In order to position the notion of identity as more central to theory and practice in TESOL, a survey is presented of how the notion of identity contributes to our understanding of the nature of the teacher self, second language learning and teacher learning in language teaching. Available theory and research is reviewed to illustrate the sources…

This study is the first to analyze data from a national survey to investigate the significance for deaf identity of the different forms of social and technological support that deaf people rely upon. Data were derived from a survey among 839 deaf people and were analyzed with regard to social identification as deaf, hearing, bicultural, and…

The purpose of this study was to examine how college students who identify as queer and Muslim and attend 4-year colleges and universities integrate their religious and sexual identities. The study was conducted through a constructivist paradigm that acknowledged multiple truths and the role of the researcher in co-constructing knowledge. The…

This article investigates how non-native English-speaking teachers' (NNESTs) professional identities can be affected by their employment experiences in Australia. Hermeneutic phenomenological narrative analyses of the written narratives of lived experiences of a group of NNESTs demonstrate how their professional identities were negatively affected…

This collaborative autoethnographic research explores the identity shaping construction trajectory of a group of three English teacher researchers as well as the repercussions that these processes had on the enactment of a critical decolonial perception toward the ELT field. Using a qualitative approach, the English teachers engaged in this…

Framed by theories of youth, culture, identity studies, and literacy identity formation, this article examines how youth articulate themselves as writers. Using interview transcripts, analysis explored writing identity from the perspective of teens in urban, suburban, and rural settings. Findings from this qualitative study suggest that youth used…

This paper explores methodological questions in the study of identity through an examination and discussion of the empirical papers in this special issue. Particular attention is paid to the ways identity is operationalized in the study of how learning environments foster changes in students' sense of self. The paper concludes that identity is a…

Muslim women are portrayed with a dichotomous image: on one side, as the victims of the patriarchal Muslim men and, on the other, as the violent associates of the Muslim terrorist (Maruoka, 2008). The act of head covering, the most visible Muslim-identified marker, has thus assumed an outsized space in research of Muslim women. However, while…

This qualitative study examines the factors that facilitate or inhibit the academic identity development of four Vietnamese doctoral students in Denmark. Using the combination of Genetic method and Activity theory, the paper provides insights into the participants' experiences of becoming and being an academic, which is context-dependent and…

Despite a growing body of knowledge regarding the relevance of queer people and their lives to language education, we still know little about the power of classrooms, institutions, and larger macro structural forces to shape--and be shaped by--the identity experiences of queer L2 learners. This article presents a comparative analysis of the…

Higher education biology is often imagined, perceived, and described as having reached gender equality in terms of who gets to participate in disciplinary practices. However, like any other natural science discipline, higher education biology is a world whose landscapes are shaped by (re)productions of historical, cultural, and social norms. We…

Multilingual learners confront challenges not only in mastering new languages but also in forming new identities. Guided by the investment model, we traced the learning of Chinese and English of two Uyghur women who attended a coastal Chinese university and investigated how they navigated the Chinese mainstream education system to university…

Persistence in high school curricula leading to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) careers is structured by complex institutional systems, but developmental processes underlie how young people navigate these systems. This study examined differences in the development of STEM identity and efficacy during high school among…

Background: STEM identity has emerged as an important research topic and a predictor of how youth engage with STEM inside and outside of school. Although there is a growing body of literature in this area, less work has been done specific to engineering, especially in out-of-school learning contexts. Methods: To address this need, we conducted a…

YA fiction is well known for a prevalence of narratives that explore identity and identity change. Critics have constructed multiple theoretical frameworks that help put into words the workings of adolescent identity in these novels. This article adds to that discussion by analysing Jacob, the main character of Aidan Chambers' "Postcards from…