Informed by context specific work on national identity and attitudes toward national affiliation in Japan (Rivers, 2011), this research frames national identity as a key variable. Past research has not centralized language as a key component, rather, other peripheral factors have been documented (Kubota & Lin, 2006). Japanese identities have impinged upon individual identity and have therefore typically been avoided within TESOL-orientated research. This study shows an interest in the individual, as part of a collective. Furthermore, any analysis of identity must situate the person within a specific environment or social context. This research addresses identities with inclusion of emic elements, namely factors that are Japan specific. Drawing from intersecting theoretical, conceptual and analytical frameworks surrounding intercultural competence and sensitivity, community and language learning, it investigates issues of identity and language learning among a cohort of Japanese university students using a community of practice (Wenger, 1998) within a Social Networking Site (SNS). This research takes an unorthodox approach by combining poststructuralist notions of learning with social constructivist ideas. Grounded in the above theoretical background, an SNS is utilized (Thorne & Black, 2007) within a language-learning environment as a means of analyzing the social processes employed by students within this community of practice. To ensure the data collected from participants of a private university in Japan is diverse (Creswell, 1994), this qualitative study adopts a four-phase method. Data is drawn from comments, uploads (video and audio) and discussions in an online private group, both in Japan (16 weeks) and during the participants time New Zealand (4 weeks).
Creswell, J. W. (1994). Research design: Qualitative and quantitative approaches. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Kubota, R. & Lin, A. (2006). Race and TESOL: Introduction to concepts and theories. TESOL Quarterly (special issue), 40, 471–493.
Rivers, D.J. (2011). Japanese national identification and English language learning processes. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 35, 111–123.
Thorne, S.L.& Black, R. (2007). Language and literacy development in computer-mediated contexts and communities. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 27, 133–160.
Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of practice: Learning, meaning, and identity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
