Identity, motivation and plurilingualism in Self-Access Centers

E. Desirée Castillo Zaragoza

In the literature on self-access centers (SACs), learners are implicitly considered to be learning only one language, and thus one aspect of learners can be analyzed. But in reality, SACs are generally multilingual and learners may engage in learning more than one language at a time, allowing other facets of the learner to emerge. Although learners are using multilingual SACs to engage in plurilingual learning projects, this has so far received no attention in the literature. This chapter addresses this gap in the literature by reporting on an exploratory research project, which examines the identity, motivation and autonomy of learners who are working to improve their proficiency in more than one language in two SACs in Mexico. By learning several languages in a SAC, which means that learners are working by themselves in a more autonomous way, it may be assumed that learners have a particular and strong motivation toward languages. As they invest in the languages, they are investing in their own identities (Norton, 2000). Based on the notions of the second language (L2) Motivational Self System (Dörnyei, 2009), in this chapter we will see how Mexican learners are engaging in a bi- or plurilingual learning project, learning more than one foreign language in order to build a plurilingual identity, and this despite the fact that there is no explicit language policy of multilingualism in Mexico. We will also see how learners can have different attitudes toward the languages being learned, thus revealing different facets of their identities. Moreover, by working, in part, by themselves in a more autonomous way, learners can see and reveal other aspects of their person, which are less likely to be seen when learners are analyzed through the single lens of only one language they are learning, as is usually the case in classrooms. In order to illustrate these points, the chapter begins by briefly reviewing concepts of motivation and identity and their link with plurilingualism. It then establishes the context by discussing the linguistic and SAC situation in Mexico.This is followed by a description of the methodology and the results of the study.