In the Moment: Identity Shift by Multiple Language Users (Gerald Wesley Johnson’s Dissertation)

Analysis

Johnson initially aimed to illustrate and describe the central components of identity shift, first of all by clarifying what did this term means and then exploring this phenomenon within multiple language users (hereinafter MLUs). His research involved twenty four multilingual participants who showed their transition in their identities from the usage of their mother tongue and during speaking the target language. The primary questions in his research were as follows: (1) “How do MLUs experience a sense of self?” and (2) “How are they perceived by others while functioning in their non-native languages?” followed up by other secondary sub-questions. Johnson’s connection to his dissertation to a certain extent helped to reveal this dissertation’s main communicative purpose. I have identified that the contribution the dissertation purports to make was established clearly, stating for whom it would be beneficial. The main contribution was aimed to be made to linguistics discipline. In particular, researchers, L2 Instructors, language-learning material developers, and L2 learners themselves were among those who were going to benefit from this contribution. Then it was argued for and clarified how exactly those mentioned can benefit from it. Moreover understanding the identity shift influenced by the language in positive ways, hence contributing to material development for second language acquisition (hereinafter SLA) was another significant contribution to the work. The main findings were that there were three types of identity shift that MLUs revealed throughout their interviews
1. Native language-induced identities,
2. Shifts to target language-constructed identities
3. Shifts to subsequent identities following target language use.
These three types were formulated by interviewees’ responses on identity shift, some claimed that identity shift was well-defined, some stated it was transparent, others mentioned that it even was nonexistent. Some respondents made strong yet limited statements that ethnicity played a rather important role in comparison to language in the process of an identity shift.
The dissertation follows a hybrid structure and does not strictly follow the IMRAD format. The dissertation is divided into five chapters followed by the References, Appendixes, Figures, and Tables. The author shows a clear organization and consistent structure in the dissertation. The author starts with the Introduction chapter where it was divided into four sub-sections. I observed that the author uses many personal anecdotes to show his own connection to this work. For instance, one of the sub-sections in the Introduction Chapter is named ‘Personal Connection to Topic’, where the author opens up the reader some glimpses into his life and what led him to choose this specific topic for writing this dissertation. He shows that even though his paper is structured, there is room for some fluency in it. This might be disciplinary reasons or the peculiarity of writing a dissertation in his disciplines, which I assume are Sociology and Linguistics. This might also be the author’s authentic style (it is difficult to say so, as I could not find any other academic papers from this author, which I could compare to this dissertation). The author starts with Move 2 (Establishing a niche) in the Introduction chapter:
Research and writing on second-language acquisition (SLA) is increasingly focusing on
the effects of language on identity and the effects of identity on second-language (L2)
learning and use. Yet researchers do not have a clear understanding of the phenomenon
of identity shift that occurs during language usage…(p. 1)
Then Johnson establishes a territory and finalizes the Introduction by presenting his dissertation. Throughout the dissertation, Johnson uses the structure of ‘from general to particular’ as it can be seen from the usage of the types of rhetorical moves. Apart from ‘Phenomenon of Language Use and Identity shift’ (Chapter four), all other chapters are given usual academic paper names, like an introduction (Chapter One), Literature Review (Chapter two), Methodology (Chapter three), and Results (Chapter five). From the classical IMRAD format, there were some elements of Discussion in Chapter four. Another observation I had made while analyzing the dissertation was that all the chapters except Introduction had a separate Conclusion (Epilogue in Chapter five) part at the end of them. Probably this was Johnson’s authentic structural remark representing his style in the dissertation. While analyzing Johnson’s argumentative sentences I came across Hayot’s Uneven U structure in some of them. One illustration of this is as follows:
The primary focus of this research was to uncover the shift phenomenon for language-structured identities (level 5). Problems arising out of cultural expectations, as identified by Bremer et al. (1996) and Schuetz (1945), surfaced when examining the three categories of shifts illuminated during this study (level 3). Shifts in identities associated with diverse language use supported B. Norton Pierce’s (1995) notion that social identity is not static but rather is a site of struggles that is subject to change (level 2). These struggles were readily seen from the evidence presented by Grasshopper, Sara, Gail, and Waltraut (level 2). Throughout this project, evidence from participants supported Alfred Schuetz’s (1944, 1945) notions of the “stranger” and the “homecomer” (level 3). Gail and Waltraut, as with the approaching stranger, realized that their “thinking as usual” was not grounded in vivid experiences and social interactions (level 3). The ineffectiveness of this thinking caused each of these participants to reevaluate her approach to communicating in the target language (level 4). (p. 119-120)
The disciplinarity in the chosen article is constructed by mixing different disciplines. The dissertation involves not only Linguisticsbut Sociology and Psychology to a certain extent. MLUs and SLA learners represent linguistics while identity shift, identity and different notions constitute Sociology and Psychology disciplines. As I have mentioned at the beginning of the genre analysis Johnson was not strictly following usual academic writing. By this I mean that he was not regularly using passive voice in the construction of his sentence, bravely and actively using pronoun ‘I’ all over the dissertation, for example ‘I reflected on my own psychology’, ‘I emerged from this research’. The author was using personal anecdotes, starting his sentences with phrases like ‘In my looking’, ‘According to my religious beliefs’, ‘My childhood emotional experiences’, ‘It was my perception that’. One of the aspects Johnson managed well in his dissertation is ‘hooking up the readers’, intriguing and engaging them by providing not only the content but also how the dissertation was written:
During the dissertation journey, I moved three times (one of which was international), divorced and remarried, had four different employers, was involved in a life-altering automobile accident, and had nine surgical procedures on my eyes (temporarily losing most of the vision in the right eye). These experiences were significant because of my understanding…(p.127)
While explaining the process of collecting data he makes certain moves that appreciate their participation:
I especially thank the 24 participants who gave so freely of their time, consideration, feedback, and suggestions. (p. vi).
Although this might seem like a small trick it was a new approach to me, and to a certain extent, this connected me emotionally to Johnson and gave some clues to his personality. I also assume that he iceberged the labor the participant had put in, at the same time not emphasizing his presence. The way he constructed the dissertation and the personal anecdotes navigating and guiding the audience on this dissertation were my takeaways. Johnson seemed to follow the advice, instead of an ideal dissertation he had written a mediocre book.


References
Hayot, E. (2014). The elements of academic style: Writing for the humanities. Columbia
University Press.
Johnson, G. W. (2007). In the moment: identity shift by multiple language users. Fielding
Graduate University