The Concise Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics

IIdentities and Language Teaching in Classrooms

DIANE DAGENAIS

What is the relationship between students' identities and their classroom environments and how does it affect language learning? This question has garnered much attention in applied linguistics and there is now a substantial body of research examining links between learner identities and language‐learning contexts (Norton, 2013). Many researchers draw on theories of the social to investigate the ways learners define themselves, are defined by others, and are positioned in social interaction to understand how they impact language learning. In their studies identities are conceptualized as multiple and dynamic social constructions. More recently, a growing number of researchers is exploring how theories of the sociomaterial might help expand the discussion by considering how the social is related to the material (Canagarajah, 2018; Pennycook, 2018; Toohey, 2018). Scholarship in this area looks closely at processes of becoming (Barad, 2007; Bennett, 2010) as humans and materials merge in particular environments and affect learning.

Theories of the Social

In her pioneering work on identities in language learning, Norton (2013) observed the social positionings of immigrant women learning English oriented how they participated in language‐learning settings. She suggested they invested in these contexts in relation to the identities attributed to them and those they took up themselves. Drawing on poststructural theories ...