Negotiating Pedagogic Researcher Identity by Two College English Teachers in China: A Social Network Perspective

Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) or pedagogic research (PedR) has become an international movement that encourages academics to use research-informed approaches to understand and enhance their teaching. However, the definition and understanding of SoTL/ PedR have been ambiguous, impactin...

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Main Authors: Wei Zeng, Letitia Fickel
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Muhammed Zincirli 2024-12-01
Series:International Journal of Contemporary Educational Research
Subjects:
Online Access:https://ijcer.net/index.php/pub/article/view/731
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author Wei Zeng
Letitia Fickel
author_facet Wei Zeng
Letitia Fickel
author_sort Wei Zeng
collection DOAJ
description Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) or pedagogic research (PedR) has become an international movement that encourages academics to use research-informed approaches to understand and enhance their teaching. However, the definition and understanding of SoTL/ PedR have been ambiguous, impacting career progression, orientation of scholarship activities and academics’ perception of undertaking such activities. This article adopts social network perspective to understand the SoTL/PedR experiences of two academics with a focus on teaching ---College English (CE) teachers working at a Chinese tertiary institution as they navigate their identities in a higher education (HE) context that attempts to promote SoTL/PedR. An integrated framework for understanding identity in individual social network of practice (INoP) is used to examine the complex nature of identity negotiation. Multiple networks and communities are identified. The juxtaposition of ties and communities reflects the complexity of PedR discourse, in which the stratification of knowledge and power relations sustain the boundaries of networks or communities. Two participants experienced complexity of subjectivities and negotiated a range of positions, e.g., CE teacher versus ‘more professional’ English Major (EM) teacher, pedagogic researcher versus ‘real’ researcher, educational researcher versus ‘superb’ disciplinary researcher. The article also discerns a collective subordination of CE teachers’ joint endeavors of researching their teaching practice to dominant research discourse. The study contributes to our insights into cultivating practice-oriented, problem solving-focused, research-informed PedR communities and networks characterized by recognition, trust, and respect.
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publishDate 2024-12-01
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series International Journal of Contemporary Educational Research
spelling doaj-art-73bca7de38ff4936bf6ecdb4d288ba832024-12-23T18:15:35ZengMuhammed ZincirliInternational Journal of Contemporary Educational Research2148-38682024-12-0111410.52380/ijcer.2024.11.4.731Negotiating Pedagogic Researcher Identity by Two College English Teachers in China: A Social Network PerspectiveWei Zeng0Letitia Fickel1Southwest University, School of International Studies, Chongqing, ChinaUniversity of Canterbury, College of Education, Christchurch, New Zealand Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) or pedagogic research (PedR) has become an international movement that encourages academics to use research-informed approaches to understand and enhance their teaching. However, the definition and understanding of SoTL/ PedR have been ambiguous, impacting career progression, orientation of scholarship activities and academics’ perception of undertaking such activities. This article adopts social network perspective to understand the SoTL/PedR experiences of two academics with a focus on teaching ---College English (CE) teachers working at a Chinese tertiary institution as they navigate their identities in a higher education (HE) context that attempts to promote SoTL/PedR. An integrated framework for understanding identity in individual social network of practice (INoP) is used to examine the complex nature of identity negotiation. Multiple networks and communities are identified. The juxtaposition of ties and communities reflects the complexity of PedR discourse, in which the stratification of knowledge and power relations sustain the boundaries of networks or communities. Two participants experienced complexity of subjectivities and negotiated a range of positions, e.g., CE teacher versus ‘more professional’ English Major (EM) teacher, pedagogic researcher versus ‘real’ researcher, educational researcher versus ‘superb’ disciplinary researcher. The article also discerns a collective subordination of CE teachers’ joint endeavors of researching their teaching practice to dominant research discourse. The study contributes to our insights into cultivating practice-oriented, problem solving-focused, research-informed PedR communities and networks characterized by recognition, trust, and respect. https://ijcer.net/index.php/pub/article/view/731Professional identitySocial network analysisPedagogic researchScholarship of Teaching and LearningTeaching-oriented academics
spellingShingle Wei Zeng
Letitia Fickel
Negotiating Pedagogic Researcher Identity by Two College English Teachers in China: A Social Network Perspective
International Journal of Contemporary Educational Research
Professional identity
Social network analysis
Pedagogic research
Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
Teaching-oriented academics
title Negotiating Pedagogic Researcher Identity by Two College English Teachers in China: A Social Network Perspective
title_full Negotiating Pedagogic Researcher Identity by Two College English Teachers in China: A Social Network Perspective
title_fullStr Negotiating Pedagogic Researcher Identity by Two College English Teachers in China: A Social Network Perspective
title_full_unstemmed Negotiating Pedagogic Researcher Identity by Two College English Teachers in China: A Social Network Perspective
title_short Negotiating Pedagogic Researcher Identity by Two College English Teachers in China: A Social Network Perspective
title_sort negotiating pedagogic researcher identity by two college english teachers in china a social network perspective
topic Professional identity
Social network analysis
Pedagogic research
Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
Teaching-oriented academics
url https://ijcer.net/index.php/pub/article/view/731
work_keys_str_mv AT weizeng negotiatingpedagogicresearcheridentitybytwocollegeenglishteachersinchinaasocialnetworkperspective
AT letitiafickel negotiatingpedagogicresearcheridentitybytwocollegeenglishteachersinchinaasocialnetworkperspective