Emotion and Discourse in L2 Narrative Research - Hardcover

Prior, Matthew T.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1783094435 ISBN 13: 9781783094431

Publisher: Multilingual Matters, 2015

Synopsis

This book examines the interactional management of emotionality in second language autobiographical interview research. Advancing a discursive constructionist approach, it offers a timely methodological and reflexive perspective that brings into focus the dynamic and dilemmatic aspects of interviewee and interviewer identities and experiences, and it makes visible the often unexpected and unseen consequences for the research project and beyond. The author weaves together critical discussion and empirical analysis based on longitudinal, narrative-based research with adult immigrants from Southeast Asia living in the US and Canada. This interdisciplinary book will be compelling reading for students, researchers, and others interested in emotion, narrative, discourse, identity, interaction, interviews, and qualitative research.

About this title

About the Author

Matthew T. Prior is Assistant Professor in the Department of English at Arizona State University. His research interests include emotion and other socio-psychological dimensions of second language learning and use, multilingualism and identity, transcultural belonging, discursive constructionist approaches (narrative, conversation analysis, discursive psychology, membership categorization analysis), and qualitative methodologies.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Emotion and Discourse in L2 Narrative Research

By Matthew T. Prior

Multilingual Matters

Copyright © 2016 Matthew T. Prior
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-78309-443-1

Contents

Acknowledgments, 
Prologue, 
1 Getting Emotional, 
2 Constructing Discourse, 
3 Telling and Remembering, 
4 Inviting Emotional Tellings, 
5 Eliciting Feelings, 
6 (Re)Formulating Emotionality, 
7 Managing Emotionality and Distress, 
8 Being 'Negative', 
9 Reflecting Back, Moving Forward, 
References, 
Author Index, 
Subject Index, 

CHAPTER 1

Getting Emotional

Emotions play a crucial part in our lives. The sharing of emotions, whether in face-to-face interactions or through written communications is an important social activity, and the ability to do so helps us maintain physical and mental health.

(Dewaele, 2013: 208)

Investigations of the role of affect in language cannot proceed without a fine-grained ethnographic inquiry into language use in context ... Ideal contexts for the study of the relationship between language and emotional life are situations in which emotions themselves become thefocus of attention ... and the ethnographic interview itself ... can provide rich ethnographic opportunities for such investigations.

(Besnier, 1990: 437–438)

Due to its personal and in-depth focus, narrative or autobiographical research (terms used here as shorthand for qualitative, interview-based research involving first-person accounts, tellings, life stories and related talk of memorable episodes, turning points and other personal experiences) is often described as a highly confessional activity (e.g. Atkinson, 1998; Coffey, 2004; Gubrium et al., 2012; Riessman, 2008; Weiss, 1994). It seems only fitting to begin with a confession: this is not really a book about emotion. Neither is it centrally about 'feelings', 'moods', 'subjectivities' or whatever other descriptive labels popularly used to refer to affective phenomena. This may appear a contradictory way to introduce a chapter titled 'Getting Emotional' in a book promising 'Emotion and Discourse', but it is crucial for understanding the approach informing these chapters.

What, then, is this book about? The short answer is that it is concerned with the interactional construction and management of emotionality in L2 (second language) autobiographical interview research. The distinction made here between emotion and emotionality is more than semantic. Turning attention to emotionality reframes emotions as social actions rather than intra-psychological properties or 'thing-like entities' (Sarbin, 2001: 217) waiting to be discovered or measured. This action orientation engages with affective and other putatively 'psychological' components of speakers' identities and experiences by exploring the dynamic, dilemmatic, (in)consistent, multilayered and agentive aspects of their representation. Thus this book contributes to the investigation of emotionality and autobiographical talk by turning the analytical lens on a surprisingly under-examined aspect of scholarly research: our own practices. By advancing a discursive constructionist approach, it offers a timely methodological and interaction-based perspective that examines how emotionality is collaboratively managed as both topic and resource within the institutional and interpersonal business of qualitative research.

