This is an instrumental case study that focuses on the construction of English Language Learner Identity (ELLI) in postcolonial Pakistan. It is a study of students at a public sector university in the province of Sindh. The study broadly examines how English language learners reconstruct, redefine and negotiate their language learner identities during their English language learning journeys. In particular, it attempts to explore learners’ investment and agency in learning English and what ‘future possible selves’ they want to achieve after acquiring English language skills. Consideration is given to how learning English as a second language may be impacted by students’ gender, social class and ethnolinguistic selves and how learners’ English Language Learner Identity is formed and reformed in postcolonial Pakistan. This instrumental case study of the University of Sindh did not attempt to explore the case in its entirety but rather studied a particular aspect of it. In order to gather the data for my study I recruited three cohorts - primary (Year 1) and secondary (Year 2, 3 and 4) participants and other stakeholders from the Institute of English Language and Literature (IELL), the University of Sindh (UoS). Year 1 students were the key participants in the study but with the involvement of 2nd, 3rd and 4th year students, I was able to construct a possible sense of language learner identity and language learning evolution beyond the first year students’ experiences. Year 1 students were interviewed twice over a twelve-month period during which time they also wrote reflective diaries twice a month. Engagement with each of the other year groups involved one focus group discussion with each year once only in the middle of the data collection journey. In addition, participant shadowing and non-participant classroom observations were also utilised to enhance understanding and to triangulate the data. The views of other stakeholders such as the language teacher, the Director of the Institute and the Dean of the Faculty were also gathered to supplement and inform the data collected from students. The key findings of this study suggested that investment, learner agency, desire for possible future selves and historical and cultural consciousness are the main constructs of language learner identity in postcolonial Pakistan. Learners have invested in English language learning through a number of processes and have had unique language learning journeys exercising their learner agency. It reinforced an understanding of learners’ identities as dynamic and multidimensional and fluid in nature, being continually reconstructed and negotiated over time in different academic, social and cultural contexts leading to a hybridised English Language Learner Identity (ELLI) situated in the ‘third space’. It was found that Year 1 students were open to negotiating their multidimensional identities but conformed to an acceptance of the primacy of English while their senior counterparts resisted and sometimes challenged not only English language learning but also the significance of English as a mechanism for linguistic and cultural manipulation. It was noticed that the nature and extent of investment, agency and identity negotiations were related to learners’ individual experiences, social class, academic, family and ethnolinguistic background and their year of the degree programme.

Abstract This study in second language acquisition (SLA) investigates the influence of self-portrayal of language learners in an interactive online L2 learning environment from a social-interactionist research perspective. This thesis has a mainly theoretical focus and will integrate concepts of online communication with SLA methodology. This work reviews some classical perspectives on chats and message boards as environment for online communication in chapter two and develops a list of features to classify them from a second language acquisition perspective. In order to assist the main argument of the thesis that an integrated view of learners within a learning context is necessary to fully use the advantages of an interactive online learning environment, the second language acquisition model of Marysia Johnson (2004) is discussed in chapter three. Using the premises of the model, which result from the application of Lev Vygotskys sociocultural theory and Mikhail Bakhtins dialogized heteroglossia, key features for the later data analysis are pointed out. Those are the dismissal of the separation of language competence and language performance, a view of language that exceeds mere morphosyntactical concerns and the overcoming of the mainstream mentalist SLA approach in favor of a socioculturally oriented dialogical language learning model. The approach of Bonny Norton (2000) to identity is used as an analytical framework to complete Johnsons model developing a methodology for chapter four. The data analysis in chapter five is used to prove the validity of the model in showing that the developed model is applicable for the analysis of an online context. After a description of the course environment and a preliminary analysis, an in depth qualitative approach is used to point out the links between sociocultural theory and identity theory. Afterwards, I will give a short summary of my most important results and finish my thesis with some suggestions for further research.

