Chinese English
teachers’ professional identity and commitment and
their associations with their professional success
Hui Jia
Henan
Institute of Science and Technology, Xinxiang, Henan, China
Ali
Derakhshan (corresponding author)
Golestan
University, Gorgan, Iran
Received:
30/3/2023 / Accepted: 7/11/2023
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.30827/portalin.vi2023c.29625
ISSN
paper edition: 1697-7467, ISSN digital edition: 2695-8244
Abstract:The success of any educational context, including
language classes, highly depends on teachers’ professional success. Thus,
understanding the antecedents of this construct is of great importance. The
importance of teacher professional success has inspired many practitioners and
scholars worldwide to look into the potential predictors of this variable.
Nonetheless, the function of teachers’ professional traits in predicting their
professional success has scarcely been examined. In addition, the predictive
role of professional identity and professional commitment has remained
under-researched. Against this backdrop, the present inquiry inspected the
connections between teacher professional identity, teacher commitment, and
teacher professional success. This research also explored the effects of
professional identity and commitment on Chinese English teachers’ success. To
this aim, 300 Chinese English teachers were recruited from Henan, Hubei,
Shanghai, Beijing, Jilin, and Shandong Province. Following the distribution of
consent forms, three reliable inventories were sent to respondents. The
evaluation of the collected data revealed close and positive links between
professional identity, professional commitment, and professional success. Data
analysis also represented that professional identity and professional
commitment can directly influence Chinese English teachers’ success in
professional environments. The outcomes of current research may have important
implications for language instructors and teacher educators.
Keywords: China, English teachers,
professional commitment, professional success, teacher identity
Identidad y compromiso profesional de profesorado chino de inglés y su asociación con su éxito profesional
Resumen:El éxito de cualquier contexto educativo, incluidas las clases de idiomas, depende en gran medida del éxito profesional del profesorado. Por lo tanto, entender los antecedentes de este constructo es vital. La importancia del éxito profesional de los docentes ha inspirado a muchos profesionales y académicos de todo el mundo a investigar los potenciales predictores de dicha variable. Sin embargo, la función de las características profesionales de los docentes en la predicción de su éxito profesional apenas ha sido examinada. Además, el papel predictivo de la identidad profesional y el compromiso profesional sigue recibiendo escasa atención. En este contexto, el presente trabajo examina las conexiones entre la identidad profesional docente, el compromiso docente y el éxito profesional docente. Esta investigación también analiza los efectos de la identidad profesional y el compromiso en el éxito del profesorado chino de inglés. Con este objetivo, 300 profesores chinos fueron reclutados de las provincias de Henan, Hubei, Shanghái, Beijing, Jilin y Shandong. Tras la distribución de los formularios de consentimiento, se enviaron tres cuestionarios validados a los participantes. El análisis de resultados revela una relación positiva entre la identidad profesional, el compromiso profesional y el éxito profesional. Nuestros datos también demuestran que la identidad profesional y el compromiso profesional pueden influir directamente en el éxito del profesorado de inglés chino en entornos profesionales. Los resultados de este estudio pueden tener importantes implicaciones para los profesores de idiomas y los formadores de profesores.
Palabras clave:China, profesores de inglés, compromiso profesional, éxito profesional, identidad docente
The success of educational
programs is subject to the effectiveness of instructors (Coombe, 2019). To put
it differently, how instructors’ function in instructional-learning contexts
directly affects the quality of educational programs (García-Martínez et al.,
2021). The same goes for language education curricula in that the efficiency of
any language education program depends largely upon the effectiveness of its
teachers (Derakhshan et al., 2020; Fan & Wang, 2022). The effectiveness of
teachers in educational settings is called “teacher professional success”,
which pertains to the degree to which a teacher succeeds in fulfilling his or
her professional responsibilities (Klassen & Tze, 2014). In the realm of L2
education, teacher professional success is concerned with how efficiently
instructors transmit language knowledge to their learners (Pishghadam
et al., 2021). For Wossenie (2014), language
teachers’ professional success deals with the extent to which they are
successful in leading their learners toward desirable language achievements.
