![concerned with winning positive judgements of one’s competence and
avoiding negative ones: a performance-oriented student will strive to look
smart, whereas a learning-oriented one will aim to become smarter (Greene &
Miller, 1996; Meece et al., 2006; Seifert, 1995; Seifert & O’Keefe, 2001). In
a performance-oriented framework, one’s peers become one’s rivals, in a
constant struggle to outperform the other in displaying ability or intelli-
gence, so that the other’s failure is celebrated as an opportunity to appear
better yourself; in a learning-oriented environment, however, rather than
being rivals, peers are facilitators of self-worth through cooperation and
mutual enabling of progress (Butler, 1992; Dweck, 1999, 2007a). The link
between goal orientations and student identity has also been acknowledged
through recent calls for the conceptualisation of a third goal – an ‘explor-
atory orientation’ – that places the student’s self in the focus (Kaplan &
Flum, 2010).
Perhaps the most consequential influence that classmates can have on a
teenager’s academic identity under the circumstances is the so-called ‘norm
of low achievement’ or ‘law of generalised mediocrity’, which results in peers
being penalised by the group for their achievement strivings (Ames, 1992;
Covington, 1992; Juvonen & Murdock, 1995; Juvonen, 2000; Seifert &
O’Keefe, 2001). Dweck (1999: 131) offers an expressive description of this
prevalent type of peer pressure:
[Competitiveness] creates a system of winners and losers, where there
are a few winners at the top and a large number of losers under them.
Many groups of adolescents have, understandably, rebelled against this
by creating their own rule system in which working hard and getting
good grades meets with strong disapproval. This is how students have
conspired to undermine a system that designates winners and losers.
Through peer pressure they seek to eliminate the winners. Then, those
who would have been the losers no longer stand apart from the others.
The norm of low effort also means that students’ feelings about their
intelligence are further protected . . . If they don’t try, a poor grade
doesn’t mean they’re not intelligent. (emphasis added)
Such pressure is quite inevitable in a society where self-worth is a factor
of marks and test results (Covington, 1992), leading to self-serving shifts in
one’s attributions of effort and ability. That is, low marks are often explained
through lack of effort, rather than lack of ability, which also leads to effort
withdrawal, so that in case of failure lack of effort can be offered as an expla-
nation by individuals looking to protect their self-worth by maintaining at
least what may look like ability. According to Covington, this is very much
16 Self and Identity in Adolescent Foreign Language Learning](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/25907348-250518152347-e7ff23aa/85/Self-And-Identity-In-Adolescent-Foreign-Language-Learning-Florentina-Taylor-28-320.jpg)
![loss of predictability should be evident in every increase in openness to experi-
ence and existential living’ (p. 325). As individuals approach this optimum of
complete functioning, although dependable and appropriate, their behaviour
becomes more difficult to predict and equally difficult to control.
According to Carl Rogers, such freedom characterises very young children,
whose locus of evaluation is established firmly within, and who learn about
the world through personal experience unmediated by any socially condi-
tioned ‘values’. Incidentally (or perhaps not), we know that this is also the
period of maximum natural inquisitiveness and intrinsic motivation to learn.
As the child grows and starts longing for acceptance in society, the locus of
evaluation for one’s experience is externalised, and the individual undergoes
conflictual encounters between social values and personal organismic reac-
tions. Reaching adulthood, the two tend to become reconciled again, although
quite differently from infancy. For the mature person, experience is no longer
limited to the here and now, as it is for the infant, but the meaning of experi-
ence goes beyond the immediate sensory impact. The adult has learnt the
rules of living in society and evaluates experience through this social lens. In
addition, psychologically mature adults use their organismic intuitions just
like infants, only they are able to do so knowingly: they are aware that some-
times they need to follow a particular route instinctively and only later under-
stand why that was necessary. And, crucially, they have the liberty to do so.
If infants and adults can enjoy the freedom of organismic experience, for
teenagers the most vulnerable point is being themselves. For most students
– Rogers explains – appearing as a whole human being in the classroom would
mean showing indifference, boredom, resentment at perceived unfairness,
occasional excitement, envy towards classmates, suffering because of one’s
family, disappointment or real joy about one’s girlfriend/boyfriend, sharp
curiosity about sex or psychic phenomena and so on. Therefore, both students
and teachers accept the unwritten rule that ‘it is much safer [for the student]
to button his [sic!] lip, preserve his cool, serve his term, cause no ripples, and
get his paper credentials. He is not willing to take the risk of being human in
class’ (p. 43). Furthermore, teachers themselves rarely take the risk of being
human in class, of being ‘unafraid’ of their organismic reactions.
Traditional schooling is thus seen as a masquerade in which both teach-
ers and students hide behind masks that are meant to conceal their true
human feelings – the teacher, in order to preserve the image of formal author-
ity, and the student in order to create a well-calculated impression of interest.
In Rogers’ saddening words (p. 42, my emphasis):
If he wishes to be well thought of as a student, he attends class regularly,
looks only at the instructor, or writes diligently in his notebook. Never
24 Self and Identity in Adolescent Foreign Language Learning](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/25907348-250518152347-e7ff23aa/85/Self-And-Identity-In-Adolescent-Foreign-Language-Learning-Florentina-Taylor-36-320.jpg)
![and little published empirical research seems so far to have explored this line
of thought.
A similar standpoint has been represented in discourse analysis by Riley
(2006). He points out that, although much has been written over the years
about learners’ motivations and needs, very little attention has been paid to
the learners themselves. He explains (p. 296):
Although it is true that applied linguistics literature abounds with refer-
ences to ‘the learner’, almost without exception this expression will be
found to refer to a model or personification of the learning process, and
not to real-life, flesh-and-blood individuals with their own subjective
and social worlds.
Borrowing his approach from Vygotsky (1978) and Mead (1934), he
regards personal identity as the result of an interplay between individual
awareness and social identity, which is constructed in and through discourse.
Riley (2006) analysed a corpus of service-encounter recordings with the aim
of elucidating the high rate of dissatisfaction amongst foreigners engaged in
such encounters in France, as well as the difficulty of Nancy tertiary institu-
tions in communicating with an increasing intake of foreign students. His
results suggested an interactive nature of identity production in pragmatic
discourse, whereby self-expression entails confrontation, negotiation and
reconfiguration of identities in social encounters. Although Riley emphasised
the ‘immediate implications [of his findings] for the foreign language class-
room’ (p. 316), his research was rooted in second-language-acquisition and
language-immersion contexts.
A small qualitative investigation conducted by Syed (2001) also exam-
ined the identity of foreign language learners in their struggle to find their
voice and place in society. Along the course of a semester, Syed interviewed
repeatedly 5 female students aged 21-34 learning Hindi at a large American
university. Two of these were learning Hindi as a foreign language, and three
as a heritage language. He also conducted classroom observations and some
interviews with the participants’ language teacher. Noteworthy among his
findings was the insight that these students’ sense of self was being shaped
by the expectations of their families and social circles, which had played an
important part in their decision to study Hindi. In addition, a significant
component of their learning motivation was their desire to forge a particular
identity: as individuals moving between several cultural worlds, learning the
language helped them define who they were.
Finally, Cotterall and Murray (2009) provided metacognitive strategy
training to 400 Japanese undergraduate learners of English within a
Self and Identity in Foreign Language Learning 35](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/25907348-250518152347-e7ff23aa/85/Self-And-Identity-In-Adolescent-Foreign-Language-Learning-Florentina-Taylor-47-320.jpg)
Self And Identity In Adolescent Foreign Language Learning Florentina Taylor
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- 5. Self and Identity in Adolescent Foreign Language Learning
- 6. SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION Series Editor: Professor David Singleton, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland This series brings together titles dealing with a variety of aspects of language acquisition and processing in situations where a language or languages other than the native language is involved. Second language is thus interpreted in its broadest possible sense. The volumes included in the series all offer in their different ways, on the one hand, exposition and discussion of empirical findings and, on the other, some degree of theoretical reflection. In this latter connection, no particular theoretical stance is privileged in the series; nor is any relevant perspective – sociolinguistic, psycholinguistic, neurolinguistic etc. – deemed out of place. The intended readership of the series includes final-year undergraduates working on second language acquisition projects, postgraduate students involved in second language acquisition research, and researchers and teachers in general whose interests include a second language acquisition component. Full details of all the books in this series and of all our other publications can be found on http://www.multilingual-matters.com, or by writing to Multilingual Matters, St Nicholas House, 31–34 High Street, Bristol BS1 2AW, UK.
- 7. Self and Identity in Adolescent Foreign Language Learning Florentina Taylor MULTILINGUAL MATTERS Bristol • Buffalo • Toronto
- 8. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Taylor, Florentina. Self and Identity in Adolescent Foreign Language Learning/Florentina Taylor. Second Language Acquisition: 70 Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Teenagers—Language. 2. Language arts (Secondary)—Social aspects. 3. English language—Study and teaching (Secondary)—Foreign speakers. 4. Interdisciplinary approach in education. 5. Second language acquisition. 6. Identity (Psychology). 7. Language and education. I. Title. P120.Y68T34 2013 428.0071'2–dc23 2013011924 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue entry for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN-13: 978-1-84769-999-2 (hbk) ISBN-13: 978-1-84769-998-5 (pbk) Multilingual Matters UK: St Nicholas House, 31–34 High Street, Bristol BS1 2AW, UK. USA: UTP, 2250 Military Road, Tonawanda, NY 14150, USA. Canada: UTP, 5201 Dufferin Street, North York, Ontario M3H 5T8, Canada. Copyright © 2013 Florentina Taylor All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced in any form or by any means without permission in writing from the publisher. The policy of Multilingual Matters/Channel View Publications is to use papers that are natural, renewable and recyclable products, made from wood grown in sustainable forests. In the manufacturing process of our books, and to further support our policy, preference is given to printers that have FSC and PEFC Chain of Custody certification. The FSC and/or PEFC logos will appear on those books where full certification has been granted to the printer concerned. Typeset by Techset Composition India (P) Ltd., Bangalore and Chennai, India. Printed and bound in Great Britain by Short Run Press Ltd. To John, who makes the world go round
- 9. v Contents Tables and Figures vii 1 Introduction 1 Research Background 3 Aims and Outline of the Book 6 2 Self and Identity in Adolescence: A Relational Perspective 9 From Self to Identity: Terminological Inroads 9 Main Relational Contexts Shaping Adolescents’ Identity Development 12 From Actual to Possible Selves 17 3 Self and Identity in Foreign Language Learning 26 Language and Identity 26 Self and Identity in Language Learning 27 Research Needed 38 4 A Quadripolar Model of Identity in Adolescent Foreign Language Learning 41 Self System Components 41 Self System Relationships 50 Self System Types 52 Amotivational Self Configurations 58 Limitations 59 5 Participants’ Self Systems in Four Relational Contexts 62 The Submissive Self System 64 The Duplicitous Self System 67
- 10. The Rebellious Self System 73 The Harmonious Self System 77 Self-systems: Preliminary Conclusions 83 6 Self Perceptions and Identity Display in Learning English as a Foreign Language 85 Self and Language Learning Perceptions 85 Identity Display 93 7 Of Students and Teachers 105 To Be or Not to be ‘Yourself’ in the English Class 105 A Reward-centred Ethos 108 From Interested Teachers to Interested Students 111 Internalisation Potential 116 8 Drawing the Line: Evaluation and Implications 121 Model Evaluation 121 Implications for Future Research and Practice 125 Conclusion 127 Appendix A: The L2 Quadripolar Identity Questionnaire 131 Appendix B: The L2 Quadripolar Identity Questionnaire with Item Numbers 138 Appendix C: Questionnaire Scales with Item Numbers 145 Appendix D: Interview guide – Themes Covered, with Examples of Questions and Prompts 147 Appendix E: Self System Graphical Representations and Vignettes 151 Appendix F: Interviewee Profiles 153 Glossary 170 References 172 Subject Index 191 Author Index 193 Country Index 198 vi Self and Identity in Adolescent Foreign Language Learning
- 11. vii Tables and Figures Tables Table 4.1 A quadripolar model of identity 42 Table 6.1 Descriptive statistics for the continuous self variables 86 Table 6.2 Descriptive statistics for other continuous variables in the questionnaire 87 Table 6.3 Gender differences (ANOVA) 89 Table 6.4 Correlation matrix for the main self variables 94 Table A Self systems summary 151 Table B Self system types and interview summaries for all 32 interviewees 154 Figures Figure 4.1 A quadripolar model of identity with four relational contexts 48 Figure 4.2 The submissive self system 53 Figure 4.3 The duplicitous self system 55 Figure 4.4 The rebellious self system 56 Figure 4.5 The harmonious self system 57
- 12. Figure 5.1 Self system percentages by gender and relational context 63 Figure 5.2 Key concepts associated with the submissive self system 65 Figure 5.3 Key concepts associated with the duplicitous self system 67 Figure 5.4 Key concepts associated with the rebellious self system 73 Figure 5.5 Key concepts associated with the harmonious self system 78 Figure 6.1 L2 public/private and public/imposed correlations by gender and relational context 96 Figure 6.2 L2 declared achievement by self system in four relational contexts 102 Figure 6.3 L2 perceptions in the teacher self system (MANOVA) 103 viii Self and Identity in Adolescent Foreign Language Learning
