This paper explores Chinese college English teachers’ identity change and various influences on such change through the narrative inquiry approach. Based on the stories of a college English teacher’s assessment practice, this research analyses the gap between her ‘actual identity’ and ‘designated identity’ and the process of identity change. The study finds that some sub-identities of the teacher have changed while some others remain unchanged. Based on an analysis of the ‘changed’ and ‘unchanged’ identities, this paper discusses the complexities of teacher identity construction. It further argues that teachers’ identities are greatly influenced by socio-cultural and historical factors and develop in the process of negotiation and settlement of the conflicts between teachers’ ‘professional self’ and ‘personal self’.