EFL Learning and Selfidentity construction1.docx

EFL Learning and Selfidentity construction1.docx

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EFLLearningandSelfidentityconstruction1

EFLLearningandSelf-identityConstruction

--ThreecasesofChinesecollegeEnglishmajors

GaoYihong,LiYuxiaandLiWeina

EnglishDepartment,PekingUniversity

Abstract:

Withasocialconstructivistperspective,thisqualitativeresearchreportpresentsthreecasesofEFLlearningandself-identityconstructionbyChinesecollegeEnglishmajors.Thedatawereobtainedprimarilythroughin-depthinterviews.ItwasfoundthatEFLlearningplayedaveryimportantroleinthelearners’self-identityconstruction.Unityandconsistencywasmaintainedinthemidstofmultipleandchangingidentities,andlearnersexerciseddifferentdegreeofindividualagencyintheconstructionoftheirlearningenvironmentandtheiridentity.

Keywords:

Englishlanguagelearning,identityconstruction

1.Introduction

“Identity”hasbeenoneofissuesinsocialpsychologicalresearchonlanguagelearninganduse.Theconceptof“identity”refersto“whooneis”inasocioculturalframework,bothinastableandcontinuoussense,andinspecific,changingsituations.Thereareseveralmajortheoreticalframeworksinthestudyofidentityandlanguage.

Tajfel（1981）intergroupmodelofidentity,asaclassicalsocialpsychologicaltheory,servesasonemajorbasisforidentity-relatedlanguagestudies.AccordingtoTajfel,socialidentityisdefinedbygroupmembership,i.e.,asbelongingtoonesocialgroupratherthananother.Drawingonthisgeneraltheory,GilesandJohnson（1987）developedanethnolinguisticidentitytheory,withfocusonlanguageasamarkerofin-groupandout-groupmembershipandsocialidentity.Linguisticadaptations–learningofasecondlanguage,givingupofone’snativelanguage,etc.,aretakenaseffortsofachievingamorepositivesocialidentity.EmpiricalstudiesonSLAandidentityhavebeenconductedinthislight（e.g.,McNamara,1987）.Someinteractionalsociolinguistshavefollowedasimilarline,statingthata“wecode”anda“theycode”signalorindicategroupmembershipandidentity（Gumperz,1982:

3）.Theintergroupapproachhasbeencriticizedbysomepoststructuralistscholarsforneglectingmultiplicityofgroupmembershipandhistoricalprocessofidentityformation（e.g.,Williams,1992）.Effortsarealsomadetodefendandreinterprettheintegroupapproachtoincorporatethemultiplicityanddynamicnatureofidentity（McNamara,1997）.

Morerecentresearchondiscourseandidentity（Parker,1989;Fairclough,1992;Malone,1997;Ivanič,1998;Geeetal,2001）tendtohighlightthereciprocalrelationshipbetweenlanguageandidentity.Followingsocialconstructivistviews,identityisseenassociallyconstructed,neitherthesoleproductofindividualfreewill,norasimpleresultofsocialdetermination.Itissociallysituated,amomentbymomentprocessimplicatedthroughthemediumofdiscourse,inpowerstruggle.Therearealwayscompetingpowersavailable,andalsocompetingmeasureswhichindividualscantaketoactonthemselvesinestablishingapositionamongdifferentpowers.（Ivanič,1998:

13）Underlyingthemultiple,contextuallyshiftingidentitiesisneverthelessacontinuous,relatively“fixed”identity,whichGee（2000:

39）calls“coreidentity”.

Alongasimilarlineofthinking,someSLAscholarshavemadevigorousattemptsintakingacomplex,dynamicapproachtothestudyofidentityandSLA.DrawingondatafromalongitudinalstudyonimmigrantwomeninCanada,BonnyNorton（Peirce,1995;Norton,1997,2000）proposesatheoryofsocialidentity.Sheclaimsthatidentityis1）multipleratherthanunitary;2）asiteofstruggle;3）subjecttochange.Shealsotriedtoproblematizetheconventionalconceptof“motivation”andreplaceitwith“investment,”soastocapturethecomplexrelationshipofthelearnertothechangingsocialworld.“Itakethepositionthatiflearnersinvestinasecondlanguage,theydosowiththeunderstandingthattheywillacquireawiderrangeofsymbolicandmaterialresources,whichwillinturnincreasethevalueoftheirculturalcapital.”（Pierce,1995:

17）Thisframeworkallowsmuchroomforindividualagency.WhilePierce’sworkcontinuestogeneratepositive（Yim,2001;Hall,2001）andnegative（Price,1996;McNamara,1997）comments,anumberofsimilarstudieshaveemerged,revealingthemultiple,competing,andchangingnatureofidentitiesinsecondlanguagesituations（Leungetal.,1997;Morgan;1997;Schecter&Bayley,1997;Thesen,1997;Maguire,2001）.

