Pub Date : 2020-08-02DOI: 10.1080/15427587.2020.1796484
Sergio Loza, Rosti Vana
ABSTRACT This study discusses the dialect stylization and language ideologies involved in a nationally broadcasted radio prank show, Carmen Calls. This national prank show permits a discussion on the language practices and hegemonic ideologies involved in the media representation of the show’s Latina protagonist; Carmen Santiago De la Hoya Ruiz Rivera Perez Tú Sabes. This exaggerated radio persona utilizes various linguistic and ideological mechanisms such as mock Spanish, code-switching, and other specific dialect features to create stylistic performances of Latinx stereotypes to harass unsuspecting victims. This study considers how the framing of the radio show draws upon the current socio-historical context of the U.S. in an era of escalading anti-immigrant and, therefore, anti-bilingual sentiment to create both the persona and the prank calls themselves. The analysis shows how the pranks draw from preexisting socio-cultural profiles and repertoires to reinforce monolingualism, nationalist ideologies, and dominant discourses regarding Latinx people. By bringing into the fold dominant semiotic and values associated with Latinxs, the show is able to employ them to project the vulgar, inappropriate, and hypothetical Carmen persona that upholds mainstream discourses through the same discriminatory practices that are part of U.S. Spanish-speakers’ lived experiences as minority language users.
摘要本研究探讨了在全国广播的恶作剧节目《卡门来电》中所涉及的方言风格化和语言意识形态。这个全国性的恶作剧节目允许讨论该节目的拉丁裔主角在媒体上的表现所涉及的语言实践和霸权意识形态；Carmen Santiago De la Hoya Ruiz Rivera Perez TúSabes。这种夸张的电台形象利用各种语言和意识形态机制，如模拟西班牙语、代码转换和其他特定的方言特征，创造拉丁裔刻板印象的风格表演，骚扰毫无戒心的受害者。这项研究考虑了广播节目的框架如何利用美国当前的社会历史背景，在这个反移民、反双语情绪不断升级的时代，创造出人物形象和恶作剧。分析表明，这些恶作剧是如何从现有的社会文化档案和剧目中汲取灵感，强化单语主义、民族主义意识形态和关于拉丁裔的主流话语的。通过将占主导地位的符号学和与拉丁裔相关的价值观融入其中，该剧能够利用它们来塑造粗俗、不恰当和假设的卡门形象，通过与美国西班牙语使用者作为少数民族语言使用者的生活经历相同的歧视性做法来维护主流话语。
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Pub Date : 2020-07-02DOI: 10.1080/15427587.2019.1664904
C. Jenks, J. Lee
ABSTRACT The notion of native speakerism describes the tendency to privilege and uphold “native speakers” as inherently more qualified to teach English on the arbitrary basis of linguistic birthright. In spite of the widespread recognition and critique of native speakerism within TESOL, it remains pervasive in professional practice, most evident in inequitable recruiting and hiring practices of English language teachers in a variety of global contexts. In this article, we propose that the imperviousness of native speakerism results from the enduring ideological commitment to what we call native speaker saviorism, which reflects the long-standing assumption that the White community can “save” peoples of color by teaching them English. As an illustrative case study, we analyze a series of responses to the financial precarity of the English language teaching profession in South Korea following governmental budgetary cuts starting in 2014. The analysis foregrounds the ideologies of racism in the form of White normativity and White saviorism that construct, legitimize, and rationalize the need for native speakers of English in South Korea. The analysis is followed by a series of recommendations for moving beyond native speaker saviorism in language teaching.
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Pub Date : 2020-07-02DOI: 10.1080/15427587.2020.1761256
Ryan A. Goble
ABSTRACT This article extends two conversations in the heritage language (HL) scholarship: 1) the need to strengthen the linguistic self-confidence among receptive bilinguals (who are typically associated with beginning-level HL students); 2) the need for more critical explorations of receptive bilinguals’ self-reported, albeit minimal, spoken Spanish in non-educational settings. This study approaches the relationship between linguistic self-confidence and spoken Spanish by examining the metalanguaging small stories of third-generation Mexican-American adults who do not identify as Spanish speakers, although they have studied Spanish formally and do claim strong comprehension skills. This case study of productive Spanish among “receptive” bilinguals specifically addresses the meta-sociolinguistic stances that study consultants take toward their bilingualism in stories that depict their current engagement with Spanish as adults. Findings indicate that the consultants, in navigating the research interview context, view nonparticipation and strong comprehension as the normative characteristics of their Spanish abilities. However, in other narrated contexts, they resource power and agency from their other social roles to position themselves as ideologically authentic Spanish speakers, though these interactions are unpredictable and infrequent in their emergence. Pedagogical implications for accentuating receptive bilinguals’ positive experiences speaking Spanish and for scrutinizing moments when they are reluctant to speak are addressed.
