Language teachers’ engagement with ideological representations as materials designers

Abstract

Language teachers are increasingly expected to design teaching materials that reflect locally appropriate cultural values in different contexts. In response to the call for language teachers to engage with ideological representations as materials designers, this paper draws on an ecological perspective to investigate how language teachers engage with ideological representations during the design and development of teaching materials in Chinese universities. We interviewed 15 language teachers who had designed or were designing materials to examine their engagement with ideological representations when designing teaching materials. Our analysis reveals that these teachers' engagement with ideological representations was mediated by national policy requirements at the macro level, institutional and group expectations at the meso level, and individual beliefs at the micro level. These findings have significant implications for stakeholders such as policy makers and language teacher educators to support language teachers’ efforts to design locally appropriate materials and pursue their professional development.