By innovatively applying positioning theory with reference to a framework of willingness, capability and power, this study explored how pre-service teachers' professional identities dynamically change through the negotiation of various positions. A qualitative approach was adopted using data from six Hong Kong pre-service teachers in a teacher education programme for teaching Chinese as a second language. Multiple data sources, including interviews, reflective journals, classroom observations and lesson plans, were collected over one year. Pre-service teachers were found to negotiate individual deliberated self-positionings before entering the education programme and forced self-positionings from significant others during the education programme in three key stages: pre-positioning, negotiated positioning and performed positioning. Three differentiated positioning trajectories were identified that were greatly influenced by the pre-service teachers' levels of willingness, capability and power. Copyright ©2021 Routledge.

Along with the increasing global emphasis on creativity, creative teaching has become an issue of concern for a large number of researchers. This study addresses this issue by exploring the belief of Hong Kong teachers on creative teaching. The research results obtained through qualitative approach show that the beliefs of Hong Kong teachers about creative teaching cover process and product dimensions. The informants can be grouped into five categories with reference to their various preferences. The evidence shows that a part of the beliefs of Hong Kong teachers is aligned with ideal theoretical framework advanced by scholars. The deficiency and problems in the belief of teachers in creative teaching are also discussed in this paper.
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