{"title":"Stancetaking and heritage language production: the untold stories of spoken Spanish among third-generation “receptive” bilinguals","authors":"Ryan A. Goble","doi":"10.1080/15427587.2020.1761256","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15427587.2020.1761256","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This article extends two conversations in the heritage language (HL) scholarship: 1) the need to strengthen the linguistic self-confidence among receptive bilinguals (who are typically associated with beginning-level HL students); 2) the need for more critical explorations of receptive bilinguals’ self-reported, albeit minimal, spoken Spanish in non-educational settings. This study approaches the relationship between linguistic self-confidence and spoken Spanish by examining the metalanguaging small stories of third-generation Mexican-American adults who do not identify as Spanish speakers, although they have studied Spanish formally and do claim strong comprehension skills. This case study of productive Spanish among “receptive” bilinguals specifically addresses the meta-sociolinguistic stances that study consultants take toward their bilingualism in stories that depict their current engagement with Spanish as adults. Findings indicate that the consultants, in navigating the research interview context, view nonparticipation and strong comprehension as the normative characteristics of their Spanish abilities. However, in other narrated contexts, they resource power and agency from their other social roles to position themselves as ideologically authentic Spanish speakers, though these interactions are unpredictable and infrequent in their emergence. Pedagogical implications for accentuating receptive bilinguals’ positive experiences speaking Spanish and for scrutinizing moments when they are reluctant to speak are addressed.","PeriodicalId":53706,"journal":{"name":"Critical Inquiry in Language Studies","volume":"17 1","pages":"247 - 273"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-07-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/15427587.2020.1761256","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43768853","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-07-02DOI: 10.1080/15427587.2019.1641097
Ruanni Tupas
ABSTRACT Much has been written about the linguistics, pragmatics and politics of the pluralization of English under conditions of colonization and globalization. By and large, however, the focus of the work on World Englishes has understandably been on “Englishes” rather than the “world”. This paper explores the theoretical potential of strategically displacing “Englishes” from the study of World Englishes and, instead, train our lens on the study of the “world” by operationalizing such strategic decentering in the context of Philippine English studies. Thus, the specific argument of this paper concerns the need to train our lenses on what constitutes “Philippine” in Philippine English. This crucial modifier of English is rarely discussed, much more unpacked and critiqued, thus “English” remains relatively disconnected from its very complex “local” moorings. In the end, however, a strategic decentering of English from the study of Philippine English will strengthen the conceptual power of our accounting of the critical role of English in Philippine society. This mobilizes the field to go beyond the study of Philippine English and into Unequal Philippine Englishes.
