Rethinking the Language Learner in the Post-method Era The Question of Identity

Abstract

Taking into consideration the requirements of postmethod era which, according to Kumaravadivelu (2001), called for particular stances of language teachers towards the role of language learning theories in practice and putting the language learner within the frameworks of such theories as competition model, this paper attempts to verify and substantiate the claim that the language learner does not have a particular identity. This substantiation draws on two interrelated issues: (1) as people concerned with language education, teachers are responsible for practice which is mediated by different theories in the postmethod era, and (2) each theory allows for looking at the learner from one perspective according to which only partial understanding of the learner is within reach (only partial theoretical resource to pave the grounds for effective learning opportunities is available). Furthermore, since depending upon a particular theory there might be an understanding of the learner differnet from and sometimes even the opposite of that formed on the basis of another theory, and because in the postmethod era practice in general and moment by moment instances of practice in particular are quite likely to be subjected to opposing theories, it is concluded that the foreign language learner does not have a particular identity.