Abstract This study in second language acquisition (SLA) investigates the influence of self-portrayal of language learners in an interactive online L2 learning environment from a social-interactionist research perspective. This thesis has a mainly theoretical focus and will integrate concepts of online communication with SLA methodology. This work reviews some classical perspectives on chats and message boards as environment for online communication in chapter two and develops a list of features to classify them from a second language acquisition perspective. In order to assist the main argument of the thesis that an integrated view of learners within a learning context is necessary to fully use the advantages of an interactive online learning environment, the second language acquisition model of Marysia Johnson (2004) is discussed in chapter three. Using the premises of the model, which result from the application of Lev Vygotskys sociocultural theory and Mikhail Bakhtins dialogized heteroglossia, key features for the later data analysis are pointed out. Those are the dismissal of the separation of language competence and language performance, a view of language that exceeds mere morphosyntactical concerns and the overcoming of the mainstream mentalist SLA approach in favor of a socioculturally oriented dialogical language learning model. The approach of Bonny Norton (2000) to identity is used as an analytical framework to complete Johnsons model developing a methodology for chapter four. The data analysis in chapter five is used to prove the validity of the model in showing that the developed model is applicable for the analysis of an online context. After a description of the course environment and a preliminary analysis, an in depth qualitative approach is used to point out the links between sociocultural theory and identity theory. Afterwards, I will give a short summary of my most important results and finish my thesis with some suggestions for further research.

This study aimed to investigate the relationships between how EFL (English as a Foreign Language) learners positioned themselves and how they approached their learning in an English club. Three focuses formed the basis of this study: 1) the process of learners' enactment of different social positions in the English club meeting; 2) the relationship between learners' perceptions of the English club and their self-positioning in the English club meeting; 3) the relationship between learners' self-positioning and the meaning of learning in the English club meeting. This study adopted a case study approach focusing on 3 participants in an English club. Data were collected from a variety of sources for triangulation, including personal information survey, interviews, and field observations. Data collection was comprised of 2 stages of participant observation and 3 rounds of individual interviews. The observational data was approximately 54 hours in total. The interview data for the 3 focal participants was approximately 14 hours in total, while the interview data for the other club members was approximately 15 hours in total. Constant comparative method was employed to analyze collected data at the early stage. Zimmerman' s (1998) three identity categories (i.e., situated identity, discourse identity, and transportable identity) were adopted to be the analytical framework for future theorization. There were three major findings in this study: 1) the 3 focal participants demonstrated different forms of self-positioning in the English club meeting based on Zimmerman's three identity categories; 2) the 3 focal participants' perceptions of English clubs had a bearing on their self-positioning in the English club meeting; 3) the 3 focal participants made their own meaning of learning in relation to their self-positioning in the English club meeting. On the basis of the findings, the present study has six major discussion focuses: 1) shifting forms of self-positioning; 2) levels of self-positioning; 3) perceptions of English clubs and self-positioning; 4) meaning of learning and self-positioning; 5) continuum of a social community; 6) English club members as language users. To enrich the understanding of social positioning, the researcher suggest the following: 1) comparing the differences between how other members in an English club position the focal participants and how focal participants position themselves; 2) investigating EFL learners' social positioning in an English club with native English speakers; 3) exploring how EFL learners position themselves in two or more English clubs; 4) understanding how silent members think of their participation in an English club To enhance the participation in and usefulness of an English club, three practical suggestions are provided: 1) members should be granted enough freedom to adopt different routes of participation in an English club, such as being a listener, a story teller, or a merrymaker; 2) activities and practices in such an English club should be as diverse as possible to embrace and accommodate different types of members; 3) particular attention should be given to diversify the grouping of members.

Face-to-face interaction with target language (TL) group members can provide the intensive second language (L2) exposure required to enhance motivation; it improves attitudes towards L2 development, and promotes achievement (Freed, 1995; Warden, Lapkin, Swain, & Hart, 1995). However, face-to-face interaction with TL group members is not always possible. This is especially true for former core French (CF) students who have enrolled in beginner French as a Second Language (FSL) courses at universities in predominantly Anglophone regions of Canada. To address this issue, I designed a mixed-method case study to examine opportunities for providing intensive FSL exposure and enhancing motivation for beginner FSL university learners. The participants were 55 beginning learners of FSL studying at an Anglophone university in Atlantic Canada. To examine intensive FSL exposure, I compared the overall writing achievement over time of 2 groups interacting in a telecollaborative context: (a) a group interacting with younger Francophone Acadians in another province; and (b) a group interacting with classroom peers of similar L2 proficiency. To gain indepth insight into the effects of the telecollaboration, I explored 4 learners’ L2 motivational self-system: (a) perceptions of their prior and current language-learning experiences; and (b) how language-learner identity was shaped by the experiences. The study is based on 5 data sources: writing samples, background questionnaires, stimulated-recall interviews, language-learning autobiographies, and ongoing observations. It is grounded in 5 bodies of knowledge: the Input-Interaction-Output hypothesis within a socio-cultural perspective (Block, 2003), current L2 writing theory, collaborative learning theory, telecollaborative research, and Dörnyei’s (2005) L2 Motivational Self-System Theory. Quantitative comparison of overall writing achievement in the 2 telecollaborative writing contexts (using Mann-Whitney U tests) revealed that the comparison group performed better than the treatment group. Qualitative findings, however, demonstrated that the treatment group had more positive perceptions of their language-learning experiences with respect to L2 writing achievement at university, as well as more positive language-learner identities than did the comparison group. Further exploration of language-learner identities from an L2 motivational self-system perspective identified 3 identity shaping characteristics: evolution, demotivation and amotivation, and self-regulation.

