Journal of ELE Praxis

Autoethnography: A Method Comprising Multi-Dimensional Traits in ELT Research Trends
Vidhya Pokhrel 1
More Detail
1 Regent Residential School
Review Article

Journal of ELE Praxis, Volume 3, Issue 1, 2026, 30-46

Publication date: Nov 05, 2026

Views: 3 | Downloads: 0

How to cite this article
APA
In-text citation: (Pokhrel, 2026)
Reference: Pokhrel, V. (2026). Autoethnography: A Method Comprising Multi-Dimensional Traits in ELT Research Trends. Journal of ELE Praxis, 3(1), 30-46.
Vancouver
In-text citation: (1), (2), (3), etc.
Reference: Pokhrel V. Autoethnography: A Method Comprising Multi-Dimensional Traits in ELT Research Trends. Journal of ELE Praxis. 2026;3(1):30-46.
AMA
In-text citation: (1), (2), (3), etc.
Reference: Pokhrel V. Autoethnography: A Method Comprising Multi-Dimensional Traits in ELT Research Trends. Journal of ELE Praxis. 2026;3(1), 30-46.
Chicago
In-text citation: (Pokhrel, 2026)
Reference: Pokhrel, Vidhya. "Autoethnography: A Method Comprising Multi-Dimensional Traits in ELT Research Trends". Journal of ELE Praxis 2026 3 no. 1 (2026): 30-46.
Harvard
In-text citation: (Pokhrel, 2026)
Reference: Pokhrel, V. (2026). Autoethnography: A Method Comprising Multi-Dimensional Traits in ELT Research Trends. Journal of ELE Praxis, 3(1), pp. 30-46.
MLA
In-text citation: (Pokhrel, 2026)
Reference: Pokhrel, Vidhya "Autoethnography: A Method Comprising Multi-Dimensional Traits in ELT Research Trends". Journal of ELE Praxis, vol. 3, no. 1, 2026, pp. 30-46.
ABSTRACT
This paper explores the use of autoethnography in ELT research trends. It attempts to examine the coverage of different dimensions of ELT research using autoethnography. The paper presents the SALSA method (Search, Appraisal, Synthesize and Analyze) for reviewing and analyzing the studies (n=30) on autoethnography as a research inquiry in English Language Teaching (ELT). The research question, ‘How have autoethnographic research covered different aspects of ELT?’, has guided the researcher in conceptualizing, trending and analyzing research studies that have been done using autoethnography in ELT research. The coverage of the dimensions of those research trends in the reviewed research studies has been observed and analyzed using SALSA method. The research concluded that autoethnography in ELT is a blooming genre to include multi-dimensional traits in ELT research and has the potential to dig up researchers’ personal and professional experiences that cover a huge arena in the educational field. This research recommends conducting research on ELT trends using research methods other than autoethnography which may explore new aspects of ELT.
KEYWORDS
REFERENCES
  1. Adams, T.E., Ellis, C. & Jones, S.H. (2017). Autoethnography. The International Encyclopedia of Communication Research Methods, 20(2), 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118901731.iecrm0011
  2. Arıkan, A. (2015). An autoethnography of teaching English to young learners: From theory to practice. The Anthropologist, 20(1/2), 77-85. https://doi.org/10.1080/09720073.2015.11891726
  3. Belbase, S., Luitel, B. C., & Taylor, P. C. (2008). Autoethnography: A method of research and teaching for transformative education. Journal of Education and Research, 1(1), 86-95. https://doi.org/10.3126/jer.v1i0.7955
  4. Bochner, A. P., & Ellis, C. (2016). Evocative autoethnography. Routledge
  5. Bolivar, A., & Domingo, J. (2006). Biological-narrative research in Iberoamerica: Areas of development and the current situation. Qualitative Social Research, 7(4), 1-42. https://doi.org/10.17169/fqs-7.4.161
  6. Brantmeier, E. J. (2013). Pedagogy of vulnerability: Definitions, assumptions, and applications. In Lin, J., Oxford, R., & Brantmeier, E.J. Re-envisioning higher education: Embodied pathways to wisdom and transformation. Information Age Publishing.
  7. Camangian, P. (2010). Starting with self: Teaching autoethnography to foster critically caring literacies. Research in the Teaching of English, 45(2), 179-204. https://doi.org/10.58680/rte201012745
  8. Campbell, E. (2016). Exploring auto ethnography as a method and methodology in legal education. Asian Journal of Legal Education, 3(1), 95-105. https://doi.org/10.1177/2322005815607141
