Preface Introduction 1. Fact and fiction in language learning 2. Researching identity and language learning 3. The world of adult immigrant language learners 4. Eva and Mai: Old heads on young shoulders 5. Mothers, migration and language learning 6. Second language acquisition theory revisited 7. Claiming the right to speak in classrooms and communities Afterword by Claire Kramsch

Identity and Language Learning: Extending the Conversation

In this review article on identity, language learning, and social change, we argue that contemporary poststructuralist theories of language, identity, and power offer new perspectives on language learning and teaching, and have been of considerable interest in our field. We first review poststructuralist theories of language, subjectivity, and positioning and explain sociocultural theories of language learning. We then discuss constructs of investment and imagined communities/imagined identities (Norton Peirce 1995; Norton 1997, 2000, 2001), showing how these have been used by diverse identity researchers. Illustrative examples of studies that investigate how identity categories like race, gender, and sexuality interact with language learning are discussed. Common qualitative research methods used in studies of identity and language learning are presented, and we review the research on identity and language teaching in different regions of the world. We examine how digital technologies may be affecting language learners' identities, and how learner resistance impacts language learning. Recent critiques of research on identity and language learning are explored, and we consider directions for research in an era of increasing globalization. We anticipate that the identities and investments of language learners, as well as their teachers, will continue to generate exciting and innovative research in the future.

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Identity, language learning, and social change

There has been a remarkable growth of interest in the theory and practice of autonomy in language teaching and learning in recent years. Focusing on work published since the turn of the 20th century, this review examines major trends in the recent literature on autonomy related to the emergence of alternative views of autonomy, new contexts of practice and interaction with concepts such as self-regulation, motivation, sociocultural theory and teacher development. The review also covers relevant developments in the philosophy of autonomy and the role of autonomy in global educational policy and reform. It concludes by discussing possible directions for future research in the field.

https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0261444806003958

Autonomy in language teaching and learning

This article reports on a qualitative multiple case study that explored the academic discourse socialization experiences of L2 learners in a Canadian university. Grounded in the notion of “community of practice” (Lave & Wenger, 1991, p. 89), the study examined how L2 learners negotiated their participation and membership in their new L2 classroom communities, particularly in open-ended class discussions. The participants included 6 female graduate students from Japan and 10 of their course instructors. Student self-reports, interviews, and classroom observations were collected over an entire academic year to provide an in-depth, longitudinal analysis of the students' perspectives about their class participation across the curriculum. Three case studies illustrate that students faced a major challenge in negotiating competence, identities, and power relations, which was necessary for them to participate and be recognized as legitimate and competent members of their classroom communities. The students also attempted to shape their own learning and participation by exercising their personal agency and actively negotiating their positionalities, which were locally constructed in a given classroom. Implications for classroom practices and future research are also discussed.

Negotiating Participation and Identity in Second Language Academic Communities.

We begin by considering how the recent phenomenon of English as a Lingua Franca (henceforth ELF) fits in with the older notion of lingua francas in general as well as with older versions of ELF. We then explore the beginnings of ELF in its modern manifestation, including the earliest ELF research, and tackle the thorny issue of defining ELF. After discussing the main locations and domains in which ELF research has been carried out to date, we move on to examining research into three linguistic levels, lexicogrammar, phonology and pragmatics, concluding with a discussion of very recent findings revealing ELF's linguistic fluidity. Next, we discuss research into two domains where ELF has proved especially prevalent: business English and academic English. This is followed by a consideration of ELF as a globalized and globalizing practice. We end the article by exploring the implications of ELF research for ELF-oriented English teaching and the role that attitudes are likely to play in this. We conclude that while the relaxed attitudes towards ELF of younger people are promising, strong resistance is still felt by many others, and that the major challenge remains in convincing the examination boards that they should take account of ELF.

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Review of developments in research into English as a lingua franca

On the basis of the relationship between identity theory of second language acquisition and language learning, this paper illustrates that learners' accepting level to the language may be different in the process of second language learning due to the individual variety in age, sex and ability and difference in social setting and culture Hence, teaching students in accordance of their aptitude is first and foremost in language teaching

Wang Xu

Papers

Identity and Language Learning