The Influence of Living and Working Abroad on the Identities of Researchers and Native Speaker Teachers

The study investigates the influence of living and working abroad on the identities of researchers and native speaker teachers. Following Block (2009), Hall (2012) and Pavlenko and Blackledge (2004), identity is assumed here to be dynamic and multiple, where the different identities of a person can...

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Main Author: Teresa Maria Włosowicz
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: University of Silesia Press 2021-01-01
Series:Theory and Practice of Second Language Acquisition
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.journals.us.edu.pl/index.php/TAPSLA/article/view/7762
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author Teresa Maria Włosowicz
author_facet Teresa Maria Włosowicz
author_sort Teresa Maria Włosowicz
collection DOAJ
description The study investigates the influence of living and working abroad on the identities of researchers and native speaker teachers. Following Block (2009), Hall (2012) and Pavlenko and Blackledge (2004), identity is assumed here to be dynamic and multiple, where the different identities of a person can be more or less relevant in a given context (Hall, 2012, p. 33). Moreover, identities at the time of globalisation tend to be hybrid (Marotta, 2011) and, in the case of migration, they can be bicultural (Comănaru, Noels & Dewaele, 2017), but as Comănaru et al. (2017, p. 539) observe, each bicultural person’s identity is different, depending on his or her life history, language proficiency, psychological traits, etc. Simultaneously, there is  evidence that multilingualism increases cognitive empathy (Dewaele & Wei, 2012) and makes people more open-minded (Wlosowicz, 2019), so it could be assumed that the participants would recognise their hybrid identities as an enrichment rather than a threat to their native identities, even though identification with their native languages and cultures, with their families, etc. would remain an important part of their identity. The research tool used in the present study was a questionnaire completed by forty native speaker teachers and researchers living abroad. As the results show, the participants’ identities are indeed highly complex, hybrid and influenced by different factors, however, the native language and the family remain very important components of identity, unlike, for example, one’s profession. Still, they also admitted that foreign language knowledge enriched them culturally, intellectually and emotionally.                  
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spelling doaj.art-fc819f1540ba46bb8f74ec9a75e2d3ed2022-12-22T02:59:43ZengUniversity of Silesia PressTheory and Practice of Second Language Acquisition2450-54552451-21252021-01-016210.31261/TAPSLA.7762The Influence of Living and Working Abroad on the Identities of Researchers and Native Speaker TeachersTeresa Maria Włosowicz0University of Bielsko-Biala The study investigates the influence of living and working abroad on the identities of researchers and native speaker teachers. Following Block (2009), Hall (2012) and Pavlenko and Blackledge (2004), identity is assumed here to be dynamic and multiple, where the different identities of a person can be more or less relevant in a given context (Hall, 2012, p. 33). Moreover, identities at the time of globalisation tend to be hybrid (Marotta, 2011) and, in the case of migration, they can be bicultural (Comănaru, Noels & Dewaele, 2017), but as Comănaru et al. (2017, p. 539) observe, each bicultural person’s identity is different, depending on his or her life history, language proficiency, psychological traits, etc. Simultaneously, there is  evidence that multilingualism increases cognitive empathy (Dewaele & Wei, 2012) and makes people more open-minded (Wlosowicz, 2019), so it could be assumed that the participants would recognise their hybrid identities as an enrichment rather than a threat to their native identities, even though identification with their native languages and cultures, with their families, etc. would remain an important part of their identity. The research tool used in the present study was a questionnaire completed by forty native speaker teachers and researchers living abroad. As the results show, the participants’ identities are indeed highly complex, hybrid and influenced by different factors, however, the native language and the family remain very important components of identity, unlike, for example, one’s profession. Still, they also admitted that foreign language knowledge enriched them culturally, intellectually and emotionally.                   https://www.journals.us.edu.pl/index.php/TAPSLA/article/view/7762identitymultiligualismmobilitylinguistic and cultural awareness
spellingShingle Teresa Maria Włosowicz
The Influence of Living and Working Abroad on the Identities of Researchers and Native Speaker Teachers
Theory and Practice of Second Language Acquisition
identity
multiligualism
mobility
linguistic and cultural awareness
title The Influence of Living and Working Abroad on the Identities of Researchers and Native Speaker Teachers
title_full The Influence of Living and Working Abroad on the Identities of Researchers and Native Speaker Teachers
title_fullStr The Influence of Living and Working Abroad on the Identities of Researchers and Native Speaker Teachers
title_full_unstemmed The Influence of Living and Working Abroad on the Identities of Researchers and Native Speaker Teachers
title_short The Influence of Living and Working Abroad on the Identities of Researchers and Native Speaker Teachers
title_sort influence of living and working abroad on the identities of researchers and native speaker teachers
topic identity
multiligualism
mobility
linguistic and cultural awareness
url https://www.journals.us.edu.pl/index.php/TAPSLA/article/view/7762
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