- 13. 1 1 Introduction The research described in this book is rooted in my decade-long interest in what it is that helps students participate genuinely in learning activities that they consider personally relevant, and how these factors could be turned into learning capital in the classroom. Many library shelves have been filled with books about how to motivate students to learn, but we sometimes forget a simple truth that Kohn (1993: 198–199) reminds us of: . . . children do not need to be motivated. From the beginning they are hungry to make sense of their world. Given an environment in which they don’t feel controlled and in which they are encouraged to think about what they are doing (rather than how well they are doing it), students of any age will generally exhibit an abundance of motivation and a healthy appetite for challenge. A control-free environment that nurtures personal growth and an appe- tite for challenge is particularly needed in adolescence – a child’s apprentice- ship to responsible self-determined functioning in society. Given teenagers’ increasing bids for independence and autonomy, contexts that do not support their explorations and personally relevant choices lead to frustration and conflict. The situation is further complicated by the different relational con- texts in which a teenager functions: family, school, peer groups and so on. If interactions with adults are restrictive and unappreciative of one’s individual- ity, there is often a peer group that is happy to accept a youngster on condi- tion that a particular code of conduct is adopted. Depending on the nature of the adopting group, this can be either detrimental or beneficial. Superficially displayed attitudes can end up reshaping one’s identity, but it is a totally different matter if the change is triggered by, for example, a ques- tionable street gang or by a well-intended teacher. The developmental stage when identity processes are at their most com- plex peak – adolescence – is also the period when most foreign language
- 14. learning occurs, given that foreign languages are usually studied in second- ary school. Identity complexities inherent in adolescence therefore overlap with the identity complexities that are inherent in language learning. It is sometimes said that learning a language means learning a new identity. Being an adolescent also means learning a new identity: the identity that one will manifest in one’s community, at the hub of an intricate network of social relationships. Just as a new language is learnt by trial and error, by pronouncing a word wrong until one gets it right or by making a grammatical mistake until it does not feel ‘right’ anymore, in the same way teenagers learn ‘who they are’ by trying out and discarding alternative selves until one of them meets with social approval and gets adopted and sometimes inter- nalised into their own identity. Foreign language classes can be either a curse or a blessing for an adoles- cent’s emerging sense of self. Expressing ourselves in a language different from our own might expose us to ridicule, projecting a vulnerable self in the eyes of peers who may have fun counting our mistakes. However, expressing ourselves in a foreign language can also be an excellent tool for identity exploration, and that is especially relevant during adolescence, when identity exploration is of paramount importance. Genuinely communicative language classes would appear, in this light, as the most suited to identity develop- ment of all academic subjects. As long as students have learnt to express themselves fluently, the teaching has been successful. But for this they need to be able to express themselves, to talk about what worries and what thrills them, as well as about what helps them engage more and learn better. When such communication occurs in the foreign language itself, the teacher gains crucial insights into the learners’ own motivational processes, while the stu- dents gain socio-communicative competence that they will be able to use later, in real-life encounters, besides exploring and consolidating their iden- tity through this very communication. One could almost say that successful foreign language classes are CLIL lessons where the subject matter is the student’s own identity. However, the overlapping complexities inherent in adolescence and for- eign language learning are not the only double-edged challenge in class. The classroom is a space where two socio-relational contexts overlap. Whereas the teacher is just a teacher at all times (except, perhaps, when the class is being observed by a superior member of staff), students are always both students and classmates, having to juggle with often contradictory social expectations: will they be (or pretend to be) hardworking and please the teacher, or will they be (or pretend to be) sworn enemies of learning and please their work-avoidant peers? The ensuing identity negotiations neces- sary to avoid conflicts are also encountered in adolescents’ personal lives, 2 Self and Identity in Adolescent Foreign Language Learning
- 15. when being in the same place with one’s parents and one’s best friends would often require the diplomatic display of particular context-dependent identi- ties. It is these spiralling ‘complications’ that make foreign language learners’ identity such a rewarding research topic. Starting from such considerations, and having completed a study with Romanian learners of English as a foreign language (Taylor, 2008), which revealed a vast array of manipulative-escapist behaviours that students displayed in class when they were not appreciated personally and their views were not taken into account (see also Taylor, 2013a), an investigation into what helps students feel appreciated in class was a natural continuation for my research interests. Research Background This book reports on a research project that aimed to facilitate a better understanding of the adolescent foreign language learner caught in a web of social relations that may not always be self-actualising, with particular emphasis on the factors that may help learners feel personally appreciated in class and the ways in which these factors could be used to enhance their engagement and achievement. My chosen research context was the Romanian secondary-school system, because it is a context with which I am familiar both as a student and as a teacher, because my interest in this research topic was kindled by my previous study in a very similar research site, and because it is a medium where teaching is still regarded by many as knowledge trans- mission by an authoritative teacher figure, thus promising rewarding insights into differential classroom identity display. In addition, the student’s identity and its relationship to language learning are significantly under-researched areas in this educational context. The combination of strong international influences and developments, on the one hand, and a controversial political atmosphere with changes of government triggering changes in educational policy every four years, on the other hand, has taken Romanian education through a never-ending cycle of reforms and structural changes in recent years (European Commission, 2008a; Mihai, 2003). As far as the teaching of English is concerned, the result may be seen as an example of less-than-healthy glocalisation (Friedman, 2000). Admittedly, monochrome Stalinist textbooks have been replaced by glossy materials featuring age-relevant issues (Andrei, 2006; Popovici & Bolitho, 2003), students watch English language films in class and may be assessed on projects more than on their proficiency in literary translation, regulations stipulating that by the end of upper secondary school productive Introduction 3
- 16. and receptive skills are emphasised in equal measure (European Commission, 2008b). However, it is debatable to what extent these recent developments are truly glocalised in Romanian English language teaching. As Andrei (2006: 774) puts it, ‘there still is a nostalgia for the past certainties, for more stable and more predictable curricula’. Although syllabi are in theory based on a functional-communicative model of learning and teaching (National Curriculum Council, 2007a, 2007b), in practice, however, teaching is still heavily driven by grammar-translation methodology, and the structure of the final examination – which for most pupils still represents the main reason for studying – has long contradicted the theoretical principles stated in the official documents, as emphasised by Mihai (2003). Project work was still an alien concept not long ago (Medgyes, 1997), whereas English classes are often taught in Romanian with only illustrative patterns written in English on the blackboard, and while some teachers still perceive themselves as the source of knowledge in class, many students have adopted an attitude of tolerance towards their tutors and, expending just enough effort to leave the impression that they are involved in classroom tasks, they actually attend to their own – not always educational – agendas (Taylor, 2008, 2009). Paradoxically perhaps, many Romanian adolescents are proficient speak- ers of English. Their intrinsically driven competence, however, is often unre- lated to their school foreign language lessons. They learn the language from the films they watch, from the music they listen to, from the computer applications they use, from online socialising networks where they use English for authentic communication about personally relevant issues (Constantinescu et al., 2002; Istrate & Velea, 2006). In one of the very few investigations that have documented the mechanics of motivation and class- room involvement for Romanian foreign language learners, Taylor (2008) found that since they had started studying English at school, adolescents’ excitement and interest for their language lessons had decreased, although their perceived confidence and declared proficiency had actually increased. Her participants also declared that they skipped about one third of their English classes and, when present, were engaged for about two thirds of the time, admitting to a wide range of activities they resorted to in class while giving the impression they were on task. The qualitative component of the study identified as the main reason for such conduct perceived teacher dis- tance (or alleged arrogance), as well as perceived lack of acknowledgement and appreciation for students as individuals with personal values and interests. Responding to a scarcity of research linking identity and foreign lan- guage learning in general, and in Romania in particular, the project reported in this book aimed to: (a) gain new insights into the identity of Romanian 4 Self and Identity in Adolescent Foreign Language Learning
- 17. adolescent learners of English as a foreign language and its relationships to classroom involvement and declared achievement; and (b) serve as the initial validation of a new theoretical framework, A Quadripolar Model of Identity (see Chapter 4). Having a dual inductive–deductive purpose, the project was governed by a pragmatic research paradigm that called for a parallel mixed- method approach (Creswell, 2008; Teddlie & Tashakkori, 2009). The data collection methods were self-reported structured questionnaires and semi-structured individual interviews, which were combined according to the research strategy of concurrent triangulation and the principle of comple- mentary strengths and non-overlapping weaknesses (Brewer & Hunter, 1993; Johnson & Turner, 2003). Specifically, questionnaires were used in order to seek validation for the new model of identity and to collect cross- sectional trend data, whereas interviews had the purpose of complementing and enriching the questionnaire data with rich qualitative insights. The data collection instruments were a purposefully designed question- naire (see Appendices A, B and C; available to download from http://www. iris-database.org) and interview guide (Appendix D), which were piloted prior to data collection with 82 similar students in a different Romanian county. The concepts measured/explored in these instruments were derived indirectly from my understanding of the background literature and directly from the theoretical framework detailed in Chapter 4. Both data collection instruments used the Romanian language, as it was important that partici- pants’ understanding of the questions, as well as their answers, did not depend on their English language proficiency. The quantitative data were analysed with the IBM SPSS® 19 package and the qualitative data were sub- mitted to thematic content analysis using the NVivo® 9 software. The quali- tative analysis was conducted in the original language, with selected quotations translated into English and used for illustrative purposes in Chapters 5 and 7. My participants were 1045 Romanian learners of English as a foreign language, aged 14–19 (mean 16.47), in five maintained schools of various specialisms. 339 participants were male and 645 female (61 did not report their gender). These completed paper questionnaires during regular class time after written permission was obtained from head teachers. The partici- pating classes were selected so as to ensure a balanced spread of levels and according to the classroom teachers’ availability and willingness to partici- pate. The five schools were selected through geographical cluster sampling from a city in central Romania with an ethnically and economically hetero- geneous population. Participation was completely anonymous and confiden- tial, and the students had the option to refuse to participate (which some did). The teenagers had studied English as a foreign language for periods Introduction 5
- 18. ranging from 1 to 15 years in mixed-ability grouping, with kindergarten and primary school the only periods when foreign languages were optional sub- jects. Depending on their specialism, the number of English classes per week was between 2 and 7. Of the 1045 students who completed the self-reported questionnaire, several dozen volunteered to be interviewed and 32 were selected for an in-depth one-to-one follow-up discussion on the school premises. Aims and Outline of the Book The aim of this book is to raise awareness of concepts and relationships that have not attracted much attention in foreign language learning research, although they may be regarded by many to make intuitive sense. Many adults know, for example, that adolescence is a turbulent period of identity exploration and also a period when many students lose their interest in school while becoming more interested in finding a place for themselves in society. Many adults know that teenagers sometimes pretend to be engaged and interested academically when interacting with adults, while pretending to be disengaged when interacting with peer groups that do not have strong academic values. What processes determine our children to juggle with these identities? What factors determine their desire to become one type of person or another? What factors determine whether or not their intrinsic curiosity and fascination with learning survives the classroom atmosphere and peer pressure? And, crucially, how can we help them learn better and be more fulfilled as fully functioning members of society? This book seeks to answer some of these questions by (a) discussing the previous literature and research exploring the role of identity in adolescents’ development in general, and in foreign language learning in particular, (b) reporting on a study that was inspired by the need for more research into the role of self and identity in adolescent foreign language learning and (c) dis- cussing the findings of this project in relation to other similar studies, com- menting on practical, conceptual and research implications. The book has the following structure: The next chapter provides a literature background to the self, identity and related concepts in social and educational psychology, with an emphasis on developmental processes in adolescence. Four of the main influences on teen- agers’ identity development – parents, friends, teachers and classmates – are discussed briefly before a summary of the literature discussing differences between private/public and actual/possible identity perceptions. The chapter ends with an overview of Carl Rogers’ conceptualisation of ‘fully functioning 6 Self and Identity in Adolescent Foreign Language Learning
