Identity Construction and English Language Learning: A Case Study of Iranian Learners of English

This study sought to investigate identity construction in English language learners using critical discourse analysis (CDA). To that end, a number of western cultural points extracted from Interchange Series were integrated into a questionnaire, asking learners to display their own feelings, behaviors, actions and reactions to the points raised. The questionnaire-generated data coupled with interview constituted the study data, which was analyzed using Fairclough CDA framework. The results indicated that the learners (1) positively evaluate the western cultural points raised; (2) demonstrate various cultural orientations; (3) accept their compatibility with the text- based behaviors, and (4) disregard their critical own role in such cultural orientations. Also, the findings showed learners adopt different strategies to achieve their goals.