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Abstract Abstract: Foreign language teachers in Chinese universities need to address various challenges and achieve professional development in curriculum reforms but few studies have explored these important issues. This paper reports on our inquiry into the interaction between teacher agency and professional identity by conducting in depth interviews with 8 English language teachers in a university on the coastal region of Southeast China. Drawing on sociocultural theory, we interpreted how the teachers exercise agency, make ‘choices’ between teaching and research, and adopt appropriate ‘actions’ in response to educational reforms to construct professional development paths that suit their own needs and characteristics. The results help teacher educators and educational administrators facilitate foreign language teachers’ exercise of teacher agency and promote educational reforms.
Key words: teacher agency; curriculum reform; foreign language teacher development; teacher identity recognition; Sociocultural Theory (SCT)
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