Practices: students’ positionings as english language learners

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(1)Reflective practices: Positioning as EFL learners. Reflective Practices: Students’ Positionings as English Language Learners. Christian Camilo Bernal Gonzalez “A thesis submitted as a requirement to obtain the degree of M.A in Applied Linguistics to the TEFL”. Thesis Director: Clelia Pineda Báez (PhD). Universidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas School of Science and Education Master’s in Applied Linguistics to the TEFL Bogotá, Colombia 2018. 1.

(2) Reflective practices: Positioning as EFL learners.. Note of acceptance Thesis Director:. ____________________________ Professor: Clelia Pineda Báez (PhD). Jury:. ____________________________ Professor:. Jury:. ____________________________ Professor:. 2.

(3) Reflective practices: Positioning as EFL learners.. Acuerdo 19 de 1988 del consejo superior Universitario. Artículo 177: “La universidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas no será responsable por las ideas expuestas en esta tesis”. 3.

(4) Reflective practices: Positioning as EFL learners. Acknowledgements. “Cultivate your hunger, before you idealize Motivate your anger, to make them all realize Climbing the mountain, never coming down Break into the contents, never falling down” Akeboshi, Wind. I wish to express my profound gratitude to Nelly Johanna Infante Forero, who has always supported and encouraged me to work harder in this academic process. Thanks to my students for being enthusiastic, authentic and motivating. I sincerely thank my professors and classmates from the M.A. program, who showed me different and useful ways of facing difficulties with a great smile upon their faces. A special appreciation to my thesis director, Doctor Clelia Pineda Báez for her support, inspiration and motivating guidance to develop top quality research practices. I also express my gratitude to Zoraida Revelo and Professor Harold Castañeda-Peña, for their support and motivation when health issues became a threat to begin my Master´s degree. Finally, yet importantly, I also want to thank Universidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas for offering me the opportunity to grow both personally and professionally since I studied my major.. 4.

(5) Reflective practices: Positioning as EFL learners. Abstract. This qualitative descriptive and interpretative study was developed to characterize and comprehend the meaning students assigned to the experiences they lived as students in an EFL context by means of reflective practices. The main objectives of this study were to unveil the positions that students enact during the implementation of a self-assessment language portfolio in an EFL classroom and to specify how those positions are shaped when developing selfassessment practices. Conversational interviews and video recordings were the main source of data collection. Findings suggest that reflective practices serve as a tool for student to express and define positions as English language learners. Students’ positions were attached to past and present experiences inside English classes, and emotions were crucial when defining positions. Results also suggest that reflective practices allowed students to become analyzers of their proficiency as English learners taking into account that proficiency levels proposed by the Common European framework are the foundations of the English curriculum proposed at their school. Reflective practices in the English classroom allowed discussion and feedback among students and between the teacher and the students and favored giving students a voice to express their views about EFL teaching and learning practices. Key words: students ‘positioning, identity construction, reflective practices.. 5.

(6) Reflective practices: Positioning as EFL learners.. Table of Contents. Chapter 1 ……………………………………………………………………………………….1 Statement of the problem ………………………………………………………………………1 Chapter 2 ……………………………………………………………………………………….10 Theoretical framework …………………………………………………………………………10 Positioning theory …………………………………………………………………………......10 Positioning, Discourse and Identity …………………………………………………………..14 Identity ………………………………………………………………………………………..18 Identity and Language ………………………………………………………………………..20 State of the art ………………………………………………………………………………...23 Chapter 3 ……………………………………………………………………………………….33 Instructional Design ……………………………………………………………………………33 View of Language ………………………………………………………………………….....34 Teaching methodology ……………………………………………………………………....36 Instructional objectives …………………………………………………………………….....42 Chapter 4 ……………………………………………………………………………………….43 Research design ………………………………………………………………………………..43 Type of study ………………………………………………………………………………...43 Context …………………………………………………………………………………….....44 Participants …………………………………………………………………………………...45 Data collection instruments …………………………………………………………………..46 Chapter 5 ……………………………………………………………………………………….49 Data analysis …………………………………………………………………………………...49 Research question ………………………………………………………………………….....49 Research objectives …………………………………………………………………………...49. 6.

(7) Reflective practices: Positioning as EFL learners.. Initial coding …………………………………………………………………………………50 Focused coding ………………………………………………………………………………51 Axial coding …………………………………………………………………………………51 Reflexive voices ……………………………………………………………………………..53 Analyzers of their proficiency …………………………………………………………….....61 Emotional learners …………………………………………………………………………...68 Chapter 6 ……………………………………………………………………………………….73 Discussions and implications …………………………………………………………………..73 Personal implications ………………………………………………………………………...79 Limitations …………………………………………………………………………………...80 Questions for further research ………………………………………………………………..80. References ……………………………………………………………………………………...82. 7.

(8) Reflective practices: Positioning as EFL learners.. Table of Figures. Figure 1. CEFR proficiency levels ……………………………………………………………7 Table 1.. Structure of the intervention ……………………………………………………….38. 8.

(9) Reflective practices: Positioning as EFL learners.. Table of Appendixes. Annex 1: Self-assessment grid …………………………………………………………………86 Annex 2: Lesson plan sample (lesson 1) ……………………………………………………….87 Annex 3: Lesson plan 4 ………………………………………………………………………...88 Annex 4: Assessment criteria CEFR …………………………………………………………...89 Annex 5: Consent letter sample ………………………………………………………………..90 Annex 6: Initial coding sample ………………………………………………………………...91 Annex 7: Axial coding sample …………………………………………………………………93. 9.