Located in the context of contemporary narrative and ethnographic inquiry on multilingual identities and transcultural flows, this interdisciplinary project weaves together discussions and analyses based on the L1 (first language) and L2 literatures as well as original research I carried out with adult immigrants from Southeast Asia living in the United States and Canada. Although this book addresses issues of relevance for qualitative research practice in general, its primary audience is scholars in L2 studies (including the various intersecting fields, domains and disciplines of second and foreign language studies, applied linguistics, TESOL (Teaching English to speakers of other languages) and related bi/multilingualism research). Even within L2 studies, autobiographical interview research is not a unitary program but encompasses a wide range of methodologies, topics, theoretical and philosophical perspectives and approaches to data generation and analysis. Recognizing this diversity, I invite readers to compare the issues explored here with their own sociolinguistic contexts, speakers and data of interest.

I must emphasize that this is not a 'how-to' text or manual. It will not present a list of procedures specifying how to conduct autobiographical inquiry or analyze narratives; neither will it offer guidelines stipulating what constitutes a 'good' or a 'bad' narrative or research interview. These chapters open up various interview activities and products for inspection, and readers are invited to co-analyze and develop their own informed conclusions. Because this book attends to research challenges and even 'failures' (Prior, 2014; Roulston, 2014), it may prove largely instructional on what not to do. Emotion is omnipresent, but I will nevertheless refrain from laying out a taxonomy of emotion or proposing yet another theory of affect. Herein I advocate approaching emotionality and autobiographical tellings as discursive, social practices, and I aim to show there are compelling grounds for this. However, I do not assert this is the only approach or the final word on such matters. It is also not my intent to elevate stories of hardship over stories of success or 'negative' emotions over 'positive' ones. This investigation opens up just as many questions as it answers. Therefore it embraces and seeks to make visible the inherent tensions and 'messiness' of autobiographical research and qualitative inquiry more broadly.

In the remainder of the chapter I describe in more detail the background, motivations and objectives of this project. I begin with a brief overview of the recent growth of emotion research and the ways in which it intersects with autobiographical inquiry. I then address concerns about researcher reflexivity and implications for exploring the affective interface of research practice. Concluding the Introduction, I describe the L2 research context, the focal participants and the data that inform these chapters.

A Brief Emotional History

Getting emotional in L2 research

There is no doubt we are getting emotional. Across the interdisciplinary field of L2 studies, scholars are increasingly taking a keen interest in investigating the forms and functions of emotion in human language life. Where once there was only a scattered collection of monographs and articles that addressed emotion and affective variables (e.g. Arnold, 1999; Horwitz et al., 1986; Rintell, 1984, 1990; Schumann, 1997; Scovel, 1978), we now have a rapidly expanding library of emotion-relevant scholarship from diverse yet often intersecting perspectives such as L2 motivation (e.g. Dörnyei, 2009; Dörnyei & Kubanyiova, 2014; Dörnyei et al., 2014; Dörnyei & Ushioda, 2009, 2011; Murray et al., 2011; Oxford, 2011), bi/multilingualism and cognitive processing (e.g. Dewaele, 2005, 2006, 2010; Dewaele & Pavlenko, 2002; Koven, 2004; Pavlenko, 2005, 2006); critical pedagogy (e.g. Benesch, 2011; Crookes, 2013); sociocultural approaches (e.g. Garrett & Young, 2009; Swain et al., 2011; Zuengler & Miller, 2003); language socialization (e.g. Baquedano-López, 2004; Garrett & Baquedano-López, 2002; Kanagy, 1999); language and desire (e.g. Motha & Lin, 2013; Takahashi, 2013); L2 writing (e.g. Chamcharatsri, 2013; Hanauer, 2010); teacher cognition and professional development (e.g. Akbari, 2007; Borg, 2015; Golombek & Doran, 2014); language and identity (e.g. Block, 2007; Golombek & Jordan, 2005; Kanno, 2003; Kramsch, 2009; Mantero, 2007; Motha, 2006; Norton, 2013); and narrative perspectives (e.g. Barkhuizen et al., 2014; Baynham & De Fina, 2005; Benson & Nunan, 2005; Kalaja et al., 2008; Menard-Warwick, 2009; Pavlenko, 2005, 2007; Prior, 2011a, 2011b, 2011c; Vitanova, 2013; Warriner, 2013). Recent edited collections further evince this renewed interest in the emotional dimensions of language acquisition and use (Dewaele, 2010; Gabrys-Barker & Bielska, 2013; Pavlenko, 2006; Prior & Kasper, 2016).

