Identity

Norton first constructed the notion of identity of the language learner as a complex social identity that must be understood with reference to larger, and frequently inequitable social structures which are reproduced in day-to-day social interaction (Norton, 1995, p.13). She redefines identity as “how a person understands his or her relationship to the world, how that relationship is structured across time and space, and how the person understands possibilities for the future” (Norton, 2013, p.45). In this concept, the world mainly refers to an individual’s surroundings and the relationship between he/she and others who have connection with him/her. That means identity has a close relationship to one’s social capital. In this regard, the notion of ‘identity’ helps link Bourdieu’s work on the distribution of capital in society and on how social inequalities are reproduced to research on second language learning by focusing on learners’ social identities and their social positioning in terms of the

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foreign language in order to explain their access, successes or failures (see also Moore, 2006), as well as their investment and/or motivation. The notion of identity serves as one of the key concepts in this study because all of the participants have complex identities which are, in a large part, determined by their social class, sometimes are contradictory, and are constantly changing across time and space. A number of researchers who are interested in the concept of identity in second language learning attach considerable attention to how relations of power in classrooms and communities of learners promote or constrain their language learning. As Block (2017) has noted (although discussing language teacher identities, I feel it is also pertinent to learner identity): identities “emerge from social milieu which are part of larger social structures constituting society at large” (p. 34).

Whether a learner speaks or is silent is determined mainly by the extent to which the learner is valued in given classrooms and communities, which can be influenced by the learner’s social status. Norton links notion of empowerment to identity. She states that the central interest to researchers of identity in second language learning is that the very articulation of power, identity, and resistance is expressed in and through language. Language is thus more than a system of signs; it is a social practice in which experiences are organized and identities negotiated (Norton, 2012). Language is formulated “not only as a linguistic system, but as a social practice in which experiences are organized and identities negotiated” (Norton, 2010, p. 351). Or, as Weedon (1987) explains “language is the place where actual and possible forms of social organization and their likely social and political consequences are defined and contested. Yet it is also the place where our sense of ourselves, our subjectivity is conducted.” (p21). This theory constructs a relation between social capital and identity in the field of language learning, that is, the language learner’s social capital offers the main characteristic of or opportunities for his/her identity.

Located in the broader context of second language learning, identity has been

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regarded as a key element in understanding second language learning. Framing language learning as a social process inherently implies that learning a second language will often involve a struggle for participation in a new social environment (Pavlenko & Lantolf, 2000). For the participants in this study, English learning is not simply a process of language learning but is also accompanied by a series of struggles to get access to a higher social class. Recent works on second language learning adopt the understanding of identities as fluid and context-dependent in certain historical and cultural circumstances. These researchers consider identity categories as socially and historically constructed processes determined by relations of power which are determined by one’s social capital to a large extent. These affective descriptors of the notion of identity are usually constructed in inequitable social contexts, as well as variable across time and space, and sometimes they co-exist in contradictory ways within one single individual. In other words, identity is theorized as multiple, changing, and a site of struggle.

Many scholars (Ricento, 2005; Zuengler & Miller, 2006; Swain & Deters, 2007;

Menard-Warwick, 2009) cite Norton’s theorizing of identity (Norton Peirce, 1995;

Norton, 2000) as central in framing contemporary understandings of identity and language learning. Associated with Weedon (1987) and Bourdieu (1991), the central point to Norton’s theories of identity, is that identity is presented as multiple, a site of struggle, and subject to change. Of central interest are the ways in which language learners understand their relationship between their social world, how that relationship is constructed across time and space, and how the learner understands possibilities for the future (Norton, 2000, p.5).

Whenever language learners interact in the second language, this interaction should be seen as a process in which they are engaged in identity construction and negotiation and it is illustrated by the English learning process of the participants in this study.

They have strong desire to learn English well not only to convert English to a kind of

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cultural capital but also re-construct their identities. Since identity is continuously and constantly produced and reproduced, sketched and designed, and often co-constructed by ‘self’ and ‘other’ interactively, researchers interested in understanding this process should strive to demonstrate how identities are (re)produced through language and (other media) and how they come into existence through social interaction (De Fina, Schiffrin & Banberg, 2006 p.22).

However, the process of second language learning is not entirely dependent on structural conditions and social contexts, since sometimes these conditions and contexts are produced by themselves partly. What’s more, it is very likely that language learners who struggle to speak from one identity position are able to reframe their relationship with their interlocutors in a community or classroom.

Simultaneously, they can change their access to second language learning resources, gaining alternative identities. Hence, if learners succeed in getting more powerful identities, their language acquisition would also be enhanced at the same time. It is illustrated by one participant’s named Cherry’ (whose story is manifested in chapter 4). English learning experience. She is regarded as a popular girl because of her English competence and this promotes her English learning in return.