Agency in conflict with contextual idiosyncrasies: implications for second language teacher identity construction

ABSTRACT Purpose The growing body of knowledge on language teacher agency highlights the positive contributions of agency for teacher identity construction. However, teachers may face challenges in effectively exercising agency, and their agentive actions may be impeded by multiple contextual factors. The present study adopts a narrative inquiry methodology and reports on experiences that featured language teachers’ impeded agency. Design Data were collected from semi-structured interviews, narrative frames, and open-ended questionnaires. The data were analyzed through thematic analysis. Findings The findings indicated that institutional policies were the major factor impeding the teachers’ agentive initiatives. The top-down policies of the school had negatively influenced the teachers’ autonomy, self-efficacy, and emotions, and had created tensions in and conflicts for the teachers’ interpersonal and institutional identities. Value The study argues that agency may negatively influence language teacher identity construction when teachers’ subjectivity clashes with power relations that leave little room for teachers’ agentive action and performativity.