Undoing the Knots: Identity transformations in a study abroad programme

Abstract

In times of globalised flows of students, this paper offers an alternative way of conceptualising identity change in the experiences of students on study abroad or student exchange programmes. Despite the 'identity turn' of recent years, modernist notions of identity continue to impact on the ways in which study abroad experiences are conceived, resulting in failures both to facilitate productive change and to recognise blocked, or 'knotted', attempts at change. The discussion considers data collected in an ethnographic study of a tertiary-level English language programme in an Australian university and suggests that a closer look at the specific experiences of four individual study abroad students, through the lens of the Deleuzian concepts of the molar, the molecular and the line of flight, offers a way looking at identity which may help both educators and learners open more usefully to the possibilities for self-transformation.Deleuze's term, lines of flight, refers to a movement or break from both the molar and the molecular. Since it is the molar and molecular which provide a sense of self, lines of Undoing the Knots 971

Educating China on the move: A typology of contemporary Chinese higher education mobilities

“…As global mobility, particularly in the arena of education, accelerates so the research terms and conceptualisations around it proliferate, resulting in a complex field surrounding educational mobilities. There are other terms that could have been chosen here, such as ‘migration’, which has associations with forced migration and refugees (a growing global challenge) (Sirriyeh, ) or, in terms of student mobility, the term ‘study abroad’ has a large associated literature (Ellwood, ). Here, however, we chose to explore the concept of education mobilities in order to present a typology that could illuminate both internal (to a country such as China) and external (international) mobilities.…”

The Impact of Cultural Immersion Experience on Identity Transformation Process

“…Recently, a handful of studies have shown interest in researching the relationship that exists between cultural immersion participation and the process of identity transformation [ 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 ]. However, despite this growing interest, there is little or no research that has specifically studied the connection between participation in Global Service Learning, Study Abroad Program, and the transformation of perceptions of self and others.…”

Funzioni identitarie dell'alternanza linguistica in apprendenti di italiano durante lo svolgimento di attività in gruppo

“…FIRTH e WAGNER, 1997;PEKAREK, 2006PEKAREK, , 2010, è sorto un certo interesse anche per lo studio dei legami che intercorrono tra l'apprendimento della LS e l'identità degli apprendenti. In questo senso, sia le ricerche svolte in ambito post-strutturalista, come, per esempio, quelle di Norton Peirce (1995), Norton (1997Norton ( , 2000, Pavlenko (2001), Pavlenko e Blackledge (2004), Kramsch (2007), Block (2007) e Ellwood (2008Ellwood ( , 2011, sia le indagini condotte in Brasile e ispirate all'analisi del discorso di stampo francese (si vedano, fra gli altri, SERRANI-INFANTE, 1997;CELADA, 2008), dalle quali emerge che il contatto con la LS promuove una risignificazione della formazione identitaria del soggetto, devono essere interpretate come degli ulteriori passi in avanti per approfondire una tematica così complessa come quella dell'identità e l'apprendimento della LS.…”

“…Ad esempio gli studi citati sono stati condotti, in gran parte, fra apprendenti la cui lingua materna (d'ora in poi LM) è tipologicamente molto distante dalla LS (cfr. NORTON PEIRCE, 1995;NORTON, 1997NORTON, , 2000LIDDICOAT e CROZET, 2001;LANTOLF e GENUNG, 2002;PAVLENKO;BLACKLEDGE, 2004;BLOCK, 2007;ELLWOOD, 2008ELLWOOD, , 2011, mentre i pochi lavori dedicati ai ruoli identitari che i discenti tendono ad assumere quando stanno apprendendo una lingua affine alla propria LM, non sono particolarmente interessati a descrivere il contesto in cui ha luogo l'interazione (cfr. SERRANI-INFANTE, 1997;CELADA, 2008).…”