{"title":"Decentering language: displacing Englishes from the study of Englishes","authors":"Ruanni Tupas","doi":"10.1080/15427587.2019.1641097","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15427587.2019.1641097","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Much has been written about the linguistics, pragmatics and politics of the pluralization of English under conditions of colonization and globalization. By and large, however, the focus of the work on World Englishes has understandably been on “Englishes” rather than the “world”. This paper explores the theoretical potential of strategically displacing “Englishes” from the study of World Englishes and, instead, train our lens on the study of the “world” by operationalizing such strategic decentering in the context of Philippine English studies. Thus, the specific argument of this paper concerns the need to train our lenses on what constitutes “Philippine” in Philippine English. This crucial modifier of English is rarely discussed, much more unpacked and critiqued, thus “English” remains relatively disconnected from its very complex “local” moorings. In the end, however, a strategic decentering of English from the study of Philippine English will strengthen the conceptual power of our accounting of the critical role of English in Philippine society. This mobilizes the field to go beyond the study of Philippine English and into Unequal Philippine Englishes.","PeriodicalId":53706,"journal":{"name":"Critical Inquiry in Language Studies","volume":"17 1","pages":"228 - 245"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-07-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/15427587.2019.1641097","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47928259","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-07-02DOI: 10.1080/15427587.2019.1662306
Johanna Esquivel
ABSTRACT This case study focuses on the diverse discourses Latinx bilingual students bring to class to make sense of power relations in the world. The study implements critical literacy practices such as read-alouds, discussions, writing, and drawing activities that help students critique and disrupt power discourses embedded in texts and visuals. With the implementation of critical discourse analysis (CDA) and social semiotics, the collected data were examined. The objectives of this study are, first, to discover the students’ culturally and socially learned power discourses through the critical literacy practices used in a dual language classroom; second, to examine the student’s multiple English and Spanish literacies used as mediated tools for becoming dynamic readers and writers; and third, to employ CDA and social semiotics to unravel meaning systems, language use, and their concurrent relationships to power discourses. Results showed that through critical literacy practices, the participants used English and Spanish to comprehend texts, and to learn about dominant ideologies and practices that position people with advantaged and disadvantaged roles within a society.
{"title":"Embodying critical literacy in a dual language classroom: critical discourse analysis in a case study","authors":"Johanna Esquivel","doi":"10.1080/15427587.2019.1662306","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15427587.2019.1662306","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This case study focuses on the diverse discourses Latinx bilingual students bring to class to make sense of power relations in the world. The study implements critical literacy practices such as read-alouds, discussions, writing, and drawing activities that help students critique and disrupt power discourses embedded in texts and visuals. With the implementation of critical discourse analysis (CDA) and social semiotics, the collected data were examined. The objectives of this study are, first, to discover the students’ culturally and socially learned power discourses through the critical literacy practices used in a dual language classroom; second, to examine the student’s multiple English and Spanish literacies used as mediated tools for becoming dynamic readers and writers; and third, to employ CDA and social semiotics to unravel meaning systems, language use, and their concurrent relationships to power discourses. Results showed that through critical literacy practices, the participants used English and Spanish to comprehend texts, and to learn about dominant ideologies and practices that position people with advantaged and disadvantaged roles within a society.","PeriodicalId":53706,"journal":{"name":"Critical Inquiry in Language Studies","volume":"17 1","pages":"206 - 227"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-07-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/15427587.2019.1662306","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48919584","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-05-20DOI: 10.1080/15427587.2020.1764358
Wenhao Diao
ABSTRACT This study reports on two students of color studying abroad in China and examines the dialectic between their interpretation of American racism and their agency to study in China and speak Chinese. There have been steady increases in the number of ethnically minoritized students among the study abroad population, but students of color typically travel to places associated with their ethnolinguistic heritage. Existing research exploring study abroad students of color also tends to examine – either exclusively or partially – heritage learners with ethnolinguistic or ethnocultural affiliations to their destinations. This study switches the focus to black and brown American students learning Chinese in China. The results shed light on the relationship between structural racism they encounter in the U.S. and their agency to seek a place as an alternative to white dominance and enact a discourse against American racism. However, paradoxically, they also dismissed the racialization that they experienced in China as simple gestures of curiosity. These findings illustrate the potential of foreign language learning to engage students from disenfranchised groups in the critical discussion of race relationships.
