Skip to main content

Identity, Language Learning, and Critical Pedagogies in Digital Times

  • Living reference work entry
  • Latest version View entry history
  • First Online:
Language Awareness and Multilingualism

Part of the book series: Encyclopedia of Language and Education ((ELE))

Abstract

Recognizing how the social landscape of language learning has shifted with innovations in technology, this chapter examines how critical pedagogies have responded to the new structures and relations of power that have evolved in increasingly digital times. As learners perform multiple and dynamic identities in this new world order, how they navigate their investments in the language and literacy practices of classrooms and communities also becomes more complex. To understand the evolution of identity as a central construct of language learning, this chapter looks to original conceptualizations of identity and earlier scholarship that informed it. Major developments in identity research that intersect with the digital are then discussed and classified in three categories: the construction and performance of identities, structures and relations of power, and social and educational inequities. The chapter then proceeds to examine two important issues in language learning that are associated with the digital turn. First, the multiplicity of spaces learners are able to engage with requires the mastery of new and continually evolving literacies. Second, the mechanisms of power have become more invisible, requiring more critical reflection in order to identify and navigate systemic patterns of control. To respond to these challenges, the chapter concludes by recommending specific research areas that will help create transformative critical pedagogies: issues of political economy, digital exclusion, and methodological innovations.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Atkinson, D. (1999). TESOL and culture. TESOL Quarterly, 33(4), 625–654.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Block, D. (2007). Second language identities. New York: Continuum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Block, D., Gray, J., & Holborow, M. (2012). Neoliberalism and applied linguistics. Oxon: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Castells, M. (2001). The Internet galaxy: Reflections on the Internet, business, and society. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Clark, J. B. (2009). Multilingualism, citizenship, and identity: Voices of youth and symbolic investments in an urban, globalized world. London: Bloomsbury.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cummins, J., & Early, M. (2010). Identity texts: The collaborative creation of power in multilingual schools. Staffordshire: Trentham.

    Google Scholar 

  • Darvin, R., & Norton, B. (2014a). Transnational identity and migrant language learners: The promise of digital storytelling. Education Matters: The Journal of Teaching and Learning, 2(1), 55–66.

    Google Scholar 

  • Darvin, R., & Norton, B. (2014b). Social class, identity, and migrant students. Journal of Language, Identity & Education, 13(2), 111–117.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Darvin, R., & Norton, B. (2015). Identity and a model of investment in language learning. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 35, 36–56.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • De Costa, P. I., & Norton, B. (2016). Identity in language learning and teaching: Research agendas for the future. In: S. Preece (Ed.), Routledge handbook of language and identity (pp. 586–601). Oxon: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Douglas Fir Group. (2016). A transdisciplinary framework for SLA in a multilingual world. Modern Language Journal, 100, 19–47.

    Google Scholar 

  • Duchêne, A., & Heller, M. (Eds.). (2012). Language in late capitalism: Pride and profit (Vol. 1). Oxon: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Firth, A., & Wagner, J. (1997). On discourse, communication and (some) fundamental concepts in SLA research. The Modern Language Journal, 81(3), 285–300.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gee, J. P., & Hayes, E. R. (2011). Language and learning in the digital age. Oxon: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gumperz, J. (1982). Language and social identity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hawkins, M., & Norton, B. (2009). Critical language teacher education. In A. Burns & J. Richards (Eds.), Cambridge guide to second language teacher education (pp. 30–39). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Higgins, C. (Ed.). (2011). Identity formation in globalizing contexts: Language learning in the new millennium (Vol. 1). Berlin: De Gruyter.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jones, S., & Vagle, M. D. (2013). Living contradictions and working for change toward a theory of social class–sensitive pedagogy. Educational Researcher, 42(3), 129–141.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kanno, Y., & Vandrick, S. (Guest Eds.). (2014). ‘Social class in language learning and teaching’ (special issue). Journal of Language, Identity, and Education, 13(2).

