Narrative trajectory in identity and subjectivity research in applied linguistics

Abstract

Studying the trajectory of a social actor has attracted the attention of applied linguists. The construct of trajectory connects one's biographical histories, situated practices and experiences and their ensuing consequences vis-à-vis wider social, cultural, political and economic spaces. Trajectory contributes to identity and subjectivity research by allowing for the examination of evolving identities and subjectivities over time, thereby shedding light on the process of becoming. In identity and subjectivity research, stance is often used as a heuristic. However, stance only captures identity and subjectivity at a particular point in time; it does not help to trace identity trajectories that take place across timescales and events. This paper therefore introduces the idea of narrative trajectory as an analytical approach, drawing on sociolinguistic and linguistic anthropological work on stancetaking, chronotope and interdiscursivity. Social actors take stances through narrated events and narrating events, which can form narrated and narrating trajectories respectively if interdiscursive links between events can be traced. The tracing of such links can be accomplished by attending to various types of signs, models or social positions and relevant spatial-temporal configurations (chronotopes) across multiple narrated and narrating trajectories. Taken together, this multiplicity of trajectories forms an overall narrative trajectory. This paper discusses the tracing of a narrative trajectory with an ethnographic case study of an English learner in Hong Kong. The concept was applied to show how her identity as a struggling learner emerged and evolved across time and space. Recommendations for identity and subjectivity research in applied linguistics are also provided.