Articles

Vietnamese EFL Teacher Identity Reconstruction under the Pressure of Technological Integration

Understanding teacher identity highlights a significance in language education since how teachers define who they are and their roles in a current context influence their pedagogical growth, teaching approaches, and interaction with students and colleagues [1], therefore, supporting effective teaching and learning outcomes [2]. Considering teacher identity as an unfixed quality that gradually changes depending on contextual shifts, it is crucial to investigate the reconstruction of teacher identity as a result of integrating technology into teaching. Despite the necessity, this area remains under-investigated in Vietnam, particularly among EFL language teachers. This qualitative research, therefore, aims to examine the reconstruction of Vietnamese ELF teacher identity as they adapted the requirement of technological application in their teaching practices. This research employs narrative inquiry and the hermeneutic circle to explore these experiences. The finding indicates that those teachers engaged with the complex interplay between their inside and the outside, resulting in distinct identities as two main groups: technological-learners who teach and technological-interested teachers. The study went deep into the influence of personal beliefs, institutional policies, and pressure from peers and students on these identities.