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Research paper thumbnail of Processes of Identity Construction for Generation 1.5 University Students in Canada

The number of adolescent children accompanying their immigrant parents to Canada has steadily inc... more The number of adolescent children accompanying their immigrant parents to Canada has steadily increased since the 1990s. Much of the applied linguistics literature on these so called “Generation 1.5” youth (Rumbaut & Ima, 1987; Harklau, et al., 1999) has focused on their deficiencies as academic writers in US Rhetoric and Composition and ESL contexts in higher education (Harklau, Losey, & Siegal, 1999; Harklau, 1999; 2000) and the stigma of ESL in US K-12 contexts (Talmy, 2009). However, the literature on Generation 1.5 students and identity in Canadian higher education is limited (Kim & Duff, 2012; Marshall, 2010; Mossman, 2012, 2013). This qualitative study investigates the processes of identity construction of eleven Generation 1.5 students studying at a university in Metro Vancouver to find out what types of identities and representations of self and other they make relevant, the meanings they attribute to their identities, and what motivates them to construct these identities. In analyzing the accounts and experiences of the participants in interviews, focus groups, and texts and as “culture-in-action” (Hester & Eglin, 1997), I posit that they constructed identities as social categories associated with the languages and social practices of their countries of birth, in liminal spaces among a continuum between Canada and their countries of birth, and a spectrum of related cultural representations. Ideas and beliefs associated with broader “macro” social structures in Canadian society related to language, culture, legitimacy, immigration, power, distinction, and racism were shown to be transcended in and through their representations of themselves and others. Data suggest that moving to Canada caused participants to experience discontinuities between their cultures, languages, and social practices (Kim & Duff, 2012), and in some cases a conflicting sense of self. The study brings implications for finding ways to understand the complexity of immigrant students, avoid reifying and generalizing about them, and not see them as stuck-in-between or lacking.

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Research paper thumbnail of Changing cultures and identities in Japanese-English bicultural names: From parents to children

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Research paper thumbnail of Unravelling Power and Privilege in the Academy: A Personal Account

This article explores the author’s privileged identities as a White, male researcher and English ... more This article explores the author’s privileged identities as a White, male researcher and English language educator in the context of relevant critical literature. I aim to understand how my privileged identities granted by race, gender, societal placement, and language interact with my identity as an evangelical Christian and how these identities impact my research and practice in working with multilingual transnational youth in a Canadian university setting. Highlighting the importance of reflexivity in qualitative research and its potential impact on both researcher and student identities, I probe my acquired identities (unearned societal placement) and ascribed identities (spiritual gifts, passions, abilities, experiences, and personality). I emphasize the asymmetrical nature of relationships and how this asymmetry may potentially contribute to the perpetuation of social hierarchies and dominance in the EAL classroom. To counter this potential dominance, I suggest that educators practice obedience to truth (Palmer, 1993) and adopt an attitude of moral humility (Young, 1997). I conclude with spiritual, pedagogical, and research applications to English language teaching and the Christian faith, showing how these applications derive from my identity negotiations.

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Research paper thumbnail of “I’m like, knowing things in between”: Navigating Discourses of In-between-ness in and through the Research Interview

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Research paper thumbnail of Talking Accounts of “In-between-ness” into Relevance in and through Qualitative Interviews

Studies in English Language and Literature, No. 31, February 2013, Feb 2013

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Research paper thumbnail of “They’re Different From Who I Am”: Making Relevant Identities in the Middle Through Talk-in-Interaction

TESL Canada Journal Vol 30, No 1 (2012), Oct 2012

This qualitative study builds on earlier research on language and identity by focusing on how Ca... more This qualitative study builds on earlier research on language and identity by focusing on how Canadian Generation 1.5 university students enact their identities through talk-in-interaction. Drawing on (applied) Conversational Analysis (CA)to analyze critically the production and management of social institutions in talk-in-interaction in tandem with Membership Categorization Analysis (MCA) to examine the cultural resources individuals draw on to describe, identify, or make reference to other people and themselves, I undertake a critical discourse analysis (CDA) of data from semi structured interviews with four Generation 1.5 students conducted in a large, public, English-medium university in British Columbia.Rather than approaching the interview as a neutral technology that seeks to dis-cover “truths,” I theorize the interviews as meaning-making ventures in them-selves, adopting a reflexive orientation that recognizes that data are situated representations co-constructed through interaction with the interviewer. The study reports on how these students, in response to the interactionally occasioned constraints “inhabiting” our talk, produced identities that aligned with select “scholarly representations” from the applied linguistics literature that casts Generation1.5 students in the middle. The study reveals how identity, power, and social issues are produced and managed in talk-in-interaction and how insights from M/CA might address matters of social justice in educational contexts.

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Research paper thumbnail of Marshall, S. & Mossman, T. (2010). Changing identities in Japanese-English bicultural names: from parents to children In D. Nunan & J. Choi (Eds.), Language and culture: Reflective narratives and the emergence of identity (pp. 147-154). New York: Routledge.

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Book Reviews by Timothy Mossman

Research paper thumbnail of Cultural Globalization and Language Education. B. Kumaravadivelu. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2008. Pp. xiii + 272.