- 19. persons’, a notion which is considered to incorporate key elements from all the literature strands reviewed before, and which has influenced the new theoretical model proposed in this book to a great extent. Chapter 3 reviews previous research that has explored foreign language learning from a self or identity perspective. The chapter begins by defining the focus of this book and the research presented in it: the learning of foreign languages in countries where the L2 is not the official language, through lim- ited contact time at school. Whereas identity has been a prolific research topic in the second language acquisition literature documenting the adaptation and integration of immigrants into their host countries, it has only relatively recently come into focus in foreign language learning research. Key studies that have reported on the self and identity in foreign language contexts are discussed, as are various motivational, self-regulatory and relational perspec- tives that may not be regarded to have researched the core concepts of this book but which have, nevertheless, had an important influence on the design of the research project reported later. The chapter ends with five reasons why more research is needed into the role of self and identity in foreign language learning. Chapter 4 proposes a new model of identity, which constituted the theo- retical framework of the study reported later in the book. The model incorpo- rates the social and educational psychology concepts reviewed in Chapter 2, while also drawing on concepts discussed in Chapter 4. The Quadripolar Model of Identity regards identity as an aggregate of internal and external selves, both actual and possible, associated with one individual. The chapter describes the components of the self system, the main relationships that these components are hypothesised to engage in, and the main self system configu- rations that these components may cluster around. The chapter ends by acknowledging some of the limitations of the proposed model. Chapters 5, 6 and 7 discuss key findings of the research project that served as the initial validation of the new identity model for learning English as a foreign language. Chapter 5 draws on the qualitative data, reporting on the insights gained about the main self system configurations with extensive quotations from the interviews. Chapter 6 discusses highlights of the quan- titative findings, supported by qualitative data, which confirm many of the hypotheses described in Chapter 4. It provides evidence that strategic iden- tity display was rife in the selected research context (with some interesting gender differences), that adolescents responded in the predicted manner to the expectations of the social circles they interacted with and that identity display that is not rooted in the participants’ actual identity has serious con- sequences for declared achievement in language learning. Chapter 7 discusses in further detail the role of the teacher in the classroom, at the centre of Introduction 7
- 20. many crucial identity processes that adolescents experience. It shows the complex negotiations that students have to orchestrate when deciding whether or not to reveal what they believe about themselves as individuals in language learning, although most of the time what appears to matter is that they obtain a pass mark by whatever means necessary, without much personal investment. The chapter ends by discussing the participants’ view according to which the main condition for students to be engaged is that teach- ers themselves are engaged, and discussing the reasons why an important internalisation potential appears to go unused in this particular research context. Chapter 8 provides an evaluation of the theoretical framework, discuss- ing some of the hypotheses that were confirmed by this empirical study, as well as several unexpected insights and remaining questions that my project could not answer. Implications for future research comment on the need to test the proposed model and other such approaches through alternative methods, as well as in countries where English is the official L1, and where recent years have seen a decline in Modern Foreign Language study. Implications for the classroom reiterate the need for students – and teachers – to be valued for what they are as individuals. The chapter ends with a brief conclusion summarising the focus of the main study reported in the book and the ways in which this study has contributed to the discussion about the role of iden- tity in foreign language learning. 8 Self and Identity in Adolescent Foreign Language Learning
- 21. 9 2 Self and Identity in Adolescence: A Relational Perspective Although ‘self’ and ‘identity’ are now everyday vocabulary items, it is not easy to define them, in a domain characterised perhaps more than anything by terminological wilderness – a ‘self-zoo’, as it has been called (Tesser et al., 2000) – especially that self and identity have tended to generate parallel strands of literature. In addition, discussing the identity of adolescents engen- ders further complications, as this too has generated many different research approaches. An extra layer of difficulty is added by the influence on adoles- cents’ emergent identity of various relational contexts. (In this book, the phrase ‘relational context’ is used to represent a given social situation where the individual interacts with other persons in a particular social capacity, responding to particular social expectations.) Accordingly, this section will aim to clarify some of the associated terminology (self, identity, self-concept, self-esteem, self-worth) before discussing the main characteristics of adoles- cent identity development and the influence of four main relational contexts: parents, friends, teachers and classmates. From Self to Identity: Terminological Inroads It has been said that no topic is more interesting to people than... people, although what many of us may be supremely interested in is the self. Being human implies the reflective consciousness of having a self, and the nature of the self is the very essence of being human (Lewis, 1990). From the large array of explanations that can be found in the literature, Baumeister’s (1997: 681–682) definition is perhaps one of the most helpful: self is a general term
- 22. which represents ‘the direct feeling each person has of privileged access to his or her own thoughts and feelings and sensations’. In this view, therefore, the self comprises cognitive, affective and physical aspects, being regarded as a collection of thoughts about what the individual can and cannot do – both with their mind and with their body, what is important and what is not, as well as what they like or dislike. However, the literature tends to differentiate the self from people’s knowledge or beliefs about themselves and their relations to other people – these being incorporated in the self-concept (Byrne, 1996; Hattie, 1992; Wylie, 1989). Some authors use the notion of self-esteem to define the evaluation and approval/disapproval of the self-knowledge and self-beliefs that constitute a person’s self-concept (Zeigler-Hill, 2013). Self-esteem is clearly a very popular concept, which is evidenced by the enormous number of volumes available on the market that promise to cure anything from broken relationships to low achievement by increasing self-esteem. However, the notion has attracted serious criticism (Baumeister et al., 2003; Kohn, 1994), particularly for a reason emphasised by the very president of the International Council for Self-Esteem: that ‘efforts limited to making students “feel good” are apt to have little lasting effect because they fail to strengthen the internal sources of self-esteem related to integrity, responsibility, and achievement’ (Reasoner, 1992: 24). Consequently, attempts to boost self-esteem have been considered a superficial approach to improving people’s feelings about themselves with- out actually tackling the roots of those feelings. A preferable notion is that of self-worth, which defines people’s sense of personal value as a function of perceived ability (Covington, 1992; Horberg & Chen, 2010). As one’s self- worth is regarded to depend on ability, boosting self-worth means increasing ability through increased effort, which is considered a far more sustainable approach (Dweck, 1999). Some authors include self-worth in the definition of self-concept, which they regards as ‘a self-description judgement that includes an evaluation of competence and the feelings of self-worth associ- ated with the judgement in question’ (Pajares & Schunk, 2002: 16). Developing from early adolescence, self-concept is the product of social relationships and interactions, reflecting the mores, norms and values of a particular social context (Côté, 2009). Given that people function in many different environments, it follows that multiple self-concept categories develop that correspond to distinct roles, relationships, and social contexts. Authors have considered these multiple categories to be organised as a system of schemata (Markus, 1977), as an associative network (Bower & Gilligan, 1979), as a hierarchy (Marsh & Yeung, 1998), or not to be organ- ised in any particular way (Harter, 2012), some authors believing that self- concept is not a helpful notion in the first place (Baumeister, 1999a). Where 10 Self and Identity in Adolescent Foreign Language Learning
- 23. many authors converge, however, is on the belief that the self has many social facets modelled on the different relational contexts in which indi- viduals engage, these facets being aggregated into the notion of identity (Baumeister, 1997; Harter, 2012). As Vignoles et al. (2011: 2) explain, ‘… identity comprises not only ‘who you think you are’ (individually or col- lectively), but also ‘who you act as being’ in interpersonal and intergroup interactions – and the social recognition or otherwise that these actions receive from other individuals or groups’. This is also the meaning of iden- tity around which this book is constructed: an aggregate of internal and external identity perceptions (or selves, as detailed later). Identity is, therefore, inextricably linked to the social context and inevi- tably shaped by it through the mediation of self perceptions. As Schlenker (1986: 24) explains, People’s ideas about themselves are expressed and tested in social life through their actions. In turn, the outcomes of these ‘tests’ provide a basis for crystallizing, refining, or modifying identity based in part on how believable or defensible these identity images appear to be. In other words, living in society, people develop perceptions of what is and what is not desired in a particular context and display self images accord- ingly. The subsequent social responses determine whether the self image being tested is discarded or internalised. One direct consequence is that, func- tioning in several different contexts, individuals may display several different identity images, which are not always convergent (Jones & Pittman, 1982; Leary, 1995; Schlenker, 2003). These identity images are composed of particu- lar traits that are sometimes called self-defining goals and which represent the interface between identity and behaviour (Gollwitzer & Kirchhof, 1998). For example, somebody who wants to become a pop star knows that being a pop star involves singing or playing an instrument, wearing a particular type of clothes, associating oneself with people who appreciate pop music and so on. As such, the person who is not yet a pop star but wants to become one will start by pursuing the self-defining goals of learning to sing, buying particular clothes and seeking the company of particular people. Authors differentiate between such identity strivings performed for expressive reasons – when the person genuinely wants to acquire that particular identity (Wicklund & Gollwitzer, 1982), and those performed for strategic reasons – when the person is trying to manipulate an audience for a particular purpose (Leary, 1995). The distinction will be discussed in more detail later. Two essential factors in the development of self and identity are choice and control, which play important parts in self-determination theory (Deci Self and Identity in Adolescence: A Relational Perspective 11
- 24. & Ryan, 1985; La Guardia, 2009). This framework postulates the existence of three basic human needs – the need for autonomy, the need for compe- tence and the need for relatedness – stating that the self images a person adopts in society are all in the service of these three basic needs (Ryan & Deci, 2003). Identity-relevant behaviours can be assimilated into the self along a continuum comprising external regulation (compliance with rules), introjected regulation (self-/other approval, guilt, shame), identified regulation (behaviours consistent with personally important goals), integrated regulation (the most autonomous form of intentional, externally regulated behaviour) and intrinsic motivation (e.g. fun, inherent enjoyment). Both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation to act are in contrast to amotivation, a state characterised by alienation and helplessness, resulting from lack of choice and control over one’s actions. Another framework which stresses the importance of control in master- ing one’s environment is self-efficacy theory (Bandura, 1997), although its links with the self and identity are somewhat obliterated by its main focus being placed on cognitive behaviour regulation. Self-efficacy beliefs – or ‘beliefs in one’s capability to organize and execute the courses of action required to manage prospective situations’ (Bandura, 1997: 2) – are task- specific and context-dependent, being thus different from the perceived com- petence conceptualised in other frameworks (for a comprehensive review see, for example, Pajares, 1997). Whereas the definition of self-efficacy is not always clear in the literature, being sometimes confused with self-concept, theorists emphasise that self-efficacy represents individuals’ judgements of how capable they are of performing specific activities, whereas self-concept is a description of one’s perceived self in relation to a social context (Bong & Skaalvik, 2003; Pajares & Schunk, 2001). As mentioned above, the differentiation of self-concepts and the forma- tion of a socially conditioned identity begin in early adolescence, together with the superior cognitive and social development that the person is expe- riencing. It is in this context that different self images emerge in different relational contexts. Main Relational Contexts Shaping Adolescents’ Identity Development Early to middle adolescence (12–15 years) brings with it the differen- tiation of selves to accommodate the diverse relational contexts in which the individual functions, whereas social comparison for the purpose of 12 Self and Identity in Adolescent Foreign Language Learning