(10) Chapter 1 Statement of the Problem Introduction This study analyzes how participants, as members of a relatively coherent speech community (understood as a secondary grade in a private school), understood their language learning process as expressed in their beliefs, opinions and perceptions about such process. Selfassessment practices about the implementation of the Common European Framework Reference in the development of an EFL curriculum served as the platform for students’ reflections My interest in developing this research was to unveil positions students enacted when implementing reflective practices inside an EFL classroom. Positions in this study are framed in the analysis and understanding of their reflections, perceptions, attitudes, roles, points of view and beliefs in students while being part the implementation of CERF as a Foreign Language Policy. This allowed me to unveil the repercussions of the policies on students’ academic and personal development, as these International Language policies conduct, direct and guide English curriculum, teaching practices and institutional goals to be achieved by students. Students’ voices served as the primary source of information for unveiling their positions. In this document, I include the justification for decisions taken while I conducted this study, the corresponding statement of the problem with a description of the population and setting. I also include the research question and research objectives. The second chapter relates to the theoretical framework and includes a state of the art on positioning, identity and language learning. The third chapter describes the instructional design; particularly the reflective process needed to facilitate the data gathering, as well as the lesson plans and activities for this purpose. Finally, in the research.

(11) Reflective practices: Positioning as EFL learners. design I describe the type of study selected considering the objectives and research interests, a larger description on the participants, data collection instruments, and the units of analysis for the data analysis stage. The problem The curriculum implemented in the school where this study took place was designed in consideration of the parameters and proficiency standards listed in the Common European Framework Reference, which are also related with the course books and materials used in the teaching practice. Each one of the levels offered by the institution (from preschool to eleventh grade) must accomplish the domains described by each of the proficiency levels listed in the Common European Framework Reference; nevertheless, neither parents nor students have been instructed in the content of the proficiency levels listed in the Common European framework of Reference, how Proficiency examinations may benefit academic processes and why these Proficiency levels are used as reference for English teaching and learning in the school. At the end of their academic process, i.e. when students finish their secondary education and receive their academic diploma, eleventh graders are expected to demonstrate a level C1 according to the proficiency levels of the Common European Framework Reference through the presentation of an international examination (stated in the School Educational Institutional Project); to this concern it is important to establish that English teachers in the institution are not certified as C1 proficient, and level C1 was established as a school requirement at the end of 2016, year in which participants of this study were in tenth grade.. In July, 2016, the school decided to implement a diagnostic exam with all the population to track students’ performance and proficiency, as well as to confirm if tenth and eleventh graders were ready to present the C level international examinations offered by Cambridge. After analyzing results provided by 2.

(12) Reflective practices: Positioning as EFL learners. Cambridge examiners, it was reported that students were not meeting the criteria suggested in the school curriculum for them (B1 for Tenth graders and B2 for Eleventh graders). This first phenomenon suggested that there was a possible breakdown between the objective and goals intended by the institution after the diagnostic exam and the results obtained by students. At the school, there had been no previous session in which the English teachers gave feedback to students related to their results in the international examinations, because this examinations are taken by the students at the end of the academic year, and as soon as the next year begins teachers are required to merely deliver certificates to students. After the implementation of the diagnostic exams, and having the results and their interpretation by the Cambridge Examiners, my decision was to socialize these results with students. The socialization was conducted with tenth and eleventh graders in two different sessions. Eleventh graders expressed their concern about the low results, and their preoccupation related to the fact that obtaining a C level is a requirement for receiving their diploma. Tenth graders did not express any initial concern or interest in the results obtained in the diagnostic exam, which may be explained by the fact that tenth graders had not received previous information on proficiency levels, and, likewise, were unaware of the decisions implemented by the school in terms of international examinations and graduation requirements. Tenth graders’ lack of concern to the results they obtained in the diagnostic exams became my concern. Therefore, I decided to conduct an informal talk with them. I asked students what they thought about those results, considering the following year they were obligated to demonstrate a C level in an International Examination. In this informal talk, students did not give any opinions or made any comments about that situation. They only indicated that they did not want to make any comments because previous English teachers did not accept their opinions 3.

(13) Reflective practices: Positioning as EFL learners. about the English classes. After this talk, I pondered over two issues: 1) students were not allowed to reflect upon what happened inside English-language classrooms, and 2) it is possible that students did not know how to express their perceptions and opinions about their own language learning process. In one of the English classes where students were writing biographies (proposed in the class syllabus to practice narrative tenses), I asked students to write about the process they have had at school in terms of language-learning following the proficiency levels proposed by the Common European Framework. In this exercise, students expressed different opinions about the exams, about the C level proposed in the curriculum, and the English classes themselves. The following statements called my attention and were the point of departure to propose this research project: “¿para qué Cambridge?; ahora salieron con el cuento de que toca ser C1. Luego los profesores no son C1? Eso es puro negocio para ellos, y yo pues perdiendo inglés” (Student 1, tenth grade) “Cambridge? What for? Now they are telling us we must have a C1 level; are not teachers in that C1 level? It is just a business, and I fail in English classes” (Student 1, tenth grade) “Yo entré acá y nunca me dijeron nada un C1; eso ya vino después con eso del bilingüismo, pero pues eso es para los pequeñitos. Yo me imagino que no soy bilingüe, pero me enseñan inglés”. (Student 5, tenth grade) “I registered in this school, and they never told me anything about that C1 level; that came with Bilingualism, but that process is just for the little kids. I think I am not bilingual, but they teach me English” (student 5, tenth grade) 4.

(14) Reflective practices: Positioning as EFL learners. My concern was that students lacked knowledge about what the curriculum at the school implied in terms of Language proficiency levels, and how those are affecting their academic progress and language learning and curriculum implementation in their school. These aspects led me to think about the need to open spaces for them to express their views, while developing autonomy and motivating them to learn this language. Autonomy in language learning is important because as Benson (2001) states it is “about people taking more control over the purposes for which they learn languages and the ways in which they learn them” (p.1). It is my contention that students need to be aware of the programs they follow at school and the interests behind those programs. As English teacher in the school, following the guidelines in the curriculum which aim to develop critical thinking in the classes, and simultaneously, develop their autonomy in relation to approach the purpose, possible relevance and influence in their academic process. I decided to use self-assessment in the form of reflective practices to fulfill these purposes considering those are proposed for monitoring and reflecting about the language learning process while accomplishing proficiency levels in the Common European Framework of reference. Self-assessment is defined as “the involvement of students in making judgments about their achievements and the outcomes of their learning” (Boud & Falchikov, 1989, p. 529) and “identifying standards and/or criteria to apply to their work and making judgments about the extent to which they have met these criteria and standards”. (Boud, 1995, p.4). As my intention was to have students talk about their role and views about learning a foreign language, I decided to take this as an opportunity to examine how they positioned themselves in this learning process. For the purpose of analyzing the position students may have. 5.

