ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the relationship between bilingualism and identity. It discloses that language and identity have been theorized differently in various disciplines such as sociology, cultural anthropology, psychology, and education. The chapter discusses language and identity in the classroom. It also discusses language and ethnic identity in multilingual societies. Lanza and Svendsen recognize the limitations of an essentialist model such as Social Network Analysis in explaining the complex and multi-layered relationship between language choice and identity in a multilingual community. They contend that multilinguals have multiple identities and that while Social Network Analysis is a good predictive tool for assessing language choice in migrant communities, it should be supplemented with constructivist approaches to arrive at a fuller understanding of the communities in question. The chapter focuses on Tse's four-stage model of ethnic identity development which predicts ethnic minorities' shifting attitudes toward the heritage and majority languages as they come to terms with their minority status.
