“Whilst I learn and live”: a comparative case study analysing the identity formation of seventh grade Turkish and International students via self-narratives in an English class

ABSTRACT

This article examines the results of a 17-week self-narrative portfolio project from a year seven classroom in Turkey. The practitioner research combines the frameworks of Cultural Historical Activity Theory and Figured Words in order to assess the differences in linguistic and identity growth between national and international students. I posit that even in places where concepts of identity are delicate and unchallenged, student autobiographies can create safe classroom spaces through which students can develop agency, linguistic skills, and authentic approaches to learning. By drawing additionally on Bakhtinian concepts of authoring the self alongside the concept of Figured Worlds and the heuristic of CHAT, I was able to explore how confronting one’s ethnic identity is central in positioning oneself within a Figured World; metaphors are a way that students can cope with, confront, and overcome their internal conflicts with the Figured Worlds they step into; and moments of realisation occur when students express their conflicts, thus creating their own agency.

KEYWORDS:

• CHAT
• figured worlds
• narrative
• middle school
• activity theory
• identity

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Alexa Muse

Alexa Muse is an English teacher originally from Indianapolis, Indiana (USA). She completed her undergraduate degree at Butler University (BS Middle/Secondary English Education 2012) and recently graduated from the University of Oxford (MSc Learning and Teaching 2019). She currently teaches eighth grade English in Cambridge, Massachusetts (USA).