EFL Learners from Hungary and EFL Pre-service Teachers from Colombia: A Narrative Research on Imagined Identities

Introduction

Nowadays, we are living in a multilingual world as a consequence of the global economic and political interests. Multilingualism is supported not only by linguistic features but also by cultural and social constructs that make the field of foreign language learning more complex to understand, but interesting to study. According to the theories of Halliday (1978) and Vygotsky (1978), teachers of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) know, for example, that language learning takes place in a social context; therefore, language cannot be understood outside social relationships. Moreover, as recent identity research suggests, identity should be worked on the face of globalisation and the intersecting groups of people (e.g. Heller, 2011; Higgins, 2011; Shin, 2012). Hence, the case of identity in language learning is important to understand how the different dimensions of learners, as social human beings, are weaved and how these dimensions maintain the theories of language learning constantly in discussion.

According to Norton (2013a), the theoretical assumptions associated with research on identity, literacy and multilingualism suggest that language learners do not conduct individual processes of internalising a set of rules and structures of a standard language, but that they must negotiate meaning or language constantly, as the social practice it is. Thus, the understanding of imagined communities and identities are necessary to contribute to the great debates regarding foreign language learning. Identity has become an important construct to frame language learning. Hence, Norton (2013b) explained that identity entails “how a person understands his or her relationship to the world, how that relationship is structured across time and space, and how the person understands possibilities for the future” (p. 45). In addition, Bucholtz and Hall (2010) proposed another definition that assembles divergent theories and approaches and that makes the concept of identity wide and inconclusive: “identity is the social positioning of self and other” (p. 18). Consequently, identity is subject to change, and it is dynamic and multiple because of the diverse positions language learners take according to the social context in which they participate.

When studying identity, one must pause and reflect upon the notion of community and what it entails. Wenger (1998) affirmed that a person belongs to a community not only being directly engaged in it but also imagining being part of it. To put it differently, Wenger depicted how engagement and imagination are the two processes a person follows to belong to a community. He further stated that imagination is “a process of expanding one-self by transcending our time and space and creating new images of the world and ourselves” (p. 176). Accordingly, when people think about communities they belong to, they do not have to evoke only the institutions they attend or their workplaces, or maybe their neighbourhood or places where they celebrate their religious practices, but also the communities they imagine being part of. This idea is easier to understand when reviewing the concept of nation in compliance with Anderson (1991). He argued that nations are imagined communities “because the members of even the smallest nation will never know most of their fellow-members, meet them, or even hear of them, yet in the minds of each lives the image of their communion” (p. 6). To rephrase it, imagination succeeds in connecting people from a country to their fellow citizens or nationals throughout time and space. On this account, the notion of communities deals with groups of people, whilst the term ‘imagined’ refers to not attainable and palpable right now.

During the last decades, there have been interesting studies on the field of imagined communities and language classrooms, such as Norton (2001), Kanno and Norton (2003), Pavlenko and Norton (2007), Norton and Gao (2008), Norton and Toohey (2011), Kharchenko (2014), Wu (2017), Shirvan and Talebzadeh (2018) and Posada-Ortiz (2018). The common ground amongst these authors is the scenario they present of the target language classroom as a community. In this community, the expectations of the different learners for the future encounter, as well as their motivation to learn the target language, and their personal and professional goals meet. Hence, when thinking about an imagined community, the concept of imagined identity arises; therefore, language classrooms might have an effect on the identity construction of learners due to the practices conducted inside. On the basis of this discussion, the present study is led by the following research questions: (1) What are the imagined identities EFL students have constructed to learn English when enrolling in an English bachelor programme?, (2) How are these imagined identities connected to the imagined community they feel affiliated with? and (3) How are these imagined identities linked to the language practices of the EFL classroom?

