Teacher Identity Research from a Multimodal Discourse Analysis Perspective (April 23th, 2026)

Abstract

Teacher identity serves as a prism to understand teachers’ pedagogical practice, professional development, and wellbeing. Following the ‘discursive turn’ in educational research, teacher identity has emerged as a site of complex negotiation that can be unravelled through a discourse approach. In this presentation, we will introduce the theoretical foundations and emerging frontiers of teacher identity research, and propose a four-dimensional theoretical framework for understanding teacher identity construction from a multimodal discourse perspective. The framework deconstructs identity into four analytical dimensions: semantic features, symbolic construction, communicative purpose, and sociocultural context. By synthesizing multimodal discourse analysis with sociocultural perspectives, this framework promotes a holistic view of teacher identity. It recognizes that teachers negotiate their professional and personal selves through a complex web of semiotic resources that are situated within broader social structures. Theoretically, the framework helps to elucidate the complexity, dynamism, and negotiation strategies of teacher identity; practically it provides teachers with a metacognitive tool for professional reflection and identity management. In an era where artificial intelligence is reshaping the educational ecosystem, this framework offers a clear pathway for exploring how teachers reconstruct their professional identities through multimodal discourse practices.

Speaker

About the Speaker

Dezheng (William) FENG, PhD, is Associate Dean of Faculty of Humanities and Associate Professor of Department of English and Communication, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. His research interests include multimodality, discourse analysis and language education research. He has published over 100 research items with prestigious publishers and leading journals in English and Chinese, such as such as Higher Education, Discourse Context & Media, Journal of Pragmatics, Discourse and Communication, and《現代外語》，《外國語》，《中國外語》.
Jie (Amy) Bao is an Associate Professor in the School of Humanities, Tianjin University of Finance and Economics, and a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Department of English and Communication, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Her research interests include teacher identity and academic literacies. She has published over a dozen articles in prestigious journals such as Higher Education, Studies in Higher Education, Teaching and Teacher Education, TESOL Quarterly, and System.

Date

2026/04/23

Time

16:00-17:30

Location

Room 411-412, Meng Wah Complex, The University of Hong Kong