Imagined selves and L2 learning motivation among middle-aged women
The experiences of Middle Eastern women
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/sols.33348Keywords:
L2 motivation, poststructuralism, investment, imagined self, imagined communityAbstract
This case study aims to understand what motivates mid-aged women from the Middle East to learn English. The study builds on Norton's (2000) concepts of investment. The study included three female participants in their 40s and 50s who had different life experiences and motives for learning English. Participants' narratives and researchers' observations were used for data collection. It was found that these women learn English during their middle-age years in order to empower themselves. In addition, participants' efforts for learning English were highlighted in relation to their future identities. It is hoped that this study will encourage linguists to investigate the issue of Middle Eastern females' identities and language learning motivation to widen the scope of motivation theories.
References
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Freire, P. (1974) Pedagogy of the Oppressed. New York: Seabury Press.
Gao, F. (2008) The Investigation of Chinese Learners’ Identities and their English Language Learning Journeys in Britain. Unpublished Phd dissertation, Canterbury Christ Church University, Kent, UK. Retrieved from: http://create.canterbury.ac.uk/12163.
Gerhart, D., Tarragona, M., and Bava, S. (2007) A collaborative approach to research and inquiry. In H. Anderson and D. R. Gehart (eds) Collaborative Therapy: Relationships and Conversations that Make a Difference 367–387. London: Routledge.
Gu, M. (2008). Identity construction and investment transformation: College students from non-urban areas in China. Journal of Asian Pacific Communication 18(1): 49–70. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1075/japc.18.1.04gu.
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Pavlenko, A. and Blackledge, A. (2004) Negotiation of Identities in Multilingual Contexts. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. Doi: https://doi.org/10.21832/9781853596483.
Pennycook, A. (2001) Critical Applied Linguistics: A Critical Introduction. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Shoaib, A. and Dörnyei, Z. (2005) Affect in life-long learning: Exploring L2 motivation as a dynamic process. In P. Benson and D. Nunan (eds) Learners’ Stories: Difference and Diversity in Language Learning 22–41. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Sundqvist, P. (2009) Extramural English Matters: Out-Of-School English and Its Impact on Swedish Ninth Graders’ Oral Proficiency and Vocabulary. Unpublished PhD dissertation, Karlstad University, Karlstad, Sweden. Retrieved from: http://www.divaportal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2%3A275141&dswid=-3982.
Ushioda, E. (2009) A person-in-context relational view of emergent motivation, self and identity. In Z. Dörnyei and E. Ushioda (eds) Motivation, Language Identity and the L2 Self 215–228. Bristol: Multiligual Matters. Doi: https://doi.org/10.21832/9781847691293-012.
Weedon, C. (1997) Feminist Practice and Poststructuralist Theory. London: Wiley.
Al-Shehri, A. (2009) Motivation and vision: The relation between the ideal L2 self, imagination and visual style. In Z. Dörnyei and E. Ushioda (eds) Motivation, Language Identity and L2 Self 164–171. Bristol: Multiligual Matters.
Bakhtin, M. M. and Holquist, M. (1981) The Dialogic Imagination: Four Essays. Austin: University of Texas Press.
Benesch, S. (1999) Thinking critically, thinking dialogically. TESOL Quarterly 33: 573–580.
Bourdieu, P. (1977) The economics of linguistic exchanges. Information 16: 645–668.
Ch?opek, Z. (2009) The relationship between language learning experience, motivation and some other individual variables of mature foreign language learners. Glottodidactica 35: 69–79. Retrieved from: http://hdl.handle.net/10593/1901.
Clandinin, D. J. and Connelly, F. M. (2000) Narrative Inquiry: Experience and Story in Qualitative Research. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Darvin, R. and Norton, B. (2015) Identity and a model of investment in applied linguistics. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 35: 36–56. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0267190514000191.
Dörnyei, Z. (2005) The Psychology of the Language Learner: Individual Differences in Second Language Acquisition. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Dörnyei, Z., Csizér, K., and Németh, N. N. (2006) Motivation, Language Attitudes and Globalisation: A Hungarian Perspective. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. Doi: https://doi.org/10.21832/9781853598876.
Dörnyei, Z. and Ushioda, E. (2009) Motivation, Language Identity and the L2 Self. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.
