Three Approaches to the Inquiry into Teacher Identity - A Narrative Review Enlightened by Habermas’s Human Interests

Oct 15, 2026

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This paper reviews and conceptualizes how scholars investigate teacher identity by using Jürgen Habermas’s three human interests as an interpretive lens. The narrative literature review contrasts three distinct approaches and explains their defining characteristics. The article identifies technical, practical, and critical approaches, then discusses implications for future teacher identity research and teacher development. It also evaluates strengths and limitations across approaches and considers their combined application.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages27

Reading Time1 h 8 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Introduction

Teacher identity as a central discourse

Gaps in existing literature

Article overview of the review framework

Three Approaches to the Inquiry into Teacher Identity: A Narrative Review Enlightened by Habermas’s Human Interests Rensijing Liu (刘任思静) Chinese University of Hong Kong Hongbiao Yin (尹弘飚) Chinese University of Hong Kong ECNU Review of Education 2023, Vol. 6(1) 57–83 © The Author(s) 2022 Article reuse guidelines: [sagepub.com/journals-permissions](sagepub.com/journals-permissions)[ ](sagepub.com/journals-permissions)[DOI: 10.1177/20965311221106224](DOI: 10.1177/20965311221106224)[ ](DOI: 10.1177/20965311221106224)[journals.sagepub.com/home/roe](journals.sagepub.com/home/roe) Abstract Purpose: This paper attempts to review and conceptualize how different scholars approach research on teacher identity through the lens of three human interests deﬁned by Jürgen Habermas. Design/Approach/Methods: This literature review, guided by Habermas’s three human interests, illustrates the characteristics of three different approaches to the inquiry into teacher identity. Findings: This paper summarizes three approaches to researching teacher identity and their characteristics, namely the technical approach, the practical approach, and the critical approach. The implications for future research and teacher development are also discussed. Originality/Value: By incorporating Habermas’s three human interests into teacher identity inquiries, this article offers a theoretical narrative review of the approaches to investigating teacher identity. Strengths and weaknesses of each approach as well as the possibility of a Corresponding author: Hongbiao Yin, R427, Ho Tim Building, Faculty of Education, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, N.T., Hong Kong SAR, China. Email: [yinhb@cuhk.edu.hk](yinhb@cuhk.edu.hk) Creative Commons Non Commercial CC BY-NC: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License ([https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/)) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as speciﬁed on the SAGE and Open Access page ([https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage](https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage)). combined application of different approaches provide an original discussion of teacher identity research. Keywords Habermas, human interests, teacher identity, teacher identity research, theoretical narrative review Date received: 19 September 2021; revised: 26 January 2022; accepted: 18 April 2022 Introduction Teacher identity has been recognized by many scholars as a central discourse in research on teaching and learning (Alsup, 2006; Beauchamp & Thomas, 2009; Beijaard et al., 2004). Advocated by Olsen (2016), teacher identity is a key for successful teaching as it can engage teachers in effective professional learning. It is undeniable that how teachers perceive themselves and what others expect of the teaching profession have a great inﬂuence on teachers’ teaching experience and professional development. However, the attention given to the issue of teacher identity differs in terms of how the researcher interprets teacher identity and the purpose of the inquiry. Deriving from these differences, disparate ﬂows of inquiries of teacher identity become visible. As illustrated in an overview by Beauchamp and Thomas (2009), teacher identity has been widely explored in relation to teacher education, teacher agency, and the narrative aspect of identity. Regarding identity and teacher education, Hammerness et al. (2005) argue that teacher identity is a central channel of teacher education in ensuring teachers’ comment and “adherence to professional norms”(p. 383) . For identity and teacher agency, Beauchamp and Thomas (2009) suggest that the sense of agency is a sense of empowerment to practice ideas that could result from teachers’ recognition of their identities. For

FAQs

What is the main purpose of the paper on teacher identity research?

The paper aims to review and conceptualize how different scholars approach research on teacher identity through Habermas’s three human interests.

Which three approaches does the paper summarize for researching teacher identity?

It summarizes the technical, practical, and critical approaches, describing their characteristics and how they differ in inquiry.

What research gap does the introduction highlight?

It notes limited comprehensive discussion of differences in researchers’ intentions, interests, and understandings and how these lead to disparate and sometimes conflicting inquiry flows into teacher identity.

Oct 15, 2026

Upload by hdkawk