The dialogical teacher-self: A narrative inquiry into an EFL teacher’s professional identity

Linh Khanh Le

doi:10.65956/ltlt.2026.112

Authors

Linh Khanh Le Corresponding author email: lklinh@agu.edu.vn An Giang University - Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City https://orcid.org/0009-0003-9866-957X

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.65956/ltlt.2026.112

Keywords:

EFL teacher identity, Dialogical Self Theory, narrative inquiry, I-positions

Abstract

This study explores how a Vietnamese EFL lecturer constructs and negotiates his professional identity through the lens of Dialogical Self Theory (DST). Framed as a qualitative single-case narrative inquiry, the study draws on a written narrative frame and a semi-structured interview. The data were analysed using DST-informed narrative analysis, focusing on I-positions, internal and external voices, dialogical tensions, repositioning, and the maintenance of unity and continuity across the participant’s professional journey. The findings reveal that the participant’s teacher identity was constructed through a changing repertoire of I-positions, including tutor, lecturer-researcher, friend of students, mentor, responsible professional, pedagogical guide, researcher, and lifelong learner. These positions were shaped by early tutoring experience, postgraduate study, university teaching, influential others, institutional expectations, emotional tensions, artificial intelligence, and future aspirations. The participant negotiated tensions between care and academic accountability, among teaching, research, administration, and student support, and between the traditional role of knowledge provider and the emerging role of pedagogical guide in response to AI. Despite these tensions, he maintained a coherent sense of professional self through salient orientations as a supportive educator, developing professional, and opportunity-opening teacher. The study contributes to EFL teacher identity research by showing how narrative inquiry and DST can illuminate teacher identity as a multivoiced, relational, and evolving process of becoming situated within Vietnamese higher education.

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