Language and identity in late modernity: The interdiscoursal construction of identity in a multicultural university classroom

This two quarter-long ethnographic research study investigated the interdiscoursal identity construction of ten culturally and linguistically diverse students at a major research university on the west coast of the United States to address the following research questions: If one takes into consideration Bourdieu's (1977, 2002) concept of habitus, how do the participants position themselves? How does the multicultural university classroom affect their sense of self? What are the factors that influence the interdiscoursal construction of identity in the multicultural university classroom?; Ethnographic data were collected through participant observation and through reaction papers as primary documents. In addition, a few supporting interviews served as a means of verifying the observations and interpretations. The data were analyzed through grounded theory and critical discourse analysis. Multiple ways of triangulation were used to enhance the validity and credibility of this study.; Findings indicated multiple forms of interdiscoursal positionings within the socially constructed self: for example, multilingual identities as symbolic representations, glocalized identities that combine local and global postionings or hybrid identities expressed through mirroring the self. These interdiscoursal positionings were further characterized as joining, merging, and/or intersecting identities. In addition, there were also three major interdiscoursal positionings when it came to participant interaction: cross-reference, stepping into the position of other participants, and the co-construction and negotiation of new identities. Factors that significantly influenced these results were the multicultural community of practice, the university and its innovative work on multicultural immersion, and the changing world in late modernity.; Finally, it is important to emphasize that the multicultural university classroom as a community of practice had many positive effects on the participants: they overcame diversity barriers, enhanced their interpersonal relations, and increased their agency through their role as identity experts, to name a few.