PanSIG 2025

Bilingualism SIG Forum: From ESL Learner to ESL Educator: Changing Identities of a TESOL Practitioner

18 May 2025, 10:05

1h

BLDG 3/2F-201 (Kanda University of International Studies (神田外語大学))

SIG Forum B3-201 Forum (60) SAT: Material Writers SIG Forum; ALL SIG Forum; ER SIG Forum; Teacher Development SIG Forum; SUN: Bilingualism SIG Forum; LD SIG Forum; CUE SIG Forum

Speakers

Ms Alexandra Shaitan (Chuo University, Tokyo, Japan) Miki Tanaka Niko Schultz

ABSTRACT

Some people view language learning as a practical gain, and others consider it as selftransformation; in the recent view of Second Language Acquisition (SLA) and sociolinguistics, the identities of language learners and teachers have been a focal topic. This autoethnography illustrates my own journey as an English as a Second Language (ESL) student and how my identity has changed from a monolingual Japanese teenager to a multilingual and multicultural Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) practitioner. My experience of wanting to escape the first language ( L1) community and being marginalized in an Englishspeaking community made me reject my L1 culture to belong to the target community. Not until I learned the significance of my identity as Japanese did I realize my multilingual and multicultural self. This article also discusses how it affects my teaching philosophy, emphasizing the importance of noticing changing identities in language acquisition.