| Author: | Gu, Beiwei |
| Title: | “Like boiling a frog in lukewarm water” : English tutors’ identity development in the aftermath of China’s Double Reduction Policy |
| Degree: | M.A. |
| Year: | 2025 |
| Department: | Department of English and Communication |
| Pages: | 36 pages |
| Language: | English |
| Abstract: | The “Double Reduction” policy, implemented by the Chinese government in 2021, aimed to reduce the burden facing parents and students by restricting after-school tutoring. The policy had enormous implications for teachers working in China’s shadow education industry, hundreds of thousands of whom were forced to leave their jobs. Grounded in theories of language teacher identity, this study investigates the Double Reduction policy’s impact on Mainland Chinese English teachers who were employed by private tutoring institutes at the time of the policy’s announcement. Based on semi-structured interviews with Chinese English teachers, the analysis focuses on teachers’ emotional responses, as well as the impact of the policy on their personal and professional identities and subsequent career trajectories. The findings illustrate an ostensible contradiction: teachers recount anxiety and despair at the policy’s announcement and criticize the policy’s impact on China’s education climate while simultaneously responding positively to its impact on them personally. These findings are explained with reference to teachers’ negative feelings about working for private institutes. By providing insights into how teachers responded and experienced the Double Reduction policy, this study contributes to scholarship on language teacher identity as well as scholarship on China’s evolving language education policies. |
| Rights: | All rights reserved |
| Access: | restricted access |
Files in This Item:
| File | Description | Size | Format | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8849.pdf | For All Users (off-campus access for PolyU Staff & Students only) | 580.71 kB | Adobe PDF | View/Open |
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