Given
that teacher professional success is at the heart of quality education (Coombe,
2019), factors enabling teachers to function more effectively need to be widely
examined. To answer this necessity, several scholars (e.g., Bardach et al.,
2022; Fan & Wang, 2022; Kim et al., 2019; Nosratinia & Zaker, 2017; Sezgin &
Erdogan, 2015, among others) have looked into the role of teachers’ personal
qualities in their professional success. Furthermore, many researchers (e.g.,
Aldrup et al., 2022; Li & Wang, 2022; Nayernia et
al., 2020; Pishghadam et al., 2021, to cite a few)
have tested the function of instructors’ interpersonal behaviors in their
effectiveness. Nevertheless, the position of teachers’ professional
characteristics –including
professional identity and commitment– in their occupational success has
remained unclear. To fill this gap, this inquiry attempts to identify the role
of professional commitment and professional identity in predicting Chinese
English teachers’ professional success.
As a professional
characteristic, teacher commitment refers to “the relative strength of an
individual teacher’s identification with and involvement in a particular
educational context” (Chan et al., 2008, p. 597). As pointed out by Lee et al.
(2011), teacher professional commitment is concerned with an individual
teacher’s mental and emotional attachment to his or her occupation and
occupational environment. According to Wang et al. (2021), the degree to which
teachers commit themselves to their profession and professional
responsibilities can directly influence students’ learning outcomes. This
implies that teachers who give their all to the teaching profession are more
successful in promoting their students’ achievements (Moses et al., 2017).
Another professional characteristic of teachers that may contribute to their
success is professional identity (Estaji & Ghiasvand, 2019), which pertains to how teachers view their
profession and define their professional responsibilities (O’Connor, 2006;
Rodgers & Scott, 2008). For Beijaard et al.
(2004), teacher professional identity is “an ongoing process of integration of
the ‘personal’ and ‘professional’ sides of becoming and being a teacher” (p.
113). Concerning this definition, the professional identity of teachers is not
a fixed or stable concept, but a dynamic construct that may change over time
(Derakhshan & Nazari, 2022a; Han, 2017; Mehdizadeh et al., 2023). To
elucidate the value of this dynamic notion, Pennington and Richards (2016)
mentioned that teachers’ professional identity can considerably affect their
functioning in professional environments. Likewise, Richter et al. (2021) noted
that how instructors perceive their professional role has a direct impact on
their instructional practices.
With the significance of
teacher professional identity and teacher commitment in mind (Richter et al.,
2021; Wang et al., 2021), several academics and scholars throughout the world
(e.g., Berger & Lê Van, 2019; Derakhshan et al., 2023 a,b;
Dong & Xu, 2022; Ostad et al., 2019; Qin, 2022; Ye et al., 2022, among
others) have studied the implications of these constructs in different
instructional contexts, including language classes. Nonetheless, the favorable
and unfavorable consequences of these constructs for teachers’ professional
success have remained unclear. This means that few researchers (e.g., Altun,
2017; Derakhshan et al., 2020; Labbaf et al., 2019)
have assessed the role of instructors’ identity and commitment in their
effectiveness. To address the aforementioned lacunae, the current inquiry
intends to delve into the impact of professional commitment and identity on
Chinese English teachers’ professional success. The following research
questions have been developed for this purpose:
RQ1. Are there any
significant associations between Chinese English teachers’ professional
identity, commitment,and professional success?
RQ2. Do Chinese English
teachers’ professional identity and commitment significantly predict their
professional success?
The construct of
professional commitment, also known as organizational commitment, broadly
refers to “the depth and strength of the attachment between an employee and
his/her occupation” (Ibrahim & Iqbal, 2015, p. 36). With this definition in
mind, Fathi and Savadi Rostami (2018) described
teacher commitment as the emotional and psychological bond that exists between
teachers, the teaching profession, and the teaching context. Wang et al. (2021)
further characterized teacher commitment in terms of “affective commitment”,
“normative commitment”, and “continuance commitment”.
