THE POSITIONING OF TEACHERS’ IDENTITY AS ORAL EXAMINERS IN NARRATIVE CONSTRUCTION VENESSA VENDA VITALES FACULTY OF LANGUAGES AND LINGUISTICS UNIVERSITY OF MALAYA KUALA LUMPUR 2018 THE POSITIONING OF TEACHERS’ IDENTITY AS ORAL EXAMINERS IN NARRATIVE CONSTRUCTION VENESSA VENDA VITALES DISSERTATION SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF LINGUISTICS FACULTY OF LANGUAGES AND LINGUISTICS UNIVERSITY OF MALAYA KUALA LUMPUR 2018 UNIVERSITY OF MALAYA ORIGINAL LITERARY WORK DECLARATION Name of Candidate: Venessa Venda Vitales (I.C/Passport No: 910913-12-5426) Matric No: TGC140018 Name of Degree: Master of Linguistics Title of Project Paper/Research Report/Dissertation/Thesis: The Positioning of Teachers’ Identity as Oral Examiners in Narrative Construction Field of Study: Discourse Analysis I do solemnly and sincerely declare that: (1) I am the sole author/writer of this Work; (2) This Work is original; (3) Any use of any work in which copyright exists was done by way of fair dealing and for permitted purposes and any excerpt or extract from, or reference to or reproduction of any copyright work has been disclosed expressly and sufficiently and the title of the Work and its authorship have been acknowledged in this Work; (4) I do not have any actual knowledge nor do I ought reasonably to know that the making of this work constitutes an infringement of any copyright work; (5) I hereby assign all and every rights in the copyright to this Work to the University of Malaya (“UM”), who henceforth shall be owner of the copyright in this Work and that any reproduction or use in any form or by any means whatsoever is prohibited without the written consent of UM having been first had and obtained; (6) I am fully aware that if in the course of making this Work I have infringed any copyright whether intentionally or otherwise, I may be subject to legal action or any other action as may be determined by UM. Candidate’s Signature Date: Subscribed and solemnly declared before, Witness’s Signature Date: Name: Designation: ii THE POSITIONING OF TEACHERS’ IDENTITY AS ORAL EXAMINERS IN NARRATIVE CONSTRUCTION ABSTRACT Research on educator’s identity has been a main area of interest since the 1990s. Over the years, a number of researchers have looked into other aspects of educators’ identity, with focus on their major job roles. However, few have examined the role of educators as assessors. Hence, this present study aims to look at how fourteen teachers in a local public institution of higher education identify themselves as oral assessors, as well as how they position themselves with this role. Soreide’s (2006) theory is employed as the main theoretical framework of this study. Findings from the data obtained through a set of interviews with fourteen educators reveal that a comprised collection of twenty subject positions was found, with five main clusters of multiple assessor identity categorised. Further, an analysis of how the educators position themselves as oral assessors was also carried out. It appears that for the most times, the educators do associate themselves with the said identity, using the narrative resources available. iii POSISI IDENTITI PENDIDIK SEBAGAI SEORANG PENILAI LISAN DALAM PEMBINAAN NARATIF ABSTRAK Penyelidikan mengenai identiti pendidik telah lama menjadi satu subjek menarik sejak tahun 1990-an. Walau bagaimanapun, ramai pengkaji hanya mengkaji aspek-aspek peribadi seorang pendidik. Tumpuan pula kurang diberikan kepada salah satu aspek tugas utama seorang pendidik, iaitu sebagai seorang penilai. Disebabkan itu, kajian ini telah dijalankan dengan objektif untuk mengkaji bagaimana empat belas guru di sebuah institusi pengajian awam tinggi tempatan mengaitkan diri mereka secara khusus sebagai seorang penilai lisan. Pada masa yang sama, kajian ini juga ingin melihat bagaimana guru-guru ini meletakkan identiti mereka dengannya. Teori Soreide (2006) telah digunakan sebagai rangka kajian ini. Keputusan menunjukkan bahawa terdapat dua puluh jenis kedudukan subjek yang diutarakan oleh para guru ini. Lima kelompok utama identiti penilai juga turut dikenal pasti. Langkah seterusnya melibatkan analisis bagaimana pendidik meletakkan diri mereka menggunakan kedudukan subjek yang telah diutarakan sebelumnya. Keputusan menunjukkan bahawa pada kebanyakan masa, para pendidik ini mengaitkan diri mereka dengan identiti yang disebut. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My utmost gratitude to the following people: My parents; for the love, support and unending prayers; Dr. Teoh; for the guided supervision, words of wisdom and for just being “Dr. Teoh”; Dr. Tam and team; for allowing me to use the data collected for this study; and lastly, My friends; for the unending encouragement and motivation. This work would not have been possible without you. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Page TITLE PAGE .................................................................................................................... i ORIGINAL LITERARY WORK DECLARATION FORM ............................................ ii ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................... iii ABSTRAK ....................................................................................................................... iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .............................................................................................. v TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................................. vi LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................ x LIST OF APPENDICES .................................................................................................. xi CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................ 1 1.2 Background of the Study ............................................................................................ 1 1.3 Statement of Problem .................................................................................................. 