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Before the researcher went to Shanghai International Studies University (SISU) to pursue further academic development in 2015, he had been living, learning and teaching in Kunming, Yunnan province, for 11 years. In 2003, the researcher enrolled in a Master Program of English Language and Literature in Yunnan University (YNU). Three years later, he graduated and became a faculty member in the School of Foreign Languages and taught English courses to university students in YNU. In 2010, he was invited to lecture on the second language acquisition courses for rural secondary school teachers in a training project organized by Yunnan Normal University. The training courses he taught were parts of the training courses structured by the National Teacher Training Project for Primary and Secondary School Teachers ( zhong xiao xue jiao shi guo jia pei xun ji hua ,hereafter the NTTP) [ 中小学教师国家培训计划 ]. The NTTP is a nationwide and long-term teacher education program aiming to improve pedagogical competences of primary and secondary school teachers in midwestern and southwestern rural regions. From 2010 to 2014, the researcher instructed pedagogy course in every summer and winter vacation for teachers from rural schools. His experience as a teacher trainer allowed him to establish rapport with many secondary school English teachers from rural schools.
The influence from colleagues in YNU is another encouraging reason for the researcher to embark on this research. Dr. Wang, who is the researcher’s former colleague and friend, of ered substantial help when the researcher was a novice teacher in the School of Foreign Languages. Dr. Wang generously shared his teaching experience and coached the researcher in teaching methods as a mentor. Moreover, Dr. Wang is a professional in language teaching, and a scholar with international vision and research literacy. He was a Fulbright Fellow (2014—2015) and an active enthusiast for the promotion of education equality and trilingual education. In 2012, the researcher joined Dr. Wang’s research team on the study of trilingual education in multiethnic regions in Yunnan province. Since then, the researcher worked with Dr. Wang and conducted many rounds of fieldwork collecting data in the rural schools in remote multiethnic regions.
In 2016, when the researcher chose his research topic and he began to look for appropriate informants for the research, professor Hou, another researcher friend of his from Yunnan Normal University of ered him great help to select desirable participants.Professor Hou is one of the leading experts in charge of implementing the NTTP in Yunnan province. Meanwhile, she is a teacher trainer herself and the director of the trainer team. Because of many years of training experience, she has a close connection with many rural teachers and local government officials. The researcher talked to Professor Hou about his research proposal and she kindly introduced him to a Teaching and Research Coordinator ( jiao yan yuan ) [ 教研员 ] from the Municipal Education Bureau of Jinghong city. Later, the researcher established relationship with more local stakeholders including the director of Municipal Education Bureau ( shi jiao yu ju )[ 市教育局 ], the principal of Teachers’ Training School ( jiao shi jin xiu xue xiao ) [ 教 师进修学校 ] and several school headmasters. With their generous help, the researcher successfully conducted two rounds of pilot studies.
The researcher’s own experience as an English learner, college EFL teacher,part-time teacher trainer, together with his rigorous doctoral training and rapport with different levels of stakeholders and teacher participants enabled him to carry out a qualified research on the topic of teachers’ professional identity formation. In addition,when the researcher was doing fieldwork in many rural schools, he was encouraged by those rural secondary school teachers’ commitment and devotion to their teaching career,and witnessed their endeavor and painstaking effort in the professional growth. Much doctoral research, teacher professional development research in particular, centered on language teachers in tertiary level. The value of their research cannot be denied, however,they seem to ignore that in this vast country, while urban teachers are taking advantage of substantial educational resources, many rural teachers are lacking in su ficient resources for professional development. In this sense, the researcher perceives that he has the responsibility to reveal the professional life status quo of this cohort of secondary EFL teachers by taking teachers’ identity as a lens and research framework.