Affective commitment, as Wang et al. (2021) mentioned, refers to teachers’
emotional tendencies towards the teaching career. According to Wang et al.
(2021), normative commitment pertains to teachers’ intentions to pursue their
professions for ethical reasons. Finally, continuance commitment includes
teachers’ propensity to continue their professions due to their close and
intimate relations with students, school managers, and colleagues (Wang et al.,
2021; Wang et al., 2022).
As put by Yu et al. (2021),
committed teachers are more inclined to assist their students and respond to
their academic needs. Similarly, Liu (2019) stated that teachers who are
emotionally attached to the teaching profession and their professional role typically
devote more time and energy to their students’ learning. Therefore, teachers
with a high level of professional commitment can make a substantial difference
in their students’ learning outcomes (Lu, 2021). Considering the importance of
teacher commitment, several researchers (e.g., Dai & Wang, 2023; Derakhshan
et al., 2022; Gilbert et al., 2014; Hallinger et al., 2018; Han et al., 2016;
Zheng et al., 2020) have scrutinized the inner (i.e., teacher-related factors)
and outer (i.e., student- or context-related factors) determinants of this
construct. Gilbert et al. (2014), for example, examined the influences of
teachers’ self-efficacy and job satisfaction on their professional commitment.
To this end, a total of 109 language teachers were invited to engage in the
data-gathering process. The analysis of gathered information demonstrated that
self-efficacy and job satisfaction can considerably influence the professional
commitment of language teachers. In another inquiry, Hallinger et al. (2018)
assessed the impact of instructional leadership on Iranian teachers’
occupational commitment. For this purpose, 345 teachers and 111 educational
administrators were recruited from different primary schools in Iran. Then, two
reliable surveys were virtually administered to participants. The study
outcomes disclosed that instructional leadership has a significant impact on
teachers’ occupational commitment. In a similar vein, Zheng et al. (2020)
studied the effect of paternalistic leadership on Chinese teachers’ organizational
commitment. To do so, 419 teachers were randomly chosen from various elementary
schools in China. Following that, a survey comprising two questionnaires was
distributed among respondents. The respondents’ answers to the questionnaires
revealed that paternalistic leadership can considerably improve teachers’
commitment to their organization.
Professional identity in
its broadest definition pertains to how individuals define themselves and their
position in working environments (Pratt et al., 2006). In instructional
environments, professional identity refers to teachers’ viewpoints about themselves
that originate from their ongoing interpretations of professional experiences
(Xu, 2013). For Sun et al. (2022), teacher professional identity is about “an
individual teacher’s optimistic attitude and a strong sense of commitment to
the teaching profession, which is reflected in his or her desire to pursue this
profession” (p. 2). As Kao and Lin (2015) mentioned, teacher professional
identity is a multidimensional variable that consists of six major components.
To them, the professional identity of teachers is mainly constructed on “self-expectation”,
“professional duties”, “external influential factors”, “pedagogy”,
“instructional skill and knowledge”, and “citizenship behavior”.
As the first dimension, self-expectation includes teachers’ personal appraisal
of their profession. The second dimension, professional duties, embraces
teachers’ perceptions of their responsibilities towards pupils. The third
dimension, external influential factors, is related to teachers’ viewpoints
about school policies. The fourth dimension is pedagogy, which concerns
teachers’ opinions regarding the impact of education on students’ behaviors. As
the fifth dimension, instructional skills and knowledge have to do with
teachers’ appraisal of their competence and subject knowledge. Finally,
citizenship behavior, as the last dimension, alludes to teachers’ perspectives
about voluntary behaviors that are beyond their professional duties (Kao &
Lin, 2015).
