The language of adult immigrants : agency in the making / Elizabeth R. Miller.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Miller, Elizabeth R., 1965-

Series:

New perspectives on language and education ; 39.

New perspectives on language and education

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

English language--Study and teaching--Foreign speakers.

English language.

English language--Business English--Study and teaching--Foreign speakers.

Immigrants--Education.

Immigrants.

Adult education.

Literacy programs.

English language--Business English--Study and teaching.

Physical Description:

vii, 171 pages ; 21 cm.

Place of Publication:

Bristol ; Buffalo : Multilingual Matters, [2014]

Summary:

This book is the first to explore the constitution of language learner agency by drawing on performativity theory, an approach that remains on the periphery of second language research. Though many scholars have drawn on poststructuralism to theorize learner identity in non-essentialist terms, most have treated agency as an essential feature that belongs to or inheres in individuals. By contrast, this work promotes a view of learner agency as inherently social and as performatively constituted in discursive practice. In developing a performativity approach to learner agency, it builds on the work of Vygotsky and Bakhtin along with research on 'agency of spaces' and language ideologies. Through the study of discourses produced in interviews, this work explores how immigrant small business owners co-construct their theories of agency, in relation to language learning and use. The analysis focuses on three discursive constructs produced in the interview talk - subject-predicate constructs, evaluative stance, and reported speech - and investigates their discursive effects in mobilizing ideologically normative, performatively realized agentive selves. Book jacket.

Contents:

1 Agency in Second Language Research 1

Introduction 1

Agency and Second Language Learning 3

Organization of the Book 9

2 Theories of Agency and Language Learning 11

Agency as Socially Mediated 11

Vygotsky and Semiotic Mediation 14

Bakhtin and Interactional Mediation 18

Agency of Spaces and Ideological Mediation 20

Performativity and Constituting the Agentive Individual 23

Conclusion 27

3 Analyzing Agency Constructs in Interview Discourse 29

Undertaking an Interview Study 29

Interview Talk as Discourse 33

Mobilizing Language 36

Analyzing Selected Linguistic Constructs 38

Conclusion 40

4 Agency and Responsibility: Positioning Self in Subject-Predicate Constructs 42

Agency and Grammar 42

Subject-Predicate Constructs and Agent-oriented Modality in Discourse 44

Discursive Agency: An Overview of the Interview Corpus 47

Subject-Predicate Constructs in Discursive Practice: A Micro-Analysis 52

Conclusion 70

5 Stance and Subjectivity: Evaluating Agentive Capacity 73

Agency and Stancetaking in Discourse 73

Dialogic Construction of Evaluative Stance 75

Analyzing Stance: An Overview of Patterned Constructs 76

Stance in Discursive Practice: A Micro-Analysis 82

Conclusion 92

6 Performing Agency and Responsibility in Reported Speech 94

Agency and Reported Speech 94

Researching Reported Speech 95

Producing Reported Speech as Evidence 98

Analyzing Reported Speech: An Overview of Patterned Usages 100

Reported Speech in Discursive Practice: A Micro-Analysis 103

Conclusion 117

7 Local Production of Ideology and Discursive Agency 119

Constituting Reality 119

What is ideology? 120

Ideologies and Discursive Practice 122

Ideologies of Language Learning for Immigrants to the United States 125

Ideologies of Agency and Responsibilization 130

Conclusion 133

8 Conclusion 135

A Researcher's Account 135

Overview of Linguistic Constructs Produced by Interviewees 135

Implications of Treating Agency as Socially Mediated 142.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

ISBN:

9781783092048

1783092041

9781783092031

1783092033

OCLC:

870980677