Research in the field of Chinese as a foreign language (CFL) education has been increasing in the past decades. However, the number of studies on CFL teacher identity is limited. To bridge the gap, this study employed a qualitative method to explore Chinese CFL teachers’ identity formation and reformation in Australian contexts. A Chinese-Australian language program was studied to examine the challenges, struggles and developments of Chinese CFL teachers who came to Australia to pursue professional growth. Five Master’s theses and three interview participants were included to paint a picture of how Chinese CFL teachers interact internally and externally with a new environment. Guided by Mead’s theory of self and other, we found that Chinese CFL teachers’ identity formation and reformation in Australian classrooms are deeply influenced by their self-identification and their integration with others in the community. Cultural connectedness is a key for organizational attitudes in the relationship of self and other. Chinese CFL teachers were found lacking the wholeness of self in Australian contexts, which led to obstacles in teacher identity construction. Insufficient communication between self and other resulted in their positioning crisis.

This study explores the transformation of teacher–student relationship between expatriate Chinese as a Foreign Language (CFL) teachers and their students situating in the Australian educational context. The disparity of tradition between the two educational cultures influences substantially on communication between teachers and students within classroom. To better understand how CFL teachers’ background educational culture may impact their interaction with Australian students, focus group discussion data were applied as the data collection method. Findings reveal that at the beginning of their teaching practice CFL teachers’ understanding of teacher–student relationship influenced by their background educational culture had major impact on their strategies in teacher–student interaction in class. However, with the progress of teaching and meantime influenced by the Australian local educational culture, their behaviors for dealing with teacher–student relationship in class changed. Basically, their ways of handling teacher–student relationship transformed from a more Eastern guanxi tendency to a more Western rapport tendency. This transformation did not occur automatically and easily; it was achieved by the CFL teachers’ struggles and tribulations in the process of interacting with their Australian students. In an era of CFL teacher shortage, it is hoped that this study would shed some light on CFL teacher education.

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