(15) Reflective practices: Positioning as EFL learners. while being part of the English-learning, the following research question and objectives were proposed: Research Question: What do reflective practices in the EFL classroom inform us about students’ positioning while responding to a school curriculum based on international proficiency levels? Research Objectives: 1) To unveil the positions that students enact during the implementation of a selfassessment language portfolio in an EFL classroom 2) To specify the way students’ positions are shaped when developing reflective practices. Rationale The Council of Europe in its official document for the Common European Framework Reference for languages highlights clear procedures learners must follow to accomplish the goals proposed, as well as the objectives and aims that directly relate to cultural awareness and social competences. The document establishes that the Common European Framework Reference is intended, in terms of learning processes to raise “the learner’s awareness of his or her present state of knowledge; self-setting of feasible and worthwhile objectives; selection of materials; selfassessment” (p.6). The document itself suggests monitoring, fostering and reflecting upon learners’ perspective about the language learning process, and what tools are available for this purpose. On the other hand, the Common European Framework Reference for languages establishes the proficiency levels learners must demonstrate, as follows:. 6.

(16) Reflective practices: Positioning as EFL learners.. Figure 1. CEFR proficiency levels. Taken from Council of Europe. (2001). Common European framework of reference for languages: Learning, teaching, assessment. Common European framework or Reference delimits the curriculum, the pedagogical practices and assessment implemented in the school where this study took place, which means it may directly influence students´ learning environment, students´ view of language and teaching practices inside the classroom. Benson (2007) offers solid arguments about the importance of autonomy practices in language learning and different perspectives that depart from a mainstream view of autonomy. The author uses Holliday´s (2003) arguments about the existing link between autonomy processes and social features, in the sense that autonomy lies in the social worlds of the individuals, which they bring with them from lives outside the classrooms. The analysis of learners´ perceptions, points of view and opinions in terms of the language learning process and how it relates to their daily experiences is expected to be prime source of information to unveil how the CEF practices a mise en scene to enable students to reflect upon their own practices. Bearing in mind ideas mentioned before, I consider it important to conduct this study as a means to a critical reflective view of students´ language learning processes. The aim of going beyond the instrumental application of International Standardization policies, such as the CEF is 7.

(17) Reflective practices: Positioning as EFL learners. to unveil and analyze the social dimension of the application itself, using students´ introspections and discussions as well as offering students tools and procedures to foster reflection practices; it is worthy to have a deep view of how implementation of International language policies impact Colombian language learners, considering that the implementation of these policies implies not just a curricular adjustment, but a complex transformation of classroom and institutional dynamics in order to ensure an assimilation of the proficiency levels in context. I expected to offer participants and the institution where the study was conducted a critical reflective analysis of how the CEF implementation influences the learning process of the community, the perceptions students have had inside of this process, and possibilities to use that analysis to understand the roles enacted for students while CEF is implemented. The study was conducted in a Catholic, private, boys-only school located in Chapinero. The school is currently undergoing transformations with the aim of transforming itself into a bilingual school. As part of this process, students attend six hours of English class per week in secondary levels to reach the standards set by the Common European Framework Reference. The school is also a “Cambridge English School”, and a “Cambridge Examination Centre” (both classifications given by Cambridge University Press to schools that use textbooks and International examinations designed and purchased by them). The school has established in its curriculum that, by the time students graduate, they must certify a C level of proficiency in accordance the Common European Framework Reference for Languages. This study was developed with students that were in Eleventh grade (aged 14 to 16). They were students who had been in the school for more than 6 years. Eleventh graders were placed at A2, B1and B2 proficiency levels according to a diagnostic exam conducted by Cambridge University Press in 2016. In this research I was interested in analyzing how students perceived 8.

(18) Reflective practices: Positioning as EFL learners. themselves as English-language learners inside a curriculum based on Language Proficiency levels designed and proposed by the Common European Framework Reference. Following the guidelines proposed by the Discourse Analysis within the educational contexts research area, this study attempts to unveil and analyze students` positionings about the implementation of the Common European Framework Reference through reflective practices. I consider it is pertinent to develop this research proposal considering the increasing application and adaptation of foreign language policies in Colombian educational settings, and the need to understand how these foreign policies are perceived by language learners themselves, as well as how reflective students are in terms of their duties, responsibilities and roles as part of an English-language learning process that involves International Standardization.. 9.

(19) Reflective practices: Positioning as EFL learners. Chapter 2 Theoretical Framework. This chapter presents the main theory that supports the project. It aims at describing the tenets behind positioning and identity theory and to show how these two aspects are revealed in individuals’ interactions with others; the primary sources of the discussion are led by considering self-positionings, self-perception as English language learners and identity construction while being learners of English as a foreign language The chapter also includes a brief state of the art on the study of these two topics in the language-education field. For the purpose of this chapter is important to mention that reflective practices are considered as the pedagogical tool implemented, and not a theoretical foundation of the study.. Positioning theory. The term position is part of the discursive psychology field. It is defined by Harré (2003) as episodes of social interaction characterized by unfolding structures of meaning related to social rules, conventions and costumes. The term “positions” refers to the patterns of beliefs in the members of a community. Harré (2003) argues that positions are social in the sense that “the relevant beliefs of each member are similar to those of every other” (p.4). While being part of an academic community (i.e. a classroom) students follow a certain patterns of beliefs determined by the curriculum, the school philosophy and, for the case of this study, the proficiency levels students must accomplish. Proficiency levels become social as they determine common linguistic features students must have in a shared language.. 10.

