VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES ********************* MAI THỊ BÍCH VƯỢNG A NARRATIVE INQUIRY INTO H’MONG STUDENTS’ IDENTITY CONSTRUCTION IN LEARNING ENGLISH ( Nghiên cứu tường thuật về kiến tạo bản ngã học sinh Hmong trong việc học Tiếng Anh ) M.A MINOR THESIS (Type I) Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231.01 Hanoi – 2019 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES ********************* MAI THỊ BÍCH VƯỢNG A NARRATIVE INQUIRY INTO H’MONG STUDENTS’ IDENTITY CONSTRUCTION IN LEARNING ENGLISH ( Nghiên cứu tường thuật về kiến tạo bản ngã học sinh H’mong trong việc học Tiếng Anh ) M.A MINOR THESIS (Type I) Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231. Le Van Canh Hanoi – 2019 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com DECLARATION I hereby declare that this thesis is my own work and effort and it has not been submitted to any other university or institution wholly or partially. Hanoi, January 2019 Mai Thị Bích Vượng LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I would like to express my deep gratitude to my supervisor Assoc. Le Van Canh who gave me a lot of valuable guidance, encouragements, criticisms and correction throughout my thesis writing.
I am indebted to three H‟mong students as well as teachers at Bac Ha high school, Lao Cai, who provided me with lots of useful information by narrative stories. My sincere thanks go to my family, my friends for their encouragement and support that help me to complete my work. LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ABSTRACT This thesis reports the result of an exploratory study on the identity construction of H‟mong students in learning English from high school, who are living and studying in a mountainous area. It attempts to find out how a small group of H‟mong high school students constructed their identities in learning English as a subject in the school curriculum.
I used a narrative inquiry approach to this study. The study included three interviews during two weeks. The findings indicate the importance of learners „identity in providing the context for the social construction of students. An additional implication of this research is the engagement, alignment, and imagination of the identity construction process that came from narratives of the students during a time when they were engaged in the construction of their learning identities.
LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ABSTRACT LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS PART I: INTRODUCTION. Rationale for the study. Aim and objectives. Significance of the study.
Scope of the study. 2 PART II: DEVELOPMENT. Definition of Identity .3 Racial and Ethnic Identities. Identity and foreign language learning.1 Identity as an educational tool.
Relationship between identity and second/ foreign language learning. Identity construction and foreign language learning. Previous studies on second language learners‟ identity .1 The context of the study. Data collection methods.
17 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Data analysis procedures. 21 CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION. Negotiation of meanings.
35 PART III: CONCLUSION. Summary of findings. Limitation of the study and suggestions for further research. 5548 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS BHHS : Bac Ha high school HS : H‟mong students HIS : H‟mong students‟ identity LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com PART I: INTRODUCTION 1.
Rationale for the study Research on second language students‟ identity has recently gained greater importance in second language education. The identity constructions of students have been considered one of the most factors that determine to a great extent to the development pathways of education. As a result, if teachers are aware of the identities of students, they will identify the suitable ways of teaching. What is more, each group of students has different identities, the ability and willingness of teaching ethnic people are the development of educational innovations.
Aim and objectives This study intends to provide a contribution that expands the discussion on English language learners‟ identity by providing empirical evidence related to the construction of H‟mong students‟ identities. In order to meet these aims, the following question is formulated: How do H‟mong students construct their identities in the process of learning English as a school subject? 3. Significance of the study The study can be much beneficial to English teachers, students and researchers. Firstly, English teachers, especially who have ever taught at schools in mountainous areas, recognizing identity of ethnic people will have some new experiences on improving the methodology of teaching language.
The study hopes to be a sample or suggestion for them to identify the constructions of H‟mong student‟s identities. Secondly, English teachers widen their knowledge towards cultural proficiency, beliefs, attitudes, (and) Linguistics of H‟mong students. 1 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com Increasing awareness will lead educators to find out suitable programs, practices, procedures, behaviour and ensure they are more equitable for all students. Thirdly, for H‟mong students, they act according to their own ways, when they concede their identities, they will aware who they are, which values of identity are the same or different from other ethnic people.
This can be sources of documents to engage the relationship and solidarity with others. Finally, for the researchers, the thesis can provide useful information for further studies of the same topic in the future. Briefly, English teachers, students and researchers can benefit from the results of this research. Research methods A qualitative research approach was chosen for this study.
