Identities constructed in difference: English language learners in China

Gu, Mingyue Michelle 谷明月

doi:10.1016/j.pragma.2009.06.006

Cited by 57 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 18 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Likewise, in Gu's (2009) study, conducted in an EFL Chinese context, the results did not turn out to be congruent with the present study. That is, unlike this study, for Gu's participants, English learning is a process of understanding who the learners are.…”

Section: Resultscontrasting

confidence: 99%

Identity Construction and Reversal Conceptual Transfer Among Iranian EFL Learners

Gholaminejad

2017

HOW

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This article draws on a qualitative study which seeks to explore whether Iranian English as a foreign language learners experience any reversal conceptual transfer and whether they construct two identities as a result of learning a foreign language. The findings from the open-ended questionnaires distributed among 65 undergraduates at the University of Isfahan as well as 45 interviews conducted in a private language school reveal that most of the participants feel they have partly experienced reversal conceptual transfer. However, most of them claimed not to have constructed a new foreign language identity in English, while those who did had a more positive attitude towards their English identity.Key words: English as a foreign language, identity, reversal conceptual transfer, Whorfian linguistic relativity.El presente artículo describe un estudio cualitativo para identificar si estudiantes iraníes de inglés como lengua extranjera experimentan transferencia conceptual inversa y si construyen dos identidades como resultado del aprendizaje de una lengua extranjera. Los resultados de cuestionarios abiertos distribuidos entre 65 estudiantes de pregrado de la Universidad de Isfahan y de 45 entrevistas realiza- das en una escuela privada revelaron que la mayoría de los participantes sienten que han parcialmente experimentado transferencia conceptual inversa. Sin embargo, la mayoría afirmó no haber construido una nueva identidad en inglés, pero los que sí lo hicieron tienen una actitud más positiva hacia su identidad en inglés.Palabras clave: identidad, inglés como lengua extranjera, principio de relatividad lingüística, transferencia conceptual inversa

show abstract

Section: Resultscontrasting

confidence: 99%

Identity Construction and Reversal Conceptual Transfer Among Iranian EFL Learners

Gholaminejad

2017

HOW

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…This means that language users have to construct multiple identities to deal with complex interactions among 'interlocutors with different language capacities and cultural imaginations, who have different social and political memories' (Kramsch and Whiteside 2008, 646). Some mainland students dream of studying abroad or going back to the mainland after obtaining permanent HK residence, from which they aspire to create a global identity (Gu 2010). The coexistence of multiple possible identities constructed by mainland students which include a Chinese identity, a HK identity (as a permanent resident) and a global identity reflects the overlapping, diffuse and contradictory nature of identity formation (Dö rnyei 2005(Dö rnyei , 2009).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Language choice and identity construction in peer interactions: insights from a multilingual university in Hong Kong

2010

Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Informed by linguistic ecological theory and the notion of identity, this study investigates language uses and identity construction in interactions among students with different linguistic and cultural backgrounds in a multilingual university. Individual and focus-group interviews were conducted with two groups of students: Hong Kong (HK) and mainland Chinese students. The findings indicate that, while different languages position their speakers in different symbolic spaces, language users employ a variety of languages for different identification purposes, and exercise symbolic power in various ways in order to be heard and respected. It is also found that language often plays a substantial role in achieving a sense of intimacy among group members and that the huge inherent differences, despite the umbrella of 'unity' between HK and mainland China, lead to a mutual non-identification between HK and mainland students. The study extends understandings of the interconnected relations of languages and context.

show abstract

“…Boxer and Cortés-Conde (1997) argue that, in an attempt to acquire foreign language pragmatic competence, the learner develops a relational identity which refers to "participants' construction of a new identity built on their past, present, and future relationship" (p. 282). Via interaction with target language input, identity reflects an individual's relationship with the external environment through the identification with discourses and the complex and recurrent interactions between the individual and the social (Gu, 2010).…”

Section: Gender Stereotyping and Foreign Language Learningmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Analysis of Gender Stereotyping in English Teaching Course Books

Şeker¹,

Dinçer²

2014

Cukurova University Faculty of Education Journal

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Learners who are exposed to a new and different culture in the context of foreign language learning are viewed as reflective agents in the continuous process of identity reformation (Pavlenko and Lantolf, 2000). Course books, which are one of the main sources of target language and culture input, have a great impact in the formation of pragmatic competence and the development of relational identity. However, in the process of cultural transfer throughout course books in foreign language learning, the imposition of gender stereotyping may accompany other pragmatic traits of the target culture and interfere with the formation of relational identity. In this respect, the aim of this study is to identify implicit indications of gender role stereotyping in English teaching course books texts used for Turkish learners. The data gathered from four widely used English language course books and was analyzed using detailed textual analysis (Fairclough, 2003) so as to identify and categorize stereotyped roles for females and males. The findings depict the implicit gender roles in course books and outline the relationship between the elements of linguistic features of texts and the way they function in reinforcing gender stereotyping. IntroductionThe need for a more social and critical linguistics which focuses on language use and language as action and communication in social and cultural contexts was one of the main factors in the emergence of pragmatics. Unlike Chomskyan linguistic view, pragmatic point of view perceives language as situated in relation to its users who are "more than producers of linguistic forms" (Duranti, 2001, p.5). Pragmatics addresses language users from a broad perspective including specific societal factors such as schools, families, which are considered to have fundamental impact on the speakers. Languages are created by human interaction, and thus should be referred in relation to its users' contexts (Mey, 2001;Delen and Tavil, 2010). These social and cultural contexts of use are not static but dynamic and meshed in the continually changing surroundings where speakers live and interact (Mey, 2001).Situating language in its users' contexts encompasses the forms of language and the forms associated with the dominant and, at the same time, subordinate social categories. Philips (2004) emphasizes the creation and reproduction of inequality through language. The author suggests four key areas in this development: "language use and the regulations of turns in bureaucratic settings, including classrooms, courtrooms, clinics; gender and language, with a focus on the inequalities created through men's greater involvement in public genres of discourse; language and political economy and inequalities created by lack of prestige amongst the economically disadvantaged; language and colonialism and the impact of colonial cultural systems on the language and the culture of the colonized" (p.476). The reflection of gender identityGender identity, as one of the components of individual identity, determines 'f...

show abstract

Identities constructed in difference: English language learners in China

Cited by 57 publications

References 18 publications

Identity Construction and Reversal Conceptual Transfer Among Iranian EFL Learners

Identity Construction and Reversal Conceptual Transfer Among Iranian EFL Learners

Language choice and identity construction in peer interactions: insights from a multilingual university in Hong Kong

An Analysis of Gender Stereotyping in English Teaching Course Books

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About