  9. Canagarajah, A. S. (2012). Teacher development in a global profession: An autoethnography. TESOL Quarterly, 46(2), 258-279. https://doi.org/10.1002/tesq.18
  10. Cuenca, A. (2010). Self-study research: Surfacing the art of pedagogy in teacher education. Journal of Inquiry and Action in Education, 3(2), 15-29.
  11. Danielewicz, J. (2001). Teaching selves: Identity, pedagogy and teacher education. State University of New York Press.
  12. Day, C. M., Elliot, B., & Kington, A. (2005). Reform, standards and teacher identity: Challenges of sustaining commitment. Teaching and Teacher Education, 21, 563-577. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2005.03.001
  13. Denshire, S. (2014). On auto-ethnography. Current Sociology Review, 62(6), 831-850. https://doi.org/10.1177/0011392114533339
  14. Diaz, Z., & Garza-Reyna, G. L. (2019). I influence too: The role of professors in developing bilingual teachers’ Spanish proficiency. Teacher Education Quarterly, 46(3), 99–118. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1221715.pdf
  15. Diaz, Z., & Reyna, D. L. G. (2019). Preparing the “Linguistically Qualified” Bilingual Teacher: Self/Autoethnographies of Bilingual Teacher Educators. Teacher Education Quarterly, 46(3), 99-119.
  16. Douglas, K., & Carless, D. (2013). A history of autoethnographic inquiry from: Handbook of autoethnography: Routledge. https://www.routledgehandbooks.com/doi/10.4324/9781315427812.ch2
  17. Ellis, C. (2004). The Ethnographic I. AltaMira Press
  18. Ellis, C. (2007). Telling secrets, revealing lives: Relational ethics in research with relational others. Qualitative Inquiry, 13(1), 3-29. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077800406294947
  19. Ellis, C., Adams, T. E., & Brochner, A. P. (2011). Autoethnography: an overview. Qualitative Social Research, 12(1), 345-357. https://doi.org/10.17169/FQS-12.1.1589
  20. Gagnon, J. (2011). Fusing intercultural and expressivist pedagogies in a mixed composition context [Master’s thesis]. California State University
  21. Gannon, S. (2006). The (im)possibilities of writing the self-writing: French post-structural theory and autoethnography. Cultural Studies Critical Methodologies, 6(4), 474-495. https://doi.org/10.1177/1532708605285734
  22. Gautam, G. R. (2018). Becoming and being an English education professional: An autoethnographic inquiry from Gurukul Sanskrit education to English language teacher education. [An unpublished dissertation], Kathmandu University.
  23. Gee, J. P. (2000). Identity as an analytic lens for researcher in education. University of Wisconsis-Madison
  24. Hall, L. A., Johnson, A. S., Juzwik, M. M., Wortham, S. E. F., & Mosley, M. (2010). Teacher identity in the context of literacy teaching: three explorations of classroom positioning and interaction in secondary schools. Teaching and Teacher Education, 26, 234-243. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2009.04.009
  25. Hayano, D. M. (1979). Auto-Ethnography: Paradigms, Problems, and Prospects. Human Organization, 38(1), 99–104. https://doi.org/10.17730/humo.38.1.u761n5601t4g318v
  26. Hayler, M. (2011). Autoethnography, self-narrative and teacher education. Sense Publishers.
  27. Holland, D. (2015). Don’t wake me, my desk is far too comfortable: An autoethnography of a novice ESL teacher’s first year of teaching in Japan [Master’s thesis]. Eastern Washington University.
  28. Hopkins, E. A. C. (2015). The walled fortress: An autoethnography of an ESL educator [Doctoral thesis]. Detroit Wayne State University.
  29. Hsieh, J. K. (2016). An autoethnography of overseas students’ identity movements [Doctoral thesis]. UNSW.
  30. Huo, X. (2017). "You don't look like a professor": An autoethnographic study of how racial identity, legitimacy and language intersect at a Canadian higher education writing centre. [Doctoral dissertation]. York University.
  31. Huo, X. (2017). You don’t look like a professor: an autoethnographic study of how racial identity, legitimacy and language intersect at a Canadian higher education writing center [Doctoral thesis]. York University.
