Learning Identity Research Articles

Foreign language learning and identity reconstruction: understanding of interaction of the self

This study focuses on the processes & relationships between foreign language learner's identity and interaction foreign language proficiency associated with learning English in private language institutes in Iranian context, especially, participants' beliefs about languages & participants' views about the language question are analyzed. This analysis integrates the speaker's practices and beliefs to issues of identity construction and negotiation that are observable in two contexts. Some English as a foreign language learners from 3 language institute in Tehran were picked to participate in the study, based on stratified sampling. The instrument were a 30-item likert-scale questionnaire on motivation types & social responsibility, individual development, information medium, ... 24 likert-scale questionnaire on self-identity changes, such as, self‌-confidence change, subtractive change, productive change, results reveal that how language practices in human interaction display and construct identity and correlation analysis indicated that motivation types of self-identity changes and signal participant's negotiations of their own identities of these or others. Instrumental orientations related with learner's self-confidence change.

Transforming learning for architecture: online design studio as the new norm for crises adaptation under COVID-19

PurposeThis study explored the virtual design studio as a transformative learning model for the disaster and resilience context, including the factors that affect students' perceptions and experiences of the quality of this adaptation.Design/methodology/approachData obtained from 248 students who took online design studios during the lockdown in 15 universities in Jordan highlight many factors that make the experience of the online design studio more challenging. Despite these challenges, strongly positive aspects of the online studio were evident and widely discussed.FindingsA model of a hyper-flexible design studio in which students can have a direct contact with their instructor when needed – in addition to online activities, reviews and written feedback – is highly recommended for the beginner years. This HyFlex model will enrich students' learning and understanding of the fundamentals of design and ensure that technology solutions deliver significant and sustainable benefits.Originality/valueFor students, studying architecture necessitates a fundamental shift in the learning mode and attitude in the transition from school. Beginner students are often surprised by the new mode of learning-by-doing and the new learner identity that they must adopt and adapt to in the design studio. Moreover, due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, architecture teaching has moved online. Both instructors and students are experiencing dramatic changes in their modes of teaching and learning due to the sudden move from on-campus design studios to a virtual alternative, with only the bare minimum of resources and relevant experience.

Playing maths games for positive learner identities

Maths games are fun and engaging, but what messages do these games send to the students in our classrooms? During mathematics lessons children learn more than just mathematics content; they also come to understand what it means to be a learner of mathematics. In this article I discuss the concept of “mathematics learner identity” and use it as a lens to consider two popular maths games played in primary classrooms in Aotearoa New Zealand. I suggest that some games may be detrimental to the performance of a positive learner identity, while others may be transformative.

English language learners’ visualization of identities in transformation in an imagined world

This paper investigates the ‘imagined’ English language learner (ELL) identities of Korean undergraduates in comparison with the construction of their ‘past/current’ identities. In an environment of globalization and accelerated development of technology, South Koreans view English as a crucial medium to obtain success. In this educational and societal context, this study examines how ELLs view their imagined ELL identities and communities through their drawings and written descriptions. Grounded in the notion of imagined communities and identity, the study explores how 159 Korean undergraduate students present their expected or desired transformation of identity and communities taking place through English learning. A multimodal analysis was employed to unravel the multifaceted, composite, and fluid attributes of ELL identity from its visual and narrative elements. The findings yield insights into the purposes, orientations, and dispositions of EFL learners, their beliefs about imagined English-speaker identities, and their awareness of the broader global, intercultural context. Concentrating on the transformation in the relational aspect of ELL identity, the study discusses the weight and affordances of English and its relation to ELLs’ imagined ELL identity and further demonstrates their language and cultural awareness in the globalized setting.

Cultivating a Jewish Eco- Education Framework: The Toronto Heschel School’s Teaching and Learning Garden

Over the last century, global food systems have increasingly shifted towards a scientific, input-based industrial paradigm whose adverse ecological impacts are well documented. In response, global agricultural movements, such as the agroecology movement, have sought an integration of contemporary science and indigenous agricultural knowledges. Scholars in the field of Jewish ecology similarly propose that biblical Hebrew scripture may provide a framework for thinking about, and acting upon, issues of ecological sustainability in agriculture. In educational settings too, learning about ecology is increasingly approached in an intimate and tangible way in the form of school garden programs. In this work, we highlight the case of the Toronto Heschel School, a Canadian Jewish day school for children in which a Teaching and Learning Garden fosters student learning on ecology and their Jewish identity in tandem. Reporting the thematic results of qualitative interviews with two educators and five alumni from the Heschel School, this study highlights key similarities and differences between this school’s garden program and those taking place in secular school settings. Like secular school gardens, the Heschel program implements experiential, interdisciplinary learning activities within a scientific ecological knowledge (SEK) framework. That said, the Heschel program supplements and deepens these SEK activities with traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) rooted in Judaic traditional teachings. The resulting educational outcomes appear at once universally applicable while specifically relevant to the Jewish identities of learners.

