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Multiple Identities in aMulticultural World: AMalaysian PerspectiveLee Su KimPublished online: 16 Nov 2009.

To cite this article: Lee Su Kim (2003) Multiple Identities in a Multicultural World: AMalaysian Perspective, Journal of Language, Identity & Education, 2:3, 137-158, DOI:10.1207/S15327701JLIE0203_1

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Multiple Identities in a MulticulturalWorld: A Malaysian Perspective

Lee Su KimUniversiti Kebangsaan Malaysia

Recent research in second-language acquisition has revealed that the language learn-ing process is a complex interplay of many variables in which social roles, relation-ships, power relations, and identities are constantly reconstituted. Most researchstudies on language and identity have been conducted in predominantly English-lan-guage native-speaker settings (McKay & Wong, 1996; Peirce, 1995). This articlepresents the findings of my doctoral research study on the relation between languageand sociocultural identities of English as a second language (ESL) learners in amulticultural society in Southeast Asia.

Using a qualitative research approach, 14 Malaysian participants were interviewedusing critical ethnography research methods (Carspecken, 1996). They also had towrite a personal narrative and complete a questionnaire. The findings reveal that in amulticultural, postcolonial society such as Malaysia, identity issues are far more com-plexandmultilayered. Identityshifts takeplacefrequently instrategicandnonstrategicwaysas theparticipants find theirwayinsociety insearchofacceptanceandbelonging.

Key words: identity constructions, sociocultural contexts, ESL learners, second lan-guage acquisition, multiculturalism, qualitative research

This article presents the findings of a qualitative research study that set out to in-vestigate the relation between language and the sociocultural identities of individ-uals learning English as a second language (ESL). Most of the research on identityhas been conducted in predominantly native English speaker settings. This articlepresents a slightly different perspective because it is based on a study of a multicul-tural postcolonial society where the dynamics of identity are very different. I hopethe findings will provide a deeper understanding of the complexity of identity is-sues particularly in newly emergent multicultural societies.

JOURNAL OF LANGUAGE, IDENTITY, AND EDUCATION, 2(3), 137–158Copyright © 2003, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.

Requests for reprints should be sent to Lee Su Kim, School of Language Studies & Linguistics, Fac-ulty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi, Selangor, Malay-sia 43600. E-mail: sukim25@yahoo.com

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THE CONCEPT OF IDENTITY

Identity is not only the individual conception of the self, but also the individual’sinterpretation of the social definition of the self, both within his or her inner groupas well as the larger society. Norton (1997) defined identity as “how people under-stand their relationship to the world, how that relationship is constructed acrosstime and space, and how people understand their possibilities for the future” (p.410). How one perceives oneself and the identity that one has of oneself is not en-tirely within one’s control but is highly contingent on the context. Individuals areoften engaged in forming identities, in forming objectifications of self-understand-ing that are used to guide their behavior. Holland, Skinner, Lachicotte, and Cain(1998) stated, “Identities are a key means through which people care about andcare for what is going on around them. They are important bases from which peo-ple create new activities, new worlds, and new ways of being” (p. 5).

Candlin (1998) believes that in an era of rapid social transformation in societalstructures, relationships, traditions, belief systems, and ideologies, there is pressureto reinvent and redefine new reference points. This is the case with the concept ofidentity as well. Candlin gives four perspectives on identity: (a) there is no one selfwaiting to be discovered but a multitude of selves found in the different linguisticpracticesarticulatednow, in thepast, historically, andcross-culturally; (b) identity isa product of cultural models of the self arising from ideologies and socializationpractices reflected in wider patterns of communication; (c) the self is not individu-ally possessed but negotiated and coconstructed among actors through discourse;(d) a continuing discursively mediated struggle exists between persons as authors oftheir own identities and as animators of identities that are authored for them.

