Factors Affecting Rural Novice English Teachers’ Identity

This study discusses the identity of novice rural English teachers based on socio-cultural and learning communities theories. The questionnaire is used to investigate the identity of novice English teachers in seven provinces in the western development plan of China. The novice teachers are categorized into three groups according to their growth backgrounds, and finally six teachers are selected to be interviewed. The teaching year of the new generation rural novice English teachers is from zero to six years. After the completion of the data collection, the study adopts the Nvivo 12 to analyze the interview data. Through the analysis, the identity level of the new generation rural novice English teachers, the negative and positive factors affecting their identity are analyzed are exposed. Finally, a path to enhance their identity level is proposed.