The Social Identity and Investment of Learners in an Adult EFL Program －A Case Study of Three Korean Learners

The Social Identity and Investment of Learners in an Adult EFL Program －A Case Study of Three Korean Learners

High School Graduates’ Perceptions of Factors that Will Impact Academic Success in College

The present study used mixed-methods, retrospective causal-comparison research design to analyze the perceptions of 1,400 high school graduates who had been admitted to college, exploring the factors that students believed would impact their academic success in college. A qualitative analysis of narrative survey responses revealed six themes of perceived factors: academic interests, access to resources, learner identity, non-academic activities, personal factors, and social transition. Student perceptions differed significantly by demographic variables: first-generation status, gender, and second-year college retention. Suggestions for implementation of results into high school and first-year college programming are offered.

Working-class girls’ construction of learner identities and aspirations through engagement in Chinese language education in Australia

ABSTRACT Despite suspicions concerning the global expansion of Chinese as a Foreign Language (CFL) education, the teaching of Chinese is often a mainstay within global citizenship and elite education. With this paradox in mind, the paper draws on theories of classed selfhood and learner identities to explore the possibilities of CFL to influence the learner identities of five working-class girls. Through drawing on their narratives, we glimpse the ways in which the pedagogic practices of CFL inform their understandings of their education and future – specifically their academic aspirations, career choices, and dreams of wealth. Considering the role of CFL in their lives requires a criticality regarding the neoliberal agenda shaping the educational experiences of young women as well as how they construct their subjectivities in relation to what makes a ‘good’ student and an ‘ideal’ citizen.

Language Identities of Multilingual College English Learners in Indonesia

College learners with their youthfulness are in a crucial phase of transition, which is often associated with a search of identity. Since language is a fluid identity marker, an investigation of language use to represent identity is challenging, especially when the speakers are multilingual. This article explores the linguistic identities of English college learners in Indonesia and offers an approach of English instruction in its tertiary education context which can accommodate their language identity representation. Through observation, a survey of 173 students of the English Literature Study Program, and in-depth interview with 13 representatives selected by purposive convenience sampling technique, this study found that other than identities related to their language inheritance, their closeness to English as their major of study and to digital media bring out other forms of identity as English Department students, youth, and millennial generation. However, this variety confirms monocultural rather than multicultural identity since they are deeply rooted in their local culture. Using the lingua franca approach, this work proposes a local-oriented English instruction to facilitate them to promote their local culture to international audiences.

Uncovering emerging identity performances of Turkish foreign language teaching assistants

The aim of the study is to show emerging identity performances of Turkish Fulbright foreign teaching language assistants (FLTAs) in social and academic contexts during their sojourn experiences in the US. The grant program brings institutional roles of being a teacher and a learner and social duties of culture transmission in the host country. The dynamic triad of these roles yields negotiated identities manifested through reflections to the experiences of interaction, communication, and participation in the host community. In an attempt to reveal the interplay of these roles, 5 Turkish grantees were interviewed to elicit personal storylines. The narratives were analyzed adopting Davies and Harre’s (1990) positioning theory rooted in discursive psychology relying on Bauman’s (2013) postmodern conception of identity where identity is seen as fluid, multilayered, and negotiated. The participants’ emerging identities formulated in the personal narratives are depicted through the negotiation of self-other positioning. The findings showed that affinity, racial, national, gender, cultural, second language, professional, and learner identities were revealed as emerging identity performances with an intersectional structure. This study provides a useful depiction of the FLTAs' sojourn experiences with a microanalytic eye and recommends covering different aspects with various focal points to better understand the educational and cultural aspects of such sojourn experiences.