As pointed out by Van Lankveld et al. (2017), the beliefs and ideas that teachers
hold about themselves and their professional position directly influence their
performance in academic settings. Accordingly, teachers who positively assess
themselves and their professional status will perform better than their
colleagues (Delima, 2015). With respect to the undeniable role of professional
identity in teachers’ professional performance (Delima, 2015; Van Lankveld et al., 2017), many scholars (e.g., Berger &
Lê Van, 2019; Derakhshan & Nazari, 2022b; Motallebzadeh
& Kazemi, 2018; Sheybani & Miri, 2019; Wang,
2021; Yüce et al., 2023) have endeavored to recognize the internal and external
sources of this construct. Motallebzadeh and Kazemi
(2018), for instance, delved into the role of Iranian teachers’ self-esteem in
their professional identity. To accomplish this, using a convenience sampling
technique, 224 teachers were handpicked from various language classes in Iran.
Then, through two closed-ended questionnaires, the needed data were gathered.
The analysis showed that Iranian teachers’ self-esteem favorably predicted
their professional identity. Furthermore, Berger and Lê Van (2019), probed the
function of secondary teachers’ pedagogical beliefs in constructing their
professional identity. To do so, 236 secondary teachers were selected from
various schools in France. A survey was administered to participants to assess
their views on the role of pedagogical beliefs in teachers’ professional
identity. The results depicted that teachers’ pedagogical beliefs can
positively contribute to their professional identity. Additionally, Sheybani and Miri (2019) looked into the role of critical
thinking in teachers’ professional identity. In doing this, two valid
instruments of “professional identity questionnaire” and “critical thinking
scale” were distributed among 259 Iranian English teachers. The outcomes
disclosed that teachers’ professional identity can be substantially predicted
by their critical thinking ability.
Professional or
occupational success generally pertains to the degree to which an employee successfully
fulfills his or her professional responsibilities (Vincent‐Höper
et al., 2012). More specifically, teacher professional success refers to how
well an instructor delivers the instructional content, governs the classroom
environment, and fulfills students’ academic needs (Barrera et al., 2010;
Schmidt, 2015). In the language education domain, teacher success alludes to
the effective performance of teachers in instructing language skills (Pishghadam et al., 2019). However, as Bremner (2020) mentioned,
the professional success of language teachers is not just about their
instructional abilities. Simply said, what directs language teachers towards
professional success is much more than the effective delivery of language
knowledge. According to him, a successful language instructor is someone who
creates a comfortable learning atmosphere, cares for learners’ emotions, and
builds a strong rapport with them.
As reported by previous
studies (Gershenson, 2016; Wossenie, 2014), the
professional success of instructors is the key to attaining desirable language
achievements. Considering this, numerous scholars (e.g., Fan & Wang, 2022;
Li & Wang, 2022; Nayernia et al., 2020; Pishghadam et al., 2021; Sezgin & Erdogan, 2015; Wang
et al., 2023, to cite a few) have studied the personal and interpersonal
characteristics of language teachers concerning their professional success. For
instance, Sezgin and Erdogan (2015) assessed the impact of educational desire,
educational optimism, and hope on Turkish teachers’ success. For this aim, 600
Turkish teachers were chosen from 27 educational institutes in Ankara. Three
pre-designed questionnaires were used to assess participants' perspectives. The
results indicated that these three factors have a favorable impact on teachers’
success. In another investigation, Nayernia et al.
(2020) tested the influences of nonverbal immediacy and source credibility on
Iranian teachers’ professional success. To do so, three reliable inventories,
namely the “nonverbal immediacy scale”, “source credibility scale”, and
“characteristics of successful teacher questionnaire”, were emailed to 134
Iranian teachers. The outcomes uncovered that these two communicative behaviors
can largely influence teachers’ professional success. Furthermore, Fan and Wang
(2022) evaluated the effects of emotion regulation and well-being on Chinese
instructors’ occupational success. To accomplish this, 357 Chinese instructors
were invited to answer three researcher-made surveys. The survey outcomes
revealed that Chinese instructors’ well-being and emotion regulation can
desirably affect their success.
