Too many constraints: five first-year EFL teachers’ professional identity construction

The overall objective of this study was to investigate the constraints that have occurred regarding the first-year English language teachers’ professional identity construction at five Chinese universities. The approach adopted in the study was Narrative Inquiry. Interview data with five teachers were collected and analysed through a framework that identified emergent salient themes. All the preliminary results indicated major constraints in their experiences as first-year EFL teachers in the current Chinese university context. The discussion reflects on their newly negotiated and renegotiated identity after having suffered particular dilemmas in addition to the general difficulties, and how these processes have further reformulated their outlook in ways they did not expect.