1887
  1. Home
  2. e-Journals
  3. Pragmatics and Society
  4. Volume 11, Issue 1
  5. Article
Volume 11, Issue 1
  • ISSN 1878-9714
  • E-ISSN: 1878-9722
USD
Buy:$35.00 + Taxes

Abstract

Abstract

This paper will document an English-learning influenced transformation of self, as a shared experience amongst a community of its Chinese users. The study examines 84 English narratives on the English language learning (ELL) experience of undergraduate L1 speakers of Mandarin at three proficiency levels: Year II, Year III and Year IV. Identity, expressed in learners’ positioning on ELL, is assessed in its explicit, propositionally represented form, and its linguistically marked implicit counterpart. Implicit positioning is examined at the macro-discoursal level by acknowledging the choice of the narrative configuration, and therefore the perceptual mould, adopted for the capture of the ELL experience. It is also assessed at the micro-discoursal, sentential level in (1) the registered sense of agency over the learning, (2) the assumed responsibility for statements about the learning, and (3) the character of definition given to the learning. The cross-proficiency level assessment will show that overt and implicit positioning are in consonance in capturing a gradual adoption of an English-mediated access to the world, with resulting altered affiliations, affinities, and sense of being. The study traces the emergence of a Chinese community uniquely defined, in its own perception, by the use of the English language; hence its significance to the World Englishes enterprise.

© John Benjamins Publishing Company
Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1075/ps.17023.tic
2020-03-30
2024-10-11

