Social Identity, Investment, and Language Learning

I really enjoyed reading ‘Social Identity, Investment, and Language Learning’ by Bonny Norton Peirce. This article made me think about my English learning and teaching experience. I have taught and learned English without taking into consideration social identity and investment related to me and my students. While I am reading this article, I have an opportunity to understand myself and my students. Two things, social identity and investment, attracted my attention and interest. So I’d like to talk about it.
I have used and heard about the word ‘identity’. Maybe it could mean ‘who I am’. Very often I don’t know ‘who I am’. However, while I was taking the lecture, I had a chance to understand it. I have taken charge of many roles regardless of my intention. In these different roles, I took different contradictive selves. I agree that these different selves have affected my English learning. As an English teacher, I needed to get many opportunities to talk with native speakers in the classroom or outside the classroom, even though my personality was very shy and calm. At that time my two selves were contradicting each other. However, it is very interesting that talking with native speakers has changed my personality. Even though I was really shy, I talked with a native speaker. As time goes by, my English ability has been getting better and better and confidence in myself has been improved. As a result, I become more active than before. Like this, I have noticed that my social identity is multiple, usually contradictive, and a site of struggle. My active personality struggled to beat my shy personality. Eventually, my identity has changed. There are numerous possibilities for my social identity to be changed in every moment.
However, when I taught my students, I had prejudice against students, especially unmotivated looking students. Even though some students want to improve their English abilities, they seem to be unmotivated because they don’t have any successful experience in learning English. I am just wondering how many times I gave them to experience their success in English learning in the classroom. They might struggle to learn English inside of themselves. I didn’t give a chance to try it. They lost their power in class. That might affect their attitude toward English learning and English teacher negatively. I think that it is necessary to take into consideration students’ situations from different aspects when there is a student who doesn’t have any interest in learning English.
I have lots of interest in the notion ‘investment’. I am investing all I have in my own social identity. I don’t know if my investment has a positive effect or a negative effect on my own social identity. In my opinion, any investment accompanies some risks. The more dangerous risks are, the more benefits we get. Language learning itself can affect my social identity. As I mentioned before, while I am improving my English ability, my attitude toward English has become positive in general. However, when I have faced with a difficult situation, for instance, I was surrounded by native English speakers in class, I lost my confidence in English and was frustrated again. Because they spoke so fast that I couldn’t understand them. In addition to that, sometimes they spoke a slang I couldn’t understand. That seemed to make me alienated from them. But I think of the investment (money, time and efforts) I made for my English learning and once again I struggle to survive. With the help of the notion ‘investment’, I can understand my multiple self identities in myself in different situations.
Finally, I think that I need to get rid of the prejudice against my students. I used to think that the unmotivated students cannot be chanbed. They are very flexible and changeable in different contexts like me. Therefore, if I understand their investment and give more chances to succeed in their language learning, I can help them improve their English ability. One of the ways I can understand students’ investment can be a journal. I will have a chance to understand my students and to help them improve their English abilities through analyzing their journals. However, the obstacle I should overcome is to make students feel comfortable and write down their candid journals of themselves. I think that it’s not so easy to get students’ candid journals. The notion that students’ social identities are flexible gives me high hopes.