‘It’s like I have a switch’: Identity Shift in a Hungarian English Major from Vajdaság (Accepted)

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Abstract (max. 250 words):
Proceeding from work by Bruner (1987) and Fougère (2008) on the construction of identity through self-narrative, the paper will present findings from a longitudinal study of a Vajdaság/Vojvodina Hungarian student in/graduate of a BA programme in English Studies at the University of Szeged. The participant represents an especially salient group for Hungarian higher education, and for the University of Szeged in particular, due to its ever increasing number (Kincses & Nagy, 2019). Two semi-structured interviews over two years apart provide rich and nuanced signs of numerous aspects of identity change. Themes explored in the data include: sensemaking (the process of an ever changing understanding of an ever changing identity); a sense of belonging with a focus on insideness and outsideness, competence and role fulfilment, and centre and periphery dynamics; questioning and learning about the self; and development and change, including heterotopias and the ‘third space’, and dwelling in-between. The findings may well have implications for foreign language learners, teachers, administrators, teacher trainers, educational policymakers, coursebook and other materials designers and anyone involved in the foreign language learning and teaching enterprise, which is by definition an experience marked – and enriched – by multiple cultural and linguistic identities.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Thomas A. Williams, PhD, is a senior assistant professor at the Department of English Studies, University of Szeged, where he researches identity construction among language learners and teaches classes on linguistic pragmatics and identity as well as English language teacher education courses. A certified translator, he also teaches – and does – specialized translation in a range of genres and subject areas.