- 25. self-evaluation becomes more and more covert (Harter, 2012). Young adolescents begin to compare themselves to their significant others, which results in the self displayed to a group of peers being frequently different from the self displayed to one’s best friends or one’s family. This can be the source of great inner conflicts as teenagers strive to accommodate emerging alternative selves, as well as contradictory pressures from differ- ent social groups, at the same time having to cope with age-specific anxi- ety and fear of rejection (Brinthaupt & Lipka, 2002; Csikszentmihalyi & Larson, 1984). Towards late adolescence, however, individuals learn to accept their limi- tations and contradictions, beginning to understand that, while within- context inconsistencies are to be avoided, they are perfectly normal between contexts. Showing signs of the approaching adulthood, the adolescent now knows that one can be a slightly different person in different contexts with- out having to worry about being inconsistent. Research conducted by Harter and colleagues (Harter et al., 1997; Harter & Monsour, 1992) revealed that self descriptions produced by early adolescents for different relational con- texts overlapped in proportion of 30% while the percentage for late adoles- cents was 10%, showing a rising difference in self-perceptions between diverse social roles and an increased degree of acceptance of this apparent contradiction as a normal characteristic of an adaptable young adult. However, as Harter (2012) emphasises, conflicts between social selves do not disappear completely in adolescence: they are still likely to occur in socialis- ing environments that do not support the integration of particular self attri- butes. Whereas superior cognitive development allows for increasingly abstract thinking, late adolescents consolidate their identity by comparing themselves to future selves of their choice, be they internalised or self gener- ated (Higgins, 1987; Markus & Nurius, 1986). As a result, the relational con- texts that do not allow for such self-actualising manifestations are conducive to intra- and inter-personal conflict. It is both intuitive and supported by a substantive body of literature that the main relational contexts shaping adolescents’ identity are their family, their friends, their classmates and their teachers (Taylor, 2013b forthcom- ing). These four categories exert specific influences on the development of the teenager’s identity and will be discussed below. Parents As the formation of a social persona starts at home, the family is an essential factor in identity development. While the socio-economic and educational background of the family is a strong determinant of the Self and Identity in Adolescence: A Relational Perspective 13
- 26. adolescents’ subsequent path (Bell et al., 1996; Blau, 1999), the essential role in a teenager’s self explorations is played by parenting styles. Research has linked supportive parenting to a smooth transition through the stages of teenage identity development (Soenens & Vansteenkiste, 2005). Authoritarian parents, on the other hand, have been shown to discourage mature identity explorations and engender dependence on their guidance (McClun & Merrell, 1998). For a healthy exploration of identity in adoles- cence, families who adopt a democratic parenting style, allowing for indi- viduality and genuine communication, while expressing ‘tough love’ – a combination of warmth and consistency – were found to be most success- ful (Lexmond & Reeves, 2009). In a developmental stage when adolescents’ bids for autonomy and inde- pendence are ever greater, while the time spent with their peers is increasing to the detriment of the time spent with one’s family (Csikszentmihalyi & Larson, 1984; Harter, 2012), the likelihood of parent–child tension is also on the rise. Thus, a family environment that does not support exploration and the enactment of self relevant goals will lead to frustration and conflict (Holmberg, 1996; Lempers & Clark-Lempers, 1992). However, it has been emphasised that, although teenagers strive to liberate themselves from the parents’ influence, they will always maintain a strong psychological bond to their families (Collins, 1990; Feiring & Taska, 1996; Steinberg, 1990). Friends Whereas parents’ influence is maintained, during adolescence friends become an increasingly important source of self-evaluation and social support (Brown, 1990; Selman & Schultz, 1990). Many adolescents feel that adults cannot understand them (Elkind, 1998), therefore friends of a similar age can provide the emotional support and the mutual understanding necessary in honing teenagers’ socio-integrative skills. Indeed, research has found that the highest level of genuine self-expression is triggered by close friends, usually of the same gender (Harter et al., 1997; Lempers & Clark-Lempers, 1992). Friends can have a consistent influence on educational aspirations and outcomes (Berndt & Keefe, 1996; Phelan et al., 1991), as well as on the ado- lescent’s emerging social identity. Although best friends’ appreciation and support are a source of well-being in adolescence, consequences are not always positive, as youth will sometimes pay undesirable prices in order to gain acceptance to particular groups (Connor, 1994). This includes the dis- play of particular behaviours that identify a teenager as a member of a gang, for example, and which can end up being integrated into one’s self- concept (Ryan & Deci, 2003; Spergel, 1995). 14 Self and Identity in Adolescent Foreign Language Learning
- 27. Teachers Filling a large proportion of the adolescents’ time, the classroom is a micro social setting that leaves its socio-ideological mark on students’ identity through the mediation of teacher beliefs and practices. The teacher’s role in the classroom is crucial in fostering an autonomous cooperative atmosphere in which students learn to develop in synergy, celebrating one another’s suc- cesses and working together to consolidate one another’s weaknesses (Ames, 1992; Boggiano & Katz, 1991; Murdock & Miller, 2003). In addition, given that students tend to perceive the teacher’s responses as assessment of them- selves as persons rather than of their performance, the feedback given in class is also crucial: not only should it be informative rather than controlling, but it should emphasise effort rather than ability or intelligence. Praise for easily achieved successes and unsolicited help, as well as low teacher expectations, can also have debilitating effects on motivation and perceived competence, as pupils regard them as low ability cues (Deci & Ryan, 1985; Dweck, 1999). Many studies have indicated that adolescence is associated with a decline in academic motivation and school interest, as well as a reorientation from academic achievement to peer-related goals, from intrinsic to extrinsic motives and from learning to performance orientations (Fredricks et al., 2004; Skinner et al., 2008; Wigfield & Eccles, 2002). There is also evidence to suggest that teachers’ attitude and behaviour can hinder – or facilitate – the internalisation of academic goals into students’ self-relevant representations (Assor et al., 2005; Reeve et al., 1999). Some studies have also revealed that, from several relational contexts, adolescents repress their self most of all when interacting with their teachers for fear of a negative affective reaction, as well as lack of validation and respect for one’s views (Harter, 1996; Lempers & Clark-Lempers, 1992). Classmates For the developing teenager, classmates serve as potential companions and friends, being important socialisation factors. However, in the absence of a harmonious cooperative environment, they can also represent the source of social comparison in the classroom, with important repercussions for the adolescent’s sense of self (Kindermann et al., 1996). This may be one of the reasons why classmates have been identified as generating the relational con- text in which adolescents feel ‘least real’ (Harter, 1996). In Western society, many schools are competitive environments in which performance orientations are encouraged, to the detriment of learning orientations. A learning orientation (or goal) is a focus on enhancing one’s competence through increased effort, whereas a performance orientation is Self and Identity in Adolescence: A Relational Perspective 15
- 28. concerned with winning positive judgements of one’s competence and avoiding negative ones: a performance-oriented student will strive to look smart, whereas a learning-oriented one will aim to become smarter (Greene & Miller, 1996; Meece et al., 2006; Seifert, 1995; Seifert & O’Keefe, 2001). In a performance-oriented framework, one’s peers become one’s rivals, in a constant struggle to outperform the other in displaying ability or intelli- gence, so that the other’s failure is celebrated as an opportunity to appear better yourself; in a learning-oriented environment, however, rather than being rivals, peers are facilitators of self-worth through cooperation and mutual enabling of progress (Butler, 1992; Dweck, 1999, 2007a). The link between goal orientations and student identity has also been acknowledged through recent calls for the conceptualisation of a third goal – an ‘explor- atory orientation’ – that places the student’s self in the focus (Kaplan & Flum, 2010). Perhaps the most consequential influence that classmates can have on a teenager’s academic identity under the circumstances is the so-called ‘norm of low achievement’ or ‘law of generalised mediocrity’, which results in peers being penalised by the group for their achievement strivings (Ames, 1992; Covington, 1992; Juvonen & Murdock, 1995; Juvonen, 2000; Seifert & O’Keefe, 2001). Dweck (1999: 131) offers an expressive description of this prevalent type of peer pressure: [Competitiveness] creates a system of winners and losers, where there are a few winners at the top and a large number of losers under them. Many groups of adolescents have, understandably, rebelled against this by creating their own rule system in which working hard and getting good grades meets with strong disapproval. This is how students have conspired to undermine a system that designates winners and losers. Through peer pressure they seek to eliminate the winners. Then, those who would have been the losers no longer stand apart from the others. The norm of low effort also means that students’ feelings about their intelligence are further protected . . . If they don’t try, a poor grade doesn’t mean they’re not intelligent. (emphasis added) Such pressure is quite inevitable in a society where self-worth is a factor of marks and test results (Covington, 1992), leading to self-serving shifts in one’s attributions of effort and ability. That is, low marks are often explained through lack of effort, rather than lack of ability, which also leads to effort withdrawal, so that in case of failure lack of effort can be offered as an expla- nation by individuals looking to protect their self-worth by maintaining at least what may look like ability. According to Covington, this is very much 16 Self and Identity in Adolescent Foreign Language Learning
- 29. the case in Western society (as it is in the research context that generated the empirical content of this book). For a learning-oriented student, effort repre- sents one’s chance to become better and better all the time, whereas for a performance-oriented one effort is a sign of low ability, or, as Seifert (2004: 141) puts it, ‘Smart people do not have to try hard and people who try hard are not smart’. In consequence, classmates’ silent bid for mediocre confor- mity can be much stronger than students’ desire to succeed, leaving impor- tant marks on their and their peers’ academic and social identity. However, research findings have indicated that resistance to peer pressure increases in middle to late adolescence, when youth become more interested in their own ideals and desired selves than in a group-imposed identity (Harter, 2012; Steinberg & Monahan, 2007). From Actual to Possible Selves Psychological literature distinguishes between one’s real (or perceived) self and the self images that one displays in any given context, the two being engaged in a dynamic relationship described below. There is also a distinc- tion, on a hypothetical level, between one’s desired selves and other socially conditioned possible selves, which are also bound in a mutually influential relationship. These will be discussed below, beginning with the difference between one’s private and public selves, and the process through which the latter can become integrated into the former, then reviewing the literature on possible selves that is most relevant for adolescent identity and finishing with an overview of Carl Rogers’ notion of ‘fully functioning persons’, which is considered to incorporate key elements of all the literature strands dis- cussed in this chapter. Private versus public Although the degree of dissimilarity will vary in space and time, there are important differences between what we believe we are and what we show other people about ourselves, just as there are differences between what we show (or think we show) other people about ourselves and what they perceive, in turn (Andersen et al., 1998; Hogan & Briggs, 1986). The two facets of identity have been called the private self and the public self, Baumeister’s (1986: v) definition being, once again, illuminating: The public self is the self that is manifested in the presence of others, that is formed when other people attribute traits and qualities to the Self and Identity in Adolescence: A Relational Perspective 17
- 30. individual, and that is communicated to other people in the process of self-presentation. The private self is the way the person understands himself or herself and is the way the person really is.... Private self is an alternative designation for self-concept – one’s knowl- edge and beliefs about oneself crystallised through social interaction and past experience – the former being preferred in contexts where a differentiation is necessary between one’s personal sense of self and its socially displayed counterpart (Baumeister, 1999b; Schlenker, 2003). Whereas the public self is delineated by one’s private self, in the sense that one cannot display an image that is very evidently at odds with one’s conception of oneself, the latter is also shaped by public manifestations, both in response to social conditioning and through the internalisation of some of the self images displayed in public. Self-presentation and internalisation: When the public becomes private Just as we cannot always say what we think (for fear of causing offence, for example), our innermost persona is seldom communicated socially in its entirety, and even William James, as early as 1890, noted that people have as many social selves as the audiences they encounter. In his colourful words, ‘Many a youth who is demure enough before his parents and teachers swears and swaggers like a pirate among his tough young friends’ (James, 1890: 169). People are constantly caught between the desire to look competent – or incompetent, if that better serves them – and the need for social approval (Covington, 1992; Leary, 1995). Consequently, ‘our intended social identi- ties’, Hogan and Briggs (1986: 182) comment, ‘reflect the best compromise we can negotiate’ in our interactions. It is the same mechanism that drives people away from their undesired selves (Markus & Nurius, 1986), as we would normally avoid being seen as maladjusted, immoral, socially undesir- able etc. (Leary, 1995). Far from being a sign of insecurity or vanity – Leary explains – a certain degree of concern with the impressions one makes is essential for successful social interaction. Such disclosure tactics are called self-presentation and, although this can be used manipulatively, it is normal for a person to perform a set of prede- termined behaviours in a particular social context in order to render a par- ticular impression and thus achieve a desired goal (Arkin & Baumgardner, 1986; Jones & Pittman, 1982; Leary, 1995). As Schlenker (2003) empha- sises, perfectly valid information about ourselves needs as much presenta- tion skill as fabricated information in order to have the intended impact. 18 Self and Identity in Adolescent Foreign Language Learning