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Research paper thumbnail of Processes of Identity Construction for Generation 1.5 University Students in Canada

The number of adolescent children accompanying their immigrant parents to Canada has steadily inc... more The number of adolescent children accompanying their immigrant parents to Canada has steadily increased since the 1990s. Much of the applied linguistics literature on these so called “Generation 1.5” youth (Rumbaut & Ima, 1987; Harklau, et al., 1999) has focused on their deficiencies as academic writers in US Rhetoric and Composition and ESL contexts in higher education (Harklau, Losey, & Siegal, 1999; Harklau, 1999; 2000) and the stigma of ESL in US K-12 contexts (Talmy, 2009). However, the literature on Generation 1.5 students and identity in Canadian higher education is limited (Kim & Duff, 2012; Marshall, 2010; Mossman, 2012, 2013). This qualitative study investigates the processes of identity construction of eleven Generation 1.5 students studying at a university in Metro Vancouver to find out what types of identities and representations of self and other they make relevant, the meanings they attribute to their identities, and what motivates them to construct these identities. In analyzing the accounts and experiences of the participants in interviews, focus groups, and texts and as “culture-in-action” (Hester & Eglin, 1997), I posit that they constructed identities as social categories associated with the languages and social practices of their countries of birth, in liminal spaces among a continuum between Canada and their countries of birth, and a spectrum of related cultural representations. Ideas and beliefs associated with broader “macro” social structures in Canadian society related to language, culture, legitimacy, immigration, power, distinction, and racism were shown to be transcended in and through their representations of themselves and others. Data suggest that moving to Canada caused participants to experience discontinuities between their cultures, languages, and social practices (Kim & Duff, 2012), and in some cases a conflicting sense of self. The study brings implications for finding ways to understand the complexity of immigrant students, avoid reifying and generalizing about them, and not see them as stuck-in-between or lacking.

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Research paper thumbnail of Changing cultures and identities in Japanese-English bicultural names: From parents to children

Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact

Research paper thumbnail of Unravelling Power and Privilege in the Academy: A Personal Account

This article explores the author’s privileged identities as a White, male researcher and English ... more This article explores the author’s privileged identities as a White, male researcher and English language educator in the context of relevant critical literature. I aim to understand how my privileged identities granted by race, gender, societal placement, and language interact with my identity as an evangelical Christian and how these identities impact my research and practice in working with multilingual transnational youth in a Canadian university setting. Highlighting the importance of reflexivity in qualitative research and its potential impact on both researcher and student identities, I probe my acquired identities (unearned societal placement) and ascribed identities (spiritual gifts, passions, abilities, experiences, and personality). I emphasize the asymmetrical nature of relationships and how this asymmetry may potentially contribute to the perpetuation of social hierarchies and dominance in the EAL classroom. To counter this potential dominance, I suggest that educators practice obedience to truth (Palmer, 1993) and adopt an attitude of moral humility (Young, 1997). I conclude with spiritual, pedagogical, and research applications to English language teaching and the Christian faith, showing how these applications derive from my identity negotiations.

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Research paper thumbnail of “I’m like, knowing things in between”: Navigating Discourses of In-between-ness in and through the Research Interview

Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact

Research paper thumbnail of Talking Accounts of “In-between-ness” into Relevance in and through Qualitative Interviews

Studies in English Language and Literature, No. 31, February 2013, Feb 2013

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Research paper thumbnail of “They’re Different From Who I Am”: Making Relevant Identities in the Middle Through Talk-in-Interaction

TESL Canada Journal Vol 30, No 1 (2012), Oct 2012

This qualitative study builds on earlier research on language and identity by focusing on how Ca... more This qualitative study builds on earlier research on language and identity by focusing on how Canadian Generation 1.5 university students enact their identities through talk-in-interaction. Drawing on (applied) Conversational Analysis (CA)to analyze critically the production and management of social institutions in talk-in-interaction in tandem with Membership Categorization Analysis (MCA) to examine the cultural resources individuals draw on to describe, identify, or make reference to other people and themselves, I undertake a critical discourse analysis (CDA) of data from semi structured interviews with four Generation 1.5 students conducted in a large, public, English-medium university in British Columbia.Rather than approaching the interview as a neutral technology that seeks to dis-cover “truths,” I theorize the interviews as meaning-making ventures in them-selves, adopting a reflexive orientation that recognizes that data are situated representations co-constructed through interaction with the interviewer. The study reports on how these students, in response to the interactionally occasioned constraints “inhabiting” our talk, produced identities that aligned with select “scholarly representations” from the applied linguistics literature that casts Generation1.5 students in the middle. The study reveals how identity, power, and social issues are produced and managed in talk-in-interaction and how insights from M/CA might address matters of social justice in educational contexts.

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Research paper thumbnail of Marshall, S. & Mossman, T. (2010). Changing identities in Japanese-English bicultural names: from parents to children In D. Nunan & J. Choi (Eds.), Language and culture: Reflective narratives and the emergence of identity (pp. 147-154). New York: Routledge.

Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact

Research paper thumbnail of Cultural Globalization and Language Education. B. Kumaravadivelu. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2008. Pp. xiii + 272.

Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact