Native-Speakerness, Gender, Race, and Age: The Negotiation of Language and (Imagined) Identities by Learners of Japanese at an Australian University

Abstract

This study explores how three multilingual learners of Japanese as a second language (L2) at an Australian university negotiate their language and (imagined) identities in relation to their L2 learning. Based on interview data, the results indicate that while the participants’ imagined identities were closely connected with “native-speakerness” and/or “Japaneseness,” the specific meaning of these concepts varied between participants depending on their negotiation of other social identities, such as language, gender, race, and age. Additionally, their varying identity negotiations coincided with their unique linguistic choices in the interviews: While two participants predominantly used either Japanese or English, one used Japanese and English much more fluidly when responding to questions that were in Japanese. These findings reveal the unique ways in which each participant actively negotiates language and identities at the intersection of their past, present, and future within the Japanese language learning context, an environment influenced by unequal power relations.

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