- 31. The self-presentation ‘set’ consists of an actor, an audience and a social situation, the last two components determining the salience of a particular public self. Given that desirable self-presentations reflect ‘the integration of what people would like to be and think they can be in a given social con- text’ (Schlenker, 2003: 499), a parallel with possible selves emerges (see below). Whereas realistic possible selves are future self-guides based on the affordances in one’s proximal social environment, self-presentations can be said to be the present enactment of one’s desired selves (Baumeister, 1982; Higgins, 1996). It has even been suggested that, for a public self to be acti- vated by a particular audience, the audience does not necessarily have to be present: research has indicated that imagined audiences are just as effective in influencing people’s self-presentations (Doherty et al., 1991). The selves disclosed in public are determined by the private self (or self- concept), which ensures that one’s social images are within one’s realistic capacity. The key mediators here are perceived competence and constant self-monitoring: for example, if they believe they do not have the ability to perform complex mathematical operations, most people will not present themselves in public as mathematics experts. But the dynamic relationship between one’s private and public selves is nowhere better demonstrated than in the evidence that our public selves can actually change our private self. ‘Act the part and it becomes incorporated into the self-concept’, Schlenker (2003: 502) quips. The process is called internalisation or the car- ryover effect (Rhodewalt, 1998). Internalisation is also an important compo- nent of self-determination theory (La Guardia, 2009; Ryan & Deci, 2003), which explains how particular external orientations can be assimilated into one’s self-concept to a lesser or greater extent. The influence of public selves on one’s private self is mediated by the emotional response the individual has to the audience’s reaction. Being mani- festly perceived in the intended way may motivate the individual to reduce discrepancies between the current private self and the desired public self (Leary & Kowalski, 1990). Thus, internalisation is a vehicle of change that plays a crucial role in private identity formation (Baumeister, 1982; Leary, 1995). Acquiring a desired identity (or self) requires the enactment of a par- ticular set of self-relevant images pertaining to that identity (Gollwitzer & Kirchhof, 1998; Pin & Turndorf, 1990). For example, a new university lec- turer projecting an image that is consistent with being a lecturer will help integrate this image into his/her self-concept, solidifying this new identity. Similarly, a rebellious teenager who wants to be seen as ‘one of the gang’ may display particular behaviours that will subsequently get integrated into the private self. Leary (1995) explains that, while enacting particular behaviours that are not yet part of their self-concept, people may learn new things about Self and Identity in Adolescence: A Relational Perspective 19
- 32. themselves; they may even come to understand that they actually are the way they presented themselves. Intriguing studies conducted by Juvonen and colleagues (Juvonen & Murdock, 1993, 1995; Juvonen, 2000) have revealed that strategic self-presen- tation and manipulative attributional shifts are rife in competitive classroom settings. Not only do competitive contingencies encourage high-ability/low- effort attributions, but they also determine students to explain their poor per- formance by different causes depending on their audience. Thus, pupils tend to communicate low-effort attributions to peers and low-ability to teachers: in order to gain the group’s acceptance, when talking to peers they display the image of smart teenagers who do not have to work hard, whereas when talk- ing to teachers they strive to appear hard-working but not very able, as they believe that teachers appreciate effort and empathise with low ability. Although proving that students do act different social roles depending on the context, this is a case when internalisation of public selves can have devastat- ing consequences for students’ academic self, motivation and achievement. Possible selves Together with the differentiation of public selves for interacting with various relational contexts, adolescents begin to consider alternative future routes. When displaying particular public selves in particular social contexts, they try out possible selves that they may or may not internalise later (Dunkel, 2000; Oyserman et al., 2002). As such, these selves are always socially conditioned and contingent, the individual understanding from the social environment whether a particular self is acceptable or unacceptable (Oyserman & Fryberg, 2006; Wurf & Markus, 1991). Desirable and undesirable self images have been shown to mediate long- term motivation by channelling the actions necessary for the achievement of a self-relevant goal. Dunkel et al. (2006) offer a four-step explanation for the pursuit and integration of a possible self into one’s identity: (a) as individuals contemplate change, they generate possible selves; (b) as they decide to pursue change, they try to validate their chosen possible selves; (c) as they pursue some possible selves, they eliminate others; and (d) when possible selves are achieved, they are integrated into the current self-concept. The constant reiteration of the process takes the individual further along a desired path. In order for possible selves to translate into reality, they must be based on the individual’s own propensities. This has two immediate implications: effective possible selves are an expression of perceived personal control and agency (Erikson, 2007; Norman & Aron, 2003) and they must be placed within one’s realistic potential (Dunkel et al., 2006). Accordingly, similar to 20 Self and Identity in Adolescent Foreign Language Learning
- 33. self-presentations, possible selves have been considered to enter a mutually influential relationship to one’s self-concept (Erikson, 2007; Strahan & Wilson, 2006; Wurf & Markus, 1991). As Oyserman and Fryberg (2006) underline, in order for possible selves to be successful activators of behaviour, they need to fulfil two more condi- tions. First, they need to be ‘balanced’ (when a positive self-identifying goal is accompanied by an awareness of the personally relevant consequences of not meeting the goal), and second, the possible selves need to be doubled by a strategy for attaining the desired state. In the absence of an activating strategy, evoking the end goal means simply evoking a mere state, rather than the process of getting there, which may lack motivational power (Oyserman et al., 2004). Similarly, Oettingen and Mayer (2002) differentiate between possible selves and sheer fantasies or passive expectations. As they explain, merely fantasising about the future lacks the motivational force of possible selves, because a possible self is a future state one must strive to achieve (or avoid) by taking active steps, whereas a fantasy is already lived in the present (albeit a hypothetical one), therefore failing to generate action. The role of significant others in generating possible selves is important, although people one has never met (such as celebrities, famous gangsters or fictional characters) can be equally powerful inspirations in selecting a desired self, especially for younger adolescents (Harter, 2012; Oyserman & Fryberg, 2006; Zentner & Renaud, 2007). Similar to triggering the display of divergent public selves, different relational contexts can inspire the adoption of contradictory possible selves. In other words, a particular self can be desired in one context and feared in another, like in the case of a diligent student who works hard in order to attain a particular desired self, only to be labelled a ‘nerd’ and excluded from peer groups for being ‘too keen’. The link to the norm of low achievement and the decline in academic motivation is evident. The latter has been attributed to the fact that being academically successful loses its salience as a possible self as pupils advance through sec- ondary school, when being ‘a good student’ is no longer an appealing goal for many of them (Anderman et al., 1999; Clemens & Seidman, 2002). Nevertheless, the potential of possible selves to enhance school persistence and academic attainment has been revealed repeatedly (Anderman et al., 1999; Leondari et al., 1998; Oyserman et al., 2002). From this perspective, the teacher’s role in the classroom is once again rendered crucial. Just as teachers can make the difference between a competitive or cooperative classroom envi- ronment, so too can they help generate and keep alive the motivational poten- tial of the students’ desired selves (Day et al., 1994; Hock et al., 2006). Complementary to the possible selves model is self-discrepancy theory (Higgins, 1987; Higgins et al., 1994). Postulating the existence of three Self and Identity in Adolescence: A Relational Perspective 21
- 34. ‘domains of the self’ (the actual self, the ideal self and the ought self) and two ‘standpoints on the self’ (own versus significant other), Higgins and his associates maintain that discrepancies between one’s self-concept (actual self) and the relevant self guides (ideal self and ought self) produce discom- fort, which, in turn, activates the behaviour necessary to eliminate the asso- ciated negative emotions by resolving the discrepancy. Sometimes, a person will have several conflicting ought selves, Van Hook and Higgins (1988: 625) maintaining that such discrepancies can induce a ‘chronic double approach-avoidance conflict (feeling muddled, indecisive, distractible, unsure of self or goals, rebellious, confused about identity)’. Being caught between two different expectations, the person will be in a no-win situa- tion: approaching one ought self-guide entails avoiding the second, and approaching the second means avoiding the first – hence, a double approach- avoidance conflict (also, Higgins, 1996, 2006). Similarities with possible selves and self-presentation theories are easily seen, as they both emphasise that when a person has to accommodate contradictory social expectations (whether for the future or for the present), tension and conflict are very likely to emerge. Fully functioning persons Carl Rogers (1902–1987), one of the founders of the humanistic approach to psychology and initiator of person-centred counselling, appears to inte- grate (or anticipate) most of the theories reviewed so far in his writings about the ‘fully functioning person’. Of utmost relevance for education is his book Freedom to Learn, revised, updated and published in its third edition by Jerome Freiberg (Rogers & Freiberg, 1994). In this book, Rogers conceptualises the ‘fully functioning person’ as somebody who has come very close to his/her real self – the optimal result of education that helps people learn how to learn, and of person-centred therapy. This is not a static achievement, but a process through which people become closer and closer to being a ‘total organism’. The key characteristic of this process is moving away from conscious and unconscious façades towards an increasing awareness and acceptance of one’s inward experiences. Describing fully functioning persons, Rogers explains (Rogers & Freiberg, 1994: 65): They find this development exceedingly complex and varied, ranging from wild and crazy feelings to solid, socially approved ones. They move toward accepting all of these experiences as their own; they discover that they are people with an enormous variety of reactions. The more they own and accept their inner reactions – and are unafraid of them – the 22 Self and Identity in Adolescent Foreign Language Learning
- 35. more they can sense the meanings those reactions have. The more all this inner richness belongs to them, the more they can appropriately be their own experiences . . . These people are becoming involved in the wider range of their feelings, attitudes, and potential. They are building a good relationship with what is going on within themselves. They are begin- ning to appreciate and like, rather than hate and mistrust, all their experiences. Thus, they are coming closer to finding and being all of themselves in the moment. The biggest obstacle in becoming a fully functioning person – Rogers maintains – is our social defence, which prevents us from trusting our experiential reactions, so that ‘consciously we are moving in one direction while organismically we are moving in another’ (p. 324). This social defence is mainly represented by the values that the individual introjects from society and which can determine the person to lose touch with his/ her organismic reactions. We accept these values because we want to be loved or accepted, but more often than not these are ‘either not related at all, or not clearly related, to our own process of experiencing’ (p. 283). Rogers argues that this is the very root of the crisis that humanity is going through nowadays: not a loss of values, but a contradiction between one’s socially conditioned values and one’s personal organismic experience. Having relinquished the internal locus of evaluation for our own experi- ence, having adopted the conceptions of others as our own, we have ‘divorced ourselves from ourselves’ (p. 284), bringing about the fundamen- tal estrangement of the modern person from oneself, which results in inse- curity and anxiety. It is quite clear that the fully functioning person needs absolute freedom in order to enjoy this experiential living. Quite opposite to the external choice that we normally associate with the idea of freedom, this is an inner, subjec- tive, existential liberty that allows the individual to realise: ‘I can live myself, here and now, by my own choice’ (p. 304). It is the courage to step into the uncertainty of choosing one’s own self, the acceptance of responsibility for the self one chooses to be, the person’s recognition that he or she is an emerg- ing process, not a static end product. As Rogers shows, the fully functioning person is a self-organising system which, while being constantly interacting with the environment, is not causally determined by it. Thus, the fully func- tioning individual is both autonomous and dependent on the environment for this constant interaction (p. 310). Being open to experience, living existen- tially and trusting one’s organismic reactions, this person is dependable but not specifically predictable. As the psychologist goes on to explain, ‘it is the maladjusted person whose behaviour can be specifically predicted, and some Self and Identity in Adolescence: A Relational Perspective 23
- 36. loss of predictability should be evident in every increase in openness to experi- ence and existential living’ (p. 325). As individuals approach this optimum of complete functioning, although dependable and appropriate, their behaviour becomes more difficult to predict and equally difficult to control. According to Carl Rogers, such freedom characterises very young children, whose locus of evaluation is established firmly within, and who learn about the world through personal experience unmediated by any socially condi- tioned ‘values’. Incidentally (or perhaps not), we know that this is also the period of maximum natural inquisitiveness and intrinsic motivation to learn. As the child grows and starts longing for acceptance in society, the locus of evaluation for one’s experience is externalised, and the individual undergoes conflictual encounters between social values and personal organismic reac- tions. Reaching adulthood, the two tend to become reconciled again, although quite differently from infancy. For the mature person, experience is no longer limited to the here and now, as it is for the infant, but the meaning of experi- ence goes beyond the immediate sensory impact. The adult has learnt the rules of living in society and evaluates experience through this social lens. In addition, psychologically mature adults use their organismic intuitions just like infants, only they are able to do so knowingly: they are aware that some- times they need to follow a particular route instinctively and only later under- stand why that was necessary. And, crucially, they have the liberty to do so. If infants and adults can enjoy the freedom of organismic experience, for teenagers the most vulnerable point is being themselves. For most students – Rogers explains – appearing as a whole human being in the classroom would mean showing indifference, boredom, resentment at perceived unfairness, occasional excitement, envy towards classmates, suffering because of one’s family, disappointment or real joy about one’s girlfriend/boyfriend, sharp curiosity about sex or psychic phenomena and so on. Therefore, both students and teachers accept the unwritten rule that ‘it is much safer [for the student] to button his [sic!] lip, preserve his cool, serve his term, cause no ripples, and get his paper credentials. He is not willing to take the risk of being human in class’ (p. 43). Furthermore, teachers themselves rarely take the risk of being human in class, of being ‘unafraid’ of their organismic reactions. Traditional schooling is thus seen as a masquerade in which both teach- ers and students hide behind masks that are meant to conceal their true human feelings – the teacher, in order to preserve the image of formal author- ity, and the student in order to create a well-calculated impression of interest. In Rogers’ saddening words (p. 42, my emphasis): If he wishes to be well thought of as a student, he attends class regularly, looks only at the instructor, or writes diligently in his notebook. Never 24 Self and Identity in Adolescent Foreign Language Learning