Early, M. and Norton, B. (2012) Language learner stories and imagined identities. Narrative Inquiry 22: 194–201. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1075/ni.22.1.15ear.
Freire, P. (1974) Pedagogy of the Oppressed. New York: Seabury Press.
Gao, F. (2008) The Investigation of Chinese Learners’ Identities and their English Language Learning Journeys in Britain. Unpublished Phd dissertation, Canterbury Christ Church University, Kent, UK. Retrieved from: http://create.canterbury.ac.uk/12163.
Gerhart, D., Tarragona, M., and Bava, S. (2007) A collaborative approach to research and inquiry. In H. Anderson and D. R. Gehart (eds) Collaborative Therapy: Relationships and Conversations that Make a Difference 367–387. London: Routledge.
Gu, M. (2008). Identity construction and investment transformation: College students from non-urban areas in China. Journal of Asian Pacific Communication 18(1): 49–70. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1075/japc.18.1.04gu.
Kim, J. H. (2016) Understanding Narrative Inquiry: The Crafting and Analysis of Stories as Research. Singapore: Sage Publications.
Kim, T. Y. (2009) The sociocultural interface between ideal self and ought-to self: A case study of two Korean students’ ESL motivation. In Z. Dörnyei and E. Ushioda (eds) Motivation, Language Identity and the L2 Self 274–294. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.
Lantolf, J. P. (2000) Sociocultural Theory and Second Language Learning. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Mahboob, A. and Elyas, T. (2014) English in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. World Englishes 33: 128–142. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/weng.12073.
Markus, H. and Nurius, P. (1986) Possible selves. American psychologist 41: 954. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.41.9.954.
Marques, J. V. (2012) Learning English at a Language Training School in Beijing: The Case of Six Adult Learners. MA thesis, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China. Retrieved from: https://hub.hku.hk/handle/10722/193097.
Maxwell, J. A. (2013) Qualitative Research Design: An Interactive Approach. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Norton, B. (2000) Identity and Language Learning: Gender, Ethnicity and Educational Change. Harlow: Longman and Pearson Education.
Norton, B. (2013) Identity and Language Learning: Extending the Conversation. Bristol: Multilingual Matters. Doi: https://doi.org/10.21832/9781783090563.
Norton, B. (2016) Identity and language learning: Back to the future. TESOL Quarterly 50: 475–479. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/tesq.293.
Norton, B. and Toohey, K. (2011) Identity, language learning, and social change. Language Teaching 44: 412–446. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261444811000309.
Norton, B. and Williams, C. J. (2012) Digital identities, student investments and eGranary as a placed resource. Language and Education 26: 315–329. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/09500782.2012.691514.
Pavlenko, A. and Blackledge, A. (2004) Negotiation of Identities in Multilingual Contexts. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. Doi: https://doi.org/10.21832/9781853596483.
Pennycook, A. (2001) Critical Applied Linguistics: A Critical Introduction. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Shoaib, A. and Dörnyei, Z. (2005) Affect in life-long learning: Exploring L2 motivation as a dynamic process. In P. Benson and D. Nunan (eds) Learners’ Stories: Difference and Diversity in Language Learning 22–41. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Sundqvist, P. (2009) Extramural English Matters: Out-Of-School English and Its Impact on Swedish Ninth Graders’ Oral Proficiency and Vocabulary. Unpublished PhD dissertation, Karlstad University, Karlstad, Sweden. Retrieved from: http://www.divaportal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2%3A275141&dswid=-3982.
Ushioda, E. (2009) A person-in-context relational view of emergent motivation, self and identity. In Z. Dörnyei and E. Ushioda (eds) Motivation, Language Identity and the L2 Self 215–228. Bristol: Multiligual Matters. Doi: https://doi.org/10.21832/9781847691293-012.
Weedon, C. (1997) Feminist Practice and Poststructuralist Theory. London: Wiley.
Published
2019-05-02
Issue
Section
Articles
How to Cite
Al-Nofaie, H. (2019). Imagined selves and L2 learning motivation among middle-aged women: The experiences of Middle Eastern women. Sociolinguistic Studies, 12(3-4), 503-521. https://doi.org/10.1558/sols.33348
