"It's a Modified Version of Myself": An Immigrant Student's Narrative of Language Learning

• In Event: 15.061 - MTCC Roundtable Session Two
  In Roundtable Session: 15.061-10 - Language Socialization and Belonging: Fostering Pedagogies That Support Multilingual Learners and Speakers of Nondominant Varieties

Abstract

Informed by positioning theory and multimembership, this study examined an immigrant student's (Yulia’s) language learning experience. A narrative analysis of Yulia’s life stories reveals that her perceived identities as an intelligent, different, and special multilingual speaker have isolated her from her communities. Shuttling between and among languages, cultures, and groups, Yulia found that her true self was invisible in any culture in which she found herself. Findings indicate that this immigrant’s self-formation in action at times matches and mismatches her self-conceptions based on her learning trajectories and unique situations. Thus, the researchers argue that linguistic competence does not necessarily facilitate community membership establishment. This phenomenon can be attributed to the deep-rooted exclusion and marginalization by the mainstream culture.

Authors

• Min Wang, St.John's University

• Daniel Ness, St. John's University