(20) Reflective practices: Positioning as EFL learners. (Van langenhove, 1999) affirms that: “positioning can be understood as the discursive construction of personal stories that make a person´s actions intelligible and relatively determinate as social acts and within which the members of a conversation have specific locations” (p. 16). The author highlights the importance of the dynamics of social episodes and how these social episodes contribute to the social group. A social episode is understood in Harré & Sabat (2009) as a sequence of events in which individuals get engaged, having some principles of unity; these episodes do not just include behavior, but also the feelings, thoughts of the individuals involved in the episode. Participants define the episodes, establishing rules and behavior patterns, but also the patterns and rules in the episodes shape individuals Having “the other” as a constant reference in the definition of positions and the perceptions each actor in the social interaction has about that “other”, Harré (2003) also proposes the term indirect positioning, referring to the act of giving the other a place or position with statements or attributions. These attributions delimit the behavior of features of the person affected by the speech act. To analyze the relationships between human interactions and social behavior (two important elements present in the process of positioning), Harré (2003) establishes the need to focus in two theories: reversal theory and positioning theory. Reversal theory refers to the motivations that a person has as an option when facing different social situations and the motivations each person has when facing and responding to external stimulus (situations). According to Harré (2003), “reversal theory establishes that these motivational responses come in pairs of opposites, and that one cannot accomplish both motivational responses at the same time, giving place to choices” (p 18). The motivational responses are named as:. 11.

(21) Reflective practices: Positioning as EFL learners. 1. The domain of goals and activities. These refer to the way people define and decide how to respond to goals proposed in everyday situations. Harré (2003) proposes the opposites definitions of achievement/enjoyment for representing how to approach to the goal, achievement being associated with the satisfaction of having success in future goals, and enjoyment the satisfaction the person feels on short-term goals. 2. The domain of rules and conventions. This domain refers to how social agreements regulate the individual, or how individuals remove social rules and agreements to get their individual objectives. 3. The domain of transactions. This domain refers to the emotional transactions that take place among individuals with others and with themselves. For example, power and love are emotions involved in the transactions referred in this domain, defining power as the sense of competition an individual has when interacting with others, especially when using skills that allow the individual to feel superior to the others. On the other hand, love refers the caring sense, in which the individual gains satisfaction by feeling empathy for the other, and by being sensitive towards the other. 4. The domain of relationships, in which individuals decide if personal interests and goals are the most important issues in respect to social agreements, or if they decide to act with others without thinking about personal goals. This can be defined under the terms ‘individuality’ (satisfaction comes from doing things by one´s individual purposes) and ‘transcendence’ (satisfaction comes from being aware of the other, taking care of what happened to the other and being unselfish). When referring to personal interactions, people position themselves according to the style adopted, especially to achieve successful communication. Depending on the. 12.

(22) Reflective practices: Positioning as EFL learners. motivational style selected in each interaction, individuals can enact a specific position with others. Positioning theory and reversal theory work together to understand how people construct meanings about the situations in which they find themselves. The main objective of taking the postulates of Harré (2003, 1999) as a reference is to analyze how to combine the externally imposed rights, duties and obligations (positioning theory) with the internally generated wants, purposes and values of reversal theory, when analyzing students ´interactions and performances during the implementation of CEFR curriculum. Harré’s theory about positioning (2003) describes how emotions and positionings are related, as well as two levels of positioning when social interactions take place. Harré (2003) affirms two levels of positioning can be evidenced in social interactions. In the first level individuals locate themselves and others within an essentially moral space by using several storylines, understood as the conversational history and the sequence of things already said which emerge in the interaction between individuals (Harré, 1996b) and categories, mostly performed in an unconscious way. In the second level of positioning, the first level of positioning is questioned and negotiated. When these negotiations are intentional, this is what Harré calls deliberate self-positioning. After establishing these levels of positioning to understand social interactions, it is paramount to refer to the importance of emotions in positioning. According to Harré (2003) “emotions are understood from the social constructionist approach as discourse (discourse as the systematic, coherent set of images, metaphors that construct an object in a particular way)” (p. 31). Harré (2003) mentions the importance of the construction of emotions through language as language becomes the mechanism by which individuals manifest their experiences and feelings. 13.

(23) Reflective practices: Positioning as EFL learners. related to particular episodes, and by interaction among members of a group those experiences and feelings, which are shared and attached to similar experiences in different individuals, are named under common codes such as “love”, “hate”, “like, “dislike”. I consider the theory about emotions and positions proposed by Harré (2003) relevant as it offers tools to analyze students’ perceptions, beliefs and points of view regarding the effects of a CEFR environment. This is important to develop a further analysis because of its academic implications and the repercussion it has on students’ socio-cultural environment. The students in my project were male and, in this respect, Harré (2003) mentions the difficulties male individuals face when expressing and socializing emotions in social interactions. This is, in part, due to the preconceptions society establishes about how men must express their life experiences, denying them the right and opportunities to show themselves as sensitive individuals, who are able to experiment emotions as frustration or sadness in the presence of other men, risking their roles of dominance and possible superiority.. Positioning, discourses and identity Adjei’s (2013) theoretical revision emphasizes the relevance of positioning and intertextuality in discursive interactions and meaning making processes. The author also discusses the importance of having positioning theory as a reference to develop discourse analysis studies, mainly because researchers are able to conceptualize context and culture for social interactions. Adjei (2013) summarizes Davies and Harré’s (1990) ideas about discourse and positions by expressing: Discourses of people are grounded in subject positions so that when participants in a social interaction take up particular positions, they see and interpret the world from and. 14.

(24) Reflective practices: Positioning as EFL learners. through that chosen strategic position in terms of images, symbols, metaphors, values, story lines and the socio-cultural concepts available to them within a given discursive environment in which they are positioned (p.2). According to Adjei (2013), people strategically draw on available interpretative repertoires of discourses to negotiate and construct meanings in social interaction. When analyzing social interaction, it is imperative to examine discourses as they reflect processes of negotiation, the way people represent their beliefs, express their attitudes and values. It is important to establish a link between positioning theory and identity, which is another relevant construct developed in this section. For this purpose Davies and Harré (1990) make a further and deeper analysis on positioning theory, focusing on the development of the personhood in the framework of the discursive practices. First, Davies and Harré (1990) clarify the term discursive practice as “all the ways in which people actively produce social and psychological realities” (p. 3). In this sense, discourses are institutionalized uses of the language, and may occur at different levels, such as disciplinary, cultural and political levels. Discourses may be developed around specific topics, and individuals express their experiences and perceptions according to the realities they have lived. Davies and Harré (1990) presented an example about interactions about adolescent girls, in which Frazer (1990) establishes that actors’ understanding and experience of their social identity, the social world and their place in it, is discursively constructed; the girls’ experience of gender, race, class, their personal-social identity, can only be expressed and understood through the categories available to them in discourse (p.3). 15.

