How Do Praxis-Oriented Themes Inform the Unity of Language Teachers' Beliefs, Practices, and Identities? A Narrative Inquiry

Praxis, according to the Vygotskian thoughts and tenets, entails the unity of and dialectical relationship between theory and practice. As a vital concept grounded in sociocultural theory, praxis has received increasing attention among language teacher education scholars, typically over recent years (e. g., Johnson et al., 2020, 2022). Yet, there remains scant research through the lens, thus requiring extended efforts from researchers. To join the existing literature and bridge the gap, we explored how praxis- oriented themes may inform the development of professional beliefs and practices between mentor-mentee duos through TESOL-related programs. In addition, we investigated how the development of beliefs and practices may, in turn, inform the mentorships and contribute to the identity development of these duos. We adopted the narrative inquiry method and captured the participants' experiences and emotional episodes over their mentoring journeys. We reported a common developmental path along the two duos' mentoring journeys, while they differed in a few places. These journeys were found to unfold through a 3E pattern with three distinct stages, each contributing to the evolution of their beliefs and practices. These stages were identified as enhancing learning, embodying the mentor, and embracing heritage and identity. Accordingly, three different types of identities, including learner and apprentice, mentee and novice researcher, and language teacher and Chinese culture embodiment, were identified in the stages. Our study provides valuable insights for language teachers and teacher educators by shedding light on praxis-oriented themes that can enhance teacher professional development programs.