The author argues that second language acquisition (SLA) theorists have struggled to conceptualize the relationship between the language learner and the social world because they have not developed a comprehensive theory of social identity which integrates the language learner and the language learning context. She also maintains that SLA theorists have not adequately addressed how relations of power affect interaction between language learners and target language speakers. Using data collected in Canada from January to December 1991 from diaries, questionnaires, individual and group interviews, and home visits, the author illustrates how and under what conditions the immigrant women in her study created, responded to, and sometimes resisted opportunities to speak English. Drawing on her data analysis as well as her reading in social theory, the author argues that current conceptions of the individual in SLA theory need to be reconceptualized, and she draws on the poststructuralist conception of social identity as multiple, a site of struggle, and subject to change to explain the findings from her study. Further, she argues for a conception of investment rather than motivation to capture the complex relationship of language learners to the target language and their sometimes ambivalent desire to speak it. The notion of investment conceives of the language learner, not as a historical and unidimensional, but as having a complex social history and multiple desires. The article includes a discussion of the implications of the study for classroom teaching and current theories of communicative competence.

/pdf/social-identity-investment-and-language-learning-3tincoufwj.pdf

Social Identity, Investment, and Language Learning*

Fact and fiction in language learning researching identity and language learning the world of adult immigrant language learners Eva and Mai - old heads on young shoulders mothers, migration, and language learning second language acquisition theory revisited claiming the right to speak in classrooms & communities.

Identity and language learning : gender, ethnicity and educational change

https://waseda.repo.nii.ac.jp/?action=repository_action_common_download&item_id=12133&item_no=1&attribute_id=162&file_no=1

言語運用能力(Communicative Competence)

PART ONE: CLEARING THE GROUND PART TWO: HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES PART THREE: CONCEPTS OF LANGUAGE PART FOUR: CONCEPTS OF SOCIETY PART FIVE: CONCEPTS OF LANGUAGE LEARNING PART SIX: CONCEPTS OF LANGUAGE TEACHING

语言教学的基本概念 = Fundamental concepts of language teaching

This article serves as the introduction to the special-topic issue of the TESOL Quarterly on Language and Identity. In the first section, I discuss my interest in language and identity, drawing on theorists who have been influential in my work. A short vignette illustrates the significant relationship among identity, language learning, and classroom teaching. In the second section, I examine the five articles in the issue, highlighting notable similarities and differences in conceptions of identity. I note, in particular, the different ways in which the authors frame identity: social identity, sociocultural identity, voice, cultural identity, and ethnic identity. I explore these differences with reference to the particular disciplines and research traditions of the authors and the different emphases of their research projects. In the final section, I draw on the issue as a whole to address a prevalent theme in many of the contributions: the ownership of English internationally. The central question addressed is the extent to which English belongs to White native speakers of standard English or to all the people who speak it, irrespective of linguistic and sociocultural history. I conclude with the hope that the issue will help address the current fragmentation in the literature on the relationship between language and identity and encourage further debate and research on a thought-provoking and important topic.

Just as, at the level of relations between groups, a language is worth what those who speak it are worth, so too, at the level of interactions between individuals, speech always owes a major part of its value to the value of the person who utters it. (Bourdieu, 1977, p. 652)

https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/3587831.pdf

Language, Identity, and the Ownership of English

This article compares the self-assesments of French proficiency made by approximately 500 Grade 8 students in two different French immersion programs in Canada. 2 self-assessment benchmarks are used : the perceived language proficiency of francophone peers and the difficulty represented by specific everyday tasks in French.

Self-Assessment, French Immersion, and Locus of Control

The TESOL Quarterly invites commentary on current trends or practices in the TESOL profession. It also welcomes responses or rebuttals to articles or reviews published in the Quarterly. Unfortunately, we are not able to publish responses to previous Forum exchanges.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/3588075.pdf

The Theory of Methodology in Qualitative Research

Despite the growing international influence of the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language), no articles have been published on how the test is actually developed by the Educational Testing Service (ETS) In this article, the author, who worked in the Test Development department at ETS from 1984 to 1987, seeks to demystify the TOEFL reading test at both a descriptive and theoretical level First, the author draws on data from a case study of a reading test she developed in 1986 to illustrate the technical rigor with which the test is developed, and to raise questions about its theoretical adequacy Second, the author draws on the theory of genre proposed by Kress (1989, 1991) to (a) illustrate how the unequal relationship between test makers and test takers predisposes TOEFL candidates to a particular reading of TOEFL texts; and (b) locate the TOEFL reading test within the larger social context of the TOEFL internationally, where competence in English means access to power The author concludes that the TOEFL–2000 test development team at ETS, who are currently reviewing the test, needs to address the washback effect of the test in consultation with both ESOL teachers and TOEFL candidates internationally

Demystifying the TOEFL® Reading Test

* What are linguistic human rights? In a civilized state, there should be no need to debate the right to maintain and develop the mother tongue. It is a self-evident, fundamental linguistic human right (see the articles in Skutnabb-Kangas & Phillipson, 1994). Observing linguistic human rights (LHRs) implies, at an individual level, that all people can identify positively with their mother tongue and have that identification accepted and respected by others whether their mother tongue is a minority language or a majority language. It means the right to learn the mother tongue, orally and in writing, including at least basic education through the medium of the mother tongue, and to use it in many official contexts. It also means the right to learn at least one of the official languages in the country of residence. It should therefore be normal that teachers (including ESL teachers) are bilingual. Restrictions on these rights may be considered an infringement of fundamental LHRs. Observing LHRs implies at a collective level the right of minority groups to exist (i.e., the right to be different) and the right to enjoy and to develop their languages. It implies the right of minority groups to establish and maintain schools and other training and educational institutions, with control of curricula and teaching in their own languages. It also involves guarantees of representation in the political affairs of the state and the granting of autonomy to administer matters internal to the groups, at least in the fields of culture, education, religion, information, and social affairs, with the financial means, through taxation or grants, to fulfill these functions.

Bonny Norton Peirce

Papers

Social Identity, Investment, and Language Learning*

Self-Assessment, French Immersion, and Locus of Control

The Theory of Methodology in Qualitative Research

Demystifying the TOEFL® Reading Test

Mother Tongue Maintenance: The Debate: Linguistic Human Rights and Minority Education