(25) Reflective practices: Positioning as EFL learners. The force of each discursive practice is determined on the provision of subject positions; that is to say that when a person has a specific position, the perception of realities is determined by a series of concepts, metaphors, and storylines relevant in the discursive practices in which individuals are positioned. Thus, “individuals emerge from the process of social interactions as changing subjects that are shaped for the different discursive practices they participate” (Davies & Harré, 1990, p.3). Discourses become an emerging and progressive element that comes from constant interaction, and vary depending on the individuals, the context and the situations in which they are produced. Considering these aspects, each discursive practice gains relevance as it provides subject positions, which involves a repertoire of concepts and a location for the individual that is using that specific repertoire of concepts. When individuals assume a personal position, they interpret the world and the experiences lived from the perspective that the position enacted offers “in terms of the particular images, metaphors, storylines and concepts which are made relevant within the particular discursive practices in which they are positioned” (Davies & Harré, 1990, p. 4). Through social interactions, individual appears as one who is being constructed and reconstructed by the different discursive practices taking place, as he/she begins to live in the core of the elements mentioned before stories are constructed, which are the experiences the individual set to make meaning of the world. Davies and Harré (1990) affirm that “stories are located within a number of different discourses, and thus vary dramatically in terms of the language used, the concepts, issues and moral judgements made relevant and the subject positions made available within them” (p.5).. 16.

(26) Reflective practices: Positioning as EFL learners. Discursive practices, context, social interaction and the positions subjects take are key elements in Davies and Harré’s (1990) consolidation of positioning theory, and in their understanding of personhood. Davies and Harré (1990) state that individuals are constituted by a personal identity and a personal diversity, being constantly positioned in a conversation and “that very same person experiences and displays that aspect of self that is involved in the continuity of a multiplicity of selves” (p.5). As the development of the personhood is determined by the process of interpretation of the world, and the perspective the individual has about situations, Davies and Harré (1990) claim that the following process is necessary: 1. Learning of categories which include and exclude individuals in a group. (For instance, in a family the concepts “mother”, “father”, or in a school “students”, “teacher”). 2. Participating in different discursive practices in which meanings are assigned to learn categories. (If the individual is at the school, for example, to be involved in discursive practices framed by academic topics) 3. Self-positioning in terms of the categories and storylines. This involves positioning oneself as if one belongs in one category and not in the other (taking position as student/teacher, good student/bad student, and collaborative/autonomous learner in academic contexts) 4. Recognition of the individual as having the characteristics that locate oneself as a member of a subgroup – (meaning individual develop emotional attachments to the position enacted, identifying themselves as part of the rules and duties involved in that position).. 17.

(27) Reflective practices: Positioning as EFL learners. In the process described above, the role of language is crucial for the individual to enact a position. When the individual is inside a group, language allows the construction of categories and concepts that lead to a further identification of that individual with specific characteristics of a group, which quite possibly are shared with other members. Discourse becomes the scenario “whereby selves are located in conversations as observably and subjectively coherent participants in jointly produced storylines. There can be interactive positioning in which what one person says positions another. And there can be reflexive positioning in which one positions oneself.” (Davies & Harré, 1990, p.7).. Identity According to the poststructuralist perspective, identity is considered as a continuous and constant construction of individual features guided by the context, and emerging in discourses produced in social interactions (Miyaharay, 2010). In other words, rather than being a mere category or a personal characteristic, identity is social, a learning process, and a local–global interplay (Wenger, 1998, p. 163). Concerning the influence of implementing foreign language policies beyond academic contexts, and the way culture is attached to language (the English language for the purpose of this study), the theory developed in the field of identity offers arguments about the possible relationships between language and identity, and how to link the positioning theory with English-language learning based on the proposal that, by social interactions, storylines and students´ experiences inside English classroom identities as English language learners may be constructed. Pavlenko and Blackledge (2004) develop their definition of identity on the idea that it is constructed and validated through discourses individuals have access at a specific location and. 18.

(28) Reflective practices: Positioning as EFL learners. time (Davies & Harré, 1990; Harré & Langenhove, 1999). For Pavlenko and Blackledge (2004) language and identity are related as they are mutually constitutive. First, language provides the individuals with terms and linguistic meanings by which identities are constructed and negotiated; second, ideologies of language and identity guide individuals to use linguistic resources to index their identities and to evaluate this process in others. Charaudeau (2009) discusses the relationship between linguistic identity and cultural identity, thusly, illustrating two important aspects in this area: how individuals build relations among themselves when they are part of a single group (cultural identity), and the way individuals are attached to a culture by sharing linguistic features (domain of a language). In relation to identity, Charaudeau (2009) analyses the perceptions that individuals develop when creating their own identity, and how those perceptions contribute to build a community. Charadeau (2009) states that: being yourself, in a first moment, is perceiving yourself different from the other, and if there is a reason, try not to be the other. In this way, belonging to a group means not to belong to other groups, and the search for their own group, regarding that belonging to a group individuals are also searching the different (p. 55). Individuals need to recognize how different they are from others to perceive themselves and position themselves in relation to others. When this process takes place, individuals track commonalities in that process to belong to a community, additionally, the classification of groups takes place, setting the stage for the development of group identification. When individuals face the challenge of belonging to a group and develop an individual recognition, Charaudeau (2009) proposes two processes that the individual develops: attraction and rejection towards the other. Charadeau states that in the attraction process the individual. 19.

