A Study Of College English Learners’ Identity Change Based On Sociocultural Theory

A language is more than a communicative medium and it also contains the socialand cultural patterns of the speaking community. In the process of learning a foreignlanguage, except for acquisition of communicative capacity, learners also experiencechanges in their perceptions of themselves and their relationship to the world in termsof self-confidence, cultural ideology or their possibilities for the future, that is,identity change as a non-linguistic outcome in language learning. In a learningsituation, how individuals understand their relationship to the world and theirperception of themselves within the world will influence their learning andconstruction of knowledge. More recently, more and more studies began to investigatelearners identity within a sociocultural framework which draws heavily fromSociocultural Theory. Sociocultural Theory is a theory about how humans thinkthrough the creation and use of mediating resources and emphasizes the relationshipbetween the individual psychological aspects and the socially and culturally producedcontext and artifacts. The most fundamental concept of Sociocultural Theory is thathuman mind is mediated. Foreign language learning is seen as socially, culturally andhistorically mediated in the interaction the learners has experienced. As learning is aprocess taking place within communities, Sociocultural Theory becomes concernedabout how the role of power in mediating learners learning opportunities. This thesisattempts to analyze college English learners identity change within a theoreticalframework based on Sociocultural Theory, emphasizing the mediating role of thepower relations in learners learning communities are focused on. Learners’ powerrelations in learning include symbolic and material resources which constructlearners identity in their learning community.The173participants in this study are from Chengdu University of Technology.The data are collected from the questionnaires concerning about self-identity change and sociocultural power relations in the process of English learning, as well aslearners English learning stories. According to the findings in this study, Englishlearning is a complex socio-cultural process in which learners identity is constitutedand constitutive of language learning. In the sociocultural context, learners powerrelations including material and symbolic resources interact and cooperate with eachother in learners identity construction and change:Firstly, English learning is related to English learners identity construction andchange including cultural identity and their understanding about their relationship tothe world and possibilities for the future.Secondly, English learning is a sociocultural process in which learners identityis mediated by all kinds of power relations. Generally, material resources areimportant in learners earlier English learning and symbolic power like their languageproficiency becomes more closely related to their learning opportunities whichconstruct and change their identity as they move on to learn English.Thirdly, English learning is not only taking place in the micro learningcommunity at school or college, influence from society and culture also plays asignificant role. In this sociocultural context, English learners identities areconstructed and changed.Some tentative suggestions have been put forward based on the findings of thisresearch, moreover, the limitations of this study and suggestions for future researchare also introduced. It is hoped that the current study concerning learners identitychanges from the theoretical framework of Sociocultural Theory could bring moreresearch in this field in the future.This thesis consists of four chapters. Chapter1reviews the literature on bothidentity theory and Sociocultural Theory in second language learning at home andabroad. Chapter2describes the research methodology. Chapter3presents the analysisand finding of the data collected. Chapter4gives the pedagogical implications withlimitations and suggestions are also introduced. Finally, conclusion of the study ismade.