 48, 51, 153, 215 peripherality 29 personal agency 20, 32, 46, 173, 182–3, 221 personal identity 38, 49–51, 124, 147, 149, 150, 179, 184, 206, 211, 212, 214 personal narratives 25, 61 Philippines 12, 92 Phillion, J. 12

254

Index

Phillips, D. C. 61 Piller, I. 19 pilot study 74, 188 point system 4, 7, 11 Poland 32, 92, 156, 160, 161, 164, 180 political correctness 96, 101, 150, 209, 213 Polkinghorne, D. 60, 62 popular culture 98, 209 Portugal 4 postmodern 19 post-structuralism and identity 19–23, 46 power relations 29, 33, 215–16 in social interactions 21 practicum 115 Preissle, J. 9 private schools 115, 116, 123, 141, 211, 218 professional acculturation 9–14, 53, 54, 85, 107, 221 administrators, mentors, and professional development facilitators 93–4 affordances, agency, and legitimate peripheral participation 122–4 affordances and constraints in 150–2, 208–12 beliefs and attitudes 116–20 bridging and professional development courses 113–14 challenges to beliefs 131–2 classroom management and 100–1 constraints 208–10 dealing with parents and 101–2 differences in professional beliefs and behaviours 102–3 entry into diverse community of practice and 162–6 identity, constraints, and membership in community of practice 120–2 identity nature and 152–3 IETs 85–93 of internationally educated teachers 8–10 issues concerning students and 98–100

journeys 126–46 language and culture difference and 95–8 language learner identity and 147–9 lived experiences of Hong Kong teacher and 186–207 negotiation of identity, beliefs, and values in 219–20 observation and practice and 115–16 personal identity and 150 professional identity and 149–50 resources 114–15 social support and 108–13 workplace discrimination 103–6 professional community support from 198–200 transitioning into 160–2 professional identity 12, 15, 32–3, 83, 137, 147, 149–50, 153, 182–5, 206, 212–14, 218 loss of 25 in mediating English acquisition 138–41 reconstruction of 25 professional integration 2, 11–14, 155 affordances in 180–2 community of practice and 162–6 contingent and continuous identity 178–80 English learning, during initial settlement 157–60 identity, gain and loss of 168–71 individual and social nature of agency 182–3 professional community, transitioning into 160–2 professional success, achieving 175–8 social and professional integration 171–5 professional language proficiency 10 professional socialization 12, 14 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 9

Index pronunciation 95, 121, 139, 162, 178, 195 psychoanalysis 34, 48, 49–52, 123, 153, 213, 215, 216 post-structural 22–3 psycholinguistic approach 17 psychological well-being 50 qualitative research in applied linguistics 56–7, 63 categorization and research and 81 coding procedures and 80–1 contrasting research paradigms and 54–5 data collection methods and source overview 72–9 data conversion to texts and 79 generalizability, transferability, and external validity and 66–7 in-depth interviews and 57–9 informed consent and confidentiality and 82 intercoder and intracoder agreement checks 81 internal validity and credibility of research and 65 interpretation and research and 81–2 meaning condensation and research and 81 member checks and 79–80 participant and researcher relationship and 83 qualitative research characteristics and 55–7 qualitative research designs and participants and 67–72 reciprocity and 82–3 reliability and dependability of research and 65–6 researcher position and 83–4 research questions and research methodology and 54 rise of 17–19 quantitative research paradigm comparison with qualitative research paradigm 54–5 Quiocho, A. 9

255

racial discrimination 104–5 Rambo, H. H. 21, 22, 23 rapport 57, 59, 74, 83, 84, 96, 98, 108, 111, 126, 156, 184, 201, 203, 211 Rasheed, N. 9 Ratner, C. 34, 80, 81 Raymond, P. M. 18 recertification 11, 127, 137, 138, 139, 140, 149, 212, 217 reciprocal integration model 221 reciprocity and SLA researcher 82–3 reconciliation 31, 214 Reid, C. 12 Reid, J.-A. 12 relational agency 37, 200–1 Remennick, L. 10, 11, 121 remothering 23 resistance 12, 22, 25, 27, 32, 47, 97, 141, 150, 201, 203–4, 206, 212, 213, 215 retrospective longitudinal studies 64 retrospective narrative 125, 152, 155, 156, 183–5 Richards, K. 55, 58 Richardson, V. 117 Riessman, C. K. 62, 79 Rios, F. 9 Robbins, D. 34 Rogoff, B. 35 Romania 92 Rong, X. L. 9 Ross, F. 12 Russia 25, 35, 92 Russian Federation 1 Salaff, J. 7, 8 Saldana, L. P. 12 Santoro, N. 12 Saudi Arabia 1, 99 Savignon, S. J. 23 Schecter, S. R. 28 Schellenberg, G. 8 Schetagne, S. 8 Schieffelin, B. B. 28 Schmidt, R. 59, 63 scientific knowledge 60 Scotland 97