(29) Reflective practices: Positioning as EFL learners. tends to state questions that lead to the analysis of the self-identification, such as “how different is the other?”. This helps individuals to discover themselves as incomplete, and with need of interaction. Charaudeau´s (2009) rejection process states that the difference can be a “threat” for the individual, leading to possible questions such as “what makes the other superior to me?” or “what make the other more perfect that me?”, and “to what extent their arguments are more valid than mine?”. When this reasoning from the individual standards of self-perception and social interaction begins, the individual evaluates what features each one on the members of the group develop on their own (singularity) and what features are built to belong to a social group. When individual build communities, one of the key aspects that determine their belonging to a group or community is the linguistic features they share. Language becomes a crucial factor that sets a group identity, mainly because all the members that share that language can communicate among themselves, but also because communication makes that specific group different to other groups that share different languages. Charaudeau (2009) states that the notion of linguistic identity is validated for two different discourses: language is necessary for the construction of a collective identity that grants social cohesion in a community, and, due to language, social integration takes place, while it becomes a symbol of identity. The second discourse is related to the history of the group, and how sharing a common history develops solidarity among members of the community and how individual identities build that group history. Identity theories and Positioning theory articulate in analyzing how social interactions shape individual features of a subject in a specific community; development of identities are nonstatic, dynamic and influenced by the discourses led and enacted by the different members of a community. For the purpose of this study, Identity theories and Positioning theory allow to. 20.

(30) Reflective practices: Positioning as EFL learners. reflect, analyze and unveil how discourses enacted inside English classrooms, under the parameters, academic guidelines and proficiency levels proposed by the Common European Framework of Reference may shape, influence or transform students of English as a foreign language, and how students react, refer and perceive those parameters and academic guidelines, as well as appropriate and reject them for their academic, personal and motivational objectives.. Identity and language Norton & McKinney in Atkinson (2011) offer an approximation to the link between language and identity as they state that language contributes to define identity through interactions. Inside classrooms, the existence of interactions is undeniable, and language becomes the engine that activates exchange of perceptions, ideas and interpretations of realities among the members of the classroom as community. Norton (2000) uses the term identity “to reference how a person understands his/her relationships to the world, how those relationships are constructed across time and space, and how the person understands possibilities for the future” (p. 5). In this statement, Norton states that when learners speak, they are negotiating and renegotiating their sense of self in relation to the social world, which reaffirms the importance of discourses and language in identity development. Based on poststructuralist theory, Norton (2000) establishes three characteristics of identity relevant to second language acquisition. Firstly, the multiple nature identity has in consideration of the multiple backgrounds of individuals in terms of experiences and social conditions. Secondly, identity changes over time (which means that individuals have a personality that may. 21.

(31) Reflective practices: Positioning as EFL learners. be modified throughout his/her life depending on the experiences lived). Finally, identity is a site of struggle because personality is shaped by social interactions and the language exchange taking place among individuals of a group of learners and the different positions an individual can enact in different social situations. Members of the community that speak is those who establishes their own position and reshapes their identities through interaction with others, as well as establishing hierarchical identities among speakers. Riley (2007) focuses his attention to the fact that language is one of the main resources that makes the construction of society possible. Language becomes primordial for creating conditions inside a group, and for implementing the necessary acts to establish relationships among subjects and coordinate actions in the group. Riley (2007) proposed the term communicative practices for the linguistic forms used to coordinate actions among members of a group, clarifying that these practices should be understood as the ways the members of a specific group use linguistic resources. Subjects do not just communicate messages through communicative practices but also identity features. Inside groups, speaking and communication establish membership, as individuals share commonly agreed upon codes and concepts. In this regard, Riley (2007) suggests that such membership is consolidated by certain linguistic patterns shared by the members of a specific group. The author proposed a questionnaire as a practical exercise to understand the role of language and discursive practices in the consolidation of membership to a specific group. Questions considered aspects such as if it is possible to identify features such as race, social status or occupation by merely listening the accent of a person in the country. The author also asked if there are special forms in a country for referring to different people (children, employers), what manners people display when they talk. 22.

(32) Reflective practices: Positioning as EFL learners. at mealtimes, and what gestures people have for agreement, giving thanks or greetings. The intention was to demonstrate that a person can validate the membership in a group by sharing linguistic patterns, and can interact with other subjects who share the same linguistic patterns as the social group. Communicative practices among group members allow them to set common features that make them part of the community in which the interactions take place. While the communicative practices reveal what individual, linguistic features are produced in order to express and develop individual identities while establishing such group membership. State of the Art This section synthetizes pieces of research that included positioning theory and identity in connection to learning a foreign language, particularly English. The main goal is to present a comprehensive view of what has been done in this field and compare and contrast the findings and methodologies used. The following studies are organized in consideration of the geographical location where they were developed: first, studies developed in Europe, Asia and North America; then, studies developed in South America. Denned (2011) conducted a study with two blended classrooms to analyze students´ positioning and instructor´s positioning following the theories proposed by Harré and van Langenhove (1999) and Davies and Harré (1999). The categories used to analyze the interactions between the instructor of blended classes and students were categorized in: Positioning and student perceptions of instructors, where students readily characterize facilitators as leaders with power and knowledge, relying on a well-known traditional instructor role out of both economy. 23.

(33) Reflective practices: Positioning as EFL learners. and consistency with the membership role they play in a class as students. Denned (2011) states that teachers, as facilitators, tend to change their identities depending of the context they were working, in spaces with focus on the teacher or the student, and spaces with interaction teacher/student. All teachers have the same amount of participation in their different contexts, and their presence varied in relation to the different classes depending on their engagement with students. Dennen (2011), examining the research and the application of theories from Harré and Langenhove (1999), and Davies and Harré (1999), concluded that it is important to analyze the role of the person in charge of leading the educational process and possible interactions with learners. The author also points out how discourse, as selected and performed by each actor in the interaction, models perceptions, beliefs and construction of identities. For this study is relevant to take into account how teachers’ management of the Common European framework as the guiding discourse inside the English classroom may influence students’ perceptions, experiences and opinions. Gao, Jia and Zhou (2015) developed a mixed-methods research to trace EFL learning motivation and identity development of Chinese students during their university undergraduate years. This study was conducted with students from 5 different universities in Beijing, aged between 18 and 22 years old, who had Chinese as L1. Data collection was developed through questionnaires, students’ journals (in English) and interviews in Chinese with some participants. The study concludes that students showed notable changes through their EFL learning process in a Chinese context and that as they increased the contact with the L2 (English) for academic purposes, they integrated the L2 in common social interactions, whether the interactions occurred with people with the same nationality or students from other countries.. 24.

