1. Identity and Multi-competence
CSLS
October 28, 2016
Virginia M. Scott
Copyright Virginia M. Scott 2016
All Rights Reserved

2. Overview Setting the stage: “Identity” in FL classroom
-- FL Teaching vs. FL Education
-- The myth of bilingualism
“Identity” in FL classroom
Defining multi-competence
Identity and multi-competence: A new perspective in FL teaching
Identity & Muti-competence

3. Setting the stage: Teaching vs. Education
LANGUAGE TEACHING …
LANGUAGE EDUCATION …
… to help students learn about a particular language & culture.
… to develop L2 skills (speaking, reading, writing, listening)
… goes beyond an exclusive focus on learning the target language and learning about the target culture.
… places critical reflection about oneself, one’s own language and culture, and the target language and culture at the heart of foreign language education.
Identity & Muti-competence

4. Goal of language education …
to develop language awareness:
In what ways are the languages you speak part of your identity?
What is the difference between your language and your nationality?
What is a “native speaker”? Are you a native speaker of a particular language?
Does your native language give you a sense of power? A sense of belonging to a group?
Identity & Muti-competence

5. Have you ever felt like a “language outsider”?
What languages are / are not “cool”? Why
Describe stereotypes associated with different language groups.
Name some languages spoken by people in power.
Name some languages spoken by marginalized people.
In what ways can learning a second language give you power?
Identity & Muti-competence

6. Language Awareness A person’s sensitivity to
and conscious awareness of
the nature of language
and its role in human life.
(From Svalberg, 2007)
Identity & Muti-competence

7. Setting the stage: The myth of bilingualism
What does “bilingual” mean?
There are at least 37 definitions
of bilingual.
Identity & Muti-competence

8. Several definitions
Balanced bilingual = mastery of two languages is roughly equivalent
Covert bilingual = someone who hides knowledge of another language because of an attitudinal disposition
Dominant bilingual = greater proficiency in one of the two languages
Early bilingual = someone who acquired both languages in childhood
Late bilingual = someone who became bilingual later than childhood
Receptive bilingual = someone who understands but does not read or write
Secondary bilingual = someone whose second language has been added to a first via instruction
Incipient bilingual = someone at the early stages of bilingualism
(Taken from Wei, 2000)
Identity & Muti-competence

9. Bilingual people … understand a second language …
read a second language…
write a second language…
speak a second language…
to varying degrees!
Identity & Muti-competence

10. Who is a native speaker ?
People often think that being bilingual means being able to speak another language like a “native speaker.”
A person cannot become a native speaker of another
language. A native speaker is born into the
community in which the language is used.
Most people are incapable of achieving native-like
speech (pronunciation, idiomatic expression, etc.) in
a second language.
Identity & Muti-competence

11. Rethinking bilingualism
Bilingualism is not a state, but a process;
not a goal but a continuum.
BILINGUAL CONTINUUM
X X
incipient balanced
Identity & Muti-competence

12. IDENTITY
Identity & Muti-competence

13. Defining identity What shapes a person’s identity?
Cognition – how you think about things
Emotion – how you feel about things
Experience – your life story
Choice – what you decide
Identity & Muti-competence

14. Most psychologists and sociologists think of identity as dynamic and fluid rather than static or fixed.
Research suggests that a person’s identity changes during the course of the lifespan.
Identity & Muti-competence

15. Identity in classroom FL teaching
Dörnyei’s notion of the “Ideal L2 Self”
“The ideal L2 self is the L2-specific facet of one’s ideal self, which refers to the representation of the attributes that someone would ideally like to possess…”
“The theory suggests that if the person we would like to become speaks an L2, the ideal L2 self is a powerful motivator to learn the L2 because of the desire to reduce the discrepancy between our actual and ideal selves.”
(Dörnyei, 2010, p. 257)
Identity & Muti-competence

16. A vision of one’s “ideal L2 self”
can become an important part of a learner’s identity.
Identity & Muti-competence

17. Research on the Ideal L2 Self System Jamie Kathryn Butler (PhD candidate)
Intervention
Data collected
1: Description of future L2 self
Written response, class discussion with observation
2: Confronting learner beliefs
Written response to metaphor prompt, class discussion with observation
3: L2 role models
4: Timeline to ideal L2 self
Qualitative methods used
Identity & Muti-competence

