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IDENTITY AND SLLFROM A SOCIOLINGUISTIC
PERSPECTIVEPresented by:Carla Benson
Jennifer RobisonKatie Woodson
DEFINITIONS What comes to mind when you think of the concept of identity?
DEFINITIONS
“ a sense of ‘belonging’ to a particular social group, whether defined by ethnicity, by language, or any other means (Mitchell and Myles, p. 246)
“how people understand their relationship to the world, how that relationship is constructed across time and space, and how people understand their possibilities for the future” (Norton, 1997, p. 410)
DEFINITIONS “Identity can be seen as the dynamic
interaction between the fixed identity categories that applied to social groupings (such as race, gender, ethnicity, language, and other more subtle representations that are activated in certain discourse settings) and the way individuals think of themselves as they move through the different discourses in which these are salient.” (Thesen, 1997, p. 488)
IDENTITY AND SLL
What comes to mind when you think of identity as it relates to SLL?
A FEW SALIENT CONCEPTS FROM SOCIOLINGUISTICS Communicative competence - includes cultural norms of appropriatenessSLLs have to negotiate the fact that they are essentially adopting a new identity (Chick, 1996)
A FEW SALIENT CONCEPTS FROM SOCIOLINGUISTICS “Our social identity of the moment is
situated in the interaction at hand; we perform it as we go along and we do so conjointly with the other interactional partners.”
(Erickson, 1997, p. 292).
SALIENT CONCEPTS CONT.
Goal of a SL teacher is not to change a learner’s identity, but give them the tools to build the social identities they choose. (McGroarty, 1996)
IDENTITY AND AGENCY IN THE SL CLASSROOMA broad, multi-faceted topic:• Motivation, investment• Renegotiation of identity• Class interaction• Gender identities• Teacher identities• Power relations• Language ideology
Adolescents Adults Language socialization and families
LANGUAGE AND IDENTITY
SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNING AND THE (RE)CONSTRUCTION OF IDENTITY WITH ADOLESCENTS The Objective: To discuss two of the various studies
to show how language and identity are constructed by second language learning adolescents in different ways.
Ibrahim, K.M. (1999). Becoming black: Rap and hip-hop, race, gender, identity, and the politics of ESL learning. TESOL Quarterly, 33(3), 349-367.
McKay, S.L. & Wong, S-L.C. (1996). Multiple discourses, multiple identities: Investment and agency in second-language learning among Chinese adolescence immigrant students. Harvard Educational Review, 66(3), 557-608.
IBRAHIM (1999) BECOMING BLACK: RAP AND HIP-HOP, RACE, GENDER, IDENTITY, AND THE POLITICS OF ESL LEARNING Main focus was looking at how continental African
adolescent refugees living in Ontario, Canada constructed their identity.
SOCIAL IMAGINARY: defined as “a discursive space in which they are already imagined, constructed, and thus treated as Blacks by hegemonic discourses and groups” (p. 349).
Research Questions:
“What does it mean for a Black ESL learner to acquire Black English as a second language (BESL)?
What symbolic, cultural, pedagogical, and identity investments would learners have in locating themselves politically and racially at the margin of representation?” (349-353).
IBRAHIM (1999) BECOMING BLACK: RAP AND HIP-HOP, RACE, GENDER, IDENTITY, AND THE POLITICS OF ESL LEARNING
Participants
Ethnographic study between January-June in 1996. Participants consisted of a total of 16 students 10
male, 6 female. The predominate language spoken in school was
English There were 27 teachers, all of whom were White.
Quote: “We have to wonder why we try to really follow the model of the Americans who are Black. Because when you search for yourself, search for identification, you search for someone who reflects you, with whom you have something in common (Amani, p. 364).
IBRAHIM (1999) BECOMING BLACK: RAP AND HIP-HOP, RACE, GENDER, IDENTITY, AND THE POLITICS OF ESL LEARNING
Findings:
Students were conscience that their identities were being shaped by Black culture.
Television helped to learn English quickly. Identified with rap and hip-hop as a tool for cultural
identity and acquiring English. White population had already perceived them to be
“Black” they were fulfilling that role in how they constructed their identities.
Teaching recommendations are to bring in rap/hip-hop into the classroom as a valid approach to learning English and culture of a minority group. In this way, the minority group has validation by the dominant group and culture.
MCKAY AND WONG (1996): MULTIPLE DISCOURSES, MULTIPLE IDENTITIES This study looked at 4 recent Chinese immigrants to
California and how they constructed and reconstructed their identities in different discourses. The study was an ethnographic longitudinal study that took place over a 2 year time frame (1991-993).
Research Questions: “Why do some learners, in some contexts draw upon
every available strategies to makes themselves understood and to progress in the target language, while in other contexts they do not?” (p.578)
“Why, do some learners seem to act counter-productively, using strategies that subvert or oppose the language performance expectations of the situation rather than fulfill them?” (p.578)
MCKAY AND WONG (1996): MULTIPLE DISCOURSES, MULTIPLE IDENTITIES
Definitions: DISCOURSE refers to “a set of historically grounded
statement that exhibit regularities in presuppositions, thematic choices, values, etc; that delimit what can be said about something, by whom, when, where and how; and that are underwritten by some form of situational authority” (p. 579).