Data were collected by means of students‟ narratives and structured interviews. Scope of the study The research is confined to study identities of one H‟mong group of students‟ construction and factors that affect the process of their identity foundation. As a single case study, the research does not intend to generalize its findings. 2 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com PART II: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1.
Definition of Identity 1. Identity The more rapid the development of globalization, the more widely educational reforms has taken place. To understand how to teach students in the new challenges, we need to examine how they “form sense of themselves- identities- in relation to ways of inhabiting roles, positions, and culture imaginaries that matter to them” ( Holland & Lachicotte, 2007, p. In the social sciences, the experience of self in cultural, historical and political contexts has been concerned much and the concept of identity is one of the theories that have been researched in recent years.1) pointed out “your identity is who you are” or “our identity is something we uniquely process, it is what distinguishes us from other people” (Buckingham, 2008).
He also mentioned identity has the relationship with a broader collective or social group of some kinds. When we talk about identity, cultural identity, or gender identity, it means our identity is partly a matter of what we share other people. Menard- Warwick (2005) suggested that identity relates to psychic, social and semiotic work necessary to sustain a sense of unity and sameness across time, space and identity difference and on social categories in order to achieve its coherence. Identity as a thing need to be discovered, liberated, examined and explained.
Identity is also defined as a concept in the social sciences and humanities (Bendle, 2002), and the fields of education (Gee, 2000) and appliedlinguistics (Block, 2007). Eagleton uses the term “identity” as the psychic, social and semiotic work necessary to sustain a sense of unity, same across time and space. 3 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Personal identity relates to the uniqueness of the subject and is shared through the evolution of time and from each individual within the society.
And the theory of social identity refers to how they are perceived by others. In other words, Regarding Wenger‟s (1998) defined identity a way of talking about how learning changes who we are and creates personal histories of being in the context of our communities” ( p. He also viewed identity is constructed in relationships with others, extending from the past and stretching into the future. Identity is not only malleable but also dynamic.
Identity construction expresses that you are that seems to be the result of the participation with others in the experience of life. Egan- Robertson (1998) claimed the complexity of identity construction as an intersection of a myriad of sociological factors within a historical moment. The experiences individuals live within a specific social environment creates the process of identity construction, different identities are not the same if the context was different. In this regard, Lave and Wenger(1991) focused on identity development within the context of social participation as a key factor in studying.
This theory points that identity development occurs when individuals engage in the practices of the social communities that one belongs to and actively participates in. So many views I adopted, identity can be understood that it refers to the sense of someone who you are, of what is the most important about you. Significant sources of identity are like to include nationality, ethnicity, sexuality, gender and class. Identity is a historical, social and cultural construct and we bring our identity to communication encounters.
Our identity is valued throughout core cultural values. Identity may be 4 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com distinguished from identification. It is a label, whereas identification refers to classifying act itself. Identity is thus best construed as be both relational and contextual, while the act of identification is best viewed as inherently processual.
We develop, change, construct, and adjust our identity through interactions with others. Identity tells us about who we are in terms of our gender, social class, age, sexual orientation, work, race and ethnicity our power, ideologies, and value systems from a certain point of view.2 Learning identity The identity as language learners is part of a multidimensional space that has both the roles, positions, voice of students as part of the community in the representation of classroom and individuals in the process of understanding a language that is different from their own. And one of key aspects in the comprehension of the ongoing process of identity construction of students is the relation between language and identity. Learner identity is understood to be affected by sociocultural context, varieties of participants.
In fact, educationalists and learners need resources to aware of learner identity such as guidance, material, support which make the contribution on a concept and a phenomenological experience. In Wenger‟s (1999) terms, learning enables through participation in communities of practice, and participation in communities of practice enables learning. This participation enables a sense of recognition and individuals consider themselves as belonging to a context to a different extent depending on how they are recognized in them (Falsafi, 2010). Wenger (1998) also claims that learning is an experience of identity and learning forms identities and identities shape learning.
Wigfield & Wagner (2007) also mentioned (learners‟) identity is originated from learning experiences and academic performance, may direct either competent or problematic behaviors in learning a L2 (Wigfield & 5 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. This can be inferred that how one perceives oneself may have both positive and negative impacts on his L2 learning. Learning identity is a key aspect of metacognitive knowledge about how one learns, particular his views about learning ability. Alice Kolb and David Kolb ( 2009) “ People with a learning identity see themselves as learners, seek and engage life experiences with a learning attitude and believe in their ability to learn” ( p.