What is success? Re-examining definition of success of EAL learners through an autoethnography

Abstract

Autoethnography allows us to “go beyond simply looking at the artifacts or just the surface and to focus much more on the personal, the hidden, and the less obvious” (Lapidus, Kaveh, & Hirano, 2013, p. 34), and it is becoming more important to illustrate a constructive relationship between diverse professional communities, as English as a global language acquire local identities and local professional communities develop socially situated pedagogical practices (Canagarajah, 2012). This paper explores identity negotiation of the author, a transnational EAL student and a teacher through an autoethnography. Using concept of “audibility”, “agency”, “nobody”, and “somebody” (Kettle, 2005) and communities of practice (Lave & Wenger, 1991; Wenger, 1998), this paper unpacks the complexity of identity negotiation of an EAL student, and how it affected her teaching. It also provides an opportunity to rethink the definition of success.