Following the recognition that emotion plays an integral part in the lives and practices of L2 users, we are now witnessing a growing shift in the field toward the treatment of emotion as a distinct topic of scholarly inquiry in its own right, not just a peripheral concern or a post-hoc observation by the researcher. This contemporary interest in emotion has been spurred in part by what has been labeled the 'affective' or 'emotional' turn (Clarke & Hoggett, 2009; Clough & Halley, 2007; Greco & Stenner, 2008; Massumi, 2002) that has made its way across the social sciences and humanities (for concise overviews in applied linguistics, see Benesch, 2011; Pavlenko, 2013). This turn, though by no means a uniform program, is characterized by a shared rejection of researcher neutrality; a feminist and postmodern critique of body politics; a re-theorizing of narrative, emotional labor and power; and an intensified commitment to self-reflexivity.

Another factor that has contributed to the recent attention to affective matters in L2 studies is the overwhelming body of evidence that points to the presence and relevance of emotionality within all aspects of our research: in the motivated selection of topics and questions, in the recruitment of participants, in our methods, in the generation of data, in the data fragments that capture our attention, in the decisions to include or reject data and participants, in our analyses and findings, in the ways we report and disseminate our research, in the practical applications and in the ongoing ethical and sociopolitical dilemmas and other challenges that we encounter (Dörnyei, 2007; Heigham & Croker, 2009; Prior, 2014; Richards, 2003; Roulston, 2010; Simpson, 2011; Willig & Stainton-Rogers, 2008).

Facing resistance

The contemporary appreciation of the emotional content and activities of qualitative research does not mean that all have fully embraced this area of inquiry. Dominant 'Western' scientific traditions still view emotion with suspicion (Gilbert, 2001; Jaggar, 1992). Thus when researchers show an interest in 'feelings' and 'affective realities', they may find themselves accused of being 'emotionalist' and giving in to 'romantic' impulses that elevate 'the experiential as the authentic' (Silverman, 2011: 179; also Atkinson, 2015):

Under emotionalists' exclusive focus on inner feelings and self-reflective confessions, all substantive inquiries about social reality dissolve into self-explorative texts. (Silverman, 2010: 106)

Researchers continue to be reminded in not so subtle ways that 'emotions are seen to be the very antithesis of the detached scientific mind and its quest for "objectivity", "truth" and "wisdom"' (Williams & Bendelow, 1998: xvi). Some scholars have even suggested that emotion research, because it may challenge dominant beliefs and practices, can be professionally risky, particularly for women, minorities and those less established in their careers (see also Blackman, 2007; Boler, 1999):

However, it is only possible to assert the importance of emotional labor if we challenge the dominance of the Western philosophical tradition wherein emotions are judged to be an anathema to academic production. This is not as easy as may be presumed. Focusing on emotions in social research, especially our own, is problematic in practice, as a concern with emotional issues can result in a Catch-22 situation for women situated as academics. If we focus on emotions, we fit a stigmatized stereotype and may end up positioned below rational cognitive actors in the hierarchy constructed on the basis of dominant conceptions. (Gilbert, 2001: 133)

Despite resistance by some to the explicit engagement with emotion through and within our research, it is becoming clear that L2 researchers (incidentally, a group comprised largely of women, minorities, 'non-Westerners' and L2 users) can no longer claim or feign ignorance of affective phenomena. Emotion scholarship has reached a critical mass and the 'turn' has already been made. We are therefore left with two options: reject emotion (implicitly or explicitly) – by ignoring it or charging it as unscientific and not amenable to serious, scholarly inquiry – or acknowledge and explore it as a topic and resource. Many of us in the field have found emotion and affective phenomena worthy objects of scholarly attention, and we are investigating these matters from increasingly diverse perspectives. The recent rise of emotion-related research in peer-reviewed publications and professional conferences further suggests a growing confidence that a scholarly interest in emotion need not make us automatically guilty of romantic emotionalism or researcher bias. Moreover, as I assert throughout these chapters, neither does taking an active interest in emotion preclude analytical rigor and defensibility.

