Keywords
storied self
language anxiety
narratives
learner identity
How to Cite
Number of views: 765
Number of downloads: 490
Abstract
Most Finnish university students, just like the other new global elites (Kramsch,
2013), use English without problems. Some students, however, struggle with
English to the extent that their studies suffer. One could say that they have a
deeply “wounded” English self (Karlsson, 2013). My context of research and
practice is the Autonomous Learning Modules (ALMS) at Helsinki University
Language Centre. In my work as a language counsellor and practitioner-researcher,
pedagogical concerns are always primary, and there is a need to appreciate
diversity yet notice every student’s unique experiences. The broad
background of my recent work is English as part of the identity of young academic
Finns. In particular, I have been interested in how students with a
“wounded” English self can develop new identity positions, and in how a language
counsellor can help them in this process. In this paper, my focus is on the
subtle practical interconnections between learner autonomy, learner diversity,
and learner identity as they emerge in a diary written by a student of English
with dyslexia and language (classroom) anxiety. A narrative case study of Mariia
illustrates how the counsellor’s appreciation and her own recognition of the
complex ecological realities (Casanave, 2012) surrounding and interacting with
her learning encourage and empower her. Mariia uses her freedom to control
her own learning (Huang & Benson, 2013) and makes choices from the many
lifewide experiential learning opportunities in her life (Karlsson & Kjisik, 2011).
Reflective writing in the learning diary helps her to construct a realistic vision of
herself as a learner and user of English, and she leaves the identity position of
a failure in the classroom and claims a new, more successful one (Norton, 2014).
References
Aoki, N. (2009). Defending stories and sharing one: Towards a narrative understanding of teacher autonomy. In R. Pemberton, S. Toogood, & A. Barfield (Eds.), Maintaining control. Autonomy and language learning (pp.199- 216). Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.
Benson, P. (2013). Narrative writing as method: Second language identity development in study abroad. In G. Barkhuizen (Ed.), Narrative research in applied linguistics (pp. 244-263). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Bolton, G. (2010). Reflective practice. Writing and professional development (3rd ed.). London: Sage.
Casanave, C. (2012). The diary of a dabbler: Ecological influences on an EFL teacher’s efforts to study Japanese informally. TESOL Quaterly, 46(4), 642-670.
Chase, S. (2003). Learning to listen: Narrative principles in a qualitative research methods course. In R. Josselson, A. Lieblich, & D. P. McAdams (Eds.), Up close and personal. The teaching and learning of narrative research (pp. 79-99). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Clandinin, D. J., & Connelly, F. M. (1995). Teachers' professional knowledge landscapes. New York: Teachers College Press.
Clandinin, D. J., & Connelly, F. M. (2000). Narrative inquiry. Experience and story in qualitative research. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Clough, P. (2002). Narratives and fictions in educational research. Buckingham: Open University Press.
Conle, C. (1996). Resonance in pre-service teacher inquiry. American Educational Research Journal, 33(2), 297-325.
Georgakopoulou, A. (2007). Small stories, interaction and identities. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Huang, J., & Benson, P. (2013). Autonomy, agency and identity in foreign and second language education. Chinese Journal of Applied Linguistics, 36(1), 6-27.
Jackson, N. (2010). From a curriculum that integrates work to a curriculum that integrates life: changing a university's conceptions of curriculum. Higher Education Research & Development, 29(5), 491-505.
Jackson, N. (2013). Lifewide learning, education & personal development. Retrieved from http://www.normanjackson.co.uk/uploads/1/0/8/4/10842717chapter_c4_learning_ecology_narratives.pdf)
Jokinen, E. (2004). The makings of mother in diary narratives. Qualitative Inquiry, 10(3), 339-350.
Karjalainen, A. (2012). Elettyä ymmärtämässä: Omaelämäkerrallinen kirjoittaminen ja teksti reflektiona sosiaalialan ammattikorkeakouluopinnoissa [Autobiographical
Leena Karlsson writing and text as reflection in social studies conducted at the Diaconia University of Applied Sciences]. Helsinki: Diaconia University of Applied Sciences.