- 37. mind that while looking so intently at the instructor, he is thinking of his weekend date... He sometimes truly wants to learn what the instruc- tor is offering, but even so his attention is contaminated by two ques- tions: ‘What are this teacher’s learnings and biases in this subject so that I can take the same view in my papers?’ and ‘What is she saying that will likely appear on the exam?’ ... It makes no difference what he thinks of the course, his instructor, or his fellow students. He shuts such attitudes carefully within himself because he wants to pass the course, to acquire a good reputation with the faculty, and thus move one step further toward the coveted degree, the union card that will open so many doors for him once he has it. Then he can forget all this and enter real life. In this light, school appears rather like a prison term that students have to serve before they can finally afford the liberty of being themselves. It is easy to see that this is the exact opposite of the fully functioning person, who has the courage – and is allowed to – take responsibility for his or her true feelings. Carl Rogers divides schoolchildren into two categories: tourists (described in the quote above) and citizens. Quite opposed to the former category, ‘citi- zens’ are allowed to be themselves in a classroom where they are ‘stakehold- ers’, are valued and appreciated for what they feel, are encouraged to make responsible choices preparing for their future place as fully functioning adults in society. Working with citizen-students, the teacher becomes a facilitator of change and learning. When the facilitator is truly himself or herself, prizes the students for what they are and shows empathic understanding for them as whole human beings, then ‘feelings – positive, negative, confused – become part of the classroom experience. Learning becomes life and a very vital life at that. Students are on the way, sometimes excitedly, sometimes reluctantly, to becoming learning, changing people’ (p. 161). Such an environment that nurtures opportunities to learn from one’s experiences (and one’s mistakes) is crucial for the self-discipline, commitment and social responsibility that we, as educators, have a duty to facilitate in our students. Rogers’ conceptualisation of ‘fully functioning persons’ incorporates key elements of all the literature areas reviewed so far and has influenced to a great extent the new identity model proposed in Chapter 4 and the empirical study that validated it – reported in Chapters 5–7. Before that, however, the next chapter discusses the application of concepts like self and identity to language learning research, identifying several areas where more research is needed. Self and Identity in Adolescence: A Relational Perspective 25
- 38. 26 3 Self and Identity in Foreign Language Learning Having discussed a number of educational and social psychology theories that helped inform the empirical investigation reported later, the discussion will now turn to the application of self and identity to foreign language learning literature. As explained below, the discussion will not include research into second language acquisition and will only focus on key research perspectives that can help illuminate the learning of foreign languages in adolescence. Language and Identity The inextricable link between language and identity has long been acknowledged by psychologists, sociologists, anthropologists and philoso- phers alike. From language as the substance of the mind and the very core of the social self (Mead, 1934), to the dialogic appropriation of pre-existing linguistic codes for self-expression (Bakhtin, 1981), to language as cultural capital and personal power (Bourdieu, 1991), as the only means of expressing the me/other divide (Melucci, 1996) or as a symbolic elaboration of the self (Elliott, 2001), to verbal communication as a key to making sense of the world and allowing others to make sense of us (Durkin, 2004; Harter, 1999; Woodward, 2002), the link between linguistic expression and the self has been recognised consistently. As the multiple roles that the self plays in society are mainly manifested through language, there is little wonder that over the last two decades stud- ies in language acquisition have shown an increasing interest in the learners’ identity. Goldstein (1995, 1997), Heller (1987), McKay and Wong (1996), McNamara (1987), Miller (2003), Norton (1997, 2000), Pavlenko and Blackledge (2004), Pavlenko and Lantolf (2000), Ricento (2005), Rubenfeld et al.(2006) and Toohey (2000) are only some of the authors who have
- 39. researched and conceptualised the relationship between language acquisition and identity, regarding the language learner in interaction with the language- learning context. Whether researching young learners (Heller, 1987; McKay & Wong, 1996; Miller, 2003; Toohey, 2000) or adult learners (Goldstein, 1997; Norton, 2000; Pavlenko & Lantolf, 2000), what these authors have in common is their focus on second language acquisition, that is, the acquisi- tion of an additional language (L2) after one’s mother tongue, in a context where the L2 is spoken officially. This is the case of immigrants learning the language of their host community while striving to become functional mem- bers of that particular community (Bussmann et al., 1998). Most of the above authors’ research has been conducted in the United States, Canada and Australia, with immigrants of various nationalities. Learning a new language has been equated with learning a new identity (Kellman, 2003; Lightbown & Spada, 1999; Pavlenko & Lantolf, 2000), and the ensuing psychological conflicts have been well documented by the above-mentioned and many other second language acquisition researchers. Immigrants may struggle to negotiate a new identity while acquiring the new linguistic code, but they do usually benefit from rich cultural and lin- guistic input in their host communities, which helps smooth the process. However, the situation is very different in foreign language learning: in countries where the L2 is not an official language but is generally studied at school, through limited contact time and poor opportunities for real-life practice – for example, learning French in England, Spanish in Germany, or English in Romania (Bussmann et al., 1998; Gebhard, 2006). While foreign language learners can be reasonably expected to experience similar identity processes to learners of a second language in their host country, research linking identity or the self and foreign language learning is much scarcer. This chapter will discuss previous studies that have either taken a self/ identity approach in the study of foreign language learning or can be seen as relevant to the focus of this book through their tangential approach. The discussion will begin with previous work on self concept, self-efficacy, self- determination and self-esteem. Motivational and self-regulatory perspectives will then be discussed, before ending with an overview of relational approaches to the study of foreign language learning. Self and Identity in Language Learning Still a relatively new topic in foreign language learning research, the self and identity have generated rather sporadic empirical work. Not all the literature that uses ‘self’ terminology is related to the self or identity, as Self and Identity in Foreign Language Learning 27
- 40. some perspectives use the term to emphasise autonomy or independence (e.g. self-access), rather than an individual perspective of the social world. This brief overview discusses key contributions that are relevant to the focus of this book and its empirical content, and concentrates mainly on adolescent learners. Adult language learning studies are mentioned where they are otherwise directly relevant to the focus of this book. Self-concept Distilling self-perceptions formed through interactions and evaluations within one’s social context, where communication with one’s social group is mainly carried out via language, self-concept appears particularly useful in foreign language learning. Marsh and colleagues (Marsh et al., 2005; e.g. Marsh, 1990a, 1992) include it in their multidimensional and hierarchical model, according to which the overall self-concept is divided into academic and non- academic components, with the academic component being split further into a math academic self-concept and a verbal academic-self concept. Along with other subject-specific components, the latter also includes a foreign-language academic self-concept. The causal relation between these sub-components and achievement in the respective academic areas is believed to be reciprocal (i.e. high perceived competence leads to higher achievement and higher achieve- ment increases perceived competence). Specific academic self-concepts have been found to correlate substantially with academic achievement, but not with non-academic components nor with a general overarching self-concept, which has cast doubts over the usefulness of a general measure – be it called overall self-concept or self-esteem (e.g. Marsh, 1990a; Marsh et al., 1988; Marsh & O’Mara, 2008). However, it must be noted that other authors (e.g. Baumeister, 1997; Coopersmith, 1967) consider self-esteem the evaluative dimension of the self-concept, rather than an overarching aggregate of self-concepts. An important contribution to understanding self-concept in foreign lan- guage learning is that of Mercer (2012), who borrowed the terminology used by Marsh and colleagues in large trans-national cohort studies and applied it to a qualitative exploration of foreign language learners at an Austrian university. Drawing on longitudinal case studies, language learner histories, self-descriptive narratives and in-depth interviews, she made the case for a fluid and ever-changing nature of language learner’s self-concept. As this is presented as being influenced by myriad inter-related factors, lan- guage learners should be regarded as ‘holistic individuals living complex situated lives’, the author believes (Mercer, 2011: 10). This approach is very welcome in that it places the language learner in the social context, Mercer’s findings showing that her participants resort to social comparison 28 Self and Identity in Adolescent Foreign Language Learning
- 41. in order to better understand who they are. This is perhaps surprising, given that her respondents are university students and, by that age, their self- image should be crystallised, self-centred and independent (Harter, 2012), but the finding emphasises the crucial lifelong role that social relational contexts have on our identity development (see also Mercer, 2012). The so-called Marsh/Shalveson hierarchical model of self-concept was also applied to language learning by Lau et al. (1999), although their participants were learners of English as a second – not foreign – language in Hong Kong. Taking the hierarchical organisation even further than Marsh and colleagues, they split the English self-concept into four skill-specific parts: listening, speaking, reading and writing self-concepts. Alhough they did find four different factors, particu- lar research design ambiguities have raised questions regarding the validity of such a focused approach for academic self-concept research. Specifically, as Bong and Skaalvik (2003) explain, Lau et al.’s (1999) task-oriented approach to perceived confidence would be more suitable for self-efficacy than self-concept research (see Bong & Skaalvik, 2003, for an extensive discussion of differences between academic self-efficacy and academic self-concept). Essentially, self- efficacy is concerned with beliefs of competence with regards to performing a particular task, whereas self-concept is ‘a self-description judgement that includes an evaluation of competence and the feelings of self-worth associated with the judgement in question’ (Pajares & Schunk, 2002: 16). That is, self- efficacy is much more focused and task-specific than self-concept. Self-efficacy Although self-efficacy is related more to regulation and perceived compe- tence than identity, it is nevertheless a useful tool when exploring the self, given that one’s competency beliefs influence one’s approach or avoidance of goals and tasks (Bandura, 1997), which indirectly shapes the type of person the individual will ultimately become. Working within this framework, Mills et al. (2007) found that higher-education American students enrolled in French courses were more likely to experience success in their French learning if they perceived themselves as effective metacognitive strategy users and had generally strong self-efficacy beliefs. Graham (2007) also found that, after a strategy-training project involving English learners of French, students’ self- efficacy did improve, especially after detailed feedback, although much less than expected. Bong (2001) revealed that the self-efficacy perceptions of 424 Korean middle- and high-school students were moderately correlated across core academic subjects including English, and Bong (2005) concluded that the goal orientation and self-efficacy of Korean high-school girls in core academic subjects fluctuated significantly across the academic year, culminating in Self and Identity in Foreign Language Learning 29
- 42. high performance orientation and low self-efficacy around examinations. Finally, studying American adults’ motivation to learn foreign languages, Ehrman (1996) showed that self-efficacy was negatively correlated with lan- guage learning anxiety and positively with assessed language performance. Self-determination Another theory that is indirectly related to identity and has been applied to foreign language learning is self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985, 2002), introduced briefly in Chapter 2. Within the framework, Comănaru and Noels (2009) surveyed 145 university students of Chinese in Canada, the sample including Chinese native speakers, English native speak- ers of Chinese origin and English native speakers of non-Chinese origin. Assessing the respondents’ motivational orientations, psychological needs (autonomy, competence and relatedness), learning engagement, community engagement and reasons for learning Chinese, the authors found that heri- tage learners (i.e. those whose families comprised native speakers of Chinese) considered the language a more important part of who they were than non- heritage learners, at the same time feeling more pressure to learn Chinese than the non-heritage group. Similarly, Noels (2005) questioned 99 univer- sity students enrolled in German courses at a Canadian university, some of whom studied German as a heritage language and some as a non-heritage language. Both types of learners endorsed all motivational orientations to a comparable degree, but heritage learners of German were more motivated by reasons related to their self-concept, indicating that heritage language learn- ers were more integratively oriented (more motivated to interact with the German speaking community) than non-heritage language learners. In her mixed-method investigation of 376 adolescents studying English as a foreign language in three Romanian secondary schools, Taylor (2008) also found that self-determination was positively correlated with involve- ment in class and learning orientations, the teacher’s attitude and expecta- tions playing a crucial role in determining the students’ involvement or avoidance. Other studies found strong relationships between self-determined forms of behaviour and language learning motivation and performance (e.g. Goldberg & Noels, 2006; Noels et al., 2000, 2006). Self-esteem Another identity-related concept that has been applied to foreign language learning in an attempt to explicate learner identity is self-esteem, which – as seen in Chapter 2 – is concerned in some frameworks with the evaluative 30 Self and Identity in Adolescent Foreign Language Learning
