Exploring Language Learner Identities through Poetry-Writing: A Malaysian Perspective
Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman Malaysia
ABSTRACT
The current post-structuralist perspective views language learner identities as fluid, context-dependent, and context-producing. However, the notion of language learner identity is still under-researched. This exploratory qualitative study, which is part of a research project that examines the nature and role of identity in language learning, aims to qualitatively explore the language learner identity through poetry-writing. In this exploratory qualitative study, 6 students wrote poems expressing their feelings and emotions through free-form verse. In the subsequent interviews, feedback was given on how they felt while writing the poems, on their self-expression through poetry-writing and their reaction to other students’ responses to their poems. These responses were then analysed using Taylor’s Quadripolar Model of Identity (Taylor, 2013), which identifies the Private selves - featuring a person’s intimate representation of his/her present attributes, the Public selves - featuring various social presentations that a person; their Ideal self - featuring a personal representation of what somebody would like to be in the future, and finally their Imposed selves - featuring representations of other people’s hopes, desires and expectations of what an individual should achieve. Results from Phase One of the study indicated that the learners were clustered under the Harmonious configuration, which is when convergent Ideal and Imposed selves generate congruent responses. Implications of these findings are discussed.
KEYWORDS
Language Learner Identity, Motivation, Language Learning