Theoretical Framework

Learning has been socially situated in specific and concrete communities of practice (Wenger, 1998), where the diverse identities of the learners as individuals meet. This is also the case of the studies conducted in the field of second language acquisition (SLA), where learning a language as a social situated practice has been grounded on the success of learners in their learning process, based on their direct engagement in tangible groups of study. Here, highlighting that motivation has played an important role in SLA research to understand this engagement of language learners in their learning process is crucial. Motivation has been progressively developed in harmony with new approaches and studies. Dörnyei (as cited in Dörnyei & Ushioda, 2011) described three historical periods in the development of the construct of motivation in language learning, namely, the social psychological period (1959–1990), the cognitive-situated period (during the 1990s) and the period of new approaches (2000s).

The former period was characterised by the work performed by Gardner and Lambert (1959, 1972), who presented the two types of motivation: integrative and instrumental. The fundamental point of Gardner’s work was based on goals to be achieved; thus, a motivated learner sets goals and works to achieve them. Moreover, Gardner (2001) complemented this understanding of motivation by explaining that it is the result of learners’ interaction with the target language and culture. Thus, the social context and the attitudes of learners toward learning the target language are the basis to unravel their motivation. Whilst the integrative motivation deals with the wishes or interests learners have to belong to the target language community, the instrumental motivation alludes to external goals or reasons for learning a target language.

The cognitive-situated period broadened the theories worked in the former one and considered other cognitive approaches to better understand the construct of motivation in language learning. For instance, Dörnyei (1994) proposed three levels of motivation, namely, language level, learner level and learning situation level. The language level considers the language, the community and the two types of motivation proposed by Gardner. The learner level involves the cognitive processes of the learners, and learning situation level focuses on teacher, course and group as learning levels in the classroom. Therefore, it is worth highlighting that this period was focused not only on social and psychological aspects that influence motivation in learners but also on pedagogical aspects.

Conversely, the new approaches have emphasised motivational change or the words of Dörnyei (2005) on the “ongoing changes of motivation over time” (p. 83). The other major focus of the new approaches has been the study of the relationship between motivation and identity. Here, understanding that motivation is dynamic and encounters distinct moments during language learning and even in a single class is essential. Dörnyei and Otto (as cited in Dörnyei & Ushioda, 2011) argued that motivation should be explored from other perspectives at the personal level of a learner, for example, from the executive aspects of goal achievement in ongoing social activities, such as classroom learning. The main concepts that have emerged from this period have been the processoriented conceptualisation of motivation (Dörnyei, 2000, 2001), the conception of investment and language learning (Peirce, 1995) and the notions of the ideal and ought selves. Additionally, Dörnyei (2005) proposed the L2 motivational self-system theory, which is consistent with the work of Gardner and Lambert and others authors, such as Ushioda (2001) and Noels (2003). It combines theories of motivation in language learning and in psychology, especially those related to the concept of the self and possible selves. However, mentioning that the work on selves conducted by Higgins (1983); Higgins et al. (1985) and Markus and Nurius (1986) preceded that on the L2 motivational selfsystem is pivotal. This concept was unfolded as the ideas individuals have about what they would like to become and the fears and possibilities they have to reach that state. Consequently, the image of individuals in future scenarios or states goes beyond future plans because of the fact that these possible selves entail palpable feelings, senses and images.

Clarifying that the work of Norton on language learning since 1995 has included the construct of ‘investment’ to present a different perspective from the one embedded in the scope of motivation is crucial. She argued that most theories of motivation do not consider unequal relations of power between language learners and target language speakers, which are key elements in the understanding of language learning. Consequently, the conception of investment not only unveils a counter proposal to focus on motivation but also highlights the relationship of learners to the target language and their ambivalent desire to learn it.

Hitherto, the contextualisation of approaches to motivation and the construct of investment developed by Norton have displayed important concepts and theoretical components to understand the foundations of imagined communities and identities. Pavlenko and Norton (2007) claimed that learning connected to imagination as a means to construct identities and meanings has been barely studied. Here, it is important to rewind the notion of imagination stated by Anderson (1991), when explaining how a nation is conceived as an imagined community, and the link this notion has with the engagement of learners in communities of practice, as Wenger (1998) argued. All of this, along with the theory of selves (Higgins, 1983; Markus & Nurius, 1986), the L2 motivational self-system (Dörnyei, 2005) and the development of investment in language learning (Peirce, 1995) allow researchers to understand imagined communities from the bond between motivation, investment and behaviour.

