The concept of identity has been explored substantially in the field of applied linguistics in the last two decades (Ricento, 2005; Norton, 2010; Darvin & Norton, 2015) and it can be found in a series of epistemological traditions that conceive identity according to its evolving, multifaceted and dynamic aspect (Matsuda, 2017). According to Early & Norton (2012), "identity is not a fixed construct but must be understood with respect to a learner's relationship to the broader social, political and economic world." (p. 195), so as a "site of struggle", identity is entangled with learners' understandings about the world and their life stories. More specifically, identity plays a fundamental role in the ways English L2 writers reflect on the construction of their learning, perceptions about power, agency (Gao, 2010), and growth. In written autobiographical narratives, for example, English L2 writers can find a fruitful space to express and explore the kaleidoscopic nuances of their social and personal identities as "a way of being" (Park, 2013) because, as Barkhuizen (2011) claims, "autobiographical narratives contain dimensions of narrative knowledging, defined as "the meaning-making, learning, or knowledge construction" (p. 395).
Therefore, through the lens of L2 identity (Norton, 2013) and narrative inquiry (Bell, 2002; Barkhuizen, 2019), this presentation aims to explore how four English L2 college students in the United States used a large written assignment, the Language Narrative, to reflect on their language learning experiences and, consequently, on their identity construction and negotiation over time. Combined with the analysis of small written tasks and semi-structured reflective interviews, the focus will be given to the relationship between their identities and agency through their experiences as multilingual and multicultural individuals (Miller, 2012). Furthermore, through the analysis of students' written narratives and interviews, this presentation also intends to provide insights about participants' exploration of "possible worlds" (Early & Norton, 2012, p. 199) and foment discussions about the best pedagogical strategies that teachers can use to explore learners' agency in their classroom contexts.
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