“This Is Called Free-Falling Theory not Culture Shock!”: A Narrative Inquiry on Second Language Socialization

Abstract

Grounded in the framework of second language socialization, this study explores the identity (re)construction of Erol, a Turkish doctoral student in the United States. Drawn from a larger corpus collected for a longitudinal, mixed-method research, the data for this study came from autobiographies, journal entries, and semistructured interviews. Based on a synthesis of inductive-thematic analysis (Boyatzis, 1998), as well as deductive approaches through the use of three sensitizing concepts-investment (Norton, 1995), cultural capital (Bourdieu, 1977), and audibility (Miller, 2003)-Erol's social identity (re)construction was marked with struggle: first, to gain social networks and, second, to be recognized within the target language community. Erol's story, while providing evidence for the role of affective and socially structured variables in enabling language learners' access to social interactions, also draws attention to the need for more research at the discourse level to explore how power relations within speech communities influence the nature of interaction between international students and the host culture.

EFL Teachers’ Identity (Re)Construction as Teachers of Intercultural Competence: A Language Socialization Approach

“…To begin with, similar to the previous studies focusing on identity construction (Kanno, 2003;Norton, 2000;Polanyi, 1995;Tsui, 2007) as well as language socialization (Ochs, 1993;Ortaçtepe, 2013), this study adopted a narrative approach for 2 main reasons. First, narratives help individuals make sense of their lived experiences as well as themselves (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000); second, narratives provide a rich source of data to explore language socialization (Pavlenko, 2008).…”

Language learner beliefs and study abroad: A study on English as a lingua franca (ELF)

“…The last two decades have witnessed several case studies conducted on study abroad in ESL contexts (e.g., Matsumura, 2001;Ortaçtepe, 2013;Sasaki, 2004Sasaki, , 2007Serrano, Llanes, & Tragant, 2011;Tanaka, 2007). These studies indicated that study abroad in different ESL contexts, which use English as their first language, has an active, but partial role in students' foreign language development.…”

Narrative Inquiry in Applied Linguistics Research

“…A second tendency is for narrative studies to be based less on one-shot data collection exercises (e.g., collection of a set of language learning histories written at a particular point in time) and more on data collected over relatively long periods. This is typical, for example, of the previously mentioned studies that involve working with students studying overseas (F. Gao, 2011; Kim, 2011; Ortaçtepe, 2013) and of studies of teachers in the tradition of Clandinin and Connelly (2000), in which the researcher works with the participants over a period of time to story and restory their experiences (Liu & Xu, 2011). Chik and Benson's (2008) study of a Hong Kong student's experiences of university education in the United Kingdom from departure to return and Ruohotie-Lyhty's (2013) of early career teachers’ identity development were both conducted over four years, the data consisting of four in-depth interviews in each case.…”

“…Recent narrative studies that are based on more than one source of data include Coffey (2010; written language learning autobiographies followed by one-and-a-half hour interviews), Ortaçtepe (2013; written language learning autobiographies, journal entries, and semistructured interviews), E. M. Ellis (2013; classroom observation, in-depth semistructured interviews, language biography interviews with teachers), and Rodriguez and Polat (2012; life history interviews with learners, focus group, journal entries, beliefs survey). Narrative data is also increasingly used as one source of data in ethnographic or mixed methods studies: Examples include F. Gao (2011; narrative interviews used in a study of overseas students in the United Kingdom, described as ethnographic), Kim (2011; language learning autobiographies used in combination with classroom observation, stimulated recall, and interviews in a longitudinal study of two Korean migrants’ second language [L2] learning motivation in Canada), and Trang, Baldauf, and Moni (2013a, 2013b; a study of foreign language anxiety based on a questionnaire completed by 419 university students in Vietnam and interviews and written autobiographies from 49 students identified as anxious from the questionnaire).…”