Identity Negotiation of Female ESL Learners: Communities of Practice Perspective

This qualitative study employs Communities of Practice (Lave& Wenger, 1991) framework to map out how female learner identity is built and negotiated within Post-colonial Pakistan. The study traces out the ongoing identity struggles of young Pakistani female ESL learners at The Institute of English Language and Literature (IELL), University of Sindh, Jamshoro, Pakistan, from a broadly poststructuralist perspective .Data analysis and interpretation were guided by CoPframework which views learner as essentially part and parcel of the learning environment within which learning takes places. The data revealed a complex picture of Female English Language Learner Identity (FELLI), as diverse subject positions emerged while the participants developed a sense of alignment with different CoP and displaying acts of resistance to counter discrimination. Higher education appeared as a site of identity negotiation and transition into new CoP for the participants. The participants demonstrated signs of social, linguistic and academic participation in as participating members of academic CoP

Creating space for agency: a conceptual framework to understand and study adolescents’ school engagement from a Funds of Identity perspective

ABSTRACT A conceptual framework is presented to understand and study the role of students’ agency in their school (dis-)engagement from a Funds of Identity (FoI) perspective. The framework includes the notion of agency combined with Funds of Learner Identity (FoLI): learning preferences that can be considered part of people’s Funds of Identity. The framework holds that students manifest agency to negotiate engaging learning experiences when the school’s affordances and constraints are considerably relatable to their FoLI and allow them to define themselves in desired ways. However, adolescents who feel that possibilities to engage their FoLI are rather limited in school are expected to turn to other contexts to learn, such as home, peer groups and workplaces. An exemplary case study is presented to illustrate the framework and implications are discussed.

Linguistic hybridity and learner identity: translingual practice among plurilinguals in the educational setting

Capitalizing on the ecological approach to language learning (van Lier, 2004; Kramsch, 2008) and the conceptualization of language as a local practice (Pennycook, 2010) as well as languaging (Jørgensen, 2008), accounting for the continuity of linguistic phenomena rather than a discriminatory perception of linguistic properties, we intend to delve into the problem of linguistic hybridity as a sign of L2 learner identity. A direct inspiration for the study, as exemplified in the title, is the concept of metrolingualism (Otsuji, Pennycook, 2010), which offers a potential to be very informative for the study of identity issues inscribed in language. Metrolingualism connotes linguistic hybridity, which refers to something unnatural, untypical, not conforming to the norm. Positing the continuity of language use and symbolic competence (Kramsch, Whiteside, 2008), we assume after van Lier (2004) that language is not a fixed code but socially constructed entity which mingles with personal experiences shaped by social context and activates power-related issues in language use. The aim of the paper is to delve into discursive practices of students learning/using more than one L2 in the educational setting. An examination of their narratives and their languaging about language (Swain, 2006) discloses how they position themselves as L2 language users.

Teacher, Learner and Student-Teacher Identity in TESOL

In order to position the notion of identity as more central to theory and practice in TESOL, a survey is presented of how the notion of identity contributes to our understanding of the nature of the teacher self, second language learning and teacher learning in language teaching. Available theory and research is reviewed to illustrate the sources of teacher and learner identity and the multifaceted ways in which aspects of identity shape their approaches to learning and the impact identity can have on beliefs, attitudes, motivation and classroom practices as well as their use of English. Suggestions are given as to how a focus on identity can be included in teacher education courses for language teachers.

Серік Әбікенұлы шығармашылығындағы деректі проза жанры және оны оқыту әдістері

The article examines non-fiction f Serik Abikenuly and considers of his work in terms of a time of events in a plot, characters, a historical reality of toponymic names and teaching of his written works. The author of the article relied on the critical opinions of scientists-researchers of the Romance genre, demonstrating an artistic solution and a reality of life. In the analysis of his written works, it was proved that the place, time of the event, the existence of characters in life was proved by the example of the works of other scientists and writers. The article considers S. Abikenuly's documentary prose that are contributed in reviving of historical figures, family names, secret legends of the kazakh steppe, heroes of the early xx century, the role of knowledge of the remnants of the past in the formation of historical consciousness. Teaching of a written work based on historical data plays an important role in the formation of historical knowledge and national identity of learners. Therefore, in addition to the analysis of literature, the article shows the methods of teaching it.