Getting emotional in autobiographical interview research

As a result of this increased attention to affective domains and practices, L2 researchers are coming to appreciate what sociologists and anthropologists have long acknowledged – namely, that emotionality is not a tangential part of human language, life and experience but is the communicative force that pulls and binds them together:

Although it seems obvious that studying emotions can help us understand human biology and psychology, it might be less apparent that studying emotions can help us understand basic sociological questions ... Both [social] division and cohesion, and their coexistence as well, are in part the products of patterned and often ritualized interchanges of human emotions ... social emotions ... glue us together, albeit in unequal arrangements. (Schmitt & Clark, 2006: 468)

Social emotions may provide the motivation to form and maintain social bonds, but communicating those feelings enables individuals to reach beyond their private feelings to make social contact. Emotion accomplishes very little in the social world unless it is communicated. (Planalp, 1999: 138)

Perhaps nowhere more visible is this interest in the communicative potential and meaning of emotionality than in L2 narrative inquiry and autobiographical interview research, most notably by scholars aligning themselves with sociocultural and feminist/critical frameworks (e.g. Barkhuizen, 2011; Baynham & De Fina, 2005; Benson & Nunan, 2005; Block, 2007; Kalaja et al., 2008; Kanno, 2003; Koven, 2002, 2004; Menard-Warwick, 2009; Miller, 2003; Motha, 2014; Norton, 2000; Pavlenko & Blackledge, 2004; Swain, 2011; Vitanova, 2004). Through the elicitation and examination of first-person accounts, research itself inspired by the 'narrative' or 'biographic' turn (e.g. Atkinson, 1997; Barkhuizen, 2011, 2013; Barkhuizen et al., 2014; Pavlenko, 2007), this diverse body of work has persuasively articulated the intense intra personal and inter personal conflict that multilingual groups and individuals face across the life trajectory.

Getting reflexive in autobiographical interview research

Amid the ongoing celebration of autobiographical inquiry, narrative sensemaking and the emotional content and impact of our scholarly research, frequently absent is a careful inspection of the activity of self-representation and a critical, reflexive examination of the institutional and interpersonal frames of the research process itself. This has prompted repeated calls across the human sciences for a more restrained celebration of interviews and other autobiographical inquiry and greater attention to the ways in which they operate as sociocultural and institutional practices (e.g. Atkinson, 2015; Briggs, 1986; De Fina & Georgakopoulou, 2012; De Fina et al., 2006; Gubrium et al., 2012; Hammersley & Atkinson, 2007; Holstein & Gubrium, 1995; Mishler, 1986; Pavlenko, 2007; Rapley, 2001; Riessman, 1993; Talmy, 2010b; Talmy & Richards, 2011):

The ubiquity of the narrative and its centrality to everyday work are not license simply to privilege those forms ... We need, in other words, to treat them as 'social facts', like any other that is equally conventional, and apply the same canons of methodological skepticism as we would apply to any other acts and social forms. (Atkinson, 1997:341)

A reflexive research practice does not conclude with the design and conduct of interviews – it is also very much part of how we analyze and represent others in reports from our studies. Through combining the various reflexive strategies – subjectivity statements, researcher journals, interviews, and analysis of interaction – researchers can explore the particularities of their encounters with others in their examination of research problems, and, in doing so, learn something more about themselves and others. (Roulston, 2010: 127)

(Continues...)

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Edition details

• Publisher: Multilingual Matters
• Publication date: 2015
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1783094435
• ISBN 13: 9781783094431
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 280