Language learner stories and imagined identities

Abstract

In seeking to better understand English language learners and their imagined identities, which is the central focus of our article, scholars have drawn extensively on the work of Norton and colleagues. This work has foregrounded the language learner as a participating social agent with complex and changing identities. It is this agentive sense of self that is linked, in narratives, to larger socio-cultural and historical social practices. Our interest here lies particularly in the effects of migration on language learners. With this in mind, we advocate that classroom communities be fostered wherein a range of narrative identities, as sense-making practices, are respectfully harnessed as resources for learners of diverse linguistic histories, to create more socially just and responsive "possible worlds".Articles in the recent 2011 Forum section of Narrative Inquiry (vol. 21, issue 2) demonstrate convincingly how narrative and identity work has flourished across different disciplines and diverse research traditions, partly as a result of the wideranging influence of Jerome Bruner (1986, 1991). Interpretation of constructs such as narratives and narrating (Bamberg, 2010) and constructions of self and identity in and across contexts are also of increasing interest to those of us in language education (cf.

Methodological considerations when piloting an interview protocol: the example of Syrian asylum seekers in France

“…Indeed, we intended to gather information on learners' opportunities for interaction in the target language as well as their exposure to input in French. Furthermore, by studying those aspects, we hoped to gain insights into learners' involvement in the host community and learn about the extent to which they have managed to develop 'insider identities' and legitimacy (Norton and Gao, 2008;Early and Norton, 2012;Norton, 2013). Moreover, focusing on how learners feel about their new environment and how they speak about the new culture and the people of the community they interact with is essential to understanding their learning experience, as well as their investment in learning the language and adaptation to the new context (Norton Peirce, 1995;Darvin and Norton, 2015).…”

Transnational Vietnamese: Language Practices, New Literacies, and Redefinition of the “American Dream”

“…In a similar manner, Norton's studies (2000Norton's studies ( , 2013 point out how one's sense of self is negotiated in relation to a larger social world through investment in language learning, and how proficiency in powerful languages can grant access to greater symbolic and material resources, thereby empowering and reconstructing one's identity. Following the identity approach to literacy and language development, there has been a strong methodological focus on narratives from many scholars (Barkhuizen, 2008;Block, 2006;Early & Norton, 2012;Miller, 2003). This methodological focus may bring about a critical research paradigm, in which it foregrounds an individual's sense over meaning-making of their experience as well as the complexity of individual-social relationships (Norton, 2013).…”

Negotiating Identity : An Asian Migrant Language Learner Imagining the Future

“…Through narrating significant events, individuals construct their identities (Barkhuizen, 2013;Bell, 2002;Clandinin & Connelly, 2000;Riessman, 2008). Narratives of language learning show how language learners gain access to language learning and their imagined identities, and how they negotiate these identities to construct desirable identities (Early & Norton, 2012;Kinginger, 2003;Norton & Early, 2011;Ro, 2010;Szabo, 2006). For instance, in the study of two Korean English language learners at a high school in the U.S., Ro (2010) identifies the complexities that exist in their identity negotiation processes in school communities.…”