What is it about?
Despite having almost no familial or social connection with English-speakers and English-speaking countries, 19 interviewees, all English B.Ed. students residing in the Israeli periphery, ascribe a central and surprisingly emotional role to English in their lives. The article presents the conclusions of a qualitative research project investigating the sources and nature of their attachment. It demonstrates that the students' professed love of the language has to do with their successful appropriation of various facets of the English language and culture for the enrichment of their self-identity, which remains fundamentally rooted in their local habitus. The interlacing of global and local elements, recognized and taken ownership of through the telling of the life stories, does not lead the students to a rejection of one identity in favor of another. Rather, it results in a composite, richer self-identity, woven of different cultural strands. Finally, the article discusses possible pedagogical implications of the learner experiences delineated in the students' accounts, and supports the call for creative, student-focused pedagogy in second language education, rich in intercultural knowledge and in opportunities for self-development and self-expression.
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Why is it important?
The article presents the results of a qualitative research project examining the complex links between English language learning and learner identity formation. It offers a fresh perspective on this topical and contentious issue by focusing on the experiences of a hitherto unexamined cultural group.
Perspectives
The research which led to this paper began with a chance conversation in the college corridor. I was struck by the way a student I was talking with spoke about English, expressing her connection with the language in very intense, emotional terms. In the following months, I became more and more aware that many of my students –all non-native speakers of English, studying to become teachers of the language – used similarly-emotional expressions. 'I just love it' seemed the most common one. Curiosity as to the sources and nature of this phenomenon led to the following study. My findings have strengthened my belief in the value of my own work and of EFL education as a whole.
Dr Miri Tashma Baum
Givat-Washington Academic College of Education
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: ‘The aspect of the heart’: English and self-identity in the experience of preservice teachers, Language and Intercultural Communication, July 2014, Taylor & Francis,
DOI: 10.1080/14708477.2014.934379.
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