Face-to-face interaction with target language (TL) group members can provide the intensive second language (L2) exposure required to enhance motivation; it improves attitudes towards L2 development, and promotes achievement (Freed, 1995; Warden, Lapkin, Swain, & Hart, 1995). However, face-to-face interaction with TL group members is not always possible. This is especially true for former core French (CF) students who have enrolled in beginner French as a Second Language (FSL) courses at universities in predominantly Anglophone regions of Canada. To address this issue, I designed a mixed-method case study to examine opportunities for providing intensive FSL exposure and enhancing motivation for beginner FSL university learners. The participants were 55 beginning learners of FSL studying at an Anglophone university in Atlantic Canada. To examine intensive FSL exposure, I compared the overall writing achievement over time of 2 groups interacting in a telecollaborative context: (a) a group interacting with younger Francophone Acadians in another province; and (b) a group interacting with classroom peers of similar L2 proficiency. To gain indepth insight into the effects of the telecollaboration, I explored 4 learners’ L2 motivational self-system: (a) perceptions of their prior and current language-learning experiences; and (b) how language-learner identity was shaped by the experiences. The study is based on 5 data sources: writing samples, background questionnaires, stimulated-recall interviews, language-learning autobiographies, and ongoing observations. It is grounded in 5 bodies of knowledge: the Input-Interaction-Output hypothesis within a socio-cultural perspective (Block, 2003), current L2 writing theory, collaborative learning theory, telecollaborative research, and Dörnyei’s (2005) L2 Motivational Self-System Theory. Quantitative comparison of overall writing achievement in the 2 telecollaborative writing contexts (using Mann-Whitney U tests) revealed that the comparison group performed better than the treatment group. Qualitative findings, however, demonstrated that the treatment group had more positive perceptions of their language-learning experiences with respect to L2 writing achievement at university, as well as more positive language-learner identities than did the comparison group. Further exploration of language-learner identities from an L2 motivational self-system perspective identified 3 identity shaping characteristics: evolution, demotivation and amotivation, and self-regulation.

This research study, funded by the Leverhulme Trust as part of the CURLIEW project, explored how learners understand, construct, express, and manage identity when virtual worlds are utilized in higher education and how the virtual world itself might impact on concepts of identity. In particular, the study focused on aspects of learner identity from the physical world and learner identity in virtual worlds, the latter being a ‘translation’ of physical identity markers onto the avatar. The research builds on the experiences of 75 student participants, who employed virtual worlds as learning environments. A narrative research approach was applied to thematically analyze interview, focus group, and observational data, collected from two educational contexts at two British universities. Three themes emerged from the analysis and interpretation of these data, which are presented as narratives of Pursuit, Embodiment, and Resistance. The study makes two main contributions to existing knowledge on learning in virtual environments: firstly, it reveals that virtual worlds are ‘threshold concepts’, in which students need to be able to align their learner identities with the utilization of virtual worlds to integrate them successfully in their learning. Secondly, the study develops a five-dimensional typology of the ways in which students engage and manage identity directly in the virtual world through their avatars. This typology includes: dislocated avatars, representative avatars, avatars as toys and tools, avatars as extensions of self, and avatars as identity extensions. The study demonstrates that engagement with virtual worlds and avatars in the educational context can provide a valuable opportunity to foster critical thinking, if learner identities are given a central place in course design and delivery. Then, virtual world learning can enable students and tutors to reflect critically on what shapes, influences, and constrains identity in virtual worlds, in the physical world, in higher education, and beyond.