Linguistics Colloquium | Positional identities of Japanese college students in EFL and academic contexts | March 31

The Linguistics Colloquium series presents Dr. Miki Shibata discussing “Positional identities of Japanese college students in EFL and academic contexts” on Friday, March 31, from 12:55 to 1:50 p.m. via Microsoft Teams.

Shibata is Professor in Applied Linguistics at Hiroshima University, Japan and an alumnus of the M.A. in Applied Linguistics program.

For more information, contact Dr. David Bell, Chair of Linguistics at Ohio University, at belld@ohio.edu.

Abstract: Focusing on Japanese college students who learn English in higher education, this presentation illustrates that L2 learner identity is persistent and prevents them from realizing that they are qualified English users. Adopting the notion of social positioning as a theoretical framework, I have discerned the positional identities Japanese students evoke in two classroom contexts: English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) classroom and English-medium instruction (EMI) classroom. From a sociocultural perspective, learning is a social activity. Students learn and develop their language skills through social activities. Furthermore, through these activities, students become enculturated in their academic environment and thus, need to negotiate their identities through both language-learning and academic contexts. Referring to my previous research (i.e., Shibata, 2011, 2021a, & 2021b), I will discuss how Japanese learners of English position themselves and others in classroom, and what moral orders (i.e., institutional conventions, classroom cultures) they refer to for position-assignment.