2021-02-27 at 15:33:11
Thomas A. Williams from University of Szeged
will present Identity in progress: Life narrative and identity in a Hungarian English major from Vojvodina
Abstract
Based on the understanding that identity is constructed through self-narrative (Bruner 1987; Fougère 2008), the paper will present findings from an interview with a Hungarian native speaker from the Vojvodina region of Serbia, studying in the English Studies BA programme at the University of Szeged (Hungary). Themes explored in the data include: sensemaking (the process of an ever changing understanding of an ever changing identity); a sense of belonging with a focus on insideness and outsideness, competence and role fulfilment, and centre and periphery dynamics; questioning and learning about the self; and development and change, including heterotopias and the ‘third space’, and dwelling in-between. The findings have implications for foreign language learners, teachers, administrators, teacher trainers, educational policymakers, coursebook and other materials designers and anyone involved in foreign language learning and teaching, which is by definition an experience marked – and enriched – by multiple cultural and linguistic identities.
In section
Language Studies