"Why Should I Not Speak [Chinese] in Public in America?" Speech Acts, Positioning, and Agency

• In Event: Examining Difference Through Narrative

Abstract

This proposal investigated resources for English language learners’ social positioning and agency through an analysis of positioning and agency of a Chinese student, Joey, at an English language institute at a US public university. Interview data indicated that Joey’s symbolic and material artifacts as well as his social encounters with native speakers functioned as important resources for his self-positioning and agency. The researcher, therefore, reconsiders Davies’ (1990) argument of possible resources for agency and suggests that cultural and historical elements should be considered as other resources in addition to discursive, social, and personal resources. Positioning, then, does not only take place in and through verbal and non-verbal language; it is also manifested through cultural artifacts.

Author

• Min Wang, Wenzhou-Kean University