Inspired by Asian migrants: An adult English learner's imagined communities and study abroad trajectory

Abstract

In today's globalized world, language learners gain inspiration for who they want to be and the community to which they want to belong through unconventional ways. This study investigates the unconventional language aspirations of a male Japanese adult sojourner who studied English in the Philippines and Canada and projected his imagined self as aligning with the Asian migrants he met in Japan. Data were collected through an open-ended questionnaire, two semi-structured interviews, and follow-up emails. In employing a critical event narrative inquiry approach, the study findings focus on two critical events that largely shaped this individual's imagined community and the desires shaping his English learning—the socialization with the migrants in Japan and his instructors in the Philippines. This study illuminates a nascent language desire that emerged in an internationalizing society and urges further exploration of unconventional aspirations that are situated beyond the dominant ideologies and transcend existing dichotomous boundaries.