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ERIC Number: EJ954344
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2011-Sep
Pages: 17
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1030-8385
EISSN: N/A
Visiting "Home": Contacts with the Homeland, Self-Reflexivity and Emergent Migrant Bilingual Identities
Williams, Alan; Setijadi-Dunn, Charlotte
TESOL in Context, v21 n1 p42-58 Sep 2011
There has been increasing interest recently in the way that additional language learners' identities are affected and changed by their experiences in developing proficiency in another language. In the case of migrants, this is also affected by familiarity with their new country and language, and their transition into life in a new social and cultural environment. National and linguistic elements of identity are only part of people's multifaceted identities. However, these are of particular significance for language teachers and central to identity shifts involved in language acquisition and settlement in a new country. We present data from two adult EAL (English as an additional language) learners' accounts of their developing bilingual identities in the Adult Migrant Education Program (AMEP). In particular, we focus on one student's self-reflexivity as she described how her experiences of travelling back to her homeland of People's Republic of China (PRC) contributed to the development of her emerging bilingual identity. This is supported by a shorter extract from a Colombian student's experience, as she described her difficulties in communicating something of her Australian experience to her family in Colombia. The study suggests ways in which language teachers can assist their adult immigrant learners to explore this aspect of their growth as bilingual speakers in their new language. (Contains 4 footnotes.)
Australian Council of TESOL Associations. P.O. Box 2019, Smithfield, New South Wales 2164, Australia. e-mail: actaexec@yahoo.com.au; Web site: http://www.tesol.org.au/Publications/TESOL-in-Context
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Adult Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Australia; China; Colombia
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A