  • From This Site

    /content/journals/10.1075/ps.17023.tic
    dcterms_title,dcterms_subject,pub_keyword
    -contentType:Journal -contentType:Contributor -contentType:Concept -contentType:Institution
    10
    5
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Arkoudis, Sophie & Chris Davison
    2008 Chinese students: Perspectives on their social, cognitive, and linguistic investment in English medium interaction. Journal of Asian Pacific Communication18(1): 3–8. 10.1075/japc.18.1.01ark
     https://doi.org/10.1075/japc.18.1.01ark [Google Scholar]
  2. Bakhtin, Mikhail
    1986 Speech genres and other late essays ( V. W. McGee , trans.). Austin: University of Texas Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  3. 1981 The dialogic imagination. ( C. Emerson , and M. Holquist , trans.). Austin: University of Texas Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  4. Bamberg, Michael
    (ed.) 2006 Narrative – State of the art [Special issue]. Narrative Inquiry16: 1–239. 10.1075/ni.16.1.01bam
     https://doi.org/10.1075/ni.16.1.01bam [Google Scholar]
  5. (ed.) 1997 Positioning between structure and performance. In M. Bamberg (ed.), Oral versions of personal experience: three decades of narrative analysis. Special issue of Journal of Narrative and Life History7(1–4): 335–342. 10.1075/jnlh.7.42pos
     https://doi.org/10.1075/jnlh.7.42pos [Google Scholar]
  6. Bamberg, Michael & Molly Andrews
    (eds.) 2004 Considering counter-narratives: Narrating, resisting, making sense. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 10.1075/sin.4
     https://doi.org/10.1075/sin.4 [Google Scholar]
  7. Bolton, Kingsley
    2003 Chinese Englishes: A sociolinguistic history. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  8. Brockmeier, Jens & Donal Carbaugh
    (eds.) 2001 Narrative and identity; Studies in autobiography, self and culture. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins. 10.1075/sin.1
     https://doi.org/10.1075/sin.1 [Google Scholar]
  9. Berger, Peter L. & Thomas Luckmann
    1967 The social construction of reality. Harmondsworth: Penguin.
     [Google Scholar]
  10. Block, David
    2007 The rise of identity in SLA research, post Firth and Wagner (1997). The Modern Language Journal91(5): 863–876. 10.1111/j.1540‑4781.2007.00674.x
     https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.2007.00674.x [Google Scholar]
  11. Chisanga, Teresa and Nkonko M. Kamwangamalu
    1997 Owning the other tongue: The English language in Southern Africa. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development18(2): 89–99. 10.1080/01434639708666305
     https://doi.org/10.1080/01434639708666305 [Google Scholar]
  12. Daiute, Colette & Cynthia Lightfoot
    (eds.) 2004 Narrative analysis: Studying the development of individuals in society. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage. 10.4135/9781412985246
     https://doi.org/10.4135/9781412985246 [Google Scholar]
  13. Davies, Bronwyn & Rom Harré
    1990 Positioning: the discursive construction of selves. Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour20: 43–63. 10.1111/j.1468‑5914.1990.tb00174.x
     https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-5914.1990.tb00174.x [Google Scholar]
  14. De Fina, Anna
    2008 Who tells the story and why? Micro and macro contexts in narrative. In Anna De Fina & Alexandra Georgakopoulou (eds.) Narrative analysis in the shift from text to practices. Special issue of Text and Talk 28(3): 421–42.
     [Google Scholar]
  15. 2000 Orientation in immigrant narratives: the role of ethnicity in the identification of characters. Discourse Studies2(2). 131–57. 10.1177/1461445600002002001
     https://doi.org/10.1177/1461445600002002001 [Google Scholar]
  16. De Fina, Anna & Alexandra Georgakopoulou
    2011 Narrative and identities. In Anna De Fina & Alexandra Georgakopoulou (eds.), Analyzing Narrative: Discourse and Sociolinguistic Perspectives, 155–190. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 10.1017/CBO9781139051255.009
     https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139051255.009 [Google Scholar]
  17. De Fina, Anna , Deborah Schiffrin & Michael Bamberg
    (eds.) 2006 Discourse and identity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 10.1017/CBO9780511584459
     https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511584459 [Google Scholar]
  18. Dörnyei, Zoltan
    2005 The psychology of the language learner: Individual differences in second language acquisition. Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum.
     [Google Scholar]
  19. 2001 Motivational strategies in the language classroom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 10.1017/CBO9780511667343
     https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511667343 [Google Scholar]
  20. Early, Margaret & Bonny Norton
    2012 Language learner stories and imagined identities. Narrative Inquiry22(1): 194–201. 10.1075/ni.22.1.15ear
     https://doi.org/10.1075/ni.22.1.15ear [Google Scholar]
  21. Gao, Xuesong , Cheng Huiman & Peter Kelly
    2008 Supplementing an uncertain investment?: Mainland Chinese students practising English together in Hong Kong. Journal of Asian Pacific Communication18(1): 9–29. 10.1075/japc.18.1.02gao
     https://doi.org/10.1075/japc.18.1.02gao [Google Scholar]
  22. Goffman, Erving
    1981 Footing. In Ervin Goffman (ed.). Forms of talk, 124–59. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  23. Hall, Stuart
    1996 Who needs “identity”?In Stuart Hall & Paul du Gay (eds.), Questions of cultural identity1–17. London: Sage.
     [Google Scholar]
  24. Harré, Rom & Luk Van Langenhove
    (eds.) 1999 Positioning theory. Oxford: Blackwell.
     [Google Scholar]
  25. He, Deyuan & David C. S. Li
    2009 Language attitudes and linguistic features in the ‘China English’ debate. World Englishes28(1): 70–89. 10.1111/j.1467‑971X.2008.01570.x
     https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-971X.2008.01570.x [Google Scholar]
  26. Higgins, Christina
    2003 “Ownership” of English in the outer circle: An alternative to the NS/NNS dichotomy. TESOL Quarterly34(3). 615–44. 10.2307/3588215
     https://doi.org/10.2307/3588215 [Google Scholar]
  27. Holloway, Wendy
