Transnational literacy experiences and chronotopic identity work

A duoethnography of returnee English language teachers in China

Dados Bibliográficos

ID17366397
AutoresShan Chen (0000-0003-2138-4851, School of Foreign Languages Weifang University Weifang Shandong Province China), Luping Sun (0000-0002-7380-1082, School of Foreign Languages and Literature Shandong University Jinan Shandong Province China, autor correspondente)
Ano2026
Volume110
Fascículo1
Páginas90-110
Data de publicação2026-01-09
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoModern Language Journal (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0026-7902 • E-ISSN: 1540-4781
EditoraWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/modl.70025
OpenAlexW7120079746
IdiomaEN
Referências citadas46

This duoethnographic study explores how two nonnative returnee English teachers in China negotiate their professional identities through chronotopically layered transnational literacy experiences. Drawing on the concept of the chronotope—the interconnectedness of time, space, and personhood—the analysis identifies three chronotopic constellations shaping teacher identity: domestic education chronotopes, study‐abroad chronotopes, and postreturn teaching chronotopes. Rather than functioning as isolated temporal segments, these chronotopes coexist and interact across diachronic and synchronic axes, revealing tensions, shifts, and laminations in pedagogical positioning. The study finds that past literacy experiences (e.g., moments of success, failure, frustration, and reorientation) do not merely reside in memory but actively inform present teaching practices through invocation and adaptation. We introduce the concept of adaptive apprenticeship of observation to describe how teachers critically evaluate prior educational models and recontextualize them within present classroom environments. Identity work thus emerges as a dialogic process, chronotopically grounded and continuously reshaped through personal history, institutional constraints, and transnational pedagogical imaginaries. Findings underscore the value of duoethnography as both a methodological and transformative tool for eliciting reflexive teacher learning. Implications are offered for advancing research on transnational teacher identity and enhancing professional development in multilingual higher education settings

Apprenticeship · Dialogic · Identity (music) · Invocation · Literacy · Negotiation · Reflexivity · Teacher education · Transformative learning · Translanguaging · Global Education and Multiculturalism · Global Educational Policies and Reforms · Multilingual Education and Policy