- 43. aspect of the self-concept. Rubio (2007) dedicates an entire volume to self-esteem in foreign language learning – a focus which, the editor declares, originates in the potential benefits of self-esteem in the classroom and the total lack of publications covering the theory, research and classroom applications of self- esteem. While this may be accurate, of the 11 chapters included in the volume, only one reports on primary research: de Andrés (2007). The chapter refers to an intervention programme which the author piloted in 1996 following small- scale action research undertaken in 1993. Her participants were 31 children aged 6–8 studying English as a foreign language at a private school in Argentina. Their responses to a closed-item questionnaire were corroborated with work samples, classroom observations and projective tests, as well as with teachers’ and parents’ opinions. The objectives of the intervention pro- gramme were: (1) to develop children’s understanding of themselves; (2) to develop understanding of others; and (3) to communicate more effectively. One of the three sub-sections of the third objective was ‘to improve English language skills’. This is the only reference to foreign language learning in the entire project, which consisted of games, story-telling, singing and arts & crafts activities understood to have been conducted in English. Based on answers to questions such as ‘Did you like the project?’ or ‘Did the project respond to your child’s needs and interest?’, it was concluded that ‘self-esteem work can be a vehicle for improving language acquisition’ (p. 52) – a conclu- sion that might be considered rather arbitrary in the light of the evidence reported. In addition, although de Andrés started her chapter by reviewing the socio-psychological literature on the self (with reference to William James, Charles Cooley, Carl Rogers, Abraham Maslow and many others), there is little indication of how the theories reviewed informed the reported project. The remaining ten chapters of Rubio’s (2007) edited volume follow a simi- lar pattern: a review of the general literature on self-esteem and associated constructs, complemented by the authors’ assumptions or inferences about the applicability of the concept in the foreign language class. Self-esteem seems to be generally used in free variation with concepts such as identity, self-concept, self-confidence, self-worth, self-efficacy – all scarcely referenced and loosely (if at all) defined. Leaving such details aside, and ignoring the controversy that surrounds the concept itself in the literature (e.g. Baumeister et al., 2003; Kohn, 1994; Marsh & O’Mara, 2008), there seems to be little empirical evidence regarding the usefulness of the concept in language learning and teaching. Motivational self systems A contribution that has generated considerable discussion and numerous follow-up studies is Dörnyei’s (2005, 2009) L2 Motivational Self System, which Self and Identity in Foreign Language Learning 31
- 44. is built around the ideal/ought self dichotomy (Higgins, 2006) reviewed briefly in Chapter 2. The model has three components: the ideal L2 self, the ought-to L2 self and the L2 learning experience. The strongest component of the model is the ideal L2 self, which the author characterises as ‘a powerful moti- vator to learn the L2 because of the desire to reduce the discrepancy between our actual and ideal selves’ (Dörnyei, 2009: 29). However, the model does not include an actual self and it is not clear how the ideal self can be a powerful motivator to reduce the discrepancy between one’s actual and ideal selves when no attention is given to the actual self. The model also dismisses much of the influence of the ought-to self on the individual’s motivation and self development. In Dörnyei’s view (2009: 32), ‘because the source of the second component of the system, the Ought-to L2 Self, is external to the learner (. . .), this future self-guide does not lend itself to obvious motivational practices’. This is contrary both to a consider- able body of literature showing that socially induced possible selves can enhance school persistence and academic achievement (see Chapter 2), and to the experience of all of us who have ever done anything because we felt we should, rather than because we really wanted to. As such, the core value of the L2 Motivational Self System stands in reinforcing the motivational potential of the ideal self confirmed repeatedly in the literature, without, however, shedding any light on the language learner’s identity or self. The contribution is also important in that it is one of the first and few comprehensive models of the self system in foreign language learning, although the instruments used to validate it were not designed specifically for this purpose. As Dörnyei explains (Dörnyei et al., 2006: 91–94; e.g. 2009: 26–27), the L2 Motivational Self System is a recent reinterpretation of his Hungarian survey data collected in 1993, 1999 and 2004 with a questionnaire heavily influenced by Gardner’s (1985) Attitude/Motivation Test Battery (built around the concept of integrative- ness in second language acquisition contexts). The instrument used for col- lecting these data contained variables addressing the L2 learners’ attitudes towards their host community, which made sense in Gardner’s Canadian context, from whom many scales were borrowed, but not so much in the Hungarian foreign-language context. Scales such as integrativeness, instru- mentality, attitudes towards the L2-speaking community, attitudes towards the L2, parental encouragement, L2 class anxiety and motivational intensity (including motivated learning behaviours and learning effort) have travelled on, in various combinations, from Gardner (1985) to Dörnyei et al. (2006), to Kormos and Csizér (2008), Csizér and Kormos (2009), Ryan (2009), Taguchi et al. (2009), Henry (2009), Busse and Williams (2010) and so on. Although the benefits of using (entirely or partially) already validated and 32 Self and Identity in Adolescent Foreign Language Learning
- 45. established data-collection instruments are unquestionable, it is high time foreign language learning research moved beyond an instrument designed more than 25 years ago for a very different population, with different con- textual effects and a different set of aims and research questions. (For a more detailed critical review of the L2 Motivational Self System and several empirical studies that have used this framework, see Taylor, 2010.) The main limitation of the L2 Motivational Self System – ignoring the L2 learner’s present or actual self – was addressed by Xu (2009) in his doc- toral thesis, English Learning Motivational Self System, which he calls ‘a revised version of the L2 Motivational Self System proposed by Dörnyei’. Although itself borrowing items from a Gardner-inspired instrument designed to vali- date Dörnyei’s system (Taguchi et al., 2009) and drawing on the same pos- sible selves and self-discrepancy theories, Xu’s data collection instrument was mainly based on 360 compositions that students wrote for him, describ- ing their potential for learning English (Xu, personal communication). Working with 674 Chinese undergraduates studying English as a foreign lan- guage, he proposed and validated a model consisting of three components: the possible English self, the present English self and the past English self. Through exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, Xu found that the present English self mediated between the past and the future English selves, 33% of the variance in the future self being explained by the present and past ones. With its strong emphasis on the impact that the present English self can have on a student’s future identity and motivation, Xu’s (2009) proposed system addresses an important need in the literature, in what appears to be a soli- tary multidimensional project in identity-focused research on foreign lan- guage learning to date. In doing so, however, he largely overlooks the social influences shaping the students’ present identity and the contextual interac- tions in which they engage. Other motivational and self-regulatory perspectives In other relevant literature areas, Busse and Williams (2010) report on the first phase of a longitudinal mixed-method investigation into the motiva- tional trajectories of 94 first-year undergraduate students enrolled on German courses at two British universities. Borrowing items from Gardner et al. (1997), Ryan (2008) and Taguchi et al. (2009), their instrument measured: wish for language proficiency, intrinsic reasons, ideal self, instrumental reasons, inte- grative reasons and ought-to self. For the qualitative component, they used a semi-structured interview schedule based on Ushioda’s (1996a) doctoral exploration. Apart from their findings related to motivation – the main focus of their investigation – the authors also found some support for the ideal self, Self and Identity in Foreign Language Learning 33
- 46. but not the ought-to self, in determining the students’ motivational itinerar- ies, the survey being corroborated by the qualitative content analysis of the interviews. Reminiscent of the literature generated by the L2 Motivational Self System, Busse and William (2010) did not elaborate much on the learners’ present identity, being mainly concerned with the motivational potential of the ideal self. Investigating students’ motivation to learn a foreign language, Williams et al. (2002) conducted a mixed-method study with a total sample of 228 pupils learning French and German in England with the aim to elucidate key motivators and various differential effects. In their study, motivational factors were divided into four broad areas: attitude, identity, agency and external factors. The identity component consisted of perceived success and perceived ability, and rendered fairly positive values, although smaller for boys than for girls, smaller for Year 9 than for Year 7, smaller for low- proficiency learners than for highly proficient ones, and smaller for learn- ing French than for learning German. Again, the self in foreign language learning was not the focus of Williams et al.’s (2002) research, which con- centrated mainly on motivation. In turn, Ushioda (1996b, 1998) reports on a two-phase qualitative study with 20 undergraduate learners of French as a foreign language in Ireland. Her aim was to explore motivational thinking in foreign language learning and its relationship with academic achievement. She found that internal attributions for success and external attributions for failure were related to students’ academic achievement through the mediation of a positive self- concept. However, Ushioda’s specific focus was not the participants’ iden- tity, and, in line with the purpose of her studies, ‘self-concept’ was used in a loosely defined manner. More recently, Ushioda (e.g. 2009) has called for a ‘person-in-context view of motivation’, which would regard the language learner as a real person, rather than a ‘theoretical abstraction’. Such a perspective would entail: a focus on the interaction between this self-reflective intentional agent, and the fluid and complex system of social relations, activities, experi- ences and multiple micro- and macro-contexts in which the person is embedded, moves, and is inherently part of. (p. 220) The author’s words encapsulate an important need in research on foreign language learning identity: a view of the language learner as an active self-reflective agent in interaction with the social context. Ushioda’s ‘person- in-context view of motivation’ is still in need of more solid conceptualisation 34 Self and Identity in Adolescent Foreign Language Learning
- 47. and little published empirical research seems so far to have explored this line of thought. A similar standpoint has been represented in discourse analysis by Riley (2006). He points out that, although much has been written over the years about learners’ motivations and needs, very little attention has been paid to the learners themselves. He explains (p. 296): Although it is true that applied linguistics literature abounds with refer- ences to ‘the learner’, almost without exception this expression will be found to refer to a model or personification of the learning process, and not to real-life, flesh-and-blood individuals with their own subjective and social worlds. Borrowing his approach from Vygotsky (1978) and Mead (1934), he regards personal identity as the result of an interplay between individual awareness and social identity, which is constructed in and through discourse. Riley (2006) analysed a corpus of service-encounter recordings with the aim of elucidating the high rate of dissatisfaction amongst foreigners engaged in such encounters in France, as well as the difficulty of Nancy tertiary institu- tions in communicating with an increasing intake of foreign students. His results suggested an interactive nature of identity production in pragmatic discourse, whereby self-expression entails confrontation, negotiation and reconfiguration of identities in social encounters. Although Riley emphasised the ‘immediate implications [of his findings] for the foreign language class- room’ (p. 316), his research was rooted in second-language-acquisition and language-immersion contexts. A small qualitative investigation conducted by Syed (2001) also exam- ined the identity of foreign language learners in their struggle to find their voice and place in society. Along the course of a semester, Syed interviewed repeatedly 5 female students aged 21-34 learning Hindi at a large American university. Two of these were learning Hindi as a foreign language, and three as a heritage language. He also conducted classroom observations and some interviews with the participants’ language teacher. Noteworthy among his findings was the insight that these students’ sense of self was being shaped by the expectations of their families and social circles, which had played an important part in their decision to study Hindi. In addition, a significant component of their learning motivation was their desire to forge a particular identity: as individuals moving between several cultural worlds, learning the language helped them define who they were. Finally, Cotterall and Murray (2009) provided metacognitive strategy training to 400 Japanese undergraduate learners of English within a Self and Identity in Foreign Language Learning 35