PERSPECTIVES FROM SECOND-LANGUAGEACQUISITION RESEARCH

Conceptualizing the language learner as a social being is a fairly recent develop-ment in second-language acquisition (SLA). The work of Peirce (1995) has beensignificant in contributing towards a better understanding of social identity. Draw-ing from her research on immigrant women living in Canada and her reading in so-cial theory, in particular the work of Weedon (1987), she drew on thepoststructuralist conception of social identity as a multilayered construct, subjectto change and negotiation, and a site of struggle. She argues for the use of the terminvestment, rather than motivation, because traditional concepts of motivationdominant in the field of SLA do not take into account the complex relations ofpower, identity, and language learning. The term investment, argues Peirce, moreaccurately signals the socially and historically constructed relationship of the par-ticipants in her study and the often ambivalent attitude they have towards learning

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the target language. Drawing on Ogbu (1978), the return on investment in learninga language must be seen as commensurate with the effort expended on learning. Iflearners invest their time and effort in learning a second language, they do so withthe expectation that their efforts will be rewarded with a “wider range of symbolicand material resources, which will in turn increase the value of their cultural capi-tal” (Peirce, 1995, p. 17). Thus an investment in learning the target language is aninvestment in a learner’s own social identity, which is not static but constantlyshifts across time and space.

PURPOSE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF THIS STUDY

Recent research has been conducted to investigate the influence of thesociocultural environment on language learners (McKay & Wong, 1996; Morgan,1997; Norton, 1997; Peirce, 1995). However, most of these studies have been car-ried out in Anglo native-speaker settings where English is the predominant lan-guage and the research participants are members of language minority groups.More research is needed on the interrelation of the acquisition of the English lan-guage as a second language and its effects on the identities of language learnersoutside of the traditional native English speaker setting. This study attempts to al-leviate this problem by investigating the processes of identity construction of agroup of ESL speakers from a multicultural postcolonial society in Southeast Asiawhere English is widely spoken.

Today, the number of nonnative speakers of English far outnumbers nativespeakers. Kachru (1992) classified the users of English into three categories: theInner Circle, the Outer Circle, and the Expanding Circle. The Inner Circle com-prises the native speakers of English from the United Kingdom, the United Statesof America, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. The Outer Circle comprises theCommonwealth countries that were former colonies of the British Empire (e.g.,Malaysia, Singapore, and Hong Kong), and the Expanding Circle includes thecountries not previously colonized by Great Britain but where English is beingused to quite a large extent (e.g., Japan, Korea). Graddol (1997) predicts that thenumber of speakers using English in Kachru’s Outer Circle currently number be-tween 150 million and 300 million, whereas those in the Expanding Circle couldbe between 100 million and 1 billion. Graddol states that the strategies employedby nonnative speakers remain an underresearched area of English usage, despitethe fact that there already may be more people who speak English as a foreign lan-guage than the combined totals of those who speak it as a first or second language.

With English as the dominant world language and the international lingua francaof business and commerce, ESL speakers are probably aware of the opportunitiesthat mastering English can bring to their lives. But how does learning this languageshape their identities? As nonnative speakers of the English language, they would

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have in theircommandother languages,dialects,orboth in their languagerepertoire.How would they construct their social and cultural identities in relation to the lan-guages they own and in relation to the English language? Are the sociocultural con-texts similar and do they experience similar problems as the participants from themore traditional Anglo native-speaker settings as reported in recent research studies(McKay & Wong, 1996; Peirce, 1995)? Using Peirce’s concept of investment, dothese ESL speakers perceive learning English as an “investment,” and are the con-texts for investment in the English language similar to or different from the tradi-tional English-dominant native-speaker settings? Given that vast populations ofnonnative speakers of English exist and the growing international dominance ofEnglish, it is disconcerting to note that most of the reported research studies on theteaching and learning of the English language and its effect on social and culturalidentity come predominantly from the Inner Circle (Kachru, 1992), the findings ofwhich cannot be generalized to other contexts where English is spoken.

This study explores the language and identity link of a group of participants in anonnative English-language setting, from a multicultural postcolonial countrywhere English has a strong presence in the Outer Circle (Kachru, 1992). Its objec-tive was to investigate the relation between the acquisition of English and the con-struction of sociocultural identities of participants in Malaysia, a multiethnic,multicultural nation in Southeast Asia and a former colony of the British empire.

English was once the medium of instruction in the schools of Malaysia. Today,it is an important second language as well as the official second language. Outsideof the schools and civil service, it is widely used in the urban cities, in business andcommerce, and by the private sector. The fact that the British once colonized Ma-laysia gives this study an added and different perspective from recent SLA re-search studies (e.g., McKay & Wong, 1996; Peirce, 1995) because English is notthe native language of the peoples of Malaysia but was “inherited” as a result ofhistory and is a “legacy” of the former colonial masters.