Karlsson, L. (2008). Turning the kaleidoscope – (E)FL educational experience and inquiry as auto/biography. Helsinki: University of Helsinki Language Centre. Retrieved from https://oa.doria.fi/handle/10024/42707).
Karlsson, L. (2012). Sharing stories: Autobiographical narratives in advising. In J. Mynard & L. Carson (Eds.), Advising in language learning: Dialogue, tools and context (pp. 185-204). Harlow: Pearson.
Karlsson, L. (2013). Lost and found – Storytelling in language counseling. Chinese Journal of Applied Linguistics, 36(1), 107-124.
Karlsson, L., & Kjisik, F. (2007). The role of autobiography in fostering learner autonomy. In A. Barfield & S. Brown (Eds.),Reconstructingautonomy in language education. Inquiry and innovation (pp. 130-142). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Karlsson, L., & Kjisik, F. (2011). Lifewide and lifedeep learning and the autonomous learner. In K. K. Pitkänen, J. Jokinen, S. Karjalainen, L. Karlsson, T. Lehtonen, M. Matilainen, C. Niedling, & R. Siddall (Eds.), Out-of-classroom language learning (pp. 85-106). Helsinki: University of Helsinki Language Centre.
Karlsson, L., Kjisik, F., & Nordlund, J. (1997). From here to autonomy. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press.
Karlsson, L., Kjisik, F., & Nordlund, J. (2007). Language counselling: A critical and integral component in promoting an autonomous community of learning. System, 35(1), 46-65.
Kramsch, C. (2009). The multilingual subject. What foreign language learners say about their experience and why it matters. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Kramsch, C. (2013). Afterword. In B. Norton, Identity and language learning: Extending the conversation (2nd ed.) (pp. 192-201). Bristol: Multilingual Matters.
Leppänen, S., Pitkänen-Huhta, A., Nikula, T., Kytölä, S., Törmäkangas, T., Nissinen, K., Kääntä, L., Virkkula, T., Laitinen, M., Pahta, P., Koskela, H., Lähdesmäki, S., & Jousmäki, H. (2009). National survey on the English language in Finland: Uses, meanings and attitudes. Jyväskylä: University of Jyväskylä.
Lieblich, A., Tuval-Mashiach, R., & Zilber, T. (1998). Narrative research. Reading, analysis and interpretation. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
Murray, G. (Ed.). (2014). Social dimensions of autonomy in language learning. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Norton, B. (2014). Identity and poststructuralist theory in SLA. In S. Mercer & M. Williams (Eds.), Multiple perspectives on the self in SLA (pp. 59-74). Bristol: Multilingual Matters.
Palfreyman, R. (2014). The ecology of learner autonomy. In G. Murray (Ed.), Social dimensions of autonomy in language learning (pp. 175-191). Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan.
Ricoeur, P. (1991). Narrative identity. In D. Wood (Ed.), On Paul Ricoeur. Narrative interpretation (pp. 188-199). London: Routledge.
Ryan, S., & Irie, K. (2014). Imagined and possible selves: Stories we tell ourselves about ourselves. In S. Mercer & M. Williams (Eds.), Multiple perspectives on the self in SLA (pp. 109-126). Bristol: Multilingual Matters.
Ushioda, E. (2009). A person-in-context relational view of emergent motivation, self and identity. In Z. Dörnyei, & E. Ushioda (Eds.), Motivation, language identity and the L2 self (pp. 215-228). Bristol: Multilingual Matters.
Ushioda, E. (2011). Motivating Learners to speak as themselves. In G. Murray, X. Gao, & T. Lamb (Eds.), Identity, motivation and autonomy in language learning (pp. 11-24). Bristol: Multilingual Matters.
Ushioda, E. (2013). Motivation and ELT: Looking ahead to the future. In E. Ushioda (Ed.), International Perspectives on motivation: Language learning and professional challenges (pp. 1-17). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Vandrick, S. (2013). ‘The colonial legacy’ and ‘missionary kid’ memoirs. In G. Barkhuizen (Ed.), Narrative research in applied linguistics (pp. 19-40). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Van Lier, L. (2004). The ecology and semiotics of language learning: A sociocultural perspective. Boston: Kluwer Academic.
Vieira, F. (1999). Pedagogy and autonomy: Can they meet? Revista Canaria de Estudios Ingleses, 38, 13-35.
