ABSTRACT
A. Pavlenko and J. Lantolf employ the metaphor of self-translation to articulate their theory of second language learning. They outline a trajectory for the (re)construction of self in a new language. Following an initial phase of loss that Pavlenko and Lantolf equate with second language learning, there comes the phase of recovery and (re)construction that they equate with second language becoming. B. Norton Peirce and K. Toohey summarize the goal of future research drawing on a participation model as follows: to develop understandings of learners as both socially constructed and constrained but also as embodied, semiotic and emotional persons who identify themselves, resist identifications, and act on their social worlds. Narratives allow for a nuanced understanding of how individuals perceive access to resources for learning language as well as for constructing new identities within new communities of practice. In these narratives, issues of investment, positionality, and emotionality are accessible to the researcher.
