Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Note on text conventions
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 Language use in a social context
- 2 The social dance: second language use and the construction of self
- 3 Learners and their environment: factors affecting self-construction
- 4 Coming into our own: the convergence of real self and ideal self
- Conclusion: The self in the second language: implications and next steps
- Appendix 1 Study context and research methodology
- Appendix 2 ACTR study-abroad program participants: 1995–1996 demographic profile
- Appendix 3 Participant profiles
- References
- Index
1 - Language use in a social context
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 January 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Note on text conventions
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 Language use in a social context
- 2 The social dance: second language use and the construction of self
- 3 Learners and their environment: factors affecting self-construction
- 4 Coming into our own: the convergence of real self and ideal self
- Conclusion: The self in the second language: implications and next steps
- Appendix 1 Study context and research methodology
- Appendix 2 ACTR study-abroad program participants: 1995–1996 demographic profile
- Appendix 3 Participant profiles
- References
- Index
Summary
The self, then, as a performed character, is not an organic thing that has a specific location, whose fundamental fate is to be born, to mature, and to die; it is a dramatic effect arising diffusely from a scene that is presented, and the characteristic issue, the crucial concern, is whether it will be credited or discredited.
Erving Goffman, The Presentation of Self in Everyday LifeI just feel like a lot of times there are things I want to say, but I would rather say nothing than look stupid.
Jill, Fall SemesterWhat role does language play in a society? Is it merely a means of conveying messages from one person to the next, or is its role greater in scope and significance? It is upon the basis of sounds, symbols, and linguistic rules that we encode and catalogue our world, record meaning, and communicate information both within and between communities. Yet language is not only a primary means of human communication, but also a symbol of cultural and social unity and division, a fundamental mechanism of self-presentation and social identity, and it is simultaneously an instrument of power and a source of weakness for its users. All elements of language help define language users' image to those around them: not only the ideas that they express, but the words that they choose, the syntax of their sentences, the lilt of their intonation, and the precision of their pronunciation.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Study Abroad and Second Language UseConstructing the Self, pp. 8 - 33Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2005