Living in the “In-Between”: Narrative Inquiry into Investment of Foreign Language Teachers Teaching Abroad

Abstract

Recent research in second language acquisition has put significant emphasis on the study of identity, seen as a dynamic, multiple, and context-bound phenomenon reproduced in social interaction. This goes hand in hand with the rise of interest in qualitative research methods, most notably narrative analysis. In this paper we aim to explore the intertwined relationship between identity, capital, and investment from the perspective of foreign language teachers teaching abroad (FLTTA). These teachers are a specific type of glomads, professionals who live and work abroad, frequently transgressing social, linguistic, and cultural spaces and borders. Our respondents were 4 French and 3 Croatian FLTTAs and we elicited their personal narratives via semi-structured interviews. We draw on the comprehensive model of investment proposed by Darvin and Norton (2015) to answer the following questions: 1) How do various ideologies structure identities and investment of FLTTAs? and 2) What are the forms of capital they invest in order to position themselves as FLTTAs? Our study confirmed that investment depends on factors that constitute various ideologies of space and language ideology which are often intertwined. When it comes to various forms of capital that our respondents possess and use to invest to position themselves as FLTTAs, their narratives predominantly point to linguistic capital, education, and their national or ethnic identity.