LING620
Final proposal
Hueiching Kang
Positioning different identities in a foreign language country
Introduction
The relationship of language and identity has been conducted and researched in the
past two decades in applied linguistics field. Pierce (1995) stated that the theorists in
second language acquisition (SLA) field did not combine language learners and their
learning contexts when discussing social identity. Peirce called for the importance of
the relationship of language learners themselves and the language learning contexts.
Moreover, she stated that SLA theorists did not emphasize the power between
language learners and the native speakers which would affect the interactions. After
the critique by Peirce (1995), there have been an increasing number of studies on
language learning and social identity. Some of the previous research studies focus on
bilinguals who consider English as s Second Language (ESL) in the past few decades
(Martin & Stuart-Smith, 1998; Bashir-Ali, 2006). As for learner identity, Hirano did a
research study about the relationship of learner identity and learning difficulty (2008).
The difficulty would be resulted from their past learning experience and the different
pedagogical aims adopted by their teachers. The study shows that the relationship of
learner identity and learning difficulty is strongly connected with each other.
Moreover, the study done by Gao, Cheng, Zhao and Zhou (2005) demonstrates that
the different contexts affecting the language learners’ self-identity and the learners’
learning difficulty as well. The study shows that the Chinese undergraduates change
their self-identity differently depending on their genders, ages, majors and starting
time to learn English (Gao et al., 2005). The study done by Lee (2003) shows the
identities of language learners are multilayered and complex in a multicultural society
as Malaysia. English is viewed as a second language among the Malaysian learners.
The above studies demonstrate the strong relationship of identity and different
contexts. However, for the participants in Lee’s study (2003), they lived in their own
country instead of the target language country. Few studies are conducted for learners
who are studying in the target language country. Morita (2004) explores the academic
socialization experiences of Japanese students who viewed English as a second
language (L2) and studied in the target language country. However, this study focused
on the learners’ academic community life instead of their daily community life.
Aim
The purpose of this study is to explore how the Taiwanese students who learned
English as a foreign language position their different identities while living and
studying in the foreign language culture. While living and studying in the foreign
language country, they need to face different situations and form their identities with
the language which is viewed as a foreign language when they first learned the
language. Moreover, the cultural differences are huge between American culture and
Taiwanese culture.
Theoretical Framework
This study draws on the post-structural perspective which considers identity is not
fixed but co-constructed and changing continuously by people and the interlocutors.
Moreover, identity acts as the projection of people themselves (Norton & Toohey,
2002). Identity is viewed as a social rather than individual concept. Weedon (1987)
defines subjectivity or social identity as “the conscious and unconscious thoughts and
emotions of the individual, her sense of herself and her ways of understanding her
relation to the world” (p. 32). Identity is not an individual conception about the person
him/herself, but his/her interpretation of the world around him/her and the conception
toward him/herself. Norton (1997) also defines identity as people’s interpretation and
their relationship to the world which is constructed across two key points, which are
time and space (p. 410). Furthermore, identity forming is in the process of
co-constructing and negotiating with other people (Duff and Uchida, 1997, p. 452).
Moreover, Riley states that in order to acquire social identity, people are required to
know some specific knowledge which show their competence of the groups then will
be able to perform the social acts and also interpret others’ acts (2007). For foreign
language learners, they bear two or more social identities as they belong to two or
more cultural groups which means they need to form and figure out their different
identities in these contexts. While learners are forming a new identity, the new one
will not erase the old one as they coexist with each other. People do not live in only
one and a fixed context, so does their identity (Sole, 2007, p. 204). Under different
contexts, people show different identities as well. Language is viewed as the tool to
project people’s identity to other people. Therefore, when language learners are
learning a language, they are in the process of forming their identities with the
interlocutors and projecting their identities to the interlocutors as well. For language
learners, they are in the process of learning the language which would be totally
different from their own mother tongues as they also adopt their past experience to
interpret the different contexts they meet when using the learned language. They are
learning the linguistics contexts and also trying to figure out what the contexts they
could use some certain discourses. With different proficiency and understanding of
the target language culture, they will face diverse difficulties in communicating with
people from the target cultures.
