Liquid Crystals: A Phenomenological Approach to Complexity of University Students' Identity Formation Through Translanguaging Perspective

Yaeko Hori ^[1] ; Yumi Sugihara ^[1] ; Li Wei ^[2]
1. [1] Keio University
  
  Keio University
  
  Japón
2. [2] University College London
  
  University College London
  
  Reino Unido
Localización: Applied linguistics, ISSN 0142-6001, Vol. 46, Nº 1, 2025, págs. 1-15
Idioma: inglés
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Resumen
- In a world with existential issues, inequalities/injustice are (re)emerging in varying degrees around the globe, and yet, each of us strives to sustain our life with our own disappointments/griefs and desires/hopes. Then, identity formation research should elucidate how a human being makes sense of multifaceted voices/dimensions (‘selves’ and ‘(social) identities’) and what propels each to sustain/envision one’s desires/hopes in the future. Thus, based upon the legacy of identity-related research in applied linguistics, we present longitudinal research by a phenomenological approach focusing on ‘international students’ in Japan. In developing the approach, we utilized translanguaging as a holistic conceptualization of human communication and Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis as methodology (interview analysis contextualized with observation and on/off line correspondence data). As a result, the first author interpreted that each student’s life theme/moral aspiration served as a pivot around which various categories/features revolved (solidified/loosened). In such dynamic relationalities, perceptions/ideologies towards named language(s)/identity categories transformed. We argue it is important to interpret why and how each uses/creates categories/labels/binaries as reference points in expressing oneself—not as objective/scientific but as (inter)subjective evidence.