THE CONTEXT

In Southeast Asia, English is widely used as a second language. Malaysia, a young,developing country is located in Southeast Asia. Geographically, it comprises twoparts: West Malaysia, which is a peninsula that forms part of the mainland of Asia,and East Malaysia, which is part of the island of Borneo. Malaysia has 13 states: 11states in West Malaysia and 2 states in East Malaysia (Sarawak and Sabah). It is ademocratic sovereign nation with a constitutional monarchy.

Malaysia was once part of the British empire, achieving its independence fromthe British in 1957. Malaysia has a multicultural, multilingual population of 20 mil-lion, comprising three ethnic groups: the Malays (51.2%), the Chinese (26.8%), andthe Indians (7.7%). The Malays are considered as Bumiputera (a Malay word for

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“sons of the soil,” meaning the natives of the land) and enjoy special rights enshrinedin the Constitution of Malaysia. Another group is also accorded Bumiputera status,which comprises 10.9% of the population, and they are the orang asli or aboriginesofWestMalaysiaand the indigenouspeoplesofEastMalaysia (SarawakandSabah).Some of the indigenous groups in Sarawak are the Iban, Melanau, Bidayuh, Murut,Kelabit, and Pennan; in Sabah, some of the indigenous groups are the Bajau and theKadazan. Finally, minor ethnic groups exist such as Eurasians and Portuguese,which comprise 3% of the population (Malaysia Year Book, 2000).

During British rule, English was the language of government administrationand the medium of instruction in schools the British established during the colonialperiod. After independence, the language policy the new Malaysian governmentissued established Malay as the national language of the country. The medium ofinstruction in schools was changed from the English language to the Malay lan-guage, phased in gradually. The year 1970 marked the beginning of the transitionfrom English to Malay as the medium of instruction. Today, English is a compul-sory second language in the school curriculum. In the universities, Malay is used asthe medium of instruction although many of the academic texts and referencebooks are in English. However, in many disciplines (e.g., the sciences), two lan-guages, Malay and English, are often used concurrently in lectures with a prepon-derance of scientific terms in English. Although Malay is recognized as the officialand national language of Malaysia, and the predominant language used in the civilservice, English is widely used in the private sector, as well as in trade and com-merce. Many Malaysians in their mid-30s and older are proficient in the Englishlanguage because English was the medium of instruction during their educationyears. For the younger generations of Malaysians, however, the level of profi-ciency in English has declined because English has been relegated from the mainmedium of instruction to a school subject, albeit an important one because it hasthe status of being the official second language in the country.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

This study set out to investigate a major research question: How does the Englishlanguage impact the construction of the sociocultural identities of Malaysian ESLspeakers? Specifically how are their identities shaped in the acquisition of the Eng-lish language? What kind of identities do they construct when learning English?As nonnative speakers of the English language, the participants of this study haveother languages, dialects, or both in their language repertoire. How do the otherlanguages that they own impact their identities? Based on Peirce’s (1995) conceptof investment, do these ESL speakers perceive learning English as an “invest-ment”? Are the contexts for investment in the English language similar to or differ-ent from the more traditional Anglo native-speaker settings?

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THE PARTICIPANTS

The participants in this study were 14 adult Malaysian females who were all non-native speakers of English, all students from a local university, UniversitiKebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), or the National University of Malaysia in Selangor,Malaysia. The participants were enrolled in the master in arts (English languagestudies) program at the Faculty of Language Studies. The participants consisted of7 Malays, 3 Chinese, 2 Indians, 1 Iban, and 1 Kadazan. All were female, and mostwere in their 20s, 3 were in their 30s, and one in her 50s. The youngest 2 partici-pants were 24 years old. The names of the participants have been changed to main-tain confidentiality.

The participants were recruited on a voluntary basis. The researcher explainedthe aims of her research and the methodology used in the study to the students.They were also informed that participation in the study was entirely voluntary. Noincentives were offered. The master’s program had only one male student willingto participate, but the researcher decided not to include him to ensure homogeneityof gender in the sample.

