In recent years, researchers within the field of TCFL (teaching Chinese as a foreign language) have begun to examine the notion of Chinese language teacher identity (see e.g., Moloney, 2013; Gao, 2012; Wu et al., 2014); however, whilst insightful, this research has not addressed the ways in which nonnative speakers identify themselves as CFL teachers while interacting with students and how they construct their professional identities in their home culture. This paper addresses this research gap by exploring the discursive construction of four nonnative speakers (Danish speakers) construct their teacher identities in interaction with their students at a Danish university. It aims to offer an analysis of the role discourse plays in the identity construction of nonnative speakers as teachers in their home culture. A questionnaire and interview study including both teachers and their students over a period of three years has been carried out. The study findings reveal that despite they teach Chinese in their own home cultures, the teachers face challenges in constructing their identities as CFL teacher, and that the challenges that arose with their Chinese learning trajectory and their intercultural experience could influence nonnative speaker teachers’ contribution to TCFL in an intercultural context. The findings further reveal that nonnative CFL teachers create an alternative discourse – ‘a third space’ (Bhabha, 1994) – in ways that enable them to construct multiple identities in their own cultures. Finally, the paper offers suggestions for rethinking teacher’s professional identity in an effort to foster nonnative speakers to become CFL teachers.

Keywords: nonnative CFL teachers, professional identity, discourse, intercultural experience