Tensiones, contradicciones e hibridación de las identidades docentes periféricas en un nexo transnacional

Abstract

Globalization and the status of English as a global lingua franca have driven a worldwide demand for English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers, facilitating a complex transnational migration of educators. While research into transnational teacher identity (LTI) has expanded significantly in recent years (Barkhuizen, 2021; Jain, 2017; Yazan, 2018), there remains a need for more nuanced investigations into the peripheral experiences of educators navigating the Global South. Within the Colombian context specifically, studies that trace the intricate development of transnational teacher identity remain scarce. Bridging these global trends with local realities, this study examines the identity struggles, negotiations, and reconstructions of transnational English teachers in Colombia. While "international" often implies a privileged mobility, the term transnational is used here to capture the ongoing, often tense, connections between the teachers' home-country baselines and their Colombian institutional reality. Employing a qualitative small-story approach, the researcher engaged in participatory co-tellership with four teachers from diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds, including the United States, Israel, and Taiwan. Data sources include field notes, WhatsApp and LINE archives, and student evaluations—capturing the "darker side" of professional relocation. Following Boyatzis (1998) and Fereday and Muir-Cochrane (2006), a hybrid thematic analysis was employed. The study draws on poststructuralist perspectives and Block’s (2007) sociocultural framework, integrating Lave and Wenger’s (1991) legitimate peripheral participation and Bhabha’s (1990) Third Space theory to analyze identity challenges—specifically the displaced expertise and legitimacy deficits—shaped by institutional and colonial ideologies. Findings reveal that teacher identity development is a non-linear process of "becoming." In this study, hybridization is defined not as a simple blend, but as a strategic pedagogical voice that maintains professional rigor while incorporating local Colombian epistemologies, such as lugar de fala. This involves more than mere adjustment; it is a political reconstruction where teachers localize pedagogy to challenge "White-NEST" ideologies and "othering" student behaviors. The study underscores the need for mentorship that provides "local knowledge" of Colombian language policies and advocates for integrating identity development into teacher education curricula to support the retention of diverse transnational faculty.