The context
Taiwan is categorized as the Expanding Circle with Japan, Korea and so forth in
Kachru’s (1992) definition of the three concentric circles which are the Inner Circle,
the Outer Circle and the Expanding Circle. The reason for this categorization is
because that the language is viewed as one subject which is only for tests while
Taiwanese learners start to know the language. The situation for Expanding Circle is
that people living in this circle perceive the language as a foreign language and a tool
for international communication (Kachru, 1992). As being viewed as a foreign
language instead of second language, the linguistics distance must be significant for
Taiwanese learners. Moreover, Taiwanese culture is considered to be significantly
different from American culture. The learners who are studying in America do not
only need to learn the language but also the contexts in using the language
meaningfully. As for the linguistics and sociocultural differences existing between
these two countries, the Taiwanese learners need to face the difficulties and try to
position themselves in this foreign language country.
Research questions
1. How do they position their identities while studying and living in a foreign
language culture?
2. Do they have any difficulty in positioning their different identities in this foreign
language country?
3. What are the difficulties do they have while positioning their identities in this
foreign language culture?
Methodology
This study will draw on the methodological framework from the research done by Ros
i Sole (2007) which is narrative-based approach. As Ros i Sole states that narratives is
one way that demonstrates people’s experience and their relationship of their own
behaviors and the interlocutors in different contexts (2007). Therefore, this study will
adopt narrative-based approach to explore and investigate the participants’ identities
and the way they position themselves in this foreign language culture. There will be 3
Taiwanese graduate students studying in Ohio University who share the same mother
tongues which are Mandarin Chinese and Taiwanese (the Min-dialect of Chinese).
The ages of the participants will range from 23 to 30. The average length of stay in
the States will be more than 1 year. The participants will major in different programs.
The participants need to write down their life situations in different contexts.
Instruments
The autobiography narratives will be the data to be analyzed in the first place. The
participants will be asked to write down their different living experiences with people
who share different languages and cultures in various contexts in Chinese as they will
not be limited by their English proficiency. In-depth interviews will be adopted and
the interview contents will be transcribed by the researcher manually. The interview
will last for half an hour after the writing.
Procedures
The participants will need to write their life experiences in different contexts in the
first place. After the writing, the participants will be informed and schedule a day to
be interviewed. The interview questions will be based on the writing the participants
will have finished before-hands. The researcher will ask them about their difficulties
in positioning their different identities while interacting with different people. The
interview content will be in Chinese as that will make the participants more
comfortable and will not be limited by their language proficiency. The interview
contents will be transcribed manually by the researcher and will be translated into
English.
Analysis
The researcher will label pseudo name for the participants to keep their confidentiality.
The data of this study will be qualitative one. They are the writing which will be
written down by the participants about their living experiences before-hands and the
interviews data which will be transcribed and translated into English manually by the
researcher. The transcription will be generally categorized into cultural identity,
social identity, and learner identity. However, the contents of the transcription will be
categorized into more themes depending on the participants’ different living
experiences and different situations.
Limitations
There are two limitations of this study. First, the participants will be asked for writing
their autobiography about their living experience for one certain time only and be
interviewed for one time which will last for half an hour only. A longitudinal study
will be able to have a clearer picture of the changes of the participants better as it lasts
for a long period of time. Second, the number of the Taiwanese students is limited.
There are less than 30 Taiwanese students studying in Ohio University. Moreover,
only 15 of them are graduate students. This study may not be able to represent
Taiwanese students studying abroad.
Expected findings
This study expects to find out how the Taiwanese graduate students position their
different identities in a foreign language culture as English was learned as a foreign
language before coming to this country and the difficulties they have in positioning
themselves as well. As it was learned as a foreign language, the linguistics distance in
the participants’ mind might be great. Moreover, American culture is significantly
different from Taiwanese culture. Studying and living in the States may cause some
difficulties in situating themselves in the cultures.
Conclusion
This study seeks to find how the Taiwanese graduate students position their difference
identities in this foreign language country and their difficulties in positioning
themselves as well. This study adopts the narrative-based approach which shows the
participants’ living experience in this foreign language country and in-depth
interviews after the narratives which will be done by the participants. The result will
show their ways of positioning their identities which might be limited by the cultural
differences, their English proficiency and their length of stay in America. The
participants would believe if they live longer then they would be able to understand
the target culture more then they would feel more comfortable in positioning their
different identities in this foreign language country.
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