Translingual Identity and Professional Legitimacy of Two Western-Educated English Writing Instructors in Taiwan

Abstract

This interview study takes translingual identity as its theoretical framework and a sociocultural linguistic approach as an analytical tool to examine how two Western-educated Taiwanese professors of English writing (Beth and Nita) construct a translingual professional identity. While Beth presented herself as a competent writing instructor beyond the binary of native- and nonnative-English-speaking teachers (NESTs or NNESTs) to help students develop both descriptive grammar and pragmatic knowledge of how to write, Nita saw herself as superior to not only NESTs for her knowledge in second language (L2) writing but also NNESTs for her teaching of fluency over accuracy. These complex negotiations for a translingual identity and professional legitimacy contribute to our understanding of how translingual identity can be used as a lens to understand Western-educated teachers' identity negotiation in the EFL context beyond the confined categories of NEST and NNEST.