Affordances and constraints: using collaborative autoethnography as a methodology to examine language teacher agency

Abstract

Language teacher agency (LTA) remains understudied in ESL, EFL, and bilingual contexts. Less is known about affordances and constraints of diverse methodologies that are used to explore this concept. This study, therefore, aims to examine how collaborative autoethnography as a methodology plays a role in LTA research. Specifically, three language teachers, through writing reflection journals and conducting group meetings, reflected upon and discussed the use of collaborative autoethnography to examine LTA. This study explores the following research question: What are the affordances and constraints of collaborative autoethnography as a research methodology to examine LTA? The findings demonstrate that collaborative autoethnography can be a productive tool to yield meaningful findings regarding LTA, as shown in the three emerging themes: (1) promoting intentional reflections on teaching and positioning, (2) promoting rigorous research process, and (3) posing potential methodological and ethical issues. Implications regarding research and professional development are also discussed.

Keywords:

• Collaborative autoethnography
• language teacher agency
• ESL
• EFL
• bilingual
• methodology

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jingyi Zhu

Jingyi Zhu is an instructor in Composition & Rhetoric at Columbus State Community College. Her research interests are second language reading, arts-based practices in education, young adult literature, and language teacher education.

Grace Jue Yeon Kim

Grace Jue Yeon Kim is an Assistant Professor of Education at Bucknell University, specializing in Language, Literacy, and Culture in Multilingual Settings. Her research examines language socialization and peer interaction of emergent bilingual learners, translanguaging pedagogies for biliteracy, language teacher agency, and technology-enhanced language education.

Zhenjie Weng

Zhenjie Weng is a Ph.D. Candidate, majoring in Foreign, Second, and Multilingual Language Education, at The Ohio State University. She is also an ESL instructor, teaching writing to both undergraduate and graduate level international students in the USA. Her research focuses on second language writing, language teacher agency, translanguaging, culturally responsive pedagogy, and technology use in educating EFL/ESL students.