Week Four

This weeks reading in the Holliday et. al book are sections 1.3, 1.4, and 1.5. The first paragraph of section 1.3 brings up good points. It argues that narrating your own life is a helpful way of discovering a personal identity. Also, being able to apply your identity to a larger group, or a “Dominant Narrative,” helps you feel included. In reference the Great Migration, the Dominant Narrative was English-speaking and trying to reach the American ideal of speaking fluent English and having a steady job to support a family. Those who did not learn English were excluded from this blanket narrative, and thus cast as social outsiders. The inability to communicate effectively in English in present-day America still excludes many from realizing certain goals, like having a steady, well-paid job.

Later in section 1.5.1, Ehrman and Dornyei are quoted as saying that “language learning frequently entails new thought processes, identity, and values that can present a threat to learners.” I agree-ish. Learning a new language undoubtedly requires new thought processes to analyze foreign grammar structures, alphabets, etc. This can shift a few thought in your brain by just making you more open-minded, but it is the culture behind the language that causes the rest of the aforementioned changes. Examining a new way of life, a new perspective, allows the learner to see the same world, or task, through a different light. The acceptance of the existence of other cultures is what opens our frame of reference and allows us to edit our own values, which in turn edits our identities.

Although identities are very important, the Hall article says that “it is not the case that all of our identities are always relevant.” I agree. It is hard to put a definition on exactly when they are and are not relevant, but there are circumstances when your background has no pertinence to a present situation. My favorite childhood stories do not affect my dinner choice for this evening. If someone’s favorite story was Dr Seuss’ Green Eggs and Ham, then it may—but this is not my case. Having multiple identities means that some will overlap while others will not. Those that do not overlap with a present situation do not affect the individual’s course of action.

Just as one of our identities may not apply to a situation, it is possible that none of them do. Since our identities are limited to our past experiences, it is possible to have many foreign concepts. This can happen when a new topic is covered in class for the first time, or in Eva’s case in the Norton article, someone moves to a new country and doesn’t know all the cultural norms. This leads me to wonder how long it takes to form a new identity, and when can one identity split into two? For example, when living in a new culture, when do you switch from “Tourist” to “Resident?” Are some identities so engraved into people’s minds that they never let go? Can identities fade away with time or shame? Can they come back when nurtured?