Identity Construction in Educational Discourse
Summary
Identity construction in educational discourse refers to the ways in which learners, educators and institutions co-produce senses of self and community through language, symbols and interactions. This field examines how power relations, social contexts and pedagogical practices shape who learners believe themselves to be and how they are recognised by others. Research has highlighted the role of curriculum content, classroom talk, institutional rituals and material environments in signalling valued identities, whether national, cultural, linguistic or disciplinary. Attention to both individual trajectories and collective narratives reveals how identity is continually negotiated: novices may adopt expert discourses to claim legitimacy in academic communities, while marginalised groups may resist or transform dominant frameworks. Globalisation, migration and digital media have added new layers, as multilingual, multicultural and online settings offer both opportunities and challenges for the affirmation of diverse voices. Understanding identity construction in educational contexts has practical implications for equity, inclusion and the design of curricula that foster critical self-awareness and intercultural competence.
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Identity Construction in Educational Discourse publication trend
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Technical terms
Discursive practice: The use of language and semiotic resources to create social meanings and shape self-understanding.
Translanguaging: The strategic deployment of a speaker’s entire linguistic repertoire to make meaning and negotiate identity across languages.
Visual culture: The study of images, artefacts and spatial arrangements as carriers of ideological and identity-producing messages.
Multimodal analysis: An approach that examines how different modes (text, image, space) interact to produce communicative effects and influence learner identity.
References
- Multilingualism in Migrant Contexts in Pakistan and the UK: Transcending Physical, Social and Symbolic Borders in Transnational Social Spaces. Languages (2021).
- University Spaces as Agents of National Belonging: Analysing the Visual Culture of Public Universities’ Campuses in India and Pakistan. Education Sciences (2021).
- Mediating Discourses of Displacement in the Literacy Practices of Refugees and Humanitarian Actors in Jordan, Kurdistan Region of Iraq, Lebanon and Turkey. Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies (2021).
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