Learning to teach over time: Identity, tensions, and agency in an early career part-time university EFL teacher in Japan

Yuta Mogi

CELF Forum: World Englishes, ELF, and Intercultural Citizenship in ELT

Tamagawa University Center for English as a Lingua Franca

Tamagawa University Center for English as a Lingua Franca

Recent scholarship has increasingly conceptualized English language teacher identity as multiple and fluid, highlighting the role of agency in navigating professional identity tensions (e.g., Tajeddin & Yazan, 2024). However, fewer studies have examined how these processes unfold longitudinally over time. Addressing this gap, this longitudinal qualitative study traces the identity construction of one early-career part-time university English language teacher in Japan over a two-year period, mainly through semi-structured interviews. Adopting an ecological perspective, the study theorizes identity as emerging through dynamic interrelations among tensions, agency, well-being, investment, and professional development across micro (individual), meso (institutional), and macro (societal) levels (De Costa & Norton, 2017). By foregrounding chrono (time) as an analytic dimension, the study demonstrates how the teacher’s accumulated experiences and knowledge facilitate his reconfiguration of agency, enhancement of well-being, and refashioning of professional identities. The presentation concludes with implications for language teacher professional development and future research direction.