“Research Learning Is a Never‐Ending Journey”: A Narrative Case Study of Interplay of Agency and Researcher Identity Construction

ABSTRACT While research on language teacher identity has proliferated, the dialectical relationship between agency and researcher identity remains underexplored. This narrative case study investigates how these constructs co‐evolve in the Chinese higher education context through the trajectory of an EFL teacher. Data from semi‐structured interviews, documentary evidence, and field observations were analyzed using narrative‐thematic frameworks. Findings reveal a mutually constitutive relationship: Agentic acts served as the vehicle for constructing a researcher identity, which in turn directed and sustained further agency. This identity‐agency dynamic propelled the teacher's progression through four developmental phases—research learner, praxis‐oriented collaborator, teacher educator, and research leader. By theorizing researcher identity as a continually negotiated outcome of agency‐in‐context, this study enhances our understanding of how teachers navigate competing professional roles through a dialectical relationship where agency acts as both a driver and an outcome of identity (re)negotiation. It concludes with implications for fostering teacher agency and sustainable research engagement within institutional ecosystems.