Vietnamese TESOL Professionals' Investment in Research: A Collaborative Autoethnography of Identity, Capital, and Sponsorscapes

Abstract

Amidst rising expectations around research as key to professional survival and advancement in the field of TESOL, this study explores the dynamics of three Vietnamese TESOL professionals’ investment in research from an emic perspective. Employing collaborative autoethnography, investment theory, and the notion of sponsorscapes, we found that our research investment emerged through the construction of research-oriented ideal identities, with relational experiences serving as sponsorscapes of social and cultural capital in support of identity construction. Our acquisition of symbolic capital through the sponsorscapes of community recognition further reinforced these identities and thus drove our research investment. Simultaneously, socio-educational and sociofamilial ideologies as sponsorscapes of influence shaped our pursuit of research-oriented ought-to identities and mobilisation of cultural and economic capital under educational circumstances marked by neoliberal and traditional values. Our study foregrounds relational experiences, community recognition, and ideological forces as sponsorscapes that support and sustain research investment, nuancing the theory of investment, while offering practical implications for research-based TESOL professional development and policy-making.

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