L
Language Teacher Agency
Xuesong (Andy) Gao1 and Jian (Tracy) Tao2
1
University of New South Wales,
Sydney, NSW, Australia
2
Shanghai University of Finance and Economics,
Shanghai, China
Introduction
Agency, associated with human beings’ choice
and “control over [their] thought and action”
(Hiver and Whitehead 2018, p. 70), has emerged
as an important conceptual tool for researchers
who wish to make sense of language teachers’
pedagogical practice and professional develop-
ment. Recognizing teachers as key agents in
educational changes or curriculum reforms, edu-
cational researchers in different contexts have
explored why and how teachers enable and
empower themselves for changes, leading to
the rise of teacher agency as a major topic in
teacher education research. Likewise, language
teacher agency has also emerged as an important
research topic, since relevant inquiries help reveal
insights into language teachers’ experiences of
adapting themselves to shifting teaching condi-
tions, adopting new pedagogical approaches, and
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020
M. A. Peters (ed.), Encyclopedia of Teacher Education,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-1179-6_123-2
managing their professional practice to meet
changing requirements. Far more importantly,
the construct of agency helps researchers appreci-
ate how teachers manage professional learning
and undertake professional development activities
for educational changes.
Since the notion of agency is a multifaceted
dynamic construct, there are a variety of ways to
conceptualize it (Miller et al. 2018). This chapter
presents three different theorizations of agency,
which respectively conceptualize agency as
teachers’ beliefs promoted in teacher education
programs, as a capacity underlying teachers’
professional growth, and as a phenomenon or
doing achieved through teachers’ interaction
with contextual conditions. Research has stressed
that teacher agency is essential to implement and
sustain educational changes, but it is equally
important to note that teacher agency in educa-
tional change also plays a critical role in co-
constructing language teachers themselves,
which has profound consequences for the imple-
mentation of educational changes. For this reason,
the chapter uses the third perspective to promote
an understanding of language teacher agency,
using data from a longitudinal ethnographic
inquiry that was conducted on a group of English
language teachers in a Chinese university (Tao
and Gao 2017).
2 Language Teacher Agency
Teacher Agency as a Belief Variable
From a cognitive perspective on teachers’ profes-
sional development, teacher agency can be seen
as “a sense of control” that teachers experience
when believing that “outcomes are contingent
on their own actions” (Malmberg and Hagger
2009, p. 677). Teachers with agency beliefs
believe that they have the “skills, competences,
or abilities . . . to support pupils, and organize
and structure the educational environment” in
the pupils’ learning process (Malmberg and
Hagger 2009, p. 678). In this context, teachers’
agency beliefs include supportive agency
beliefs (that they can care for and support the
pupils’ learning), and instructional agency beliefs
(in delivering effective teaching). Given their
roles in sustaining teachers’ commitment to teach-
ing and enhancing students’ learning, teacher
agency theorized in this way is understandably
a much desired outcome of teacher education pro-
grams and is seen as a key indicator of successful
teacher education initiatives. Therefore, language
teacher education programs not only need to equip
teachers with professional knowledge, skills, and
competence, but they also need to foster agency
beliefs among teachers that will be instrumental in
their efforts to support language learners and facil-
itate their learning. Malmberg and Hagger (2009)
note that language teachers’ agency beliefs also
grow as a result of positive practical experiences
in which they overcome challenges and learn to
master teaching. Thus, language teachers’ agency
beliefs can be measured as a way to examine the
impact of teacher education programs and practi-
cum experiences on language teachers’ profes-
sional development.
Teacher Agency as a Capacity
Drawing on the sociocultural theory of learning,
teacher agency can be theorized as the disposition
or capacity to “engage with and transform features
of their worlds” (Edwards and D’Arcy 2004, p.
147). This definition draws attention to the fact
that teachers always exercise agency within a
particular context, and their agency-related oper-
ations are embedded in the relevant social
practices of this particular context. In teaching,
teachers exercise agency to engage with pupils
and transform their understandings of the world
in the forms of material knowledge and concep-
tual tools. Malmberg and Hagger (2009) highlight
that teachers’ pedagogical experiences may
positively impact on their agency beliefs, helping
them to acquire a stronger sense of control in
supporting pupils’ learning engagement and
delivering effective instructions.
