Content uploaded by Gaston Bacquet
Author content
All content in this area was uploaded by Gaston Bacquet on Dec 18, 2019
Content may be subject to copyright.
Abstract—Much of social research in language learning in the
past twenty years has been devoted to explore issues of
identity construction and its sociological implications in terms
of mobility and inclusiveness. How this is linked to learners’
sense of investment and empowerment, especially in contexts
where a sense of an autonomous self can be suppressed for
social, religious or cultural reasons, form an important part of
this thesis. Previous research has provided a wealth of insight
and suggested remedies, but in this researcher’s opinion they
have come short in providing any definite answers as to how
to implement them or as to the outcomes they might yield, and
this is exactly the area this study aims at investigating.
This research seeks to understand issues of socio-cultural
identities and thus make a significant contribution to
knowledge in this area by attempting to provide some answers
to the above issues through investigating the type pf
pedagogical interventions needed to assist language learners in
the process of identity construction in order to achieve further
social inclusion. It will also have applied relevance for those
working with diverse student groups, especially taking our
present social context into consideration: we live in a highly
mobile world, with large communities of migrants relocating
to wealthier, more developed countries which are also
culturally different and, each posing their own particular set of
challenges for these communities.
The study will be conducted as in-classroom ethnography and
the following methods will be used for data collection:
1. Questionnaires to investigate learners’ attitudes and
feelings in different areas divided in four strands:
themselves, their classroom, learning English and
their social context.
2. Participant observations, conducted in a naturalistic
manner.
3. Journals, which will be used in two different ways: on
one hand, learners will keep semi-structured,
solicited diaries to record specific events as requested
by the researcher (event-contingent). On the other,
researcher will keep his own journal to maintain a
record of events and situations as they happen in
order to reduce the risk of inaccuracies.
4. Person-centered interviews, which will be conducted at
the end of the study to unearth data which might have
been occluded or might be unclear from the previous
methods. The interviews will aim at gaining further
data on experiences, behaviors, values, opinions,
G.B Author is wi th the University of Reading, RG6 6AH, United Kingdom
(phone: +81 7015551086; e-mail: g.bacquet@pgr.rerading.ac.uk).
feelings, knowledge and sensory, background and
demographic information.
Conclusion
The question this study aims at answering is:
What kind of pedagogical interventions are needed in order to
help language learners in the process of identity construction
so they are able to offset unequal conditions of power and
gain further social inclusion?
It will attempt to do this through a qualitative approach that
can hopefully inform both teachers and learners on how to
navigate the aforementioned process, and that can allow for a
thorough analysis of the students’ experiences as language
learners, their degree of investment, inclusion/exclusion and
attitudes, both towards themselves and their social context.
This is relevant because an individual’s insight and
understanding of their own identity shapes their relationship
with the world and their ability to continue constructing this
relationship. At the same time, because these relationship is
influenced and shaped by power, and such power is greatly
determined by (linguistic) capital, a goal of this study is, as we
assist learners in their process of identity construction and as
their investment increases, to help them feel and become more
empowered by increasing such capital, which in turn we hope
might result in a greater ability to integrate themselves socially
in their respective communities. Exactly how this help will be
provided will vary as data is unearthed through questionnaires,
focus groups and the actual participant observations being
carried out.
.
Keywords—Identity construction, second-language learning,
investment, second-language culture, social inclusion.
Author: Gaston Bacquet
Teacher’s role in the process of identity
construction in language learners