(34) Reflective practices: Positioning as EFL learners. The study highlights the constant influence of L2 learning in the individual development of identities, especially in social interactions and everyday situations, such as entertainment, watching movies and T.V. series, boosting confidence when having access to these contents by means of English. Participants manifested that English made them feel part of a global community, and served as a useful way to codify information that could be found in several languages. The authors suggested that further study on L2 identity and EFL contexts is necessary. This justifies the need to analyze, through students’ perceptions and self-positioning what are the influences of L2 learning processes in Colombia. Martin (2010) carried out an instrumental case study to analyze how participants demonstrated and developed agency through social interactions and discourse, and how they positioned themselves in science classes. The study was conducted with three girls in a yearseven science class in Australia. The class was filmed during four weeks using multiple cameras, and fixing microphones to the participants selected for gathering data, taking the form of transcripts and analyzed as social acts (conversations and speech produced by participants). In terms of positioning from the participants, the study showed that there were moments that participants re-positioned themselves, depending on how much responsibility was required for the academic tasks developed in the science classes, especially when developing group activities. The focus of the study was on the girls’ agency in the science classes, and it showed that the participants chosen were positioned as competent students in that class. Martin (2010) stated that the analysis of the storylines (experiences and experiences students expressed about a situation) depended on how the participants developed social interactions, beyond their competence in the academic subject.. 25.

(35) Reflective practices: Positioning as EFL learners. The research showed that the perception about duties, responsibilities, and how students positioned themselves while learning a foreign language becomes relevant. Yoon (2008) examined regular classroom teachers' views of their roles with regard to English language learners (ELLs) and the relationship between their teaching approaches and the students' reactions and positioning of themselves in the classroom. The findings for each teacher's case are presented in three sections: the teachers' stated beliefs, their teaching practices, and the ELLs' participatory behaviors. The study shows that the teachers' pedagogical approaches and their interactions with the ELLs were based on their positioning of themselves as teachers for all students, as teachers for regular education students, or as teachers for a single subject. The teachers' different approaches were connected to the ELLs' different participatory behaviors in classroom contexts that positioned them as powerful, strong students or as powerless, poor students. Even highly interactive classroom contexts with hidden power relations inadvertently positioned the ELLs as isolated. Yoon states that the most relevant factor to ELLs' engagement in learning is the teachers' approach to the students, but not in terms of the teachers' specific methods. According to the author, culturally relevant pedagogy (Ladson-Billings, 1995) offers support for the conviction that the teachers are the most important factor in promoting students' opportunities to learn. It seems evident that what ELLs need is not only effective teaching methods but also teachers who care and are sensitive to their cultural differences and needs. Menard-Warwick (2008) developed a discourse analysis study to work on two situations of gendered positioning taking place during a unit on employment in adult English as a Second Language program in California. The social positioning analyzed in this research was taken from a bigger ethnographic study at the Community English Center and a California ESL program. 26.

(36) Reflective practices: Positioning as EFL learners. designed for immigrants. The study focused on students’ perspectives on how other social contexts shaped their L2 learning and their identities (Menard-Warwick 2004, 2005, 2006). Data was collected through observations, written reports and class audiotapes. The authors stated that when teachers provide a space for critical reflection in ESL classrooms, they facilitate learners’ re-constructions of L2 voices that facilitate the reflection on the identities that society is assigning them. This research is quite meaningful to the purpose of this project, mainly because offers a perspective on how to allow participants to express opinions, and how those opinions and experiences can be transformed into insights that shape the procedures and implementations of foreign language policies, as well as how this implementation shape students ‘identities. Classroom interactions become an important source of data for this project, as participants take different positions during interactions (active, passive, neutral). Vetter (2010) carried out a 5-month qualitative study to investigate how one high school English teacher situated students as readers and writers in daily classroom interactions. The author used a micro-ethnographic approach for this study that focused on how people acted and reacted to each other within classroom language and literacy events and discourse analysis framed around positioning theory was used to interpret classroom interactions. Data was collected by the researcher who acted as a participant-observer for a period of 5 months. Data sources included expanded field notes, interviews with teacher and students, and video and audio recordings of the interactions in the classroom. Vetter presents three positions evidenced from the teacher observed. The procedures followed by her were accurate to position and engage students in the classroom in regards to three different aspects: the development of students´ agency, the empowerment inside the classroom, and students being aware of how teachers´ race, class, and gender shaped her pedagogy and classroom interactions.. 27.

(37) Reflective practices: Positioning as EFL learners. Vasilopoulos’ (2015) qualitative collective case study examined L2 identity construction and negotiation in Korea. The researcher wanted to investigate how English shapes self and social identity while using English in day-to-day interactions. Data collection procedures included open-ended questionnaires, in-depth interviews, and purpose homogenous sampling techniques. The study was conducted with 10 Korean adult bilinguals (participants have knowledge of English and Korean and have lived abroad for over 4 years). Participants expressed the need for having more opportunities to speak English in Korea, not just in the academic contexts, mainly because English is not an official language in Korea, thus limiting the range of communication in English. They expressed that they preferred to have communication in English because it helps them to improve their proficiency in L2. Participants also manifested that when Korean classmates asked them to have full communication in English, it was not a comfortable situation, due to lack of effectiveness by the interlocutors (Korean classmates) with a lower proficiency in the L2. Participants affirmed that it was necessary to reduce the complexity of words and grammar structures used in these interactions when talking with their Korean classmates, while, most of the time, they were the only ones speaking, with no responses from their classmates, leading to confusion and misunderstandings. In this regard, participants preferred to communicate with L2speakers who have lived abroad and demonstrated high proficiency levels because it made them feel as if they were in real communicative situations. Using English to communicate with family and friends became an obstacle. The participants expressed that speaking in English was perceived as showing off, and that at the beginning they felt embarrassed for using English in Korean contexts.. 28.

