TY - JOUR
T1 - Harnessing the professional value of a transnational disposition
T2 - Perceptions of migrant english language teachers in Hong Kong
AU - Gu, Michelle Mingyue
AU - Canagarajah, Suresh
N1 - Funding Information:
We are grateful to the Editors, and Reviewers for their constructive feedback on an earlier version of the manuscript, and to Professor Adrian Bailey for his valuable comments on research design of the study. We would also like to thank Dr Doris Qu for her kind assistance in data transcription. We are thankful to our research participants for the generosity of their contributions. This study is supported by grants from the Worldwide Universities Network (PI, Professor Suresh Canagarajah) and Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Publisher Copyright:
© Oxford University Press 2016.
PY - 2018/10/1
Y1 - 2018/10/1
N2 - This article investigates the experiences in knowledge development and sharing of a group of migrant teachers from different Asian countries who are teaching in secondary schools in Hong Kong. Seeing dispositions as the key to professionalization and professional contributions, it explores the possibilities and challenges in harnessing the professional value of their transnational disposition. Semistructured interviews were conducted to investigate the participants' position in the workplace, negotiations of the local curriculum and classroom practice, and professional interactions with colleagues and parents. The findings show that these teachers actively respond to invisibility and marginalization by drawing from their transcultural disposition to creatively but cautiously transform pedagogical practices and discourses. It is found that the presence of migrant professionals in local context provides opportunities for critical reflexivity and transnational awareness among local professionals. It is implied that the changes in thinking and awareness may lead to broad-based ideological and structural changes, which in turn promotes productive knowledge exchange.
AB - This article investigates the experiences in knowledge development and sharing of a group of migrant teachers from different Asian countries who are teaching in secondary schools in Hong Kong. Seeing dispositions as the key to professionalization and professional contributions, it explores the possibilities and challenges in harnessing the professional value of their transnational disposition. Semistructured interviews were conducted to investigate the participants' position in the workplace, negotiations of the local curriculum and classroom practice, and professional interactions with colleagues and parents. The findings show that these teachers actively respond to invisibility and marginalization by drawing from their transcultural disposition to creatively but cautiously transform pedagogical practices and discourses. It is found that the presence of migrant professionals in local context provides opportunities for critical reflexivity and transnational awareness among local professionals. It is implied that the changes in thinking and awareness may lead to broad-based ideological and structural changes, which in turn promotes productive knowledge exchange.
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U2 - 10.1093/applin/amw048
DO - 10.1093/applin/amw048
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85054610392
VL - 39
SP - 718
EP - 740
JO - Applied Linguistics
JF - Applied Linguistics
SN - 0142-6001
IS - 5
ER -