Identity, Agency, and the Acquisition of Professional Language and Culture

273 Pages·2011·0.92 MB·English

by  Ping Deters

Identity, Agency and the Acquisition of
Professional Language and Culture
Also available from Continuum:
Language, Culture and Identity, Philip Riley
Multilingualism, Citizenship, and Identity, Julie Byrd Clark
Second Language Identities, David Block
The Sociolinguistics of Identity, Edited by Goodith White and Tope Omoniyi
Identity, Agency and the
Acquisition of Professional
Language and Culture
Ping Deters
Continuum International Publishing Group
The Tower Building 80 Maiden Lane
11 York Road Suite 704
London SE1 7NX New York, NY 10038
www.continuumbooks.com
© Ping Deters 2011
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,
recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior
permission in writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
EISBN: 978-1-4411-6315-8
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
Typeset by Newgen Imaging Systems Pvt Ltd, Chennai, India
Printed and bound in Great Britain
For Norbert
and
my parents and siblings:
Kok Ying and Hock Yee Wong,
Mary, Gwen, Sang, Terry, Fong, Elreen, Lai and Ling

Contents
List of Tables ix
Acknowledgements x
Chapter 1 Globalization and the Migration of Professionals 1
1.1 High-skilled Immigrants: A Prominent Trend 2
1.2 The Declassing of High-skilled Immigrants 5
1.3 Globalization in a Local Context: The Case of
Immigrant Professionals in Ontario, Canada 7
1.4 Current Issues in the Professional Integration of
Internationally Educated Teachers 11
1.5 Personal Experiences and Connections to
Immigration Issues 14
Chapter 2 Social Perspectives on Identity and Agency in
SLA Research 17
2.1 The Rise of Social Perspectives in SLA Research 17
2.2 Discourse and Identity: Post-structural and
Dialogic Theory 19
2.3 Learning as Becoming: Identity Formation in
Situated Learning 27
2.4 Mediated Mind and Agency: Sociocultural Theory 34
2.5 Theorizing Identity and Agency in SLA: Discussion 42
Chapter 3 Qualitative Research in SLA 53
3.1 Qualitative Research: Characteristics and Methods 54
3.2 Conducting Qualitative Research in SLA 67
Chapter 4 Affordances and Constraints in the Acquisition of
Professional Language and Culture 85
4.1 The Participants 85
4.2 Constraints to Professional Acculturation 94
4.3 Affordances to Successful Professional Acculturation 107
4.4 Discussion: Identity, Agency and Communities of
Practice 120
viii Contents
Chapter 5 The Professional Acculturation Journeys of Two
Schoolteachers from Different Times and Places 125
5.1 Evelyn: A Secondary School Teacher from Austria 125
5.2 Merida: An Elementary School Teacher from
Venezuela 136
5.3 Discussion 146
Chapter 6 Professional Integration in Two Contexts: A Chemical
Engineer in Canada and an Architect in Denmark 155
6.1 Peter, Chemical Engineer 155
6.2 Kerri, Architect 166
6.3 Discussion 178
6.4 Summary and Commentary: Retrospective Narratives 183
Chapter 7 The Lived Professional Acculturation Experiences of a
Teacher from Hong Kong: A Longitudinal Case Study 186
7.1 Case Study Information 186
7.2 Constraints and Confl icts 190
7.3 Affordances and Agency 197
7.4 Professional Acculturation and Identity 201
7.5 Discussion 205
Chapter 8 From Local to Global: Research Findings and Their
Application to Other Contexts 208
8.1 Affordances and Constraints to Professional
Acculturation 208
8.2 Theoretical Conceptions of Identity and Agency
Revisited 214
8.3 Practical and Policy Implications 217
8.4 Concluding Thoughts 220
Appendices 222
Appendix A: Interview Questions for IET Participants 222
Appendix B: Transcription Key 224
Appendix C: Member Checks 225
Appendix D: Examples of Segmentation and Coding 227
Notes 230
References 232
Index 247
List of Tables
Table 2.1 Conceptions of identity/self and agency 43
Table 3.1 Initial research design 69
Table 3.2 Participants in phase one 70
Table 3.3 Participants in phase two 70
Table 3.4 Participants in phase three 71
Table 3.5 Summary of interview data 75
Table 3.6 Summary of case study data 77
Table 4.1 Phase one and phase two (case study) participants –
elementary division 86
Table 4.2 Phase one and phase two (case study) participants –
secondary division 88
Table 4.3 Phase one and phase two (case study) participants –
college division 90
Table 4.4 Phase three participants 93
Table 4.5 Constraints to professional acculturation: topics and
themes 95
Table 4.6 Affordances to professional acculturation: topics and
themes 107