Besides, some studies
(e.g., Al-Seghayer, 2017; Altun, 2017; Derakhshan et
al., 2020; Labbaf et al., 2019) have investigated the
role of professional qualities in language teachers’ effectiveness or
occupational success. For example, Al-Seghayer (2017)
examined the role of different professional characteristics, including
enthusiasm and commitment, in English teachers’ professional success. The study
outcomes indicated the level of commitment and enthusiasm an English instructor
demonstrates in instructional settings is highly important for his/her success.
Similarly, Altun (2017) evaluated the impact of professional commitment on
student achievement, which is the main indicator of teacher effectiveness. To
do this, some interview sessions were held with a group of students chosen from
different language classes. The results of interviews indicated that a high
level of professional commitment results in increased student achievement. The
outcomes also showed that teachers’ commitment to their profession can drastically
improve their teaching effectiveness. In another research, Labbaf
et al. (2019) inspected the effect of professional identity on Iranian English
teachers’ effectiveness. To this end, two researcher-made questionnaires were
given to 143 Iranian teachers. The findings represented that English teachers’
professional identity has a considerable effect on their effectiveness.
Likewise, Derakhshan et al. (2020) explored the influence of professional
identity on English teachers’ professional success. To attain the required
data, two valid measures of professional identity and professional success were
virtually administered to 190 English teachers chosen from Iranian language
institutes. The results demonstrated that English teachers’ professional identity
can directly influence their success in educational environments.
Notwithstanding these scholarly endeavors (Altun, 2017; Derakhshan et al.,
2020; Labbaf et al., 2019), it is still an open
question whether the professional characteristics of language teachers
contribute to their occupational success. The present research aims to answer
this question by exploring the role of two professional traits, namely
professional commitment and professional identity, in Chinese English teachers’
occupational success.
A random sampling technique
was employed to choose 300 Chinese instructors teaching English as a foreign
language (EFL). They were chosen from English
language classes located in six different provinces of China (i.e., Henan,
Hubei, Shanghai, Beijing, Jilin, and Shandong). The
sample was made up of 267 women (89%) and 33 men (11%) , varying in age
from 24 to 48 ( M = 31, SD = 2.8). As to the academic
discipline, the instructors majored in different branches of English, namely
“Applied Linguistics”, “Linguistics”, “English Language Literature”, “English
Language Translation”, and “Teaching English as a Foreign Language”. They had
different educational experiences between 1 to 25 years ( M = 11).
Finally, concerning the academic degree, the majority of instructors (87%) hold
a bachelor’s or master’s degree. The rest of the instructors (13%) had a
doctoral degree. To adhere to the moral standards of research, the
confidentiality of respondents’ information was guaranteed. For the same
reason, respondents were also informed of their right to leave the study at any
point throughout the data-gathering process.
The “Teacher Identity
Questionnaire” (Xiong & Xiong, 2017) was utilized to assess Chinese EFL teachers’ perceptions of their professional identity. This inventory includes 33 closed-ended items. Respondents
should answer the items of this questionnaire on a 5-point Likert scale (1 =
strongly disagree, 5 = strongly agree). The following are some of the items
in this questionnaire: “I finish my job of English teaching every day
seriously” (item 1), “I like, care and respect students from the
bottom of my heart” (item 6), and “Teachers’ work is important for
students’ growth and development” (item 12). In this investigation, the
reliability of this inventory was 0.78.
To measure how deeply
Chinese English teachers are committed to the teaching profession and the
educational institution, the “Professional Commitment Questionnaire” (Meyer
& Allen, 1997) was used. This questionnaire embraces three essential
facets, namely “Affective Commitment”, “Continuance Commitment”,
and “Normative Commitment”. Each facet contains six items, some of
which are as follows: “I really feel as if this organization’s problems are
my own” (item 2), “I feel that I have too few options to consider
leaving this organization” (item 10), and “I owe a great deal to my
organization” (item 18). In the current inquiry, a reliability coefficient
of 0.88 was found for this instrument.
