Presented By Bonny Norton

Session Details

Identity, literacy and English language teaching

In recent years, there has been increasing research on the relationship between identity and language learning, particularly in the field of English language teaching. Such research is primarily concerned with the relationship between the language learner and the larger social world, and represents a shift from psycholinguistic to sociolinguistic theories of language. A parallel and related development in educational research is the growing interest in literacy as a social practice. Of central interest is the way literacy development is influenced by institutional and community practices, and the way power is implicated in learners’ engagement with text. In this plenary address, I trace the trajectory of my own research on identity, literacy, and English language teaching, focussing on debates on investment, imagined communities, and language learning. Data is drawn from a range of English language classrooms in the international community.

About Bonny Norton

Dr. Bonny Norton is Professor and Distinguished University Scholar in the Department of Language and Literacy Education, University of British Columbia, Canada. She is also Visiting Senior Research Fellow at King’s College, University of London, and Honorary Professor in the School of Education, University of Witwatersrand, South Africa. Her award-winning research addresses identity and language learning, education and international development, and critical literacy. Recent publications include Identity and Language Learning (Longman/Pearson, 2000); Critical Pedagogies and Language Learning (Cambridge University Press, 2004, w. K. Toohey); and Gender and English Language Learners (TESOL, 2004, w. A. Pavlenko). She edited the 1997 special issue of TESOL Quarterly on “Language and Identity”, and co-edited (w. Y. Kanno) the 2003 special issue of the Journal of Language, Identity, and Education on “Imagined Communities and Educational Possibilities”. Currently, she is a series editor (w. V. Ramanathan and A. Pennycook) for Multilingual Matters, which will publish her forthcoming book, Applied Linguistics and Public Health: Local Knowledge and HIV/AIDS (w. C. Higgins). In 2003, she was awarded a UBC Killam Teaching Prize and in 2008 a UBC Killam Research Prize. Her website can be found at http://lerc.educ.ubc.ca/fac/norton

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