Intersectional Identities of International Scholars of Second Language Studies in the United States and Their Knowledge Construction

• In Event: Ecologies and Identities in Second Language Learning

Abstract

This paper examines how international scholars of second language studies in U.S. universities negotiate and strategize their multiple yet shifting identities for their research. In particular, TESOL or Applied Linguistics are the disciplinary fields where researchers’ identities play a significant role in their own studies because their research often centers on second language learner’s identities in relation to language and culture. Drawing on the interview data and the published or non-published research papers of four international scholars, we conceptualize our findings from the theoretical angles of “intersectionality” of identities and “positionality” pertaining to contexts and power. Some highlights entail changes of research agenda corresponding to shifting identities and utilization of intersectional identities and agency to negotiate their marked ethnic identity.

Authors

• Seonhee Cho, College of Mount Saint Vincent

• Youngjoo Yi, The Ohio State University - Columbus