Identity Texts:
Its Benefits and Challenges
Author: Santosh Kumar
Biswa, Sr. Teacher, Damphu CS, Tsirang, Bhutan
Introduction
Identity
texts are a kind of sociocultural artifact in which students reveal their
identity and take ownership of it (Gaysek, 2012). It can be in written, visual,
musical, or spoken forms. The term ‘Identity Text’ was first used by the
Canada-wide Multiliteracies Project, whereby students describe their creative
work that would work as a mirror to reflect their identities in a positive
light (Cummins, 2010). Basically, students write about themselves to express
the type of struggle they faced linguistically and culturally to express
themselves (Cummins, J., et al., n.d.).
Value in using
‘identity texts’ with students
The
main purpose of having students write identity text is to help them brainstorm
themselves in the volume and construct themselves through multiliteracies
through their imaginative work. It usually enables teachers to come up with
bilingual instructional strategies and helps them to develop appropriate
pedagogical aspects to help multiple lingual students in the school (Cummins,
2010). It is because teachers can know about their identity, rejection by their
peers, their experiences on their emotions due to inclusion and exclusion,
their likes and dislikes, etc. Most importantly, teachers can understand the
kind of adjustment they need during their schooling. They play a vital role in
helping ELL students identify their identities by orchestrating their interpersonal
spaces and the increase boost their confidence level while engaging them
through language and literacy activities (Cummins, J., et al., n.d.).
The benefits and
challenges of using ‘identity texts’ with students
Employing
‘identity texts’ strategies in the classroom, there are several academic and
social benefits. They achieve academic engagement at a greater level as they
excel in writing by knowing about themselves as authors. Upon sharing students’
identity text in the classroom, students receive ample positive responses, and
feedback they develop affirmation of self in interacting with other people.
They can be able to create literature and art through their writing to generate
insight into social and personal realities and bring diversity to the
classroom. Zapata and Ribota (2020) highlight some of the pedagogical benefits
of L-by-D project implementation in various Australian classrooms, with
underrepresented groups of students focusing on multimodal projects. They found
that students were able to express themselves better with their inner voices
through such a project than any other traditional process and overcome the
limitations they had while communicating. Moreover, they found that students
were able to connect the curriculum content with their experience based on what
is being taught (Zapata and Ribota, 2020). Subsequently, Excell (2017) stated
that using identity texts for EAL learners would boost their confidence and
attainment. Not only does it activate students’ prior knowledge but also
provides them with rich contextual knowledge to make their learning
comprehensible because they would be able to draw the relationship between form
and function. These would improve their performance as well as make them
independent learners in the class. On the other hand, it also creates a forum
for students to challenge hegemonic societal trends. Through such activities,
students bring their cultural backgrounds and make themselves draw their
attention to the multiple facets of their life experiences. It enables them to
shape their interaction right from their learning environment promoting social
interaction because during the process they will be reflecting on some
sensitive topics and also allow them to narrate stories that are related to
cultural insights (Zaidi, Verstegen, Naqvi, Dornan, Morahan, 2016).
However,
there are also some challenges to employing this strategy in the classroom.
Sometimes teachers may face difficulties with identity construction while
grappling with new discourses in the classroom, as they may get confused or
uncertain about the process of the activity. Some teachers may think of
experimenting with students’ disciplinary discourse practices but may not be
able to do it confidently as they assume that it is authoritative and impenetrable
beyond their knowledge and skills, whereas others may think that it is
unnecessary (Camp, 2013). On the other hand, some students may not open up
while writing their identity text or may not feel like to express due to some
cultural barriers they have in their minds or due to the fear of prejudice in
the classroom.
The outcomes of
writing my own ‘identity text’ when I entered school
If
I had been allowed to write using ‘identity text’, it would have made a
difference in the early stages of my education, but I was never given any
chance due to the fact that we had traditional classrooms in the past. During
my early schooling, I struggled a lot with bullies and I always felt that I was
being left out. I always feared going to school due to the exclusion I
experienced every day. Moreover, I never got an opportunity to share my
problems with my teachers. Such experiences made me a silent student in the
classroom which linguistically affected me. Since my father was poor, I had to
go to school with the same old plastic shoes and poor clothes and often became
the victim of mockery in the school. If my teachers had asked me to write
identity texts, I would have expressed them all so that my teachers would have
helped me in overcoming my problems. My teacher would know exactly how I am
adjusting in the school and my emotional state during my learning after knowing
my expectations written in the identity texts. I would have been emotionally
supported so that I wouldn’t have failed several times in my primary school.
Subsequently, my teacher would have orchestrated my interpersonal spaces where
my identities were affirmed, so that my confidence would have increased,
enabling me to intensively in language and literacy activities (Cummins, J., et
al., n.d.). I never experienced any effect, identity, respect, or human
relationships during my early schooling, but always became the victim of
beating that diverted my learning interest because I always felt that I was an
unwanted being in society. Now, it is realized that identity texts would enable
students to share about them and the teacher pays interest in the insights
shared in helping students.
To
conclude, having students write identity texts plays a vital role in student
success because students’ identities are reflected well and then the teacher
and the mates can help by providing positive feedback. It acts as a powerful
tool for any teacher to help students see one another in the classroom in a
unique way promoting affirmation of self (Gaysek, 2012). The teacher uncovers
everything unknown to the students linguistically and culturally and makes
students understand that they are the part of people around them.
References
Camp, H. C. (2013). Exploring Identity-based Challenges to
English Teachers’ Professional Growth.
https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www.google.com/&httpsredir=1&article=1030&context=wte
Cummins, J. (2010). Identity Texts: The Collaborative Creation
of Power in Multilingual Schools. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED511425
Cummins, J., et al. (n.d.). ELL students speak for themselves:
identity texts and literacy engagement in multilingual classrooms. https://my.uopeople.edu/pluginfile.php/1572338/mod_book/chapter /338253/ELL_Students_Speak_for_Themselves_Identity_Texts_a.pdf
Excell, D. (2017). Using Identity Texts to Boost the Confidence
and Attainment of EAL Learners. National Association for Language
Development in the Curriculum (NALDIC) Wrexham Glyndwr University, Wales
Zapata, G.C., and Ribota, A. (2020). The instructional benefits
of identity texts and learning by design for learner motivation in required
second language classes, Pedagogies: An International Journal.
https://doi.org/10.1080/1554480X.2020.1738937
Gaysek, J.
(2012). Identity texts.
https://www.slideshare.net/jsplendiferrous/identity-texts
Zaidi, Z., Verstegen, D., Naqvi, R., Dornan, T., Morahan, P.
(2016). Identity text: an educational
intervention to foster cultural interaction.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5093311/
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