Abstract：Abstract: This study examines the identity construction of language teachers who have been required to make the transition from offline to online teaching due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Multiple rounds of interviews were conducted with 12 English teachers in a Chinese university. Informed by positioning theory, the data analysis revealed multi-layered teacher positionings. The participants position themselves as a learner and reflective practitioner to navigate the new teaching environment at self level, while they are interactively positioned as a decision-maker of classroom interaction in relation to students to facilitate student participation，and a learning community member in relation to colleagues to support each other at interpersonal level. These findings generate important implications for language teachers to develop their capacity for effective online teaching.
Key words: online education; language teachers; identity construction