5 1.4 Purpose of the Study ................................................................................................... 6 1.5 Research Questions .................................................................................................... 6 1.6 Significance of the Study ............................................................................................ 6 1.7 Scope and Limitations ................................................................................................. 7 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................ 8 2.2 Narratives .................................................................................................................... 8 2.2.1 Characteristics and the Types of Narratives................................................. 9 2.2.2 Narratives: Previous Studies ...................................................................... 11 vi 2.3 Identity ...................................................................................................................... 14 2.3.1 Job-Identity of an Educator ........................................................................ 16 2.3.2 Educators and Communities of Practice .................................................... 17 2.3.3 Teacher’s Identities: Previous Studies ....................................................... 18 2.3.4 Teacher Identity in the Malaysian Context ................................................ 20 2.4 Positioning ................................................................................................................ 21 2.4.1 Positioning and Identity: Previous Studies ................................................ 23 2.5 Assessment ................................................................................................................ 27 2.5.1 Assessment: Previous Studies .................................................................... 29 2.6 Theoretical Framework ............................................................................................. 30 2.7 Summary ................................................................................................................... 33 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 3.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 34 3.2 Research Framework and Design ............................................................................. 34 3.3 Data Collection.......................................................................................................... 35 3.3.1 Participants ................................................................................................. 35 3.4 Research Instruments ................................................................................................ 36 3.4.1 Questionnaire for the Study ....................................................................... 37 3.4.2 Interview Questions ................................................................................... 37 3.5 Conducting the Analysis ........................................................................................... 38 3.5.1 Identifying Subject Positions ..................................................................... 39 3.5.2 The Construction of Multiple Assessor Identities ...................................... 40 3.5.3 Positioning of Assessor Identities as Oral Assessors ................................. 41 3.6 Ethical Considerations .............................................................................................. 42 3.7 Summary ................................................................................................................... 43 vii CHAPTER 4: ANALYSIS OF DATA AND DISCUSSION 4.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 44 4.2 Identity of the Educators ........................................................................................... 44 4.2.1 Subject Position: Individual ....................................................................... 44 4.2.1.1 Subject Positions in Line with the ............................................... 45 Expected Norm of an Assessor 4.2.1.2 Emerging Subject Positions: Individual ...................................... 48 4.2.2 Subject Position: Group ............................................................................. 52 4.2.2.1 Subject Positions Found Collectively as ..................................... 52 a Group 4.2.2.2 Emerging Subject Positions: Group ............................................ 62 4.3 The Construction of Multiple Assessor Identities ..................................................... 66 4.4 How Subject Positions are used as Narrative Resources .......................................... 71 for Positioning 4.4.1 Positive Positioning: Identification and Recognition ................................. 72 4.4.2 Negative Positioning: Opposition and Distancing ..................................... 74 4.5 Summary ................................................................................................................... 76 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 5.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 77 5.2 Subject Positions and Multiple Assessor Identities .................................................. 78 5.3 Narrative Resources and Positioning ........................................................................ 79 5.4 Pedagogical Implications .......................................................................................... 81 5.5 Contributions of this Study ....................................................................................... 82 5.6 Recommendations for Future Research .................................................................... 83 5.7 Conclusion ................................................................................................................ 83 viii REFERENCES .............................................................................................................. 85 APPENDICES ............................................................................................................... 92 ix