  32. Iams, S. (2016). Unpacking the native speaker knapsack: An autoethnographic account of privilege in TESOL. Korea TESOL Journal, 12(2), 3-22
  33. Izadinia, M. (2015). A closer look at the role of mentor teachers in shaping preservice teachers’ professional identity. Teaching and Teacher Education, 52, 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2015.08.003
  34. Jones, P. (2010). Responding to the ecological crisis: Transformative pathways for social work education. Journal of Social Work Education, 46(1), 67-84. https://doi.org/10.5175/JSWE.2010.200800073
  35. Kasten, E. (2005). Rebuilding identities: Pathways to reform in post-soviet Siberia. Dietrich Reimer Verlag
  36. Koshmanova, T., Hapon, N. P., & Carter, C. C. (2007). Teacher candidate narratives about extreme social events: Implications for teacher education. Teaching and Teacher Education, 23, 215-225. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2006.04.025
  37. Kusaka, L. L. (2014). Negotiating identities: an interview study and autoethnography of six Japanese American TESOL professionals in Japan. Tokyo (Doctoral thesis). The Temple University, Tokyo.
  38. Lapidus, A., Kaveh, Y. M., Hirano, M. (2013). ESL teachers/ ESL students: looking at autoethnography through the lens of personetics. L2 Journal, 5(1), 19-42. https://doi.org/10.5070/L25115889
  39. Legge, M. F. (2014). Autoethnography and teacher education: Snapshot stories of cultural encounter. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 39(5), 117-134. https://doi.org/10.14221/ajte.2014v39n5.1
  40. Lei, J. J. (2015). An autoethnography of an L2 English learner in Taiwan: Where is the end of the tunnel. English Teaching and Learning, 39(3), 61-78. https://doi.org/10.6330/ETL.2015.39.3.03
  41. Lemberger, K. (2017). An autoethnography of a novice ESL teacher: Plato’s cave and English language teaching in Japan [Master thesis)]. Eastern Washington University.
  42. Loo, D. B. (2017). Trust the researcher? Autoethnography as a tool to study English teaching professionals. Selected Proceeding of the International Conference. DRAL, 45-58
  43. Lopes, A. (2009). Teachers as professional and teachers’ identity construction as an ecological construct: An agenda for research and training drawing upon a biographical research process. European Educational Research Journal, 8(3), 461-475. https://doi.org/10.2304/eerj.2009.8.3.461
  44. Mabuan, R. A. (2018). Confessions of a MOOCER: An autoethnographic inquiry on online distance education. Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education, 19(4), 198-213. https://doi.org/10.17718/tojde.471916
  45. MacBeath, J. (2012). Future of teaching profession. University of Cambridge.
  46. Makovec, D. (2018). The dimensions of teacher’s professional development. Journal of Contemporary Educational Studies, 69(135), 106-125.
  47. Matsumoto, Y (2012). Language teacher identities: Co-constructing discourse and community. An International Journal of Teachers’ Professional Development, 16(4), 566-577. https://doi.org/10.1080/13664530.2012.741362
  48. Mendez, M. (2013). Auto ethnography as a research method: Advantages, limitations and criticisms. Colomb. Appl. Linguist. J. 15(2), 279-287. https://doi.org/10.14483/UDISTRITAL.JOUR.CALJ.2013.2.A09
  49. Mengist, W., Soromessa, T., & Legese, G. (2019). Methods for conducting systematic literature review and meta-analysis for environmental science research. Methods X, 7, 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mex.2019.100777
  50. Mirhosseini, S. A. (2018). An invitation to the less-treaded path of autoethnography in TESOL research. TESOL Journal, 9(1), 76–92. http:// dx.doi.org/10.1002/tesj.305
  51. Pandey, K. R. (2018). Transformative learning through ethical dilemma stories: An autoethnographic study [Doctoral thesis]. Murdoch University
  52. Park, L. E. (2016). Shifting from reflective practices to reflexivity: An autoethnography of anL2 teacher educator, English Teaching, 69(1), 173-198. https://doi.org/10.15858/engtea.69.1.201403.173
  53. Prasad, A. (2019). Autoethnography and organization research: Reflections from fieldwork in Palestine. Palgrave pivot.
