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Japanese students’ emotional lived experiences in English language learning, learner identities, and their transformation
Ng, Clarence
Ng, Clarence
Author
Abstract
The Vygotskian concept of perezhivanie, or emotional lived experience, was adopted to examine the learner identities of 2 Japanese university students in English language learning. Current studies on language learner identities have given analytic primacy to either psychological processes or social influences. In contrast, perezhivanie offers a holistic unit of analysis for examining simultaneous influences derived from internal and external realms on identity pursuits. Misaki and Hina participated in a 60-minute interview designed to understand their English learning experiences and how they made sense of them in school and university settings. In addition, a series of class observations—each followed by an informal interview—were conducted to examine their learning experiences in a conversational English course. Their reflective postings on the course online blog were also collected. The analytical process located identifiable instances of perezhivanie (perezhivaniya), based on participants’ memorable events or personally significant moments, and elaborated how these perezhivaniya brought forth different learner identities. Using the concept of perezhivanie, this study draws attention to a dynamic perspective on researching language-learner identities that foregrounds an identity-making process whereby students relived, refracted, and transformed through emotional–cognitive events or episodes characterized by complex transactions between the person and context.
Keywords
identity, English as a second language, emotion, motivation, sociocultural theory, Japanese
Date
2021
Type
Journal article
Journal
The Modern Language Journal
Book
Volume
105
Issue
4
Page Range
810-828
Article Number
ACU Department
Faculty of Education and Arts
Relation URI
Source URL
Event URL
Open Access Status
License
All rights reserved
File Access
Controlled