18. MULTI-COMPETENCE
Identity & Muti-competence

19. Defining multi-competence
The term “multicompetence” was first coined by Vivian Cook
more than 20 years ago. (Professor of Applied Linguistics, Newcastle University)
Multi-competence …
… is the knowledge of two (or more) languages in one
mind.
… is the overall system of a mind or a community that
uses more than one language.
Identity & Muti-competence

20. Multi-competence …
… is not a theory or model of second language acquisition but rather a perspective, or a way of looking at acquisition and use of multiple languages.
… is a dynamic perspective that accounts for the natural ebb and flow of a person’s native language as well as other languages in various stages of development. (Scott 2010)
Identity & Muti-competence

21. Multi-competence
People who know more than one language have a distinct compound state of mind that is not equivalent to two monolingual states.
Identity & Muti-competence

22. Multi-competent L2 user
 A term to describe a person’s composite knowledge and use of two or more languages.
 A unique individual speaker-hearer of a second language who stands in contrast to a native speaker of that language.
Identity & Muti-competence

23. MC L2 users among us
“I interact regularly with a variety of multi-competent L2 users who speak southern American English:
my Ethiopian colleague in CSLS;
a Haitian medical practitioner at our university hospital;
my Belgian colleague in CSLS, a professor of French;
a Chinese graduate student preparing to teach English as a foreign language in China.
 All of these people have marked non-native accents and make repeated, systematic errors when they speak English; all of them are successful and productive members of our community who speak, read, and write English with varying degrees of accuracy.”
(Scott, 2016)
Identity & Muti-competence

24. Multi-competent L2 learner
Drawing on Cook’s notion of the MC L2 user, I have theorized a MC L2 learner who ...
… thinks critically about the nature of language and its role in human life.
… has realistic expectations as an L2 learner.
… does not perceive him/herself as a deficient native speaker.
… understands that a notion of one’s ideal L2 self can shape one’s identity as a second language user.
Identity & Muti-competence

25. Conclusions
Identity and multi-competence are terms that help us frame our thinking about FL teaching.
The classroom is an ideal place for a learner to develop an understanding of his/her identity that comprises an ideal L2 self who understands what it means to be an L2 user.
Identity & Muti-competence

26. Assessment criteria Developing L2 use Emerging ideal L2 self
Interpersonal
Presentational
Interpretive
Emerging ideal L2 self
Articulates ways second language learning promotes a positive sense of self
Feels increasingly empowered as an L2 user
Identifies strategies for maintaining / continuing L2 use
Identity & Muti-competence

27. References
Byram, M. (2008). From foreign language education to education for intercultural citizenship.
Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters.
Byram, M. (2012). Language awareness and (critical) cultural awareness: Relationships,
comparisons and contrasts. Language Awareness 21(1-2): 5–13.
Cook, V. J. (Ed.). (2002). Portraits of the L2 user. Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters.
Cook, V. J. (2012.) Multi-competence. In C. Chapelle (ed.), The encyclopedia of applied linguistics,
(pp ): New York: Wiley-Blackwell.
Cook, V. J. (2015). Premises of multi-competence. In V. J. Cook & L. Wei (Eds.), The Cambridge
handbook of linguistic multi-competence (pp. 1-33). Cambridge University Press.
Dörnyei, Z. & Ushioda, E. (2009). Motivation, language identity and the L2 self. Bristol, UK:
Multilingual Matters.
Identity & Muti-competence

28. References
Dörnyei, Z. (2010). The relationship between language aptitude and language learning motivation:
Individual differences from a dynamic systems perspective. In Macaro, E. (Ed.), The
Continuum Companion to Second Language Acquisition (pp ). London: Continuum.
Kramsch, C. (1998). The privilege of the intercultural speaker. In M. Byram and M. Fleming (Eds.),
Language learning in intercultural perspective: Approaches through drama and
ethnography (pp ). Cambridge University Press.
Kramsch, C. (2009). The multilingual subject. Oxford University Press.
Scott, V. M. (2010). Double talk: Deconstructing monolingualism in classroom second language
learning. NJ: Prentice Hall.
Scott, V. M. (2015). Multi-competence and language teaching. In V. Cook and L. Wei (Eds.), The
Cambridge handbook of linguistic multi-competence (pp ). Cambridge UP.
Identity & Muti-competence