The “Characteristics of
Successful Teachers Questionnaire” was used to evaluate Chinese English
teachers’ success in instructional environments. This
instrument, which is designed by Moafian
and Pishghadam (2008), encompasses 47 items,
examining teachers’ success in terms of “teaching accountability”, “interpersonal
relationships”, “attention to all”, “examination”, “commitment”,
“learning boosters”, “creating a sense of competence”, “teaching
boosters”, “physical and emotional acceptance”, “empathy”,
“class attendance”, and “dynamism”. This scale is a
Likert-type questionnaire, the responses to its items can vary from “completely
disagree” to “completely agree”. The Cronbach alpha coefficient for this
inventory was 0.85.
To receive the written
permission, a consent form was initially shared with participants. After
obtaining permissions, three valid inventories, including “Teacher Identity
Questionnaire”, “Professional Commitment Questionnaire”, and “Characteristics
of Successful Teachers Questionnaire” were electronically administered to
respondents. To obtain reliable and accurate data,
respondents received some instructions on how to rate the questionnaire items.
The needed data were fully gathered in eight days.
Following the collection of
the dataset, the obtained information was fully screened to identify and
exclude the outliers. Following that, through the Cronbach alpha coefficient,
the reliability of the inventories was calculated. Then, using the IBM SPSS
Amos program (version 24), structural equation modeling (SEM) was implemented
to inspect the connections between the constructs and the role of professional
identity and professional commitment in Chinese English teachers’ professional
success. The IBM SPSS Amos is an easy-to-use SEM program that enables
researchers “to specify, estimate, assess, and present models to show
hypothesized relationships among variables” (Arbuckle, 2011, p. 1).
As mentioned in the
previous section, the internal consistency of instruments was computed through
the Cronbach alpha coefficient. The results indicated that all inventories
(Teacher Identity Questionnaire, Professional Commitment Questionnaire, and
Characteristics of Successful Teachers Questionnaire) enjoyed an acceptable
internal consistency (Table 1).
Table 1. The results of reliability analysis
|
Scales and subscales |
Cronbach’s alpha |
Cronbach’s alpha (based on standardized items) |
Items (N) |
|
1. Teacher Identity Questionnaire |
.81 |
.78 |
33 |
|
2. Teacher Commitment Questionnaire |
.90 |
.88 |
18 |
|
2.1. Affective commitment |
.75 |
.73 |
6 |
|
2.2. Continuance commitment |
.73 |
.71 |
6 |
|
2.3. Normative commitment |
.79 |
.76 |
6 |
|
3. Characteristics of
Successful Teachers Questionnaire |
.89 |
.85 |
32 |
|
3.1. Familiarity with
foreign language and culture |
.83 |
.80 |
8 |
|
3.2. Teaching accountability |
.87 |
.84 |
11 |
|
3.3. Teaching booster |
.74 |
.71 |
4 |
|
3.4. Learning booster |
.83 |
.81 |
10 |
|
3.5. Interpersonal relationships |
.79 |
.74 |
7 |
|
3.6. Physical and emotional acceptance |
.71 |
.69 |
2 |
|
3.7. Availability |
.72 |
.70 |
2 |
|
3.8. Attention to all |
.73 |
.69 |
2 |
Then, “structural equation modeling”
(SEM) was implemented to test the following hypotheses:
І. EFL
teachers’ professional identity does not predict English teachers’ professional
success.
П. EFL
teachers’ commitment does not predict English teachers’ professional success.
Ш. EFL
teachers’ professional identity does not predict English teachers’ commitment.
The SEM results
demonstrated that there were close and positive associations between
professional identity, professional commitment, and professional success. The results also indicated that professional identity
positively predicted Chinese teachers’ professional success, implying that the
first hypothesis was rejected. With respect to the following table (Table 2),
professional identity predicted about 43% of changes in Chinese teachers’
professional success.