(38) Reflective practices: Positioning as EFL learners. Virkkula and Nikula’s (2010) case study on identity construction in EFL contexts with Finnish engineering students working in Germany focuses on discursive identity construction of users of English as Lingua Franca (a concept used by researchers to clarify that the focus of the study is not on contexts in which English is the mother tongue, rather when English is used as a common language for non-native speakers). The study analyzed the stories of seven Finnish engineering students between 21 to 26 years old who attended an internship of 6 months in Germany in 2003 relation to their language and language learning and used poststructuralist theories of identity (Pavlenko & Blackledge 2004), as well as Norton´s (2000) views of language learner´s identity construction. The researchers found that, when participants referred to language skills, they described themselves as having poor skills in English, using their performance at school as a reference; besides the idea of measuring proficiency levels with certain standards in order to be considered “good” is evident when referring to evaluative discourses at school. Moreover, in regards to language skills participants kept a constant emphasis on grammar rules and tenses as the standard for measuring how proficient they were as speakers of English as a foreign language. Participants defined themselves as “not good”, and they also expressed that they did not use English in everyday situations, while denying having access to ‘real’ spoken interactions, as they did not consider school to be a real context for language use. After participants travelled abroad, interviews showed that they positioned themselves as users of English rather than incompetent learners. Their choices in terms of standards to measure proficiency (grammar rules) changed to using English in daily life. Participants made emphasis on language use as meaning construction over form guided by grammar rules.. 29.

(39) Reflective practices: Positioning as EFL learners. León (2016) analyzed ninth grader’s positioning through bullying inside English classes. The author illustrates how the environment is quite important in order to analyze students ‘positions towards bullying practices, how teachers become reflective upon students’ perceptions and beliefs not possible to evidence in regular classes by merely observing students, and how to implement innovative procedures, as in this case narratives, in order to make students reflect upon several situations happening inside the English classes. León (2016) describes two different attitudes in participants: positioning themselves as rejecters of distasting bullying manifestations by considering them bad habits, or becoming pacifiers in the middle of conflicts. There is concise positioning to keep engaged with academic activities to achieve goals for life, overcoming difficulties associated with the bullying episodes that have affected their lives. Garcia’s (2016) discourse research on learners´ identities when producing digital identity texts in the EFL classroom focused on the EFL learners positions in a specific subject worked on a Primary Education degree at a Spanish university. Digital Identity Texts (DIT) were implemented as a motivational tool in which learners have autonomy to design and organize their thoughts, opinions and beliefs related to English language learning. The study analyzed 51 DIT following a Positioning perspective (reflexive and interactive positioning). Participants took several positions through the DIT, usually related to being competent in a language and being able to speak the language. Also, they referred to this lack of motivation to the initial learning process of the language, because they felt that they were not able to produce organized and long spoken speech. Participants also positioned themselves as “native-speakers”, associating this state as being the ones who know the language and teach it to the students. Thusly, they presented themselves. 30.

(40) Reflective practices: Positioning as EFL learners. as dominant in the classes by producing the largest amount of spoken discourse in classes, and leading interactions with their students. Castañeda’s (2008) exploratory study analyzes the power relationships in prekinder students (boys and girls) while being part of a bilingual program (students as English learners), while producing natural interaction among them. The analysis is framed in the post-structuralist feminist discourse analysis methodology. The study was conducted in two stages: the pilot study took place in the ‘Sunrise Kindergarten’ and the main study in the ‘Goldmedal Kindergarten (names given on purpose by the researcher to ensure confidentiality). The researcher used Transana, a software created to conduct qualitative analysis, to transcribe content. The video material was organized into collections, and clips were coded according to the “key analytic themes” (Coffey and Atkinson, 1996) which were relevant to answer the research questions proposed in the study, namely, the analysis of the construction of girl-teachers and boy-teachers and the gendered discourses and comments around gendered text/content. The findings in this study suggest that discourses of approval represent a source of subjectpositioning for the girls of the Kindergarten, who positioned themselves as being more powerful and made their experience as learners more comfortable. The study also suggests that the positions achieved allowed girls to develop social practices that are commonly attributed to boys. Castaneda (2008) revealed the need of a ‘gender as discourses of multiplicity’ policy within the EFL curriculum of the Goldmedal Kindergarten. Highlighting the importance of analyzing why boys had a priority in terms of being listened and attended to when they position themselves as “naughty and playful”, he emphasized that girls did not experience that same priority when enacting masculine roles and positions.. 31.

(41) Reflective practices: Positioning as EFL learners. By analyzing the above-mentioned studies, I realized the importance of discursive practices in individuals that are facing language learning process, both in countries where English is accepted in everyday conversations and countries in which learners merely see English as a foreign language, in expectation of opportunities for practicing it abroad. None of the studies focused attention on the influence of language policies in learners ‘identity formation, or possible positions learners may take towards the implementation of language policies. It is worth analyzing not only the influence of teachers ‘practices (pedagogical and discursive) in students ‘perceptions and beliefs towards English as a Foreign language, but also how external agents are also involved in educational contexts, such as language policies implemented in countries where English is not commonly used in everyday situations. The studies coincide in the influence of contexts that offer foreign language learners possibilities of practicing the language with native speakers. A change in learners´ perceptions about proficiency and importance of learning a foreign language as they discover alternative ways of using the target language is also a convergent point. Learners of English as a foreign language position themselves as they gain access to further communication and language use with native users; while their identities are reconstructed in favor of using English instead of their mother tongue. What is not evidenced in the studies are students ´positions from past and present experiences as language learners, and how those experiences shape their identities and make them take positions towards the language they are learning beyond the teaching practices. Selfpositioning and reflection about experiences as English language learners become an important aspect to research. Likewise, how Colombian students’ discursive practices unveil their positions. 32.