The participants came from two mediums of instruction. The older participants,Leng, Sita, Shareen, and Zuriah (all older than age 30) came from the English me-dium schools whereas the rest underwent the Malay medium of instruction in theirschool education. Two participants, Soraya and Mariam, had studied abroad in Eng-lish-language schools during their primary school years. All the Malay participantscould speak their native language, Malay, as well as one to a few Malay dialects. Forexample, Soraya, whose father comes from Brunei (a neighboring country locatedbetween Sabah and Sarawak) and whose mother comes from Kedah, could speakboth the Brunei Malay dialect and the Kedah Malay dialect. The 3 Chinese partici-pants could speak one or two Chinese dialects such as Cantonese and Hakka; how-ever, none of them could speak Mandarin, the official Chinese language. The 2 In-dian participants were both Tamil Indians. One could speak Malay, English, as wellas Tamil very fluently because she had studied Tamil formally. The other was notproficient in Tamil and was more fluent in English and Malay. Finally, the 2 indige-nousparticipants, the Ibanstudentand theKadazanstudent fromEastMalaysia, alsovaried in their repertoire of languages; although the Iban participant could speak hernative Iban language proficiently, the Kadazan student could not speak her mothertongue, Kadazan, because her parents spoke only English to her.

An important criterion of the study was that the participants had to be proficientin the English language to participate in the in-depth qualitative research inter-views. This criterion was met because the participants were all recruited from theEnglish language studies master’s program, which required a good command ofEnglish for entrance to the program. Thus, all participants were proficient in theEnglish language and were able to articulate their responses in the interviews with-out difficulty.

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DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS

In-depth qualitative interviews were used as the method of data collection. Thequalitative interviews were semistructured in design (Carspecken, 1996). Inter-view protocols were designed to allow for maximum flexibility during the inter-view process. To avoid prescribing the content of the interviewee responses to-wards the researcher’s point of view or perspective, following Carspecken, theinitial questions were formulated as concretely as possible and then gradually fo-cused on the more abstract issues of identity. The interviews began with severalopening questions, which were largely biographical, followed by those on lan-guage attitudes and perceptions towards English and their native languages, cul-tural activities and heritage, and identity. Other questions addressed friendshipsand socialization. The last questions focused on the personal domain. These weredesigned to elicit responses on the impact of English and other languages on theparticipants’ identities. Six topic domains were introduced.

Individual interviews, 2 to 3 hours in length, were conducted with each partici-pant, and all interviews were audiotaped. Follow-up interviews were also conductedwith some participants for clarification and elaboration. Questionnaires and per-sonal narratives were also used. The questionnaire was designed to elicit informa-tion on the participants’ personal background, language background, social andfamily background, experiences, perceptions of English, and views on identity. Par-ticipants also wrote personal narratives about themselves and their feelings and per-ceptions on the way their language(s) and culture have influenced them. A contentanalysis of the narratives provided additional information and insights to supple-ment the participants’ responses from the interviews and questionnaires.

The data from the interviews were transcribed and analyzed. To ensure accuracy,member checks were conducted to ensure that what the interviewee said was whatwas being reported. Coding protocols were developed based on the interview mate-rial. The questionnaire responses and personal narratives were analyzed and the in-formation matched to the respective participant to obtain as complete a profile aspossible of the participant. Case studies of the 14 participants were compiled. Emer-gent themes were derived from the commonalties in the coding protocols.

PROCEDURE

The researcher conducted the interviews over 2 months. Based on the interviewprotocols, questions of a biographical nature were posed at the start of the inter-view to facilitate the comfort level of the interviewee. Then questions related to thetopic domains were posed. Following Carspecken (1996), the research techniquesemployed strove for democratization of the research process. The intervieweeswere not encouraged to talk about anything they did not want to talk about.

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The researcher had the advantage of familiarity with the research site, couldspeak Malay, English, two Chinese dialects, and she was able to put the partici-pants at ease and create a rapport with the participants. Being a fellow Malaysian,she enjoyed an insider status and had no difficulty understanding the nuances andcomplexities of the participants’ responses, which would have been more difficulthad the researcher been an outsider.

Data from the three sources (the questionnaires, the interviews, and the narra-tives) were triangulated to ensure that the data was consistent throughout. Consis-tency checks were also made on the interview transcripts to check for accuracy andhonesty on the part of the participants (Carspecken, 1996). Member checks werealso conducted with the participants whenever possible. The data was first ana-lyzed individually. Coding was carried out for each participant and themes weredrawn based on the codes. A case study was then written on each participant. Thenext stage was to scrutinize the data across the participants, looking for commonal-ties from which to derive codes. Coding was then carried out based on the codes ofeach subject. Several dominant themes emerged. The researcher found certaincommonalties across ethnicities, particularly in the case of the Malays and the Chi-nese participants. Occasionally, caution was required to determine when to treatcertain data as a personal characteristic or as a finding. Close consultation with apeer debriefer helped when such a situation arose.

