Identity and Language Learning: Extending the Conversation - Hardcover

The publication of Bonny Norton's Identity and Language Learning in 2000 was a landmark moment in the field of additional/second language learning. The countless discussions in journal articles, research reports and PhD theses in the past decade testify to the power of her multi-faceted and generative ideas. I have no doubt that this revised edition will be on the 'must read' list of anyone concerned with additional/second language learning and language education more generally.

Uniting impeccable scholarship and an enduring passion for social justice, Bonny Norton's 2000 book Identity and Language Learning is republished here with a magisterial new Introduction by the author and an inspirational Afterword by Claire Kramsch. The book demonstrates anew the intrinsic power of Norton's constructs of investment, imagined identities and imagined communities, and the paradigm-shifting impact of her theory of identity on an ever-expanding set of questions, contexts, and interdisciplinary approaches to research and teaching in second language education and applied linguistics.

Since the publication of the first, pathbreaking edition of this now-classic text, identity has become a central term through which applied linguists have been able to explore the changing, complex and contradictory struggles we encounter as we learn languages. This book has become one of the most significant of the last decade, and will continue to provoke thought, research and discussion for another decade. A key text for any applied linguist.

The book is invaluable for both novice and experienced SLA researchers and scholars interested in inquiring about language learning and identity. Norton has successfully combined international literature on SLA, identity, and social justice with pedagogical suggestions to create a volume that effectively takes a step forward in bridging the gap between research and pedagogy on language learning and learner identity in ESL environments. Even though these chapters center on language learning in ESL context, practitioners working with other languages could benefit from the findings and pedagogical implications. 

Strengthened by the thorough updates in the new Introduction and the context provided by Kramsch in the Afterword, the book makes a persuasive case for language teachers to regard our learners and their investments in a more holistic light. It may also shed some illumination on our experiences as L2 learners ourselves.

In sum, this book is of great value to readers who are familiar with Norton’s work as well as to those who are encountering it for the first time. For graduate students, this book is a must-read, because it provides initial knowledge about identity research and a good example of narrative inquiry. For researchers and educators, this second edition is also a helpful resource; the compelling introduction and the inspirational afterword spur readers to dwell on those “unsettling issues” (p. 19) in identity theory regarding the relationship between societal structure and human agency, identification and negotiation, multiplicity and strategic essentialism.