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Programme: accepted abstracts

Abstract ID: 1298

Part of General Paper Session (Other abstracts in this session)

Multilingual university students’ identity construction through academic language and literacy, and multilingual social practices

Authors: Hayashi, Hisako
Submitted by: Hayashi, Hisako (Simon Fraser University, Canada)

This presentation repots the result of the ethnographic study that aims to understand multilingual students’ identity construction processes through university learning environments in Canada, in which demographic shift, multilingualism and transnationalism emerged in the society due to an increase of immigration (Canada statistics, 2009; Hiebert & Ley, 2006; Kelly, 2003). In this study, I will discuss 1) how multilingual students go through the process of “becoming” a university student; 2) how academic literacy course instructors understand the identities of their first-year students; and 3) classroom implications.

Recent sociolinguistics research suggests that the identities of individual multilingual students are socio-culturally and historically constructed based on transnational fields and multilingual practices, as well as constructed in relation to their future aspiration (Block, 2006a, 2006b; Kumaravadivelu, 2008). Yet, the relationship among the factors above and the identity construction of multilingual students is not well recognized and lacks official legitimation in the university community, which may lead to the students’ marginalization. In this study, I will build upon the on-going literature by performing an ethnographic study of the identity formation of multilingual students, since sociolinguists encourage empirical research on how multilingual students’ identity construction occurs in higher education through social relations and language practices (Block, 2006; Heller, 2007; Marshall, 2010; Rassool, 2000).

More specifically, this study examines the identity construction of multilingual students enrolled in the foundations of academic literacy course (FAL) at Simon Fraser University, Canada. The main finding of the study confirms multilingual students’ sustaining and developing multiple identities:  Phan’s (2008) notion of core or root identity was more evident in the students who focused more on their past academic, social and language experiences in Canada. Rather than placing themselves in the third space, or emphasizing hybridity in identity construction, some students take control over positioning themselves flexibly and clearly (Block, 2006; Marshall, 2009). Especially in a transnational context, multilingual students’ access to linguistic, cultural and social resources and networks are vast, often leading to translinguistic practices discursively.

In this presentation, I will first introduce an overview of the FAL instructors’ perception of their multilingual students. Then, I will discuss multilingual FAL students’ self-perceptions through their academic and social experiences as well as family influences to show how multilayered social, linguistic and community practices and reflections yield multiple-ness in identity construction.

The data that supports this study consists of classroom observations of five FAL courses that took place in one semester;  interviews with eight FAL instructors and 18 multilingual students from diverse backgrounds such as Brazil, China, Hong Kong, India, Korea, and Turkey; and students’ writing assignments (i.e., autobiography and course reflection).