Shaping your Identity as a Speaker of English: The Struggles of a Beginner Language Learner

In Colombia, political and educational campaigns have promoted English as the language of success and as a fundamental requirement to comply with the demands of a globalized world; nevertheless, little attention has been paid to the individual experiences of Colombians as they learn this language or...

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Autor Principal: Ortiz Medina, Janeth María
Formato: Artículo (Article)
Lenguaje:Inglés (English)
Publicado: Universidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas 2017
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Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/11349/18177
id ir-11349-18177
recordtype dspace
spelling ir-11349-181772019-09-19T21:23:48Z Shaping your Identity as a Speaker of English: The Struggles of a Beginner Language Learner Construir su identidad como hablante de inglés: los retos de un principiante Ortiz Medina, Janeth María identity construction knowledge-power relations language learning positioning aprendizaje de lenguas construcción de identidad posicionamiento relaciones conocimiento-poder In Colombia, political and educational campaigns have promoted English as the language of success and as a fundamental requirement to comply with the demands of a globalized world; nevertheless, little attention has been paid to the individual experiences of Colombians as they learn this language or to what happens to their identities during this process. This paper reports on a study that explored how three young adult learners of English constructed their identities as speakers of English through their positioning in oral tasks in an English class. It focuses on the story of one of the participants: a beginner female English learner. Data collection methods included class video and audio-recordings, interviews, and diaries kept by the participants. Findings indicated that learners’ positioning in spoken interactions not only directly affected their use of English, but also led them to non-linear transformations of their identities as speakers of English. These results pinpoint the need to gain awareness of the centrality of students’ identities in both their learning process and in language teaching practices and the need to observe how positioning operates in the language classroom. En nuestro país, las campañas políticas y educativas han promovido el inglés como la lengua del éxito y como requisito fundamental para cumplir con las exigencias de un mundo globalizado; sin embargo, poca atención se ha puesto a las experiencias particulares de los colombianos cuando aprenden esta lengua o a lo que pasa con sus identidades durante este proceso. Este artículo está basado en un estudio que exploró cómo tres adultos jóvenes, aprendices de inglés, construían sus identidades como hablantes de esa lengua mediante su posicionamiento en actividades orales de clase. El artículo se enfoca en la historia de una de las participantes del estudio: una aprendiz de inglés principiante. Los métodos de recolección de datos incluyeron grabaciones de video y audio de las clases, entrevistas y diarios escritos por los participantes. Los hallazgos del estudio mostraron que el posicionamiento de los aprendices en las interacciones orales no solo tuvo un impacto en su uso del inglés, sino que también los llevó a transformaciones no lineales de sus identidades como hablantes de esa lengua. Estos resultados señalan la necesidad de crear conciencia sobre el papel central de las identidades de los estudiantes tanto en su proceso de aprendizaje como en las prácticas de enseñanza de lengua; así como la necesidad de observar cómo operan las dinámicas de posicionamiento en la clase de lengua. 2017-08-04 2019-09-19T21:23:48Z 2019-09-19T21:23:48Z info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion Artículo revisado por pares Peer-reviewes Article https://revistas.udistrital.edu.co/index.php/calj/article/view/10238 10.14483/22487085.10238 http://hdl.handle.net/11349/18177 eng https://revistas.udistrital.edu.co/index.php/calj/article/view/10238/12913 https://revistas.udistrital.edu.co/index.php/calj/article/view/10238/html Copyright (c) 2017 Janeth María Ortiz Medina https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0 application/pdf text/html Universidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas Colombian appl. linguist. J.; Vol 19, No 2 (2017) July-December; 250-262 Colombian Applied Linguistics Journal; Vol 19, No 2 (2017) July-December; 250-262 2248-7085 0123-4641
institution Universidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas
collection DSpace
language Inglés (English)
topic identity construction
knowledge-power relations
language learning
positioning
aprendizaje de lenguas
construcción de identidad
posicionamiento
relaciones conocimiento-poder
spellingShingle identity construction
knowledge-power relations
language learning
positioning
aprendizaje de lenguas
construcción de identidad
posicionamiento
relaciones conocimiento-poder
Ortiz Medina, Janeth María
Shaping your Identity as a Speaker of English: The Struggles of a Beginner Language Learner
description In Colombia, political and educational campaigns have promoted English as the language of success and as a fundamental requirement to comply with the demands of a globalized world; nevertheless, little attention has been paid to the individual experiences of Colombians as they learn this language or to what happens to their identities during this process. This paper reports on a study that explored how three young adult learners of English constructed their identities as speakers of English through their positioning in oral tasks in an English class. It focuses on the story of one of the participants: a beginner female English learner. Data collection methods included class video and audio-recordings, interviews, and diaries kept by the participants. Findings indicated that learners’ positioning in spoken interactions not only directly affected their use of English, but also led them to non-linear transformations of their identities as speakers of English. These results pinpoint the need to gain awareness of the centrality of students’ identities in both their learning process and in language teaching practices and the need to observe how positioning operates in the language classroom.
format Artículo (Article)
author Ortiz Medina, Janeth María
author_facet Ortiz Medina, Janeth María
author_sort Ortiz Medina, Janeth María
title Shaping your Identity as a Speaker of English: The Struggles of a Beginner Language Learner
title_short Shaping your Identity as a Speaker of English: The Struggles of a Beginner Language Learner
title_full Shaping your Identity as a Speaker of English: The Struggles of a Beginner Language Learner
title_fullStr Shaping your Identity as a Speaker of English: The Struggles of a Beginner Language Learner
title_full_unstemmed Shaping your Identity as a Speaker of English: The Struggles of a Beginner Language Learner
title_sort shaping your identity as a speaker of english: the struggles of a beginner language learner
publisher Universidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas
publishDate 2017
url http://hdl.handle.net/11349/18177
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score 12,131701