In contrast, Edwards and D’Arcy (2004)
contend that pupils may also engage with and
transform teachers’ beliefs, knowledge, and skills
when interacting with them in the learning
process. For this reason, they advance a theoriza-
tion of relational agency, which enables teachers
and learners to “recognize and use the support of
others . . . for action” in the learning and teaching
process (Edwards and D’Arcy 2004, p. 149).
The notion of relational agency highlights
the prospect that language teachers and learners
have the potential to mutually support each
other’s development as they both engage in learn-
ing. It moves away from the individualistic nature
of agency beliefs as espoused by Malmberg and
Hagger (2009), and emphasizes the social interac-
tive nature of agency as a capacity of language
teachers and learners. Unlike the theorization
of agency in terms of agency beliefs that are
meant to be changed through teacher education
programs, relational agency stresses its social
interactive nature and notes that its exercise is
often a mediated process. This characterization
of the notion also creates an open-ended pedagog-
ical space, where language teachers and learners
enter into mutual dialogues for better learning as
both are recognized to have the relevant “capaci-
ties for joint action” (Edwards and D’Arcy 2004,
p. 154). Methodologically, the notion of language
teachers’ relational agency requires the use of
methods that capture and analyze the interactions
Language Teacher Agency 3

between language teachers and learners in the exercise of agency and reveal their efforts towards
learning and teaching process. achieving what they aspire to be as captured by
Tao and Gao (2017).
To elaborate English language teacher agency
as phenomenon/doing, this section presents a
Teacher Agency as Phenomenon/Doing
sketch of an inquiry on English for Specific
Purposes (ESP) teachers’ professional experi-
Unlike the previous conceptualization of
ences in a Chinese university (Tao and Gao
agency as a teacher’s characteristic or capacity,
2017). Drawing on the professional experiences
agency can be also seen as “phenomenon/doing,”
of a group of English for Specific Purposes
something that teachers achieve through negotia-
(“ESP”) teachers collected through retrospective
tion with contextual conditions in pursuing
interviews in a longitudinal inquiry, the inquiry
professional goals or desired pedagogic outcomes
examined how these teachers had been engaging
(Tao and Gao 2017, p. 347). While acknow-
with a shift from general English skills to English
ledging the profound contextual mediation affect-
for specific purposes in the university’s English
ing language teachers’ professional practice as
language courses. Conceptualizing agency as
advanced by sociocultural theory (Edwards
phenomenon/doing, this inquiry has focused
and D’Arcy 2004), Tao and Gao (2017) note
on the actions and efforts that the ESP teachers
the need to focus on the choices and actions
undertook to further their teaching and profes-
taken by individuals in appropriating resources
sional development. It was found that the teachers
and responding to constraints as they manage
worked hard to acquire relevant subject knowl-
their professional life and practice over time.
edge, integrate this subject knowledge into their
While such choices and actions are inevitably
language courses, and conduct research to assert
made within the opportunities and constraints of
their professional identities within the university.
temporal and social spaces, individual language
The findings also show that their exercise
teachers “enact agency through making choices
of agency was mediated by their prior experiences
about what to engage in and taking action with
(e.g., work experience in their specific industry)
different degrees of engagement to shape their
and shifting institutional conditions (e.g., the var-
own professional trajectory” (Tao and Gao 2017,
iable status of ESP as a disciplinary area of
p. 348).
inquiry). To become the kind of ESP teachers the
In addition, language teachers’ exercise of
participants aspired to be, they undertook a variety
agency is closely related to their identity aspira-
of efforts to engage themselves with learning,
tions in terms of who they would like to be, what
teaching, and research, which is what university
they would like to be seen as, and how they relate
teachers are expected to do in most Chinese uni-
to others (e.g., language learners, colleagues) in
versities. These efforts were also found to have
a given context. Such identity aspirations can be
been sustained by their identity commitment, but
seen as the goals of language teachers’ profes-
they were undermined by contextual constraints.
sional development endeavors, in the pursuit of
In short, focusing on the participants’ choices and
which language teachers exercise agency to
actions in this process, the inquiry identified the
undertake professional learning and pursue pro-
following phenomena in relation to their exercise
fessional development, mediated by their own
of agency: investing in learning, commitment
beliefs and knowledge in interaction with contex-
to teaching new curricula, and undertaking
tual conditions. This approach to language teacher
research to assert professional identities within
agency requires researchers to interpret language
the university.
teachers’ retrospective narratives or undertake
longitudinal, ethnographic inquiries so that they
may capture and understand language teachers’
4 Language Teacher Agency
Investing in Learning
Recognizing that they did not have the relevant
skills and knowledge to teach the new ESP
courses, the participants invested in learning
what was needed so they could prepare them-
selves for the teaching. As an example, Qian had
acquired relevant professional experience after
having worked in the legal profession for a couple
of years before taking up his teaching position
at the university. Nevertheless, he still believed
that he needed to develop a “systematic” knowl-
edge of the subject in order to teach a given ESP
course.
