Resonance and Silence: English Teacher Agency in a Resource‐Constrained Professional Learning Community in China

ABSTRACT Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) are widely promoted for teacher learning and agency, yet their operation in resource‐constrained settings may reproduce institutional tensions. Using Cultural‐Historical Activity Theory, this 8‐month longitudinal case study of a Senior‐One English PLC in western Inner Mongolia, China, draws on 51 meeting recordings, reflective journals from one early‐career teacher, and interviews with eight PLC members to enable robust analysis of evolving interactions and agency over time. Teacher agency was shaped by multiple contradictions within the PLC, which were experienced differently across career stages. Teachers responded with varied strategies, including covert resistance, active coordination, rational adjustment, passive coping and silent compliance. The study proposes two exploratory constructs: efficacy compensation, where an early‐career teacher sought professional worth from self‐directed practice when collective recognition was unavailable; and institutional aphasia, the structural silencing of teacher voice under material scarcity, age hierarchy and top‐down administration. Practical implications for PLC design are discussed.