INVESTMENT developed by Peirce (1995), “which conceives the language learner as having a complex social identity and multiple desires…when language learners speak, they are not only exchanging information with target language speakers, but they are constantly organizing and reorganizing a sense of who they are and how they relate to the social world” (p. 579).
CONTEXTUALIST PERSPECTIVE
MCKAY AND WONG (1996): MULTIPLE DISCOURSES, MULTIPLE IDENTITIES
Participants: Chinese/Taiwanese Immigrants: Michael Lee Jeremy Chang Brad Wang Jessica Ho
Teachers/Aides Mr. Thomas: 7th grade ESL teacher Mrs. Phillips: Mr. Thomas’s aide. Mrs. O’Brien: Part time 8th grade ESL teacher, Mrs. Romero: Full time 8th grade Sheltered Core ESL
teacher
MCKAY AND WONG (1996): MULTIPLE DISCOURSES, MULTIPLE IDENTITIES
Discourses:
1. Colonist/Racialized Discourse on Immigrants
2. Chinese Cultural Nationalist Discourses
3. Social and Academic Discourses
4. Gender Discourses
5. Model Minority Discourse.
MCKAY AND WONG (1996): MULTIPLE DISCOURSES, MULTIPLE IDENTITIES
FindingsMichael Lee: Model minority discourse evident Did not succeed with reading/writing English Took on a Resistance coping strategy, to counteract
feelings of powerlessness as an ESL student
Jeremy Tang: Used model minority and academic school discourses Mother taught as an aide at school to monitor Jeremy’s
progress Used a coping strategy of Accommodation as an ESL
student
MCKAY AND WONG (1996): MULTIPLE DISCOURSES, MULTIPLE IDENTITIES
FindingsBrad Wang: Multiple discourses used, but never formed one true
identity. Resulted in erosion of English. Socioeconomic barriers limited contact with other
students Did not favor one coping strategy. Used guessing,
transfer from L1 to L2 and accommodation.
Jessica Ho: Gender discourses played the most significant role in
English learning. However her musical aspirations limited acquisition
Accommodation was used as a coping strategy. Was the only student studied that code switched.
MCKAY AND WONG & IBRAHIMGaps/Limitations In Research
McKay and Wong: By using the Contextualist approach it does not facilitate
quick pedagogical changes in the system. It does not lead or promote quick intervention. (p. 604)
In future studies may be useful to look at greater outside factors that play a role in the development of identities.
Longitudinal/ethnographic study makes it difficult to replicate or generalize the results.
Ibrahim: The article raised more questions than it answered Practicality of the recommendations for teaching
minority students.
ADULTS, LANGUAGE, AND IDENTITY
BONNY NORTONI foreground the role of language as constitutive of and constituted by a language learner’s social identity…It is through language that a person negotiates a sense of self within and across different sites at different points in time, and it is through language that a person gains access to – or is denied access to- powerful social networks that give learners the opportunity to speak
(Norton, 2000, p.5)
NORTON’S STUDY (2000)
Longitudinal study that explored changes in the participants’ social identity over time and their struggles to achieve the right to speak in SL settings
Martina, a Czech-speaking immigrant in her 30s and motherReasserted herself as an adult with
authority over childrenClaimed her “right to speak”
(Norton, 2000, p.99)
5 AREAS OF RESEARCH Identity and Investment Identity and Imagined Communities Identity Categories and Educational
Change Identity and Literacy Identity and Resistance
As identified in Norton, 1997
ADDITIONAL RESEARCH Sachdev, 1995
Examined the struggles between language and identity of Aboriginal people in Canada
"...should be brought to compete with his fellow whites, but in order that this may be done effectually he must be taught the English language. So long as he keeps his native tongue...will he remain a community apart...with this end in view children...be taught in the English language exclusively..." (Department of Indian Affairs, 1895, cited in Gardner & Jimmie, 1989, p. 7)
"Language is our unique relationship to the Creator, our attitudes beliefs, values, and fundamental notions of what is truth. Our languages are the cornerstone of who we are as a People. Without our languages we cannot survive."(Assembly of First Nations, 1990, p. 39)
SACHDEV CONTINUED…
In pre-colonial times, Aboriginal languages flourished within the boundaries of what is now Canada and the US and many Aboriginal people were multilingual
Recent study alarmingly concluded that only three out of fifty-three Aboriginal languages had an "excellent chance of survival" by virtue of having more than five thousand speakers (Foster, 1982 as cited in Sachdev, 1995)
ESF RESEARCH CONTRIBUTIONS
Paid attention to learner face and self-esteem, and how they may be threatened or consolidated by attempts to negotiate understanding
LEARNER FACE AND SELF-ESTEEM In face-threatening situations, SLLs may
