Limiting professional trajectories: a dual narrative study in Chinese language education

Introduction: The globally expanding community of educators involved in the teaching of Chinese as a Foreign Language (CFL) is being pushed to adapt to diverse educational contexts, engendering tension and dislocation. There has been limited success in efforts to modernise practice in the teaching of Chinese, with subsequent urgent calls for both a fresh approach to innovation, and for a better understanding of the nature of teacher experience in the professional community. This article reports a project which employed self-study to investigate, through analysis of reflective narratives, two career trajectories associated with Chinese as a foreign language. Results: The analysis of the narratives uncover issues of identity and power, in the shaping of the participants’s practice and professional trajectories. The analysis provides illustration of how limitation in professional participation can result in limitation of innovative practice. The investigation identifies the formation of new independent decentralised professional communities for CFL. Conclusions: The study offers recommendations to promote innovative practice which can support more effective teaching and learning.