Self-(Re)Presentations in the EFL Classroom

Abstract

To self-present in the EFL classroom is a key productive skill for an EFL learner whether beginner or advanced. To self-represent is an empowerment option for the student who would rather ward off arbitrary identity attribution judgements. Given the critical role played by the EFL classroom as host to a complicated network of cultural backgrounds, identity acknowledgment does not have to be solely commensurate with curriculum-related obligation disclosures in an ELT context. The following ethnography in TEFL was conducted at a Greek High School in a town of a border island with the object of observing how languaculture interferes with peer interaction. The EFL teacher-inquirer via walk-through observation monitored how students negotiated their linguistic profile in conformance with Trompenaars’ five-dimension cultural framework. The outcomes show that interactants created what they perceived as a “third space” where a choir of voices laid the foundations for the rapprochement of different cultures.