Identity, agency and intercultural dialogic competencies in L2 ultimate attainment

This preliminary study seeks to examine the role of agency and bilinguals’ identity negotiated in the processes of acculturation as key factors in attaining a very high or near-native L2 proficiency. Since these aspects appear to have been underestimated in research on L2 ultimate attainment, interviews were carried out with eight L2 speakers of Polish (four near-native and four highly advanced bilinguals) in order to obtain qualitative data on participants’ self-identity and acculturation. The results show that the near-native subjects identified themselves very strongly with the receiving society, whereas highly proficient L2 speakers retained a much stronger sense of L1-related identity. It is hypothesized that bilinguals’ acculturation strategies and intercultural dialogic competencies may be decisive factors in determining L2 near-nativeness.