FINDINGS

Localized Identity Constructions Depend on the Contexts

Data analysis revealed that the participants possessed a range of diverse identitiesdepending on the contexts and the reference groups with whom they were interact-ing. Identity switches took place strategically on the part of the participants. In cer-tain contexts, where there was a difference between one’s inner knowledge of selfand an outer performance claiming a self, the participant made a conscious identityswitch. For instance, Fazira, a Malay participant who is very fluent in English, en-countered nonacceptance and resentment in certain local groups when she behavedin a direct, assertive, “Westernized” manner. She therefore tries to down play hernatural exuberance and her more direct nature, and shifts identities to conform andfit in within certain contexts. Fazira says,

Most of the time, people get intimidated especially the Malay people … theyfelt like, “Maybe she’s fake!” [Laughs] … So I try to … I try to get into thegroove, you know the kind of people I’m with, I behave in the expected way.

She noted that resentment still exists towards using English within interpersonalcontexts particularly among Malays who are not proficient in English. She be-

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lieves some of her fellow Malays interpret her use of English as “showing off.”Fazira states,

In certain ways umm maybe it has … because when you speak Englishsometimes … it has even disadvantages as well because when you speakEnglish in the Malay society, they would think you are showing off.

Fazira also believes that using English is seen as “elitist”:

Because previously only the elite, the educated speak English so the rest ofthe Malays, you know, they felt inferior and even now certain Malays, theydon’t like it.

Fazira feels that using English is also perceived by some groups as trying to be“like the Whites.” She says, “They think you’re trying to be ‘kwei lo’” [MalaysianEnglish expression for the “White man.” The literal translation from Cantonese is“foreign devil”].

Fazira also reported a sense of hostility against using English in certain contextsbecause it is seen as a relic of colonialism. This need to switch identities in a strate-gic manner to fit in with group identity expectations appears prevalent in ethniccommunities where the cultural norms, traditions, and cultural identity is particu-larly strong. Fazira reported that she feels a need to be more grounded in her ownculture, yet at the same time she feels torn between the dichotomy in her inner selfand her outer performance claiming a self.

Azlina, a Malay student from the rural state of Kedah in northern Malaysia,stated that she is aware of the resentment towards using English within certain cir-cles, and she avoids using English when mixing with them, “I try not to speak Eng-lish. You know them, so you try not to.” She feels that the resentment from certainsectors is because the English language is associated with religion, which meansthat when using it one is not being a good Muslim. She says,

Among some Malays, they always associate English language as not beingMuslim. You know they associate English with religion. That’s why they re-sent English. From their point of view, English equals to “Other” than Islam.

However, she emphasized that she disagrees with this view. She argued that mas-tery of English has not in any way detracted from her Malay identity. She feels thatwhen one learns a language one learns about the culture as well, but one does notnecessarily internalize the values of the culture, especially if one has a strong cul-tural identity.

Queenie, a Chinese participant, complained that she was marginalized by agroup of students on campus because she could not speak Mandarin. These stu-

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dents had come from the Chinese medium schools during their primary education.In Malaysia, schoolchildren are allowed to attend vernacular schools where themedium of instruction is in Mandarin or in Tamil throughout their primary schooleducation. At Form 1/Grade 7, they have to switch to the national-type schoolswhere the medium is in Malay. This Mandarin-speaking Chinese group of studentsmocked and harassed her because she appeared too English and “too Westernized.”Queenie stated, “During the first year when I came here, because I can’t speakMandarin, I was picked on. I was marginalized.” They tried to make her feel guiltyand odd that a Chinese person could not speak Chinese (Mandarin). They alsomade fun of her name because it is an English name, rather than a Chinese one. Af-ter a while her despair at this treatment turned into defiance, and she began to retal-iate in return. She did not want to be part of their group, and she decided to defythem. She deliberately used English at all times; she refused to speak in any otherChinese dialect, and she refused to use Malay. She said, “But at one point, I didn’tfeel bad that I could speak English. In fact, at that time I felt good. I refuse to speakto them in any other language except for English.” The more they tried tomarginalize her, the more she used English to irritate them.

