Abstract
This chapter discusses identity as a foundational research area in applied linguistics and examines various methodologies that foreground the role of language in the construction and negotiation of identities. Given the breadth and complexity of this topic, this chapter focuses on a select range of issues and is organized in four parts. First, it discusses the theorization of identity and important corollary constructs such as indexicality, positionality, and intersectionality. Second, it discusses how methodologies such as case study, narrative inquiry, conversational analysis, and critical discourse analysis use language to examine identity. It also discusses the challenges identity research needs to address as digital innovations shape the way identities are imagined and constructed. Lastly, the chapter forecasts new directions in identity research, particularly in the evolution of an ethnography of the internet. By discussing these different areas, this chapter provides a conceptual and methodological foundation for scholars to pursue identity studies and demonstrates how identity is and will continue to be a rich and productive research area in applied linguistics.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Baker, S. (2013). Conceptualising the use of Facebook in ethnographic research: As tool, as data and as context. Ethnography and Education, 8, 131–145.
Bamberg, M. (2006). Stories: Big or small: Why do we care? Narrative Inquiry, 16, 139–147.
Barkhuizen, G. (2008). A narrative approach to exploring context in language teaching. English Language Teaching Journal, 62, 231–239.
Barkhuizen, G. (2010). An extended positioning analysis of a pre-service teacher’s better life small story. Applied Linguistics, 31, 282–300.
Baxter, J. (2016). Positioning language and identity. In S. Preece (Ed.), The Routledge handbook of language and identity (pp. 34–49). Oxon: Routledge.
Belcher, D., & Nelson, G. (2013). Why intercultural rhetoric needs critical and corpus-based approaches: An introduction. In D. Belcher & G. Nelson (Eds.), Critical and corpus-based approaches to intercultural rhetoric (pp. 1–6). Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
Bell, J. S. (2002). Narrative inquiry: More than just telling stories. TESOL Quarterly, 36, 207–213.
Benwell, B., & Stokoe, E. (2016). Ethnomethodological and conversational analytic approaches to identity. In S. Preece (Ed.), Routledge handbook of language and identity (pp. 66–82). Oxon: Routledge.
Block, D. (2010). Researching language and identity. In B. Paltridge & A. Phakti (Eds.), Continuum companion to research methods in applied linguistics (pp. 337–349). London: Continuum.
Block, D. (2012). Class and SLA: Making connections. Language Teaching Research, 16(2), 188–205.
Block, D. (2014). Social class and applied linguistics. Oxon: Routledge.
Block, D., & Corona, V. (2014). Exploring class-based intersectionality. Language, Culture and Curriculum, 27, 27–42.
Blommaert, J. (2005). Discourse: A critical introduction. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Bucholtz, M., & Hall, K. (2005). Identity and interaction: A sociocultural linguistic approach. Discourse Studies, 7, 585–614.
Büscher, M., & Urry, J. (2009). Mobile methods and the empirical. European Journal of Social Theory, 12(1), 99–116.
Canagarajah, S. (1996). From critical research practice to critical research reporting. TESOL Quarterly, 30, 321–331.
Chase, S. (2005). Narrative inquiry: Multiple lenses, approaches, voices. In N. Denzin & Y. Lincoln (Eds.), The Sage handbook of qualitative research (3rd ed., pp. 651–680). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Cheng, W. (2013). Corpus-based linguistic approaches to critical discourse analysis. In C. Chapelle (Ed.), The encyclopedia of applied linguistics. Chichester: John Wiley.
Clark, J. B. (2009). Multilingualism, citizenship, and identity: Voices of youth and symbolic investments in an urban, globalized world. London: Bloomsbury.
Darvin, R. (2016). Language and identity in the digital age. In S. Preece (Ed.), Routledge handbook of language and identity (pp. 523–540). Oxon: Routledge.
Darvin, R. (2017). Social class and the inequality of English speakers in a globalized world. Journal of English as a Lingua Franca, 6(2), 287–211.
Darvin, R. (2018). Social class and the unequal digital literacies of youth. Language and Literacy, 20(3), 26–45.
Davies, B., & Harré, R. (1990). Positioning: The discursive production of selves. Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, 20, 43–63.
Davies, J., & Merchant, G. (2009). Web 2.0 for schools: Learning and social participation. New York: Peter Lang.
De Costa, P. I. (2016). The power of identity and ideology in language learning: Designer immigrants learning English in Singapore. Switzerland: Springer.
De Fina, A. (2016). Linguistic practices and transnational identities. In S. Preece (Ed.), The Routledge handbook of language and identity (pp. 163–178). Oxon: Routledge.
Duff, P., Anderson, T., Ilnyckyj, R., Van Gaya, E., Wang, R., & Yates, E. (2013). Learning Chinese: Linguistic, sociocultural, and narrative perspectives. Berlin, Germany: De Gruyter.
Duff, P. A. (2014). Case study research on language learning and use. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 34, 233–255.
Escamilla, R. (2013). Discriminatory discursive strategies used by the Japanese mainstream news media in constructing the identity of resident foreign nationals: A critical discourse analysis-based examination. In D. Belcher & G. Nelson (Eds.), Critical and corpus-based approaches to intercultural rhetoric (pp. 72–96). Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
Eynon, R., Fry, J., & Schroeder, R. (2008). The ethics of internet research. In N. Fielding, R. Lee, & G. Blank (Eds.), The Sage handbook of online research methods (pp. 23–41). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Flyvbjerg, B. (2011). Case study. In N. Denzin & Y. Lincoln (Eds.), The Sage handbook of qualitative research (pp. 301–316). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Harklau, L. (2005). Ethnography and ethnographic research on second language teaching and learning. In E. Hinkel (Ed.), Handbook of research in second language teaching and learning (pp. 179–193). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
He, A. W. (2013). The wor(l)d is a collage: Multi-performance by Chinese heritage language speakers. Modern Language Journal, 97, 304–317.
Higgins, C. (2009). “Are you Hindu?” Resisting membership categorization through language alternation. In H. Nguyen & G. Kasper (Eds.), Talk-in-interaction: Multilingual perspectives (pp. 111–136). Honolulu: University of Hawai’i.
Higgins, C. (Ed.). (2011). Identity formation in globalizing contexts: Language learning in the new millennium. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.
Hine, C. (2015). Ethnography for the internet: Embedded, embodied and everyday. London: Bloomsbury.
Kamada, L. (2010). Hybrid identities and adolescent girls. Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters.
Kasper, G., & Wagner, J. (2014). Conversation analysis in applied linguistics. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 34, 171–212.
Kinginger, C. (2008). Language learning in study abroad: Case studies of Americans in France. Modern Language Journal, 92, 1–124.
Kramsch, C. J. (2009). The multilingual subject: What foreign language learners say about their experience and why it matters. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Lam, W. S. E. (2004). Second language socialization in a bilingual chat room: Global and local considerations. Language Learning & Technology, 8, 44–65.
Larsen-Freeman, D. (2006). The emergence of complexity, fluency, and accuracy in the oral and written production of five Chinese learners of English. Applied Linguistics, 27, 590–619.
Leander, K. (2008). Toward a connective ethnography of online/offline literacy networks. In J. Coiro, M. Knobel, C. Lankshear, & D. Leu (Eds.), Handbook of research on new literacies (pp. 33–65). New York: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Li, W. (2011). Multilinguality, multimodality, and multicompetence: Code- and modeswitching by minority ethnic children in complementary schools. Modern Language Journal, 95, 370–384.
Lin, A. (2014). Critical discourse analysis in applied linguistics: A methodological review. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 34, 213–232.
Mackey, A. (Ed.). (2015). Identity. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 35.
Marsh, J. (2013). Researching young children’s literacy practices in online virtual worlds: Cyber-ethnography and multi-method approaches. In P. Albers, T. Holbrook, & A. S. Flint (Eds.), New literacy research methods (pp. 195–209). New York: Routledge.
Menard-Warwick, J. (2009). Gendered identities and immigrant language learning. Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters.
Mercer, S., & Williams, M. (Eds.). (2014). Multiple perspectives on the self in SLA. Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters.
Nelson, M. E., Hull, G. A., & Roche-Smith, J. (2008). Challenges of multimedia self-presentation taking, and mistaking the show on the road. Written Communication, 25, 415–440.
Nevile, M., & Wagner, J. (2011). Language choice and participation: Two practices for switching languages in institutional interaction. In G. Pallotti & J. Wagner (Eds.), L2 learning as social practice: Conversation-analytic perspectives (pp. 211–235). Honolulu: University of Hawai’i.
Norton, B. (2013). Identity and language learning: Extending the conversation (2nd ed.). Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters.
Norton, B., & Early, M. (2011). Researcher identity, narrative inquiry, and language teaching research. TESOL Quarterly, 45, 415–439.
Pavlenko, A. (2002). Narrative study: Whose story is it, anyway? TESOL Quarterly, 36, 213–218.
Pavlenko, A. (2007). Autobiographic narratives as data in applied linguistics. Applied Linguistics, 28, 163–188.
Pennycook, A. (2001). Critical applied linguistics: A critical introduction. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Stornaiuolo, A., Higgs, J., & Hull, G. (2013). Social media as authorship: Methods for studying literacies and communities online. In P. Albers, T. Holbrook, & A. S. Flint (Eds.), New literacy research methods (pp. 224–237). New York: Routledge.
Stornauiolo, A., & Hall, M. (2014). Tracing resonance: Qualitative research in a networked world. In G. Gudmundsdottir & K. Vasbø (Eds.), Methodological challenges when exploring digital learning spaces in education (pp. 29–43). Rotterdam: Sense.
Talmy, S. (2009). Resisting ESL: Categories and sequence in a critically “motivated” Analysis of classroom interaction. In H. Nguyen & G. Kasper (Eds.), Talk-in interaction: Multilingual perspectives (pp. 181–213). Honolulu: University of Hawai’i.
Thorne, S., Sauro, S., & Smith, B. (2015). Technologies, identities, and expressive activity. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 35, 215–233.
Thorne, S. L., & Black, R. W. (2011). Identity and interaction in Internet-mediated contexts. In C. Higgins (Ed.), Identity formation in globalizing contexts: Language learning in the new millennium (pp. 257–278). Berlin: de Gruyter.
Weber, S., & Mitchell, C. (2008). Imaging, keyboarding, and posting identities: Young people and new media technologies. In D. Buckingham (Ed.), Youth, identity, and digital media (pp. 25–47). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Weedon, C. (1987). Feminist practice and poststructuralist theory. Oxford, UK: Basil Blackwell.
Zotzmann, K., & O’Regan, J. (2016). Critical discourse analysis and identity. In S. Preece (Ed.), Routledge handbook of language and identity (pp. 113–127). Oxon: Routledge.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2018 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Darvin, R. (2018). Identity. In: Phakiti, A., De Costa, P., Plonsky, L., Starfield, S. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Applied Linguistics Research Methodology. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-59900-1_35
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-59900-1_35
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-137-59899-8
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-59900-1
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)