Second Language Learning and Identity: Cracking Metaphors in Ideo ...

Words that aren’t my own

Language foreign to my mind

I’m spinning my wheels.

Academic Discourse

When I write academic discourse, I feel like , ashi ga chi ni tsukanai (lit., one’s feet aren’t touching the ground; trans., to have one’s head in the clouds, being unrealistic, impractical). How to write in this academic style is still unclear to me; after all, this is not my language. When I cite the words of an authority figure, I feel frustrated because I know that it is not only the scholars who make a difference in the world, but also ordinary people. I need academic discourse, however, to make the meta-story of what I am doing and why. I also need academic discourse to locate my research in the context of previous work that has concerned itself with second language learning from the experience of Japanese women. Academic discourse helps me situate my identity and my research in a theoretical framework. While I use narrative to describe the past lives and present experiences of my participants and myself, I also feel the need to theorize about the meanings that are attributed by each of us.