Journal Article

Japanese Students' Emotional Lived Experiences in English Language Learning, Learner Identities, and Their Transformation

NG, CLARENCE

2021

Overview

The Vygotskian concept of perezhivanie, or emotional lived experience, was adopted to examine the learner identities of 2 Japanese university students in English language learning. Current studies on language learner identities have given analytic primacy to either psychological processes or social influences. In contrast, perezhivanie offers a holistic unit of analysis for examining simultaneous influences derived from internal and external realms on identity pursuits. Misaki and Hina participated in a 60-minute interview designed to understand their English learning experiences and how they made sense of them in school and university settings. In addition, a series of class observations―each followed by an informal interview―were conducted to examine their learning experiences in a conversational English course. Their reflective postings on the course online blog were also collected. The analytical process located identifiable instances of perezhivanie (perezhivaniya), based on participants' memorable events or personally significant moments, and elaborated how these perezhivaniya brought forth different learner identities. Using the concept of perezhivanie, this study draws attention to a dynamic perspective on researching language-learner identities that foregrounds an identity-making process whereby students relived, refracted, and transformed through emotional-cognitive events or episodes characterized by complex transactions between the person and context.

• Publisher: Wiley Periodicals LLC,Wiley,Blackwell Publishing Ltd
• Subject: Blogs / Cognitive Processes / College students / Computer Mediated Communication / Conversation / Conversational Language Courses / Electronic Publishing / emotion / Emotions / English / English (Second Language) / English as a second language / English as a second language learning / English Curriculum / English language / English language learners / English Learners / Foreign Countries / Identity / Influence / Interviews / Japanese / Japanese language / Language acquisition / Language shift / Learning / Learning Experience / motivation / Primacy / Psychological Patterns / Psychological processes / Second Language Instruction / Second Language Learning / Self Concept / Social factors / Social Influences / sociocultural theory / Student Attitudes / Transactions / Transformation / Undergraduate Students / Vygotskian perspective