    Google Scholar 

  • Kendrick, M., Chemjor, W., & Early, M. (2012). ICTs as placed resources in a rural Kenyan secondary school journalism club. Language and Education, 26(4), 297–313.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kramsch, C. (2013). Afterword. In B. Norton (Ed.), Identity and language learning: Extending the conversation 2E (pp. 192–201). Bristol: Multilingual Matters.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kress, G. (2009). Multimodality: A social semiotic approach to contemporary communication. Oxon: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lam, W. S. E., & Warriner, D. (2012). Transnationalism and literacy: Investigating the mobility of people, languages, texts, and practices in contexts of migration. Reading Research Quarterly, 47(2), 191–215.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lemphane, P., & Prinsloo, M. (2014). Children’s digital literacy practices in unequal South African settings. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 35(7), 738–753.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lotherington, H. (2011). Digital narratives, cultural inclusion, and educational possibility: Going new places with old stories in elementary school. In R. Page & B. Thomas (Eds.), New narratives: Stories and storytelling in the digital age (pp. 254–276). Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Miller, E., & Kubota, R. (2013). Second language identity construction. In J. Herschensohn & M. Young-Scholten (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of second language acquisition (pp. 230–250). New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • 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(4), 415–440.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • North, S., Snyder, I., & Bulfin, S. (2008). Digital tastes: Social class and young people’s technology use. Information, Communication & Society, 11(7), 895–911.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Norton, B. (2013). Identity and language learning: Extending the conversation, 2E. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.

    Google Scholar 

  • Norton Peirce, B. (1995). Social identity, investment, and language learning. TESOL Quarterly, 29(1), 9–31.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Norton, B., & Williams, C. J. (2012). Digital identities, student investments and eGranary as a placed resource. Language and Education, 26(4), 315–329.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Norton, B., Jones, S., & Ahimbisibwe, D. (2011). Learning about HIV/AIDS in Uganda: Digital resources and language learner identities. Canadian Modern Language Review/La Revue canadienne des langues vivantes, 67(4), 568–589.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rowsell, J. (2012). Artifactual English. In M. Grenfell et al. (Eds.), Language, ethnography and education: Bridging new literacy studies and Bourdieu (pp. 110–131). New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shin, H. (2012). From FOB to cool: Transnational migrant students in Toronto and the styling of global linguistic capital. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 16(2), 184–200.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Snyder, I., & Prinsloo, M. (2007). Young people’s engagement with digital literacies in marginal contexts in a globalised world. Language and Education, 21(3), 171–179.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stornaiuolo, A., Hull, G., & Nelson, M. E. (2009). Mobile texts and migrant audiences: Rethinking literacy and assessment in a new media age. Language Arts, 86(5), 382–392.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thorne, S. L., & Black, R. (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.

    Google Scholar 

  • Toohey, K., Dagenais, D., & Schulze, E. (2012). Second language learners making video in three contexts. Language and Literacy, 14(2), 75–96.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Valdes, J. M. (1986). Culture bound: Bridging the cultural gap in language teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Warschauer, M., & Matuchniak, T. (2010). New technology and digital worlds: Analyzing evidence of equity in access, use, and outcomes. Review of Research in Education, 34(1), 179–225.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zuengler, J., & Miller, E. (2006). Cognitive and sociocultural perspectives: Two parallel SLA worlds? TESOL Quarterly, 40(1), 35–58.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Ron Darvin or Bonny Norton .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2016 Springer International Publishing AG

About this entry

Cite this entry

Darvin, R., Norton, B. (2016). Identity, Language Learning, and Critical Pedagogies in Digital Times. In: Cenoz, J., Gorter, D., May, S. (eds) Language Awareness and Multilingualism. Encyclopedia of Language and Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02325-0_3-2

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02325-0_3-2

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-02325-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-02325-0

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference EducationReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Education

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Chapter history

  1. Latest

    Identity, Language Learning, and Critical Pedagogies in Digital Times
    Published:
    27 December 2016

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02325-0_3-2

  2. Original

    Identity, Language Learning, and Critical Pedagogies in Digital Times
    Published:
    15 July 2016

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02325-0_3-1