Understanding international graduate instructors: A narrative critical

Abstract

This philosophical-empirical study reconstructed International Associate Instructors` (IAIs`) narrative identities related to their professional development. Despite Connelly and Clandinin`s (1999) definition of teacher identity as \"stories to live by,\" scholars have argued for more theorizing in narrative research (e.g., Phelan, 2000) and more elucidation of self and identity in research on teacher identity (e.g., Beijaard et al., 2004). Thus, this research aims to uncover minority teachers` lived stories by clarifying the relations of self and identity to narrative and cultural milieu.\r\n\r\nI use critical qualitative research (Carspecken, 1996) and narrative inquiry (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000) in a form true to my meta -theory—an articulation of one`s orientation to a research project. I especially reconstructed MacIntyre`s (1981) theory of narrative unity underpinning Connelly and Clandinin`s work by drawing on various philosophers` and sociologists` work (e.g., Hegel, Nietzsche, Mead, Habermas, Carspecken, and Korth). I also recruited four IAIs who taught different subject matter in the school of education at a well-known research-oriented university. They were all non-native, English-speaking novice teacher educators with different lengths of K-12 teaching experiences in their own countries. They came from China, South Korea, and Japan. Data was collected from two major sources: one semester of classroom observations and three individual semi-structured interviews with each of the four participants. Data was analyzed based on Carspecken`s (1996) reconstructive analysis.\r\n\r\nThis study shows how the IAIs` life-stories were interwoven with three plotlines (i.e., Romance, Tragedy, and Comedy) and an existential underpinning feature of what I call Meta-Story. In particular, when claiming themselves through meta-story, my participants simultaneously conveyed who they were through identification with their own characters in their self-narratives and not being these characters—being beyond all positive narrative characters by referencing themselves as the self-critics of their life-stories.\r\n\r\nI believe this study uncovers how the IAIs \"experience their multicultural lives\" (Phillion & Connelly, 2007, p. 293) with an organically produced theoretical framework, which would of significance for any study of human identity, self, and narrative. I also believe it sheds light on qualitative research methodology, multicultural education, and teacher education from an international perspective. Directions for future research and pedagogical/curricular suggestions are discussed.