Vieira, F. (2010). Towards teacher and learner autonomy: Exploring a pedagogy of experience in teacher education. Revista Canaria de Estudios Ingleses, 61, 13-27.
Vieira, F. (2013). The scholarship of pedagogy in adverse settings. In M. Flores, A. Carvalho, F. Ferreira, & M. Vilaca (Eds.), Back to the future. Legacies, continuities and changes in educational policy, practice and research (pp. 257-276). Rotterdam: Sense.
License
1.1 The Author hereby warrants that he/she is the owner of all the copyright and other intellectual property rights in the Work and that, within the scope of the present Agreement, the paper does not infringe the legal rights of another person. The owner of the copyright work also warrants that he/she is the sole and original creator thereof and that is not bound by any legal constraints in regard to the use or sale of the work.
1.2. The Publisher warrants that is the owner of the PRESSto platform for open access journals, hereinafter referred to as the PRESSto Platform.
2. The Author grants the Publisher non-exclusive and free of charge license to unlimited use worldwide over an unspecified period of time in the following areas of exploitation:
2.1. production of multiple copies of the Work produced according to the specific application of a given technology, including printing, reproduction of graphics through mechanical or electrical means (reprography) and digital technology;
2.2. marketing authorisation, loan or lease of the original or copies thereof;
2.3. public performance, public performance in the broadcast, video screening, media enhancements as well as broadcasting and rebroadcasting, made available to the public in such a way that members of the public may access the Work from a place and at a time individually chosen by them;
2.4. inclusion of the Work into a collective work (i.e. with a number of contributions);
2.5. inclusion of the Work in the electronic version to be offered on an electronic platform, or any other conceivable introduction of the Work in its electronic version to the Internet;
2.6. dissemination of electronic versions of the Work in its electronic version online, in a collective work or independently;
2.7. making the Work in the electronic version available to the public in such a way that members of the public may access the Work from a place and at a time individually chosen by them, in particular by making it accessible via the Internet, Intranet, Extranet;
2.8. making the Work available according to appropriate license pattern Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) as well as another language version of this license or any later version published by Creative Commons.
3. The Author grants the Publisher permission to reproduce a single copy (print or download) and royalty-free use and disposal of rights to compilations of the Work and these compilations.
4. The Author grants the Publisher permission to send metadata files related to the Work, including to commercial and non-commercial journal-indexing databases.
5. The Author represents that, on the basis of the license granted in the present Agreement, the Publisher is entitled and obliged to:
5.1. allow third parties to obtain further licenses (sublicenses) to the Work and to other materials, including derivatives thereof or compilations made, based on or including the Work, whereas the provisions of such sub-licenses will be the same as with the Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) Creative Commons sub-license or another language version of this license, or any later version of this license published by Creative Commons;
5.2. make the Work available to the public in such a way that members of the public may access the Work from a place and at a time individually chosen by them, without any technological constraints;
5.3. appropriately inform members of the public to whom the Work is to be made available about sublicenses in such a way as to ensure that all parties are properly informed (appropriate informing messages).
6. Because of the royalty-free provision of services of the Author (resulting from the scope of obligations stipulated in the present Agreement), the Author shall not be entitled to any author’s fee due and payable on the part of the Publisher (no fee or royalty is payable by the Publisher to the Author).
7.1. In the case of third party claims or actions for indemnity against the Publisher owing to any infractions related to any form of infringement of intellectual property rights protection, including copyright infringements, the Author is obliged to take all possible measures necessary to protect against these claims and, when as a result of legal action, the Publisher, or any third party licensed by the Publisher to use the Work, will have to abandon using the Work in its entirety or in part or, following a court ruling in a legal challenge, to pay damages to a third party, whatever the legal basis
7.2. The Author will immediately inform the Publisher about any damage claims related to intellectual property infringements, including the author’s proprietary rights pertaining to a copyrighted work, filed against the Author. of liability, the Author is obliged to redress the damage resulting from claims made by third party, including costs and expenditures incurred in the process.
7.3. To all matters not settled herein provisions of the Polish Civil Code and the Polish Copyright and Related Rights Act shall apply.