  54. Qutoshi, S. B. (2015). Auto/ethnography: A transformative research paradigm. Dhaulagiri Journal of Sociology and Anthropology, 9, 161-190. https://doi.org/10.3126/dsaj.v9i0.14027
  55. Rezende, L. B., & Blackwell, P. (2019). Project management competency framework. Iberoamerican Journal of Project Management, 10(1), 34-59. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.13566593
  56. Robinson, M., & McMillan, W. (2006). Who teaches the teachers? Identity, discourse and policy in teacher education, Teaching and Teacher Education, 22, 327-336. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2005.11.003
  57. Rucieman, A. J. (2018). The identity of the professional interpreter: How professional identities are constructed in the classroom. Springer.
  58. Ryan, C. (2012). A novice ESL teacher’s experience of language learning in France: An autoethnographic study of anomie and the “vulnerable self” [Master’s thesis]. Eastern Washington University
  59. Sardabi, N., Mansouri, B., & Behzadpoor, F. (2020). Autoethnography in TESOL. The TESOL Encyclopedia of English Language Teaching. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118784235.eelt0995
  60. Sidhu, R. (2018). A post-colonial autoethnography of transnational adoption. British Journal of Social Work,48, 2176-2194. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcy011
  61. Smith, B. (2017). Narrative inquiry and autoethnography. In Silk, M., Andrews, D., & Thorpe, H (eds), The Routledge handbook of physical cultural studies. Routledge.
  62. Stanley, P. (2019). Ethnography and autoethnography in ELT research: Quering the axiomatic. In Gao, X (Ed). International handbook of English language teaching (2nd ed). Springer
  63. Starr, L. J. (2010). The use of autoethnography in educational research: Locating who we are in what we do. Canadian Journal for New Scholars in Education, 3(1), 1-9.
  64. Suhr, M. (2014). Identity re-construction: An autoethnographic inquiry of an experienced non-native English speaking teacher in an English dominant country [Master thesis]. Simon Fraser University.
  65. Sykes, B. E. (2014). Transformative autoethnography: An examination of cultural identity and its implications for learners. Adult Learning, 25(1), 3-10. https://doi.org/10.1177/1045159513510147
  66. Tilley-Lubbs, G. A. (2014). Critical autoethnography and the vulnerable self as a researcher. Multidisciplinary Journal of Educational Research, 4(3), 268-285. https://doi.org/10.4471/remie.2014.14
  67. Trahar, S. (2013). Autoethnographic journeys in learning and teaching in higher education. European Educational Research Journal, 12(3). https://doi.org/367-375. 0.2304/eerj.2013.12.3.367
  68. Vasconcelos, E. F. S. (2011). I can see you: An autoethnography of my teacher-student self. The Qualitative Report, 16(2), 415-440. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2011.1063
  69. Vavrus, M. (2009). Sexuality, schooling, and teacher identity formation: A critical pedagogy for teacher education. Teaching and Teacher Education, 25, 383-390. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2008.09.002
  70. Yazan, B (2018). Towards identity –oriented teacher education: Critical autoethnographic narrative. TESOL Journal. 10(1), 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1002/tesj.388
  71. Yazan, B. (2019). An autoethnography of a language teacher educator: Wrestling with ideologies and identity positions, Teacher Education Quarterly, 46(3), 34-56 https://doi.org/10.2307/26746049
  72. Yazan, B., Canagrajah, S., & Jain, R. (2021). Autoethnographies in ELT. Routledge
  73. Zake, I & DeCesare, M (Eds.). (2011). New directions in sociology: Essays on theory and methodology in the 21st century. McFarland & Company, Inc.
  74. Zuniga, C. E., Lachance, J. R., Aquino-Sterling, C. R., & Guerrero, M. D. (2019). Introduction: Preparing the “linguistically qualified” bilingual teacher: Self/auto ethnographies of bilingual teacher educators. Teacher Education Quarterly, 46(3), 3-9. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26746047
DISCLOSURE

AI Declaration   

No generative AI tools are used in the creation of this paper.

LICENSE