- 48. mixed-method longitudinal study. In the quantitative component of their research, 100 of the participants completed a beliefs questionnaire consist- ing of ten stand-alone items. Principal component analysis performed on the results revealed two factors, which the authors labelled ‘identity’ and ‘metacognition’. Perhaps surprisingly, ‘identity’ included items like: ‘I know what I need to do to learn English’, ‘I can identify my strengths and weaknesses as a student’ and ‘I know which aspects of my English I want to improve’. The authors equate the ‘identity’ factor with a future possible self and discuss it in the light of Markus and Nurius’s (1986) theory, although only one of the five items making up the identity factor refers to the possibility of using English in the future. Whereas the contribution of the study to understanding identity is rather limited, the language learn- ing histories, portfolios, course evaluation, interviews and focus groups used and reported on offer very interesting insights into metacognitive awareness. Relational perspectives Several authors have investigated the influence of relational contexts on students’ attitudes to foreign language learning, in particular the influence of teachers, peers and parents – a relational focus (Taylor, 2013b, forthcom- ing) that is of particular relevance to the study reported later in this book. Williams and Burden (1999) found that the teacher had a significant role in determining the students’ cognitive attributional pattern, many teenagers judging their success by external factors such as teacher approval or marks. The two authors’ qualitative study consisted in interviews with 36 English pupils aged 10–15 learning French as a foreign language, also including some ability ratings by teachers. Williams et al. (2002), mentioned briefly above, reported on a mixed-method investigation of English students’ motivation to learn French and German, consisting of 228 questionnaires and 24 inter- views with pupils aged between 11 and 14 (years 7–9). The teacher was again identified as an important determinant of students’ motivation, followed by parents and the peer group. Although no significant gender differences were found in the perceived influence of significant others, girls were more moti- vated to learn foreign languages than boys, particularly in relation to French. Interestingly, French was considered ‘the language of love and stuff’, while German was equated to ‘the war, Hitler, and all that’ in the interviews, which led to boys preferring German and being teased by their peers if they showed an interest in French. By contrast, Bartram (2006a) identified an anti-German learning culture in his 295 learners of French and German (aged 15–16) at comprehensive 36 Self and Identity in Adolescent Foreign Language Learning
- 49. schools in England, Germany and the Netherlands. His longitudinal qualitative investigation of language-learning peer culture found that teenagers some- times laughed at their classmates who tried to imitate the foreign accent in language classes, which had a detrimental effect on participation levels. As for gender effects, French was again perceived as ‘girly’. In a separate publication, Bartram (2006b) reported a different component of his tri-national PhD study of attitudes to foreign language learning, this time emphasising parental influ- ences. 411 learners of French, German and English (aged 15–16) in England, Germany and the Netherlands took part in his multi-method qualitative study, revealing that parents influenced their children’s attitudes to foreign language learning in a number of ways, including positive and negative personal exam- ples, the communication of educational regrets and perceived values, as well as through their own level of foreign language knowledge. In turn, Kyriacou and Zhu (2008) explored the motivation of Chinese students to learn English as a foreign language and its relationship to the perceived influence of parents, teachers and peers. The responses they received to 610 questionnaires and 64 semi-structured interviews from 17- and 18-year-olds in seven Shanghai secondary schools indicated that English was not considered as important as other academic subjects, while signifi- cant others did not consider it particularly important that students did well in English. Of the three relational contexts analysed, the teacher was per- ceived to be slightly more important than parents and peers. Block (2000, 2007) reports partial results of his doctoral study (Block, 1995) in which he interviewed repeatedly six Spanish students in their thir- ties learning English in a large language school in Barcelona, his main aim being to elucidate their perceptions of learning processes, lessons and teach- ers. Sustained tension was identified both in relation to the English teacher and with the peer group, which called for skilful negotiation by the students in order to maintain the balance of power, to avoid conflict and to ensure that learning took place. But one of the most striking examples of the influence that teachers can have on students’ identity and attitudes to foreign language learning is depicted in Lantolf and Genung’s (2003) case study of Patricia Genung’s failed attempt to learn Chinese during her doctoral programme at a major North-American university. The account shows how she challenged (unsuccessfully) the perceived abusive power of the instructors manifested through explicit drilling, grammar translation and little communicative prac- tice, which finally transformed her from a successful language learner into a ‘successful’ student who managed to obtain the necessary pass marks with little learning progress. While these situations represent adult experiences of foreign language learning, they do serve as important examples of the influ- ence that relational contexts can have on the individual language learner. Self and Identity in Foreign Language Learning 37
- 50. Although this sub-section does not concern itself with identity specifi- cally, it does reveal an important interface between language learning and identity in the main relational contexts discussed earlier. For students who gauge their learning success by the teacher’s appreciation or assessment, lan- guage learning cannot be part of their true selves, and perhaps the same can be said of Kyriacou and Zhu’s (2008) Chinese students, for whom learning English was mainly instrumental and less important than learning other subjects. The conflicting choice between self-relevant goals and socially imposed goals also calls into question the students’ appreciation as individu- als in the respective relational contexts and sheds light on the ensuing iden- tity display that may have little relation to their real selves (for example, Patricia Genung’s public self as a successful student – clearly at odds with her perceived failure to learn the language – or Williams et al.’s (2002) boys who might have liked learning French but had to opt for German in order to avoid peer victimisation). Research Needed This and the previous chapter have offered an overview of several theo- ries and research strands that have facilitated a better understanding of the self and identity in adolescence and foreign language learning, and that have shaped the theoretical framework detailed in the next chapter. We have seen how notions such as self and identity are conceptualised in the literature and what specific factors are considered to influence identity processes in adoles- cence. The effects of four main relational contexts (parents, friends, teachers and classmates) were detailed. In order to clarify context-dependent identity display, concepts like the private and the public selves were reviewed, along with self-relevant and socially conditioned desired selves and internalisation processes through which external behaviours or goals are integrated into one’s self-concept. Carl Rogers’ notion of fully functioning person was also described, which was thought to incorporate elements of most theories pre- sented previously. When reviewing the research on identity in foreign language learning, several research studies were discussed that have taken a self- or identity- related perspective, such as the application of academic self-concept, self- determination and self-esteem to foreign language learning, as well as the inclusion of identity in motivational and self-regulatory models. Comparing the two research areas – identity in adolescence and identity in foreign language learning – several areas become apparent where research on the adolescent self in foreign language learning is needed: 38 Self and Identity in Adolescent Foreign Language Learning
- 51. • Private self. The main under-represented area is clearly a conceptualisation of the language learner’s present self. Mercer’s (2011) empirical work has provided a wealth of qualitative data on adult university students’ lan- guage learning self-concepts. Such an approach is yet to be taken with younger learners, the period of peak identity exploration – adolescence – being still largely overlooked by similar research perspectives. Every teacher entering a classroom encounters 20 or so different universes, each of them – just like the teacher – feeling that all the others revolve around itself. What do we know about these universes? How can we help our adolescent students understand that the subject we teach is ‘good for them’ if we know nothing about ‘them’ as complete individuals, at the core of a complex social network? • Public selves. The intriguing insights provided by Juvonen and her col- leagues (e.g. Juvonen & Murdock, 1993) into the strategic self-presentation that students resort to in the classroom have yet to resonate in foreign language research. Given the added identity complexities that learning a foreign language entails, especially in the context of adolescence – which has its own identity complexities – it is surprising that the public selves that language learners may display in class have not yet been investigated. Differences between the identities they display to their classmates and to their language teacher or parents would also be potentially revealing, as would the degree to which one’s private L2 self influences the L2 identity display. Another promising research path that is still unexplored would be investigating to what extent the teacher can inspire the display of a lan- guage-learning self, which might later be internalised into the learners’ self concepts, making the language and language learning ‘their own’. • Socially imposed selves. As we have seen, the ought-to self (representing duties and obligations imposed by parents, teachers and so on) has been investigated in a limited number of publications, but it was not consid- ered to have any motivational potential, being external to the learner. However, it is very clear that adolescents do many things because they feel they have to although they would not if they had a choice, foreign language learning being in many cases one of them. It is also intuitive that many pupils start studying a language because they have to, and end up liking it and adopting it into their own identity (although the reverse is certainly true as well, in which case it would be worth inves- tigating why an alternative imposed self was stronger than the language learning one). The mechanism of internalising a socially imposed self could also lend itself to insightful research, whether the internalisation is produced through the adoption of particular public selves, or through the integration of an imposed self with one’s own ideal self. Self and Identity in Foreign Language Learning 39
- 52. • Comprehensive models. For the exploration of such elusive concepts and their pluridirectional relationships, a comprehensive model of identity would be needed. Any one such concept, however fascinating, could only describe a splinter of the learner’s sense of self. It is clear that we could never describe or explain somebody’s identity completely, but a multidi- mensional research framework would at least triangulate results and pro- vide deeper levels of interpretation. Only seeking a comprehensive picture of the learners’ identity at the hub of an entire social web can we hope to facilitate their progress towards becoming fully functioning members of society. • New instruments. Finally, as these topics have not been researched in a systematic manner yet, new purposefully designed data collection instru- ments are necessary. Acknowledging the difficulties involved in design- ing and validating new research instruments, there is little point continuing to investigate these complex phenomena with instruments built decades ago for very different purposes, in very different settings. The literature reviewed in these two chapters and this fivefold rationale have shaped the research design of the empirical study reported later, as well as the theoretical framework detailed in the next chapter. 40 Self and Identity in Adolescent Foreign Language Learning
- 53. 41 4 A Quadripolar Model of Identity in Adolescent Foreign Language Learning The previous chapter identified several under-researched areas of the litera- ture on identity in foreign language learning. This chapter, in turn, repre- sents the extended hypothesis and theoretical framework that guided the design of the present research project, which sought validation, confirmation and unanticipated insights for the postulates delineated below. The chapter, which regards identity as an aggregate of the internal and external selves associated with one individual, is structured in three main sections: a presen- tation of the four components of the proposed model of identity; a brief description of the multidirectional relationships in which the four self com- ponents are thought to engage; and a discussion of the main self system types that the self components were hypothesised to form. The chapter ends by acknowledging some limitations of this theoretical framework. Self System Components Stipulating the existence of two self dimensions – possible/actual and inter- nal/external – the proposed model aims to incorporate both the future and the present aspects of the perceived self, as well as its inner and outer facets. Given that present identity is influenced by the emotional crystallisation of past expe- riences, the model may thus offer a tentatively comprehensive framework for understanding the synchronic and diachronic dynamics of identity (Taylor, 2013b; Taylor et al., 2013) and their motivational implications. The two self dimensions – possible//actual and internal//external – result in four components of the self system: the ideal (internal, possible), the private
- 54. (internal, actual), the imposed (external, possible) and the public (external, actual) selves, as shown in Table 4.1. There are two important differences between the internal and the exter- nal dimension: the locus or origin of the respective selves, and their degree of integration. Thus, the ideal and the private self are personal to the individual, whereas the imposed and the public selves are not, but the latter two may be later internalised. The ideal and the private self are the results of internalisa- tion of social values and beliefs combined with personal values and prefer- ences (which, it could be argued, are in turn socially conditioned). We have seen in the previous chapters that individuals sometimes display different public selves in different relational contexts. Accordingly, the exter- nal dimension of this identity model is expected to fluctuate depending on the context with which the individual interacts. There will be, therefore, as many imposed and public selves as the relational contexts in which the person functions. These components of the Quadripolar Model of Identity will be described below, with an emphasis on their relevance for understanding identity in adolescent foreign language learning. Possible selves As already mentioned, this model hypothesises the existence of one ideal self and multiple imposed selves representing desired future states that origi- nate in the individual and outside the individual, respectively. Being internal, the ideal self would tend towards unification, but the imposed selves would be plural because they originate in different contexts and audiences, which exercise different social pressures and have different – often contradictory – social expectations of the individual. Ideal self In the Quadripolar Model of Identity, the ideal self is understood to mean a personal representation of what an individual would like to become in the future, irrespective of other people’s desires and expectations about the individual. Rather than suggesting a restrictive and inaccessible end state, the term ‘ideal’ is taken to represent the best possible combination of attributes that 42 Self and Identity in Adolescent Foreign Language Learning Table 4.1 A quadripolar model of identity Self dimension INTERNAL EXTERNAL POSSIBLE Ideal Imposed ACTUAL Private Public
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