Table 2. Standardized regression weights
(Default model)
|
Estimate |
|||
|
Teacher Commitment |
<--- |
“Teacher Professional Success” |
.723 |
|
Teacher Professional Identity |
<--- |
“Teacher Professional Success” |
.435 |
|
Teacher Commitment |
<--- |
“Teacher Professional Identity” |
.614 |
|
Affective Commitment |
<--- |
“Teacher Commitment” |
.654 |
|
Continuance Commitment |
<--- |
“Teacher Commitment” |
.362 |
|
Normative Commitment |
<--- |
“Teacher Commitment” |
.413 |
|
Familiarity with language
and culture |
<--- |
“Teacher Professional Success” |
.390 |
|
Teaching accountability |
<--- |
“Teacher Professional Success” |
.634 |
|
Teaching booster |
<--- |
“Teacher Professional Success” |
.516 |
|
Learning booster |
<--- |
“Teacher Professional Success” |
.527 |
|
Interpersonal relationships |
<--- |
“Teacher Professional Success” |
.717 |
|
Physical and emotional acceptance |
<--- |
“Teacher Professional Success” |
.453 |
|
Availability |
<--- |
“Teacher Professional Success” |
.762 |
|
Attention to All |
<--- |
“Teacher Professional Success” |
.694 |
Furthermore, as shown in
the table above, the second hypothesis was also rejected because professional
commitment favorably predicted 72% of changes in Chinese teachers’ professional
success. In addition, professional identity also predicted Chinese teachers’
professional commitment positively. This suggests that the researchers’ third
hypothesis was also rejected.
Among the three components
of professional commitment, affective commitment served a more significant role
in improving Chinese teachers’ professional commitment (Table 2). Accordingly, more than 65% of changes in Chinese teachers’
professional commitment can be predicted by their emotional characteristics.
Among different facets of teacher success, teaching accountability and
availability more significantly contributed to Chinese teachers’ professional
success. Thus, the professional success of teachers is largely determined
by their accountability (63%) and availability (76%). Taking into account the
above findings, the following structural model (Figure 1) was developed.
Figure1 . The research model in the standardized
estimation mode
This figure was designed to
depict the associations between the constructs and the significant role that
professional identity and professional commitment play in predicting the
professional success of Chinese English teachers. Following the development of
this figure, the goodness of the model was computed through fit indices (i.e., RMSEA, CFI, NFI, CMIN/DF, and GFI). The outcomes
are represented in the table below (Table 3).
Table 3. Model fit result
|
Model |
CMIN/DF |
DF |
P |
CMIN |
GFI |
NFI |
CFI |
RMSEA |
|
Default model |
3.803 |
8 |
.000 |
.910 |
.921 |
.913 |
.0714 |
|
|
Saturated model |
0 |
.000 |
.911 |
.934 |
1.000 |
|||
|
Independence model |
6.523 |
17 |
.000 |
110.891 |
1.000 |
1.000 |
.000 |
.091 |
As shown in Table 3, all fit
indices of the structural model were within the specification range. It
suggests that the research model had an acceptable fit with the obtained data.
The fitted model is demonstrated in Figure 2.
Figure 2. The fitted model
According to this model,
professional commitment and professional identity are positive predictors of
Chinese teachers’ professional success and greatly contribute to their
effectiveness at work. To put it another way,
professional commitment and professional identity play a significant role in
ameliorating Chinese teachers’ effectiveness.
The present investigation
was designed to assess the connections between professional identity,
professional commitment, and professional success (RQ1). This research also
aimed to evaluate the potential of professional identity and professional
commitment in predicting Chinese teachers’ professional success (RQ2). The
examination of the obtained data disclosed that Chinese teachers’ success is
closely linked to their professional commitment and identity. A strong
connection was also observed between teachers’ professional commitment and
professional identity. Data analysis also exhibited that Chinese English
teachers’ professional identity and professional commitment have a desirable
impact on their professional success. Put differently, the results indicated
that the professional identity and professional commitment of English teachers
can considerably contribute to their professional success.
