Re: My paper

Angel M.Y. Lin (mylin who-is-at oise.on.ca)
Thu, 14 Dec 1995 04:34:29 -0500 (EST)

Hi Kelleen and fellow xmca'ers,

Great that you're back on line Kelly!

I've been struggling with the issue of "identity" and L2 learning, too...
Rolfe suggested me to look at Social Identity Theory... I guess I can
get some insights there... but I know what my supervisor would say about
"identity" :-) he would typically say, "Well, what does it look like in
interactional terms..." well, I'll have to try to answer that!

Yes, I like Bonny Peirce's work too... seems like she's starting
something quite revolutionary in our field (L2/ESL/EFL)...

More later...
Cheers,
Angel

On Wed, 13 Dec 1995, Kelleen Toohey wrote:

> >Thank you Angel and others for interest in my paper. I recently broke my
> >kneecap iceskating and have trouble sitting at the computer. It was a treat
> >today to come on line and see these messages.
>
> To take on one of the points made: Angel was right in noting that I was
> arguing that any simple attribution of personality characteristics
> independent of context isn't helpful. Much SLA research does just this--we
> have studies telling us the characteristics of good and bad language
> learners--and sociability and motivation to talk to native speakers are
> usually seen as the most telling and important characteristics in this
> regard. With my kindergartners, I see that both are negotiated and thus are
> subject to change over time and context. And they are importantly linked
> to access to practices and resources in the classroom. Bonny Peirce's 1993
> OISE thesis is very helpful with regard to a critique of motivation as
> "between the eyes and behind the ears".
>
> I think identity is problematic in my paper as well, Angel, and wondered
> what you made of that.
>
> Kelleen Toohey
> k_toohey who-is-at sfu.ca
>
>
>
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