AliteraturereviewshowsthatcurrentdevelopmentofsocialidentityandSLAstudieshavepaidmuchattentiontothemultiple,competitive,dynamicanddialogicnatureofidentity,towhichsocialconstructivismoffersparticularinsight.However,mostofthestudiesareconductedinsecondlanguagesituations,typicallyimmigrantsinWesterncountries.Thereissomeoccasionalresearchattentiononidentityandlanguagelearninginforeignlanguagecontext（Duff&Uchida,1997）,butthesubjectsareteachersratherthanstudents.StudiesonChineseEFLstudents’socialpsychologyhavelargelyfocusedonmotivation（e.g.,Gui,1986;Wuetal.,1993;Wen&Wang,1996;Wenetal.,2001）,whichisconventionallyperceivedasoneoftheinfluencingfactorsonL2proficiency.Identityhasattractedlittleresearchattention（Li,2000;Gao,2001）.UnderlyingsuchasituationistheassumptionthatEFLstudentsdonothaveenoughtargetcultureexposure,hencetheinteractionbetweenlanguagelearningand“identity”isirrelevant.

ThepresentstudyintendstoexploretherelationshipbetweenEnglishlanguagelearning（ELL）andChinesecollegestudents’self-identityconstruction,fromasocialconstructivistperspective.Thefollowingareourresearchquestions:

1）If,towhatextentandinwhatmannerthelearners’ELLinteractedwiththeirself-identityconstruction?

Whatweretheavailablepossibilitiesofselfhood,andwhatwerethepatternsandprocessesinwhichthelearnerspositionedthemselvesamongalternativeidentities?

2）Howdidthelearners’ELLmotivationor“investment”interactedwithsocialcontexts–boththeimmediatelearningcontext（Halliday,1978:

“contextofsituation”）andthebroadersociocultural（Halliday:

“contextofculture”）.

2.Method

Thepresentstudyadoptedin-depthinterviewasthemajordatacollectionmethod.Aswewerewellacquaintedwiththeinformants,theinterviewdatawerealsocheckedagainstourinformalobservationsoftheinformants’behavior.

Informantsandtheirlearningcontexts.Thethreeinformantsreportedinthispaper（pseudonymsadopted）wereallEnglishmajorsofahigh-rankingcomprehensiveuniversityinBeijing.Atthetimeofourstudy,theywerefinishingtheirundergraduateorbeginningtheirgraduatestudies.

Ourstudywasconductedatatimewhenthe“crazeforELL”thataccompaniedtheeconomicdevelopmentinChinareachedanewheight,andthecontextofcultureputhighvalueonEnglishasanimportantinstrumentforeconomicdevelopment.Englishproficiencyandrelateddiplomaweresaidtobeoneofthethreerequirementsforgoodjobs,theothertwobeingcomputeranddrivingskills.SomeuniversitiescameupwithpracticalcurriculasuchasbusinessEnglish,internationaltrade,andinternationallaw,totrainpersonnelwith“compositequalities.”Incontrast,theinformants’contextofsituationwascharacterizedbyitsmore“traditional”or“humanistic”curriculum.WesternliteraturecoursescomprisedalargepartofthecurriculumoftheirEnglishprogram.Intheir“intensiveEnglishreading”textbook,thecompilerstatedintheprefacethatEnglisheducationshouldbe“enlightenment”butnot“instrument,”thatEnglishshouldbepositionedasafieldamong“thehumanities”ratherthan“practicalsciences,”and“studentsshouldbeprovidedwithaccesstooriginalworksbyinfluentialBritishandAmericanwritersassoonaspossible.”YetcomparedwithsituationsinmanyWesternuniversities,thecurriculumwassituatedwithinaratherrigidadministrativeframeworkoftheuniversity,wherestudentshadrestrictedopportunitiesinchangingmajorsandlimitedchoicesincourseselection.

Procedure.OpeninterviewswereconductedfromJune2000toMay2001.Informantswereinvitedtorespondtothefollowingelicitationprotocols:

We’dbeinterestedtoknowwhyyoustudyEnglish,andwhatchanges–feelings,ideas,understandingofyourself,etc.--youhaveexperiencedinlearning.Canyouwalkmethroughtheprocess,fromyourmiddleschooltimetothepresent?

Thelengthofinterviewwitheachinformantwasatleast2hours,sometimesintwodifferentsessions.Wemadeself-reflectionsontheinterviewrelationsandourownorientationsinextensivememosbefore,duringandaftertheinterviews.Withtheinformants’consent,interviewswerefullyrecordedandtranscribed.Interviewtranscriptionswerecodedforpatternsandthemesthatmightconnecttotheinformants’learningmotivationorinvestment,andpositioningamongalternativeidentities.Severalcommonthemesemerged:

pre-collegeELLorientation,effortsmadeincollegeandexternalinput,identityconflicts,andfuturedirection.Inthison-goingstudy,wehaveconductedone-to-oneinterviewson9studentssofar,andthreecaseswithconsiderabledepthswillbereportedbelow.

3.ThreeCases

3.1TheStoryofLimei

Pre-collegeorientation:

topuniversityasthepriority.Asateenager,Limeiwasstrugglingandbalancingbetweenherowninterestandthewishesofherteachersandparents.Itwasthelatterthatplayedadominantroleinshapingherdirectionsandidentities.Herinterestinhighschoollaymoreinsciences,andherfavoritesubjectwasmathematics,althoughshewasdoingverywellinarts.Whenforcedtotakedirections,sheselec