256

Index

Seah, W. T. 12, 116 Sealy, A. 50 secondary school 10, 12, 74, 93, 96, 99, 101, 106, 112, 125–36, 138, 186–90, 195, 202, 206, 212 second language acquisition (SLA) 53 case study research and 63–5 discourse and identity 19–27 identity formation, in situated learning 27–33 mediated mind and agency and 34–42 narrative inquiry and 59–63 social and psychological perspective of identity and agency and 49–52 theoretical conceptions of identity and agency and 42–9 second language learning 22 self-authoring 26 self coherence 50, 51 self identity 18, 24–5, 46, 51, 153, 184, 212–15, 220 self integrity 50, 51 selfobject needs 23 self-reflection 61 self-sameness 38, 39 semester 71, 78, 155, 162, 186–93, 196–7, 201–7 semiotic mediation 41 semi-structured interviews 58, 59, 64 Serovich, J. M. 79 shared repertoire 30 Siegal, M. 18, 20, 23 Singh, M. 11 situated learning 47 and identity formation 27–33 Skinner, D. 26, 34 Slater, A. 18 Smagorinsky, P. 14 social and professional integration 171–5 social and psychological perspective, of identity and agency 49–52 social cohesion 2, 10, 221 social identity 28, 49, 50, 51, 179, 184, 212–13, 214 social integration 7

socialization language 28–9, 47 of teachers, professional 12, 14 social network 108, 110, 182, 218 social support 13, 122–3, 153, 210, 216, 218 from colleagues and administrators 108–9 connection with students 111–13 mentorship 109–10 from parent and school community and social networks 110–11 societal discourse 20, 22, 47 sociocultural theory 14, 34–7, 42, 52, 215 Erikson’s identity formation, mediated-action approach to 37–9 Meadian self and 40–1 soft skills 6, 98, 106 Solomon, R. P. 9 SOPEMI 3, 4, 5, 6 South Korea 189 Soviet Union, former 11 Spain 1, 3, 4 special education 101, 136, 138, 144 speech community 22, 24 Spencer, S. 221 standardized test, of language proficiency 8 Statistics Canada 7 stories 59–61, 169, 176, 183–4, 220 Strauss, A. 41, 80 structured interview 58 student-centred culture 102, 118 subjectivity 49–50 and post-structuralism 20 of researcher 62 substitute teaching 68, 104, 109, 111, 116, 123, 125–6, 141, 143, 149, 151, 212 supply-driven systems and labour migration 4 supply teaching 68, 125, 143, 149 survey 5, 9, 17, 75, 78, 83, 186–9, 192, 195, 205 Swain, M. 35, 54, 121 Sweden 2, 5

Index Switzerland 2, 4, 5, 10 symbolic interactionism 40 Sysoyev, P. V. 23 teacher-centred culture 36, 102, 209 teacher education 11, 12, 15 temperament 51, 130, 150 TESL course 188 Teutsch-Dwyer, M. 19, 21 Thiessen, D. 12 Thomas, D. 8 Thorne, S. L. 35 TOEFL 160 Toohey, K. 18, 23, 31 tools 34, 39, 48, 51, 114, 129, 153, 171, 174, 182, 187, 197–8 Toronto 7, 15 transcription 74, 75, 79, 82, 224 transcripts 65, 66, 75, 78–82, 83, 128, 139, 147–8, 189, 225–9, 230n. 1 transformation 20, 25, 30, 36, 201 change and 216–17, 221 in community of practice 152 identity and 204–5 transitional language 4 transnationalism 166 Turkey 3 Tusting, K. 52 Tuval-Mashiach, R. 60 Twiselton, S. 14 Uchida, Y. 28 Ukraine 1 underemployment 5, 8, 9 unemployment 5, 9 United Kingdom (UK) 1, 4, 6, 8, 10, 11 United States (US) 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11, 22, 24, 156 Ushioda, E. 50 values 1, 10, 12, 13, 26, 39, 42, 116–17, 121, 131–2, 134, 136, 145, 150, 202, 205, 211, 214, 219–20 van Aalst, J. 18

257

van Lier, L. 17, 18, 35, 46, 54 Venezuela 136, 138, 139, 141, 142, 145, 146 visible minority 9 Vitanova, G. 14, 18, 23–5, 27, 43, 46, 47, 220, 231n. 1 voice 15, 23–5, 36, 47, 61, 79, 85, 110 volunteering 116 Vygotskian perspective 35, 37, 39, 42, 47, 50–1 Vygotsky, L. S. 14, 30, 34, 37, 40, 41, 52, 217, 221 Wagner, J. 17 Wang, H. 13 Wang, T. 13 Waterstone, B. 23, 31 Watson-Gegeo, K. A. 28–9, 33, 43 Weedon, C. 20, 21, 43, 47 Wells, C. G. 35 Weng, T. 13 Wenger, E. 14, 19, 29–30, 31, 44, 47, 50, 51, 120, 122, 123, 132, 151, 204, 211, 214, 215, 216 Wertsch, J. V. 14, 34, 35, 37–9, 40, 44, 48, 51, 153, 215 Whitworth, K. F. 20 Widdowson, H. G. 13 Willet, J. 18, 28 Wiltse, L. 18 Winnemore, L. 221 Wong, P. 28 Wong, S.-L. C. 18, 20 workplace discrimination 103–6 World Migration Report 1 written reflections 76 Xu, F. 12, 13 Zhang, L. 12 Zhu, H. 7 Zilber, T. 60 zone of proximal development (ZPD) 34, 37 Zong, L. 7, 8