use a variety of strategiesResistanceUsing formulaic responses
Threats to SLLs self-esteem can arise, when misunderstandings are too frequent in interactional dataCase in point: Berta
GAPS AND CALL FOR MORE RESEARCH Language teacher and the language
teacher educator Classroom Practices Growing interest in globalization and
language learning
IDENTITY AND LANGUAGE SOCIALIZATION IN BILINGUAL, BICULTURAL FAMILIES
Language socialization – 2 facetsSocialization into language
Socialization through language
I AM MY LANGUAGE: DISCOURSES OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN IN THE BORDERLANDSBY NORMA GONZALEZ
An ethnographic study of the language practices and discourse patterns of 8 Mexican-origin mothers and their children in Arizona
I AM MY LANGUAGE -LANGUAGE SOCIALIZATION• intergenerational transmission of knowledge to help child construct a sense of self
• sorting out the ambiguity of Latino identity
• Loyalty vs. assimilation• Language ideologies• Gender identities
I AM MY LANGUAGE• Each mother-child dyad negotiates identity differently–resistance and accommodation –Spanish linked to emotion–social memory–School learning ideologies–not a 1 to 1 mapping between language, culture, and identity
I AM MY LANGUAGE –IMPLICATIONS FOR TEACHERS Recognize that identity formation is a
“necessary component of sound and healthy child development that doesn’t threaten the unity of society as a whole” (p. 184)
Critical examination of literature Validate lived experiences Open up wide range of possible
identities
LANGUAGE SOCIALIZATION PRACTICES AND CULTURAL IDENTITY SANDRA SCHECTER & ROBERT BAYLEY 4 Mexican-descent families, 2 in CA and 2 in
San Antonio explores the relationship of language to
identity as manifested in their language socialization practices
LANGUAGE SOCIALIZATION PRACTICES AND CULTURAL IDENTITY No one approach to Spanish language use and maintenance
Discourse about identity in the curriculum more important than implementing a multicultural curriculum with group descriptions
IDENTITY FORMATION FOR MIXED-HERITAGE ADULTS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR EDUCATORS PAO, WONG, TEUBEN-ROWE Interviewed 12 adults who self-identified as
“half-Asian” about their educational and life experiences
Purpose - to discover role that language and educators play in supporting positive identity development in mixed heritage children
IDENTITY FORMATION FOR MIXED-HERITAGE ADULTS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR EDUCATORS Encourage families to maintain home
language Equip mixed heritage children with
linguistic and cultural assets to enable them to find social acceptance and take pride in heritage
focus on individuals and commonalities, not differences
MORE RESEARCH… Each study recommended more research into language socialization practices of various groups
More focus on specific literacy practices
REFERENCES Chick, J.K. (1996). Intercultural communication. In S.L. McKay &
N.H. Hornberger (Eds.), Sociolinguitics and language teaching (pp. 329-348). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Erickson, F. (1996). Ethnographic microanalysis. In S.L. McKay & N.H. Hornberger (Eds.), Sociolinguitics and language teaching (pp.283-306). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Gonzáez, N. (2001). I Am My Language: Discourses of women & children in the borderlands. Tucson: The University of Arizona Press.
Ibrahim, K.M. (1999). Becoming black: Rap and hip-hop, race, gender, identity, and the politics of ESL learning. TESOL Quarterly, 33(3), 349-367.
McGroarty, M. (1996). Language attitudes, motivation, and standards. In S.L. McKay & N.H. Hornberger (Eds.), Sociolinguitics and language teaching (pp.3-46). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
McKay, S.L. & Wong, S-L.C. (1996). Multiple discourses, multiple identities: Investment and agency in second-language learning among Chinese adolescence immigrant students. Harvard Educational Review, 66(3), 557-608.
Mitchell, R. & Myles, F. (2004) Second language learning theories. 2nd edition. London: Edward Arnold.
REFERENCES Norton, B. (2000) Identity and language learning. Harlow: Pearson
Education. Norton, B. (1997). Language, identity, and the ownership of
English. TESOL Quarterly, Vol. 31, (3), 409-429. Pao, D. L., Wong, S.D., & Tueben-Rowe, S. (1997). Identity
Formation for Mixed-Heritage Adults and Implications for Educators. TESOL Quarterly, Vol. 31, (3), 622-631.
Sachdev, I. (1995) Language and identity: Ethnolinguistic vitality of aboriginal peoples in Canada. The London Journal of Canadian Studies, 2, 42-59.
Schecter S. R., & Bayley, R. (1997). Language Socialization Practices and Cultural Identity: Case Studies of Mexican-Descent Families in California and Texas. TESOL Quarterly, Vol. 31, (3), 513-541.
Thesen, L. (1997). Voices, discourse, and transition: In search of new categories in EAP. TESOL Quarterly, Vol. 31, (3), 487-511.