The
outcome of this inquiry about the close association between Chinese teachers’
professional identity and professional commitment can be logically justified by
the fact that teachers’ commitment to the teaching profession has something to
do with how they view their profession and professional duties ( Richter et al., 2021). This outcome
is in agreement with the idea of Liu (2019), who argued that teachers’
appraisal of their professional role is directly related to the amount of
energy they spend on their profession. Furthermore, the current study’s finding
on the connection between Chinese teachers’ identity and professional success
is consistent with that found by Labbaf et al.
(2019), who discovered that English teachers’ professional identity is linked
to their effectiveness. In addition, the result of this research regarding the
close connection between Chinese teachers’ professional commitment and success
is in line with that of Al-Seghayer (2017), which
exhibited that teachers’ commitment to their profession is related to their
occupational success. Besides, the study outcomes on the significant role of
professional identity in enhancing Chinese teachers’ professional success lends
support to the observations of Derakhshan et al. (2020), who found that
language instructors’ professional identity can drastically influence their
success. This outcome also mirrors Labbaf et al.’s
(2019) results, which revealed that English teachers’ effectiveness is subject
to their professional identity. Finally, the result of the current inquiry
concerning the power of professional commitment in improving Chinese teachers’
professional success supports Altun’s (2017) outcomes, which disclosed that
instructors’ commitment is critical to increasing their effectiveness. This
result also corroborates that of Al-Seghayer (2017),
who reported that teachers’ professional success can be dramatically
affected by their organizational commitment.
It
goes without saying that all investigations are subject to a number of
limitations, and the present research is not an exception by any means. One of the major limitations of the
current investigation is that it was conducted entirely in China. This may
noticeably restrict the generalizability of the study outcomes. Future
researchers are thus required to conduct a cross-cultural or multi-national
investigation into the implications of professional identity and professional
commitment to EFL teachers’ professional success.Another important limitation of this study is that the
dataset was fully gathered from teachers’ viewpoints. In
fact, students’ opinions regarding the relationships between the constructs
were neglected. To reduce response bias, future surveys should also take into
account students' perceptions of the determinants of teacher professional
success. Another issue that was disregarded in the current study was
whether teachers’ experiences, majors, or academic degrees affect the
connections between the variables. Future research studies are strongly
recommended to look into the possible influences of these contextual factors.
The last limitation of the present research is related to its data-gathering
instrument. The present study used some close-ended surveys to examine
respondents’ outlooks on the connections between professional identity,
professional commitment, and professional success. To attain more authentic
data, other data-gathering instruments such as observation and memory writing
should be employed by future scholars.
The present paper was an
endeavor to scrutinize the associations between professional identity,
professional commitment, and professional success, as well as the impact of
professional identity and professional commitment on Chinese English teachers’
success. The most obvious outcome to emerge from this paper was that
professional identity and professional commitment are closely linked to teacher
professional success. The second major outcome was that Chinese English
teachers’ professional identity and professional commitment have a significant
impact on their professional success. These outcomes add substantially to
language teachers’ understanding of the determinants of professional success.
With respect to the study findings, language teachers who have positive
perspectives towards themselves and their professional status have a higher
chance of succeeding in the teaching profession. Accordingly, language teachers
need to develop a positive attitude towards their professional role to become
successful in their careers.The
results suggested that professional commitment also contributes to language
teachers’ professional success. With this in mind, teachers should devote more
time and energy to their profession to function more effectively at work. The
study outcomes also offer an enlightening implication for teacher trainers. To
lead teachers toward professional success, teacher trainers should teach them
how to build up a positive professional identity. To do so, they need to
familiarize their teacher students with their professional strengths and
weaknesses, encourage them to interact with their experienced colleagues, and
keep them up to date with what is going on in the world of teaching.
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