Accordingly, the decisions of language learners are determined by their psychological possible selves and their fellowship with the imagined community, which encourage them to act or behave in specific manners during their learning process, as Peirce (1995) asserted in her work on investment. She claimed that learners invest in the target language being aware of gaining various symbolic and material resources, which in return will increase the value of their social power. Hence the hopes of learners for the future and multiple identities, as sites of struggle, are reassessed.

Furthermore, for the understanding of the concept of imagined communities and identities, explaining the five identity groups to English as an international language is significant, listed by Pavlenko and Norton (2007) to discuss affiliation in imagined communities. These clusters are (a) postcolonial, (b) global, (c) ethnic, (d) multilingual and (e) gendered identities. Currently, postcolonial contexts have an interesting focus when researching language learning. This has to do with the fact that new imagined communities and identities are linked to language. Most of the postcolonial countries use English as the language of instruction; therefore, it is the language of the imagined community learners from these countries have become part of.

The dominance of English as an international language is connected to postcolonial legacies and globalisation, which has led to the creation of language policies that position English as the mandatory language to learn in schools, even in countries where it is not a postcolonial language, such as Colombia and Hungary. Heller (2010) brought the term of commodification into the field of language to explain how the outstanding feature of English as an asset with trade value has grown in accordance with the globalised economy under the political conditions of late capitalism. She also depicted some tensions and conflicts between ideologies and language practices in some settings, such as language teaching and translation.

In Colombia, there are numerous studies referring to this situation of English, and the prestigious position government has conferred it within the framework of language policy creation. Furthermore, the discourses of resistance these policies have caused in language teachers and learners have been the focal points of research (Bonilla & Tejada-Sánchez, 2016; Gomez Lobaton, 2012; Guerrero, 2009; Méndez et al., 2019; Posada Ortiz, 2019; Quintero & Guerrero, 2013).

Contrarily, in Hungary, the growing number of learners enrolled in EFL corroborates the intention of the country in its reorientation with the West of Europe (Medgyes & Miklósy, 2000). Moreover, these authors present in their research the posture of the governments since 1990 about the foreign language competence of Hungarians and the pressure of media displaying the low language competence of the average Hungarians. Similarly, Kontra (2016) mentioned the “catastrophic effects of the government-imposed structural changes to Hungarian teacher education since 1990” (p. 1). This situation in Hungary is similar to the one in Colombia since the National Plan of Bilingualism was created by the Ministry of Education in 2004. There have been tensions, criticism, discourses of resistance, media interference and discredit of English teachers.

Thus, it is worth mentioning that it is not surprising to find Hungarians interested in learning EFL because of the fact that they feel their future as engaged members of the European Union.

Notwithstanding, there are some studies that present results in which some Hungarians are afraid of their own language displacement (Biava, 2001; Medgyes & Miklósy, 2000). On this account, Colombia and

Hungary can be taken as examples of the power of EFL not only to enter the global market but also to envision better professional goals abroad for their citizens.

On a slightly different note, there is another identity group presented by Pavlenko and Norton (2007): the ethnic. The English language, for example, with the prestige it has because of the global market, is seen by people as the language that supports powerful identities in society. It has gained a high status as a global language and has also granted its speakers a top-level position in society (Heller, 2007a). One of the different factors that have to do with this status is the influence of the media, which contributes to shaping the ethnic and racial identities through the display of the highest ranked countries and communities based on market results (Norton & McKinney, 2011). This means that language learners imagine themselves to be members of these types of communities, which present politically valued and publicly visible identity options.