{"title":"Speaking against racism: stories of successful Chinese L2 learners of color in China","authors":"Wenhao Diao","doi":"10.1080/15427587.2020.1764358","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15427587.2020.1764358","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This study reports on two students of color studying abroad in China and examines the dialectic between their interpretation of American racism and their agency to study in China and speak Chinese. There have been steady increases in the number of ethnically minoritized students among the study abroad population, but students of color typically travel to places associated with their ethnolinguistic heritage. Existing research exploring study abroad students of color also tends to examine – either exclusively or partially – heritage learners with ethnolinguistic or ethnocultural affiliations to their destinations. This study switches the focus to black and brown American students learning Chinese in China. The results shed light on the relationship between structural racism they encounter in the U.S. and their agency to seek a place as an alternative to white dominance and enact a discourse against American racism. However, paradoxically, they also dismissed the racialization that they experienced in China as simple gestures of curiosity. These findings illustrate the potential of foreign language learning to engage students from disenfranchised groups in the critical discussion of race relationships.","PeriodicalId":53706,"journal":{"name":"Critical Inquiry in Language Studies","volume":"18 1","pages":"105 - 132"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-05-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/15427587.2020.1764358","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48327150","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-04-16DOI: 10.1080/15427587.2020.1751631
Irit Zeevi, Deborah Dubiner
ABSTRACT In urban centers, many residents commute to work and are exposed to visual input displayed on cars around them. License plates become a space utilized by advertisers to display advertising messages. This is an instance of the presence of language in the public space, or the linguistic landscape of an area. The purpose of the present study is to analyze linguistic and visual elements of license plates in the Israeli linguistic landscape. The study positions the license plates as a medium that conveys messages reflecting Israeli society and culture. We focus on the advertising texts on license plate frames and examine the messages they carry about the car and the car owner. Through a content analysis of such texts, findings point to varied linguistic-visual elements in the license plates from a linguistic landscape perspective, such as the presence of languages and the flag, including the empowerment of the car company and the car itself, the driving experience, driver’s superiority and dream realization, and the personal relationships between the driver and the car. We conclude that today cars are not only vehicles taking us from place to place, but are also associated with power, emotion, freedom, superiority, and self-expression.
{"title":"Peugeot–“motion and emotion” the language of license plates as an advertising medium and its connection with Israeli society","authors":"Irit Zeevi, Deborah Dubiner","doi":"10.1080/15427587.2020.1751631","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15427587.2020.1751631","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT In urban centers, many residents commute to work and are exposed to visual input displayed on cars around them. License plates become a space utilized by advertisers to display advertising messages. This is an instance of the presence of language in the public space, or the linguistic landscape of an area. The purpose of the present study is to analyze linguistic and visual elements of license plates in the Israeli linguistic landscape. The study positions the license plates as a medium that conveys messages reflecting Israeli society and culture. We focus on the advertising texts on license plate frames and examine the messages they carry about the car and the car owner. Through a content analysis of such texts, findings point to varied linguistic-visual elements in the license plates from a linguistic landscape perspective, such as the presence of languages and the flag, including the empowerment of the car company and the car itself, the driving experience, driver’s superiority and dream realization, and the personal relationships between the driver and the car. We conclude that today cars are not only vehicles taking us from place to place, but are also associated with power, emotion, freedom, superiority, and self-expression.","PeriodicalId":53706,"journal":{"name":"Critical Inquiry in Language Studies","volume":"17 1","pages":"274 - 295"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-04-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/15427587.2020.1751631","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44888867","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-04-02DOI: 10.1080/15427587.2019.1574578
M. Moraru
ABSTRACT Attempts at the definition of multilingualism range from the structuralist interpretation as the coexistence of multiple codes to the critical sociolinguistic efforts to go beyond the idea of languages as fixed entities. The author’s purpose is to explore the suitability of Pierre Bourdieu’s model of linguistic production and circulation to account for the phenomenon of multilingualism. Central to this endeavor are the linguistic biographies of five second-generation British-Arab multilingual immigrants based in Cardiff, Wales. Starting from the idea that in Cardiff primarily linguistic practices with English are dominant, the question that arises refers to the immanent sociohistorical conditions and power relations that allow these agents to produce linguistic practices with Arabic, apart from English. The analysis of the interviews through the Bourdieusian conceptual lenses allows a focus on the linguistic habitus of the multilingual interviewees, which is defined as an integral set of linguistic dispositions adapted not only to the multiple linguistic markets they are part of, but also to the unbalanced power relations among such markets. These results demonstrate that an adapted version of the Bourdieusian model allows for a complex redefinition of multilingualism from the perspective of the immanent power relations under which this phenomenon emerges.
