Acting beyond the language lecturer: multifaceted identity conflicts of early-career Chinese language teachers in university preparatory programs in China

Chinese preparatory education programs have expanded significantly in recent year, yet early-career preparatory Chinese language teachers (PCTs) often encounter considerable difficulties that may undermine their career sustainability. Prior research has focused on transnational Chinese language teachers in cross-cultural contexts, with limited attention to PCTs in highly institutionalized domestic settings. Using semi-structured interviews, informal exchanges, and thematic analysis, this study examines PCTs’ identity conflicts through an integrated self-discrepancy and appraisal-based process of identity conflict. The findings provide two main points. First, the identity conflicts these teachers experienced were not a simple “ideal-reality gap,” but rather multiple oppositions among their ideal, ought, and actual selves within a strongly institutionalized environment. Within this context, institutional requirements were often internalized by teachers as personal ought standards, intensifying threats to their professional value, competence, and career sustainability. Second, the evolution of these conflicts followed a process: self-discrepancy, threat appraisal, resource appraisal, strategy selection, and identity reconstruction. This process led to three distinct career trajectories: integrative adaptation, strategic temporary departure, and erosion-driven exit. By examining these conflicts, this study explains the divergent paths of teacher identity construction under similar institutional pressures, highlighting the critical role of the “ought self” and appraisal processes in shaping professional outcomes.