Unlike her Malay counterparts who had other alternatives (e.g., strategicallyswitching to the Malay language, suppressing or avoiding the use of the Englishlanguage), Queenie did not possess such options, being unable to speak Mandarinfluently. Although she can speak two Chinese dialects, the group of Chinese stu-dents who were predominantly from the Chinese medium schools defined a Chi-nese person as someone who can speak Mandarin and marginalized their Chinesepeers who could not. Queenie therefore found that the best survival strategy wasnot to withdraw, but to use resistance strategies. The more she was despised for us-ing English, the more she used it.

Thus, unlike the Malay participants who could make conscious identityswitches to fit in with certain contexts and sectors of society who were resentful ofthe use of English, Queenie could neither “mask” nor withdraw her use of Englishand had to instead reaffirm, even more emphatically, her choice of using English.The findings reveal that language has a highly contextual dependence, and that theinteractive contexts determine the variety of selves that an individual can employ.

Nonuse and Not the Use of English

In certain contexts, it is the nonuse rather than the use of the language that can affectthe outcome of an interaction and facilitate one’s acceptance into the group. Sorayareports her strategy of “hiding” her knowledge of the English language to fit into cer-tain reference groups within her society after returning from her stay in the UnitedStates. Soraya is a young Malay woman, 25 years old, who was in the United Statesfrom kindergarten until Grade 6, accompanying her father who was pursuing hisdoctoral degree there. She is very proficient in English because of her years in the

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United States. She was unable to speak fluently in her mother tongue, Malay, on re-turning to Malaysia, although she could understand it when others were speaking it.Soraya shared that she has a deep pride in her culture and Malay identity. Soraya re-flected on her experiences on coming home to Malaysia from the United States:

But it’s quite embarrassing when you come back and you are a Malay andyou don’t know how to speak Malay … it’s embarrassing. I didn’t want toadmit but somehow I knew I had to do it. Every time I spoke English, I hadthe American accent and people would think that I showed off, so I … I triedto hide it, and so when I went to secondary school in Kedah, I hid it all themore and I … I speak it less and less.

Like Fazira, Soraya is concerned that certain groups whom she interacts withwill misunderstand and think that she is trying to show off or that she is trying tosound like a “Westerner.” Instead of resisting this kind of attitude, she “invests” inher cultural identity as a Malay and shifts identity by withdrawing her use of theEnglish language that may cause conflict or incongruity, and hinder her acceptanceinto her community.

The relation between language use and identity is shown clearly in Soraya’scase. To fit in with her Malay friends who are not fluent in English, Sorayaswitches to Malay. She appreciates that language can thus be wielded as a tool foracceptance or for distancing. She stated,

The reason [I use] Malay is because most of my friends speak Malay, sowhen you communicate normally, you want to mix with them so I speak inMalay. Once you get the English word out, you, you distance … it’s like …you distance … putting your friends faraway so I speak in Malay.

Soraya is very conscious of the languages she owns and the power they wield fordistancing and for belonging. For her, English allows for the spontaneous expres-sion of her innermost feelings such as anger. Nevertheless, she consciously avoidsusing English and even the occasional use of English words when interacting withsome Malay friends to avoid distancing herself.

Azlina stated that she uses English most of the time on campus, but when she re-turns tohervillage, sheavoidsusing itas itmeansdistancingherself fromher friends:

Most of the time I use English. But among my friends back home, I wouldnever utter a single word in English. I’m very conscious about speaking inEnglish.

She said that it is implicitly understood that one does not use English amongfriends back home because using English is viewed as “boasting.”

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Because I don’t want to look like I’m trying to boast. You are not in the “In”group anymore. I try not to speak English. If you want to be part of a group,you have to follow the rules, right? Yea[h], unwritten rules.

However, Azlina confessed that sometimes she deliberately uses English whenshe is irritated to annoy her Malay friends who disapprove of her using English.Not only does she deliberately make this strategic shift, but aggravates it further byusing slang:

Whenpeople irritateme, I’ll change toEnglish.AndIdon’t just speakEnglish,I’ll speakwitha littlebit of slang. Iknowthatwhenpeople irritateme, Iuse thisas a form of shield. Even among my friends I’ll try my best to speak in verygoodEnglish.Partlyasashield.Tomakeapoint,okay,payattention tome.

