TY - JOUR
T1 - ‘We are not as they think about us’
T2 - exploring Omani EFL learners’ ‘selves’ in digital social spaces
AU - Little, Sabine
AU - Al Wahaibi, Suad
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 Korean Association for Multicultural Education.
PY - 2017/7/3
Y1 - 2017/7/3
N2 - This paper reports a research study of Omani EFL learners’ motivation to engage in social technologies through the medium of English, adopting Dörnyei’s L2 Motivational Self System as the main theoretical framework, whilst exploring other emergent context-sensitive motivational driving forces. The purpose of the research study was to explore identities and self-perceptions of Omani nationals using social media to learn English, an under-researched context. Reflective focused group discussions were conducted with 14 university-age students, along with individually composed language learning histories. The data of the research lend substantial support to the relevance of the L2 Motivational Self System in the Omani context, highlighting, in particular, the emerging collective national and religious identities of young Omani nationals. The paper argues for the need to deepen and broaden our understanding of the association of English social technologies and the national and religious affiliations of learners.
AB - This paper reports a research study of Omani EFL learners’ motivation to engage in social technologies through the medium of English, adopting Dörnyei’s L2 Motivational Self System as the main theoretical framework, whilst exploring other emergent context-sensitive motivational driving forces. The purpose of the research study was to explore identities and self-perceptions of Omani nationals using social media to learn English, an under-researched context. Reflective focused group discussions were conducted with 14 university-age students, along with individually composed language learning histories. The data of the research lend substantial support to the relevance of the L2 Motivational Self System in the Omani context, highlighting, in particular, the emerging collective national and religious identities of young Omani nationals. The paper argues for the need to deepen and broaden our understanding of the association of English social technologies and the national and religious affiliations of learners.
KW - Digital social spaces
KW - EAL
KW - identity
KW - learner motivation
KW - Oman
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85021682906&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85021682906&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/2005615X.2017.1346557
DO - 10.1080/2005615X.2017.1346557
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85021682906
SN - 2005-615X
VL - 9
SP - 175
EP - 187
JO - Multicultural Education Review
JF - Multicultural Education Review
IS - 3
ER -