Role of identity in learning second language

The origin of identity comes from Late 16th century (in the sense ‘quality of being

identical’): from late Latin identities, from Latin idem ‘same’. The word identity has a lot of

meanings 1.The fact of being who or what a person or thing is 2.A close similarity or affinity, it

focuses how language constructs and is constructed by a variety of relationships

(https://en.oxforddictionaries.com).

There is a powerful relationship between identity and language learning ,which have

concerned many diverse of scholars especially in the field of study of languages. There are

many interests in identity and language learning and features of “identity” in most encyclopedias

and handbooks of language learning and teaching (Norton & Toohey 2002; Ricento 2005;

McKinney & Norton 2008; Norton 2010; Morgan & Clarke 2011) even in more broad in applied

linguistic.

“Many authors and identity researchers by using illustrative examples show that how

gender , sexuality etc interact with language learning in all regions of all the world(Norton pierce

1995; Norton 1997, Norton 2000 , 2001) Martina was an English language learner from eastern

Europe who had immigrated to Canada for a better life for her three children. Partly because she

was not a proficient speaker of English, she struggled to find work in her profession as a quantity

surveyor, and was employed in a fast food restaurant in the greater Toronto area. Her co-

workers, as well as the manager’s children (who frequently visited the restaurant), were all born

in Canada, and spoke English fluently. What Martina communicates in this extract is that

engaging in social interaction with her co-workers was a struggle, primarily because she was
positioned as a dehumanized and inanimate ‘broom’. To resist these marginalizing practices,

Martina reframed her relationship with her co-workers as domestic rather than professional, and

from the identity position ‘mother’, rather than ‘immigrant’ or ‘broom’, she claimed the right to

speak”( Bonny NortonUniversity of British Columbia, Canada bonny.norton@ubc.ca) .

An assessment of our study reveals the gap , all of identities might not be clarify

through a article ,recent diverse interesting era are studying identity and language learning , it

could be anticipated that the identities and through enthusiasm and investment on language

learners , also their teachers , will be product more exciting about the identities research in the

future.