A tale of two language ideologies: Discursive co‐construction of L2 learner identity in Japanese CMC interactions

AbstractThis study investigates the relationship between learner perception, ideology, discourse, and identity in computer‐mediated communication (CMC) interactions between an advanced L2 Japanese learner and native Japanese speakers. Study findings show that, despite an invested identity as a proficient user of Japanese, the learner struggled to enact this identity in the face of two divergent language ideologies: one that promoted Japanese native speaker discourse as the goal of L2 learning and use, and one that promoted a particular Western “foreigner” discourse for non‐native speakers of Japanese. Furthermore, a third discourse—that of the CMC platform—also affected her discursive practices, both in terms of interaction and performance of multiple identities. These results reveal the complex, sometimes problematic, nature of CMC for L2 learning and use, while offering a unique perspective into the issue of the native speaker standard in Second Language Acquisition (SLA), particularly as it pertains to advanced learners.

Indigenous music learning in contemporary contexts: Nurturing learner identity, agency, and passion

I studied the revival project that involved teaching and (re)learning of a nearly extinct music tradition of the Basoga people from Uganda, to find out what might be learnt about and from those learning processes, and insights that might be applicable in formal educational settings. The revival project activities were documented (with participants’ permission) and publicized through a large number of audio and audiovisual recordings, photographs, and reports from community and school settings. Treating this documentation as extant data, I engaged in a qualitative analysis of the social and musical interactions between and among the two surviving master musicians and the youths to understand the nature and meaning of these learning experiences. Emergent themes reflected that nurturing identity, agency, and joy-filled passion among the learners were the main contributing factors that facilitated a successful transfer of knowledge and skills from the elderly master musicians to multitudes of youths.

Broadening student musicians’ career horizons: The importance of being and becoming a learner in higher education

Research in higher music education acknowledges a persistent divide between performance studies and the realities of musicians’ work. Alongside this is global pressure for curriculum that is more supportive of students’ metacognitive engagement, experiential learning and career preparation. However, scholars assert that the provision of these curricular elements is insufficient unless students recognise their value and engage in them at a deep level; this is because career-long employability in precarious industries such as music is underpinned by strategic, lifelong and self-regulated learning. The study reported here featured a scaffolded employability intervention located within the existing curriculum and trialled with seven student musicians at a European institution. The study had three aims: to understand the students’ career-related thinking and confidence; to determine whether such an intervention might be scalable; and to gauge the intervention’s potential efficacy in helping students to become conscious of their learner identity. Results indicate that many student musicians are aware of the need to extend their essential professional capabilities but unaware of how to address these deficits. Participants realised that ‘learning how to learn’ would help them achieve personal and professional goals. The findings suggest that similar in-curricular interventions are achievable at scale. Furthermore, they have the potential to foster a more holistic vision of performance education and practice such that aspiring musicians might graduate as both skilled professionals and agentic learners.

Developing literacy or focusing on interaction: New Zealand students’ strategic efforts related to Chinese language learning during study abroad in China

This paper reports on an inquiry that interpreted a group of New Zealand students’ strategic efforts related to Chinese language learning during study abroad in China through the lens of identity. In this study, we encouraged 15 participants to write reflective journals and conducted group interviews and online communication to examine their strategic efforts to learn Chinese. The analysis revealed that the participants’ identity imaginations were closely associated with their strategic learning efforts across different settings, including literacy-oriented strategic efforts in the classroom and interaction-oriented strategic efforts outside the classroom. The findings also suggest that the participants made strategic efforts to seek opportunities and resources for practicing spoken Chinese outside the classroom because they were positioned in undesirable ways by instructors and course content in the classroom. These findings offer insights into the crucial role of learner identity in mediating language learners’ strategic efforts during study abroad in China. They imply that formal learning in the classroom needs to be synergized by informal learning outside the classroom, and educational stakeholders should revise the traditional design of study abroad programs to better support international students’ language learning efforts.

Relationships Between Teachers’ Interactions with Learner Errors and Learners’ Mathematical Identities

Engaging with learner errors in mathematics classrooms is an important aspect of teacher pedagogy which can support learner identification with mathematics. This study examined the opportunities that teachers provided for the construction of learner identities based on how the teachers spoke about and interacted with learner errors in two secondary school mathematics classrooms. Data were collected over two years in the form of videotaped lessons, field notes, photographed learner notebooks and audiotaped interviews with participants, and were analyzed qualitatively. Two ways in which teachers spoke about errors are discussed: errors are contagious and errors are lessons. How the teachers spoke about and interacted with errors were informed by their views of learners and their reasoning in mathematics, which shaped the identities they offered learners. We show that while learners’ experiences of their teachers’ approaches to errors informed their identification with mathematics to some extent, the learners also played a role in the construction of their mathematical identities.