Innovation in Language Learning

This paper examines learner identity, in the ‘positioning’ (De Fina, Schiffrin and Bamberg 2006; De Fina and Georgakopoulou 2011) evident in learners’ personal narratives, to document an English language learning (ELL)-effected transformation of self. The study examines 84 English narratives on ELL, by Year II, III and IV undergraduate L1 speakers of Mandarin. Positioning on ELL, is assessed in its explicit, propositionally represented form, as in earlier studies (cf. Arkoudis and Davison 2008; Arkoudis and Love 2008), but also in its linguistically marked implicit form, where it registers less overtly acknowledged, less conscious stands. Implicit positioning is examined in the choice of the narrative configuration, hence the perceptual mould, adopted for the ELL experience. The choice can suggest the entire experience is a gradual, predictable coming-about, or a journey from the expectable via an unexpected complication to a reinstated expectable condition (Labov 1978, 1979). Implicit positioning is also assessed setentially in

• The registered sense of agency over the learning; narrator’s role as agent or patient in reported events is noted;
   
• The assumed responsibility for statements about the learning; narrator’s role as Author, Principal or Animator is noted (Goffman 1984);
   
• The character of definition given to the learning; chosen labels/descriptors for ELL are noted;

The assessment across the three years of learning will show that overt and implicit positioning are in consonance.

• Learners register a complicating phase of rejection, but within an overriding gradual development to an ultimate embrace of English;
   
• Learners move from a patient/victimized role to a full sense of agency and self-determination in ELL;
   
• Learners move towards expression as Principal (responsible for thought content) of the statements they make on ELL;
   
• Learners also move towards defining ELL as life-altering, transformative, and vital to their access to the global community.

Key Words: Language learning; learner identify: positioning: personal narrative;