Learner Identity Construction of EFL Postgraduate Students: A Narrative Case Study

Abstract

The learners of English as a foreign language commonly have a variety of linguistic and cultural background and the learning of a new language will influence how they construct their identity. The present narrative case study attempted to explore how English learning has shaped the learner identity of two Indonesian postgraduate students of English. Two participants, Hera and I, were included in this study. To collect the data, interview was conducted to gain Hera's stories about her identity construction journey, and autobiography narrative was used to describe mine. The data collected covered our reflections of several significant events in constructing our learner identity. The result was revealed through three themes: our learning experiences which covered our initial encounter with English, teaching approaches, and the challenges we found during English learning; source of motivation in learning; and cultural influence.

Student Identity in the EFL Classrooms

“…Teng (2019) focused that student identity is historically and socially formed and infl uences EFL learning of the students participating in practiced and imagined communities. While constructing student identity in EFL classrooms, Fatmawati (2021) stressed that the students do not only construct identity in EFL classroom but also learn English cultures, beliefs and values. In Nepal, Skinner (1990) pinpointed traditional ethnic and cast identity, social identity, gender identity and distinct identity (one-way students characterize themselves and others in their social world is based on the basis of a traditionalmodern continuum) in her study investigating children's identity construction in and around formal schooling.…”