    1984 Gender difference and the production of subjectivity. In Julian Henriques , Wendy Holloway , Cathy Urwin , Couze Venn & Valerie Walkerdine (eds), Changing the subject. Psychology, social regulation, and subjectivity, 227–263. London: Methuen.
     [Google Scholar]
  28. Hopper, Paul J.
    1979 Aspect and foregrounding in discourse. In Talmy Givon (ed.), Syntax and Semantics Vol.12. Discourse and Syntax, 159–181. New York: Academic Press. 10.1163/9789004368897_010
     https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004368897_010 [Google Scholar]
  29. 1977 Some observations on the typology of focus and aspect in narrative language. Studies in Language3. 37–64. 10.1075/sl.3.1.03hop
     https://doi.org/10.1075/sl.3.1.03hop [Google Scholar]
  30. Huang, Jing P. & Phil Benson
    2013 Autonomy, agency and identity in foreign and second language education. Chinese Journal of Applied Linguistics36 (1). 7–28. 10.1515/cjal‑2013‑0002
     https://doi.org/10.1515/cjal-2013-0002 [Google Scholar]
  31. Kachru, Braj B.
    1983 The Indianization of English: The English language in India. Delhi: Oxford University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  32. Kanno, Yasuko & Bonny Norton
    (eds.) 2003 Imagined communities and educational possibilities. (Special issue, Journal of Language, Identity, and Education2 (4)). 10.1207/S15327701JLIE0204_1
     https://doi.org/10.1207/S15327701JLIE0204_1 [Google Scholar]
  33. Kramsch, Claire J.
    2013 Afterword. In Bonny Norton (ed.), Identity and language learning: Extending the conversation (2nd ed.), 192–201. Bristol: Multilingual Matters. 10.21832/9781783090563‑010
     https://doi.org/10.21832/9781783090563-010 [Google Scholar]
  34. Kroskrity, Paul V.
    2000 Identity. Journal of Linguistic Anthropology9(1–2). 111–114.
     [Google Scholar]
  35. Labov, William
    1981 Speech actions and reactions in personal narrative. In Deborah Tannen (ed.), Analyzing Discourse: Text and Talk, 219–47. (Georgetown University Round Table). Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  36. Labov, William & Joshua Waletzky
    1967 Narrative analysis: oral versions of personal experience. In J. Helm (ed.), Essays on the Verbal and Visual Arts. (Proceedings of the 1966 Spring Meeting of the American Ethnological Society), 12–44. Seattle: University of Washington Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  37. Lowenberg, Peter H.
    1986 Non-Native Varieties of English: Nativization, Norms, and Implications. Studies in Second Language Acquisition8 (1). 1–18. 10.1017/S0272263100005805
     https://doi.org/10.1017/S0272263100005805 [Google Scholar]
  38. Platt, John , Heidi Weber & Mian Lian Ho
    1984 The new Englishes. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
     [Google Scholar]
  39. Norton, Bonny
    2015 Identity, investment and faces of English internationally. Chinese Journal of Applied Linguistics38 (4). 375–391. 10.1515/cjal‑2015‑0025
     https://doi.org/10.1515/cjal-2015-0025 [Google Scholar]
  40. 2001 Non-participation, imagined communities, and the language classroom. In Michael Breen (ed.), Learner contributions to language learning: New directions in research, 159–171. Harlow: Pearson Education.
     [Google Scholar]
  41. 1997 Language, identity, and the ownership of English. TESOL Quarterly31(3). 409–429. 10.2307/3587831
     https://doi.org/10.2307/3587831 [Google Scholar]
  42. Norton, Bonny . & Yihong Gao
    2008 Identity, investment, and Chinese learners of English. Journal of Asian Pacific Communication18(1). 109–120. 10.1075/japc.18.1.07nor
     https://doi.org/10.1075/japc.18.1.07nor [Google Scholar]
  43. Peirce, Bonny N.
    1995 Social identity, investment, and language learning. TESOL Quarterly2 (9). 9–31. 10.2307/3587803
     https://doi.org/10.2307/3587803 [Google Scholar]
  44. Ribeiro, Branca T.
    2006 Footing, positioning, voice. Are we talking about the same thing?In Anna De Fina , Deborah Schiffrin & Michael Bamberg (eds.), Discourse and identity, 48–82. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 10.1017/CBO9780511584459.004
     https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511584459.004 [Google Scholar]
  45. Tannen, Deborah
    1993 Framing in discourse. New York: Oxford University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  46. 1986 That’s not what I meant!New York: Ballantine.
     [Google Scholar]
  47. Thumboo, Edwin
    (ed.) 2001 The Three Circles of English. Singapore: University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  48. Tickoo, Asha
    2014 On narrative support of an opening end-state statement: A case study. The EFL Journal5(1).65–84.
     [Google Scholar]
  49. 2018 Narrative in support of an end-state statement: Evidencing cross-linguistic influence in learning paths and outcomes. Journal of Applied Linguistics and Professional Practice11(2).177–201. 10.1558/japl.28908
     https://doi.org/10.1558/japl.28908 [Google Scholar]
  50. Vendler, Zeno
    1967 Verbs and times. In Zeno Vendler (ed.), Linguistics in Philosophy, 143–160. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press. 10.7591/9781501743726
     https://doi.org/10.7591/9781501743726 [Google Scholar]
  51. Zimmerman, Don H.
    1998 Identity, context and interaction. In Charles Antaki & Sue Widdicombe (eds.), Identities in talk, 87–106. London: Sage.
     [Google Scholar]
  52. Wei, Li
    2016 New Chinglish and the Post-Multilingualism challenge: Translanguaging ELF in China. Journal of English as a Lingua Franca5 (1). 1–25. 10.1515/jelf‑2016‑0001
     https://doi.org/10.1515/jelf-2016-0001 [Google Scholar]
  53. Widdowson, Henry G.
    1994 The Ownership of English. TESOL Quarterly28 (2). 377–89. 10.2307/3587438
     https://doi.org/10.2307/3587438 [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.1075/ps.17023.tic
Loading
An emergent English-mediated identity and a Chinese variety of WE
Pragmatics and Society 11, 70 (2020); https://doi.org/10.1075/ps.17023.tic
/content/journals/10.1075/ps.17023.tic
/content/journals/10.1075/ps.17023.tic
Loading

Data & Media loading...

  • Article Type: Research Article
Keyword(s): English Language Learning (ELL); identity assessment; L2 pedagogy; Narrrative; positioning; ‘Ownership’ claim

Most Cited

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was successful
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error