Shifting Goals in Italian Learning: Imagination, Multilingualism, and Agency in the Narratives of Underrepresented Foreign Language Learners
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Shifting Goals in Italian Learning: Imagination, Multilingualism, and Agency in the Narratives of Underrepresented Foreign Language Learners Item Type text; Electronic Dissertation Authors Gaspar, Borbala Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction, presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 05/10/2021 22:04:42 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/642147 SHIFTING GOALS IN ITALIAN LEARNING: IMAGINATION, MULTILINGUALISM, AND AGENCY IN THE NARRATIVES OF UNDERREPRESENTED FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEARNERS by Borbala Gaspar Copyright © Borbala Gaspar 2020 A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the GRADUATE INTERDISCIPLINARY PROGRAM IN SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION AND TEACHING In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 2020 2 Acknowledgments The process of completing a doctorate program and writing a dissertation is a result of a long process that was certainly not carried out alone. My participants, professors, colleagues, family and friends have all contributed in different ways to complete this dissertation. To begin, I would like to express my gratitude to the four students, Stif, Isabella, Silvia, and Giuseppe who voluntarily participated and made themselves available to meet and talk about their experiences. Besides the great memories that I cherish, I also thank them for teaching me about their diversity, perceptions, and needs. They made this dissertation possible by openly sharing their experiences with me. Because of them, I acquired a critical lens in both my teaching and research. I consider myself lucky that I had the opportunity to work with them, and to see them grow and succeed over the years. I was fortunate to have not one, but two dissertation chairs who supported me throughout my graduate studies and in the completion of this dissertation. I would like to thank Dr. Wenhao Diao, not only for her advice, expertise, and encouragement, but also for sharing her passion that nurtured my interest in qualitative studies. Thanks to her, I developed a pilot study early in the first year of my Master’s program that I later developed into my dissertation project. Every time we met, she would raise new questions to think about, that kept my mind occupied, but also helped to maintain my curiosity and to keep myself challenged. I would like to thank her for helping me grow and for being there for me all these years. I appreciate all the help I have received from her. I would also like to thank my second chair Dr. Chantelle Warner for her guidance and her expertise that she shared with support and optimism. Before working on my dissertation, I have taken an independent study with Chantelle Warner, and some of the elements of this dissertation such as imagination was a concept that we discussed in depth during our meetings. Our lengthy 3 engaging conversations shaped my ideas and they were events that I was always looking forward to. My growth as a scholar was shaped by her encouragement, passion and dedication to research and expertise, that I am forever thankful for. I am also reaching out to express my gratitude to my third committee member Dr. Grace Fielder, who introduced me to semiotics, which was eye-opening for me and changed my perspectives of the world. Dr. Fielder always asked me to put theory to practice, to present concepts by providing examples and analysis. These activities not only helped me better understand them, but also to make deliberate decisions on which theory or concept would fit the best for a particular case. The approach she used in the courses helped me to stay engaged and nurtured my creativity and interest. I could not have asked for better professors and committee members and I feel fortunate that they took part of my studies. This dissertation was also shaped as a result of the other courses and guidelines I have received throughout my studies. I would like to reach out and thank Dr. Aileen Astorga Feng, who I consider not only my professor but my mentor as well. I have completed several interdisciplinary courses in Italian literature with Dr. Feng, and the conversations and work on literary analysis, particularly using Bourdieu’s social theory and Bakthin’s dialogism, provided me a great foundation. I also thank Dr. Beatrice Dupuy for sharing her continuous support and mentorship throughout my studies. I have learned a lot from Dr. Dupuy, and some of the implications for this dissertation were shaped based on the knowledge I received from her. Looking back to my doctorate courses, another course that I believe had an important role in shaping my perspectives was the linguistic anthropology course taught by Dr. Jennifer Roth-Gordon. I enjoyed every minute of this course, because the topics we discussed were, in most cases, far from my own research context, yet it gave me an opportunity to enrich my knowledge. 4 I would have not been able to complete this work without the unconditional love from my family and friends, those who live far and those who are close. I thank them for their support and love. I thank my husband, Andris for his support in encouraging me, listening to me and helping me in finding the time and space to work on my dissertation. Our conversations helped me stay positive in times when I felt overwhelmed and struggled. I also would like to thank my two daughters Nora and Livia for their drawings in my books and my notes that every time I discovered made me smile and still brings joy and purpose to my life. I would like to thank my friend and cohort Jenna Altherr Flores for her friendship, help, support, love, and encouragement. Jenna helped me by providing me feedback, she also kept me on track by creating an accountability document where we logged in our progress every day. Our conversations were beneficial not just to talk about our research, but our feelings and well-being. I am also thankful for Yi Wang, for her feedback, friendship and encouragement and for our talks through which I was able to share my findings and further formulate my arguments. Last, but not least, I am also thankful for the teaching assistantship I received from my department that allowed me to complete my studies. There is not enough space to mention everyone. This dissertation would not have been completed without all the help in many ways and forms that I received from all of the people in my life. Without their support, I would not be completing the final words of this dissertation. I am grateful for the opportunity to share this work with those who are interested in foreign language education and research. -Borbala Gaspar 5 Table of Contents List of Tables .................................................................................................................................... 9 List of Images ................................................................................................................................... 9 Abstract ................................................................................................................................ 10 Chapter 1. ............................................................................................................................. 11 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 11 1.1. Overview ................................................................................................................................. 22 Chapter 2. ............................................................................................................................. 25 Literature Review ................................................................................................................. 25 2.1. Agency and Second Language Acquisition ............................................................................... 25 2.2. Previous Research on Agency .................................................................................................. 33 2.3. Imagination ............................................................................................................................. 41 2.4. Negotiating Racial and Ethnic Identities and Strategic Positioning ........................................... 44 2.5. Multilingual Learners .............................................................................................................. 46 2.6. Positioning .............................................................................................................................. 47 Chapter 3. ............................................................................................................................. 51 Methodology ........................................................................................................................ 51 3.1. Research Site ........................................................................................................................... 51 3.2. Sampling Strategies ................................................................................................................ 56 3.3. Theoretical Information: Research Design ............................................................................... 62 3.4. Data