This means that some identities have become less visible, devalued or delegitimised and, consequently, some ethnicities and races as well (Piller, 2014). Hence, ethnicity comes to be an important piece in the individual or institutional imagined communities of English speakers or learners. Norton and Toohey (2011) claimed that what also influence the imagined communities of English learners are the persistently changing world and the phenomena of linguistic ownership and language rights, which are deeply discussed and studied by Wee (2011).

The other two identity clusters to English presented by Pavlenko and Norton (2007) are multilingual and gendered identities. When talking about multilingual identities, it is important to mention the work by Nongogo (2007), who asserted that within this multilingual world, multilingual identities should find their way to become visible into the public media, rather than presenting one single identity dominated by standard English. Therefore, younger generations can learn to imagine themselves as members of a multilingual and diverse world. From this linguistic diversity and the connections that can be created with the notions of selves, numerous studies have been exploring this field of discourses of hybridity and multiplicity (Early & Norton, 2012; Gao, 2012; Norton & Morgan, 2013).

According to Norton (2000), the most essential point is to understand how an imagined community implies an imagined identity that provides a wide scope of possibilities for the future. Consequently, the diversity of imagined identities relies on language as a site of identity and negotiation, as it is also explained by Cameron (1985) when displaying the relationship between language and gender as a feminist poststructuralist approach. Likewise, Piller and Pavlenko (2007) averred that this approach focused on diversity presents that not all forms of multilingualism are equally valued, in fact, certain languages become valued or devalued because of social, political, historical and gendered foundations, as it was previously mentioned.

In sum, on the basis of the proposal of Pavlenko and Norton (2007), the five groups of identities to English as an international language that learners can construct or negotiate in order to belong to imagined communities gather issues concerning postcolonialism, globalisation, ethnicity, multilingualism and gender. All of these are key pieces in the engagement, motivation and investment learners experience in their learning process to have access to certain communities they want to affiliate, even if those communities are not legitimated by participants so far. Consequently, the non-participation or lack of interest of learners in certain language practices can be explained through their investment in their imagined communities and through their access to these communities (Norton, 2000, 2001, 2010). Thus, recalling here the bond between the imagined communities of language learners and the language classroom is crucial, which is also a community and a discursive space, as it was previously explained. Heller (2007b) argued that language is progressively approached as “a set of resources which circulate in unequal ways in social networks and discursive spaces, and whose meaning and value are socially constructed within the constraints of social organisational processes, under specific historical conditions” (p. 2). Hence, there are also least privileged bilingual students who are associated with the least privileged imagined communities, as Kanno and Norton (2003) found in her study, when exploring the relationship between the vision, curriculum, practices and policies of schools and student identities.

Methodology

This article presents the findings of a qualitative study that collected narratives from 26 sixth-semester students who were enrolled in a language teacher education programme at a university in Colombia and 15 fourth-semester students from an English bachelor programme at a university in Hungary. The ages of the participants ranged from 19 to 25 years. Both groups of participants were taking courses whose contents allowed the use of narratives as a way to reflect upon their experiences as English learners. The study was conducted during one academic semester. The participants from Colombia wrote their autobiography as language learners and the participants from Hungary five narratives from prompts related to their language learning process and the images they have about themselves in the future. The latter participants were also interviewed to better compare the sources of data. This interview required the participants to clarify the issues that were encountered when the researcher was reading through their written narratives. The participants volunteered to take part in the project.

This study aimed to examine the imagined identities of EFL learners from two different contexts and to explore how those imagined identities were connected to their imagined community. In addition, the study aimed at investigating the actions and practices of those learners in their language learning that might shape their imagined identities.

The research method employed to achieve these objectives was the narrative inquiry, which, according to Barkhuizen et al. (2014), is “an established umbrella term for research involving stories” (p. 3). Pavlenko (2001) argued that “personal narratives provide a glimpse into areas so private, personal and intimate that they are rarely – if ever – breached in the study of SLA, and at the same time are at the heart and soul of the L2 socialization process” (p. 167). Thus, this narrative inquiry allowed us as researchers to explore the imagined identities and communities of the participants and to compare if there are common insights and reflections between the two groups of learners although they are from different countries.