Language and Culture Reflective Narratives and the Emergence of Identity [Hardcover]

This state-of-the-art exploration of language, culture, and identity is orchestrated through prominent scholars and teachers narratives, each weaving together three elements: a personal account based on one or more memorable or critical incidents that occurred in the course of learning or using a second or foreign language; an interpretation of the incidents highlighting their impact in terms of culture, identity, and language; the connections between the experiences and observations of the author and existing literature on language, culture and identity.

What makes this book stand out is the way in which authors meld traditional academic approaches to inquiry with their own personalized voices. This opens a window on different ways of viewing and doing research in Applied Linguistics and TESOL. What gives the book its power is the compelling nature of the narratives themselves. Telling stories is a fundamental way of representing and making sense of the human condition. These stories unpack, in an accessible but rigorous fashion, complex socio-cultural constructs of culture, identity, the self and other, and reflexivity, and offer a way into these constructs for teachers, teachers in preparation and neophyte researchers. Contributors from around the world give the book broad and international appeal.

Foreword

Bonny Norton

Preface

David Nunan & Julie Choi

Acknowledgments

1

Language, culture and identity: Framing the issues

David Nunan & Julie Choi

2

Coat hangers, cowboys, and communication strategies: Seeking an identity as a proficient foreign language learner

Kathleen Bailey

3

Speaking Romance-esque

David Block

4

z Collaborating on community, sharing experience, troubling the symbolic