{"title":"Toward a Bourdieusian theory of multilingualism","authors":"M. Moraru","doi":"10.1080/15427587.2019.1574578","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15427587.2019.1574578","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Attempts at the definition of multilingualism range from the structuralist interpretation as the coexistence of multiple codes to the critical sociolinguistic efforts to go beyond the idea of languages as fixed entities. The author’s purpose is to explore the suitability of Pierre Bourdieu’s model of linguistic production and circulation to account for the phenomenon of multilingualism. Central to this endeavor are the linguistic biographies of five second-generation British-Arab multilingual immigrants based in Cardiff, Wales. Starting from the idea that in Cardiff primarily linguistic practices with English are dominant, the question that arises refers to the immanent sociohistorical conditions and power relations that allow these agents to produce linguistic practices with Arabic, apart from English. The analysis of the interviews through the Bourdieusian conceptual lenses allows a focus on the linguistic habitus of the multilingual interviewees, which is defined as an integral set of linguistic dispositions adapted not only to the multiple linguistic markets they are part of, but also to the unbalanced power relations among such markets. These results demonstrate that an adapted version of the Bourdieusian model allows for a complex redefinition of multilingualism from the perspective of the immanent power relations under which this phenomenon emerges.","PeriodicalId":53706,"journal":{"name":"Critical Inquiry in Language Studies","volume":"17 1","pages":"100 - 79"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-04-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/15427587.2019.1574578","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46975831","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-03-28DOI: 10.1080/15427587.2020.1739527
Misako Tajima
ABSTRACT This article explores the idea of “engagement with English as a neoliberal endeavor.” Drawing on narrative accounts from seven employees who are/were affiliated with Japan-based companies that have adopted English as an official corporate language (EOCL), the article argues that even in these supposed “global” organizations, English does not exist simply to be learned or used as a business lingua franca; the language can also serve as an ideological construct that encourages employees in their neoliberal endeavor to be needed workers, with the Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC) functioning as a surveillance mechanism that drives the employees to continuously study the language with enthusiasm. Using this argument as a basis, the article offers an empirical alternative to how people’s multifaceted understanding of English and the learning of the language in the current neoliberal capitalist world can be captured. The examples used, as well as the idea of “engagement with English as a neoliberal endeavor,” contribute to opening up academic discussions to reconsider the notion of language learning.
{"title":"Engagement with English as a neoliberal endeavor: reconsidering the notion of language learning","authors":"Misako Tajima","doi":"10.1080/15427587.2020.1739527","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15427587.2020.1739527","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This article explores the idea of “engagement with English as a neoliberal endeavor.” Drawing on narrative accounts from seven employees who are/were affiliated with Japan-based companies that have adopted English as an official corporate language (EOCL), the article argues that even in these supposed “global” organizations, English does not exist simply to be learned or used as a business lingua franca; the language can also serve as an ideological construct that encourages employees in their neoliberal endeavor to be needed workers, with the Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC) functioning as a surveillance mechanism that drives the employees to continuously study the language with enthusiasm. Using this argument as a basis, the article offers an empirical alternative to how people’s multifaceted understanding of English and the learning of the language in the current neoliberal capitalist world can be captured. The examples used, as well as the idea of “engagement with English as a neoliberal endeavor,” contribute to opening up academic discussions to reconsider the notion of language learning.","PeriodicalId":53706,"journal":{"name":"Critical Inquiry in Language Studies","volume":"17 1","pages":"296 - 315"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-03-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/15427587.2020.1739527","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47515542","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-01-29DOI: 10.1080/15427587.2020.1713786
Min Wang
ABSTRACT Informed by the theory of identity in practice, this study examined an immigrant student’s (Yulia’s) language learning experience. A narrative analysis of Yulia’s personal stories reveals that her perceived identities as an intelligent, different, and special multilingual speaker have isolated her from her communities. She desperately tried to fit in with various groups in multiple communities of practice. Unfortunately, although she felt a sense of belonging, she became a modified version of herself. Shuttling among languages, cultures, and groups, Yulia found that her true self was invisible in any culture in which she found herself. Moreover, positioned as her parents’ secretary and translator, Yulia believed that her lived experiences have shaped her as a resilient, mature, and independent immigrant who shouldered many familial responsibilities at a young age. Her reversed role as a parent deprived her of time and joy to be a child. Yulia’s multilayered and complicated identities interacted with her actions and perspectives on herself and experiences as an immigrant. Findings indicate that this immigrant’s self-formation in action at times matches and mismatches her self-conceptions based on her learning trajectories and unique situations. Thus, the researcher argues that linguistic competence does not necessarily facilitate community membership establishment.
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