Azlina commented that she finds Malaysians who put on a “Western” accentwhen speaking in English annoying. So, in return, when she is irritated and wantsto irritate people she knows resents English being used in the first place, she willdeliberately speak English with a “put-on” British or American accent, to annoyand intimidate. Beyond Peirce’s (1995) theory of language identity investment forpositive gains, these examples demonstrate the switch in identity for strategic pur-poses—to annoy, to irritate, to gain “negative” attention, to gain power over one’saudience.

Mariam explained that resistance against the use of English exists because ofthe connotations of religion as well. If one uses English within certain localizedcontexts, then it may give the impression that one has embraced Western culture oris “Westernized,” therefore rejecting one’s identity, which directly or indirectlymeans one’s language and religion:

It is not supposed to be linked to religion but because they say we are of theWestern culture therefore we are said to be less religious.

Azlina also touched on this connection between the use of English and religion.She stated that some groups resent English being used because, “you know, theyassociate English with religion.” She adds, “I heard in Kelantan [a state in northernWest Malaysia] from my friends, they associate it with Christianity.”

These case studies show that the participants will “invest” in the English lan-guage because it gives them the dividends of acceptability and belonging to thegroup with with they desire to fit. Extending the concept of investment Peirce(1995) introduced, the findings of this study show that language learners will in-vest in a language if the rewards are perceived as worthwhile. However, acquiringor mastering a language is more complicated than just positive gains and the re-ward factor. In a complex postcolonial society such as Malaysia, investment does

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not bring straightforward returns or dividends. Using English requires that one bevery attuned to the localized contexts and whether its use is acceptable to the situa-tion. Although the acquisition of the English language has many advantages, “us-ing” it can bring about nonacceptance, resentment, marginalization, or a combina-tion thereof. Therefore, individuals have to learn, consciously or unconsciously, toswitch their identities in very complex ways.

The need to shift identities in a strategic manner to conform to the prevailingcontext appeared more prevalent among the Malay participants in this study. How-ever, localized identity constructions according to the interactive contexts were notjust confined to the Malay participants. Queenie shared that she had to shift identi-ties often, depending on which group she is mixing with. She reported that thisconstant reconstruction of identities is partly conscious and partly unconscious.She explained,

When it’s unconscious, [it’s] not tiring, but when you’re conscious [of whatyou are doing], then it’s tiring. And having to switch personality all the time,it’s tiring. If you’re not careful, you’ll end up like “Who am I actually?” Bigquestion you know.

In sum, this study shows that SLA has a highly contextual dependency. All theparticipants made either strategic and nonstrategic identity shifts through the de-vice of languages, depending on the contexts. In a multicultural society, where dif-ferent social situations and contexts carry varying expectations of behavior as wellas language use, the findings reinforce the view that humans are social and culturalbeings, bounded by the sociocultural contexts and the layers and sublayers of hu-man interaction. Holland et al. (1998) stated, “there is a need to recognize the pro-cesses whereby human collectives and individuals often move themselves—led byhope, desperation, or even playfulness, but certainly no rational plan—from oneset of socially and culturally formed subjectivities to another” (p. 6). The findingsof this study show that identity, as expressed by choice of language, is not static butalways in a state of flux, and it is highly localized and dependent on the localizedinteractive contexts.

English and Its Effect on Identity in Noninteractive Ways

Another dominant theme that emerged from the data is that knowing English alsoaffects identity in noninteractive ways. A significant finding was that it is not theuse of English but rather knowing English that affects identity in noninteractiveways. Participants reported that knowledge of English brings along with it an ex-posure to alternative views and ideas, and facilitates a more reflective and criticalattitude towards one’s own culture. Knowing English allows the participants todecenter from their own culture or singular cultural viewpoint. The participants

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also reported that knowing English offers them a form of empowerment. Several ofthe participants used metaphors such as a shield, double vision, a sword, a gift, anda weapon to describe the ways English has empowered them and that their knowl-edge of English has allowed them access to information that might otherwise notbe known to them. For example, Fazira stated that knowing English has made hermore accepting and has exposed her to new issues (e.g., feminism).

Fazira’s responses suggested that knowing a second language allows one totranscend the cultural borders of one’s own language group and access the viewsand ideas of another culture. In the case of English, an