Extract 1
I think [summer] training is far from enough—
better to study in a specialized institution . . . to
study not just a course but a major. I taught law
English . . . I had studied a program in law. I can
show you my notes in business law, economic law,
intellectual property law, and so on. A Master’s-
level curriculum is more systematic. (Qian) (Tao
and Gao 2017, p. 350)
Consequently, Qian took a self-funded part-
time Master’s program in law by attending
courses on weekends for 2 years. He particularly
valued what he gained from the Master’s program,
and he kept his notebooks and textbooks in hand
in the office. Furthermore, he noted that he
“spends a lot of time reading” relevant books to
keep himself up to date about the subject.
Like Qian, Zhao also did a substantial amount
of reading to extend his knowledge when he was
pioneering ESP courses at the university. Zhou
took business-related courses to acquire subject
knowledge for relevant ESP courses when he was
attending an American university as an academic
visitor. He took these courses to consolidate his
“specialized knowledge background” and learn
“language use in the target situations.” He
had been involved in the related industry and
regarded his continuous involvement as an
important source of knowledge for teaching ESP
courses. These participants’ investment in learn-
ing subject knowledge through reading, academic
studies, and professional practice in the relevant
industry helped them to develop relevant
expertise and strengthen their confidence in them-
selves as competent ESP teachers.
Commitment to Teaching ESP Courses
The participants’ investment in learning was
closely associated with their commitment to
developing and teaching new curricula, with
English for specific purposes as their focus.
They worked to improve their curricula and teach-
ing in a variety of ways. For instance, they
explored ways to integrate subject knowledge
“organically” into ESP courses when teaching
language-major students. They felt it was neces-
sary to address these students’ lack of subject
knowledge when planning lessons, in order to
facilitate their learning of content and language.
Extract 2
The course is not easy to teach because the
students do not have any business knowledge. I
need to help them build a foundation in business
knowledge, but mere lecturing does not interest
them. So I designed a group project in which each
group of four ran a virtual company . . . (Wu) (Tao
and Gao 2017, p. 351)
As a result, the teachers constantly looked for
ways to integrate disparate areas of knowledge for
students from a language-only background. Li
and Zhou, who worked in the business sector
and maintained connections with local compa-
nies, often developed and used their own mate-
rials in ESP courses. Li even edited a booklet for
his class and regularly updated the content annu-
ally with authentic materials from the companies
he worked with. Unlike many other language
teachers who follow textbooks to teach languages,
the participants committed significant amounts of
time and energy to developing tailor-made teach-
ing materials after carefully considering what
the students already knew and what they needed
to know. In other words, the phenomenon of
teachers exercising agency was observed as the
participants made strategic efforts to prepare
teaching materials and lessons in response to
their students’ lack of subject knowledge. It was
also noted that their exercise of agency in inte-
grating subject knowledge and language was
mediated by their prior working experiences
and interactions with colleagues in their specific
industries.
Language Teacher Agency
Undertaking Research to Assert Professional
Identities Within the University
The participants were obliged to undertake
research to assert professional identities and pro-
tect the disciplinary status of ESP. This is proba-
bly unique to these participants as ESP teachers in
Chinese universities, and it must be noted that
ESP has uncertain disciplinary status as it falls
into the broader field of linguistics, which also
covers a variety of more distinguished subdisci-
plines such as theoretical linguistics, translation,
and cognitive linguistics.
Extract 3
Business English research cannot be published
in high-level journals and cannot secure high-level
grants, which is very detrimental to one’s own
development. (Zheng) (Tao and Gao 2017, p. 352)
Zheng refers to the discursive construction of
ESP as a “marginalized” area as opposed to more
“mainstream/traditional” areas such as linguistics
in the institutional setting. ESP teachers rarely
take up leadership positions in Chinese universi-
ties. The faculty in this particular institution once
had an ESP research center, but it was later
merged with other research centers as part of an
institutional restructuring within the faculty. Con-
sequently, ESP has lost any visibility as a disci-
plinary area of inquiry in the university, and the
participants have had to steer their own research
career trajectories. For instance, Sun stated that
she would not “give up” on ESP research. She
carried on publishing on forensic English and
attended relevant conferences to ensure intellec-
tual exchange every year, sustained by her identity
aspiration of “becoming an ESP teacher.” How-
ever, she also admitted to having adjusted her
distribution of “time and energy” for coordinating
ESP as well as the heavy teaching workload in
the College English Department. The process
of labor coordination and distribution reflects the
exercise of teacher agency, mediated by the
shifting institutional setting and also sustained
by Sun’s identity aspiration.
ESP teachers with senior status (i.e., holding
full professorships), including Qian and
Zhao, were able to maintain their ESP research
endeavors despite their minority status in
the faculty. For example, Qian conceived of
ESP research as a crucial component of
5
“being a qualified ESP teacher in a comprehensive
university” as distinguished from a vocational/
technical institute. With this belief, he was able
to maintain his momentum to write ESP text-
books, monographs, and journal articles. More-
over, he even delineated a very clear area of
research for his future career to do with ESP.
In contrast, most of the ESP teachers in the
inquiry did not have such optimism. They believe
that doing ESP research would not lead to career
development because ESP researchers have a
limited chance of achieving high-level publica-
tions or grants. In view of the pessimistic pros-
pects of ESP research, the participants were
convinced that “transformation” into the main-
stream was the only way to facilitate their “own
development.” Zheng reoriented her research
focus towards cognitive linguistics because of
the availability of well-established linguists in
the faculty who could offer guidance and advice.
Therefore, Zheng’s decisions and actions were
mediated by the social configuration of the insti-
tution, including the questionable status of ESP
and the available resources in the faculty.
The lack of recognition of ESP research did appar-
ently discourage some of the participants
from investing efforts in ESP-related projects
and made it difficult for them to assert profes-
sional identities as ESP teachers in the Chinese
university.
Conclusion
Research has confirmed the critical role of teacher
agency in curriculum reforms and educational
innovations. This chapter has also contended that
language teacher agency is instrumental in shap-
ing and reshaping the kinds of teachers that
language teachers aspire to be. Reflecting on dis-
cussions of teacher agency from different perspec-
tives (Miller et al. 2018), the chapter makes
the following suggestions to enhance language
teacher agency as phenomenon/doing in improv-
ing professional practice and pursuing aspired
professional identities:
1. It is important to recognize language teachers’
agency beliefs as a key indicator of the impact
6 Language Teacher Agency
of language teacher education programs on
language teachers (Malmberg and Hagger
2009). Language teacher educators would like
language teachers to display a particular set of
agency beliefs, but they also need to be criti-
cally aware that beliefs are complex and
agency is multifaceted.
2. It is vital to note that agency can be relational
(Edwards and D’Arcy 2004). Professional dia-
logues with peers and other stakeholders in the
educational process are crucial in enhancing
language teachers’ sense of control over their
pedagogical practice. Such dialogues within
supportive professional networks can be also
regarded as teachers’ agentic responses to chal-
lenging contextual conditions. They also have
an almost therapeutic effect on teachers. There-
fore, it is important for language teachers to
have access to such sharing and supportive
dialogues and communities, since collegial
trust will help language teachers to become
confident about themselves and achieve pro-
ductive work relationships.
3. It is necessary to recognize that language
teachers’ choices and actions are mediated by
their past experiences and also shaped by their
identity commitment (Tao and Gao 2017).
Since language teachers have always worked
individually and exercised their teacher agency
to learn, teach, and research within their pro-
fessional trajectories, effective communication
within supportive professional networks needs
to be built on this understanding.
4. It is critical for language teacher educators and
policy makers to recognize language teachers
as key players in educational innovation, and
thus place language teacher development at
the core of any educational innovation (Hiver
and Whitehead 2018). When the professional
development of language teachers is built
into an education reform blueprint, language
teachers can then take a proactive role and
exercise agency in adapting themselves to the
new curricula.
5. It is important to facilitate language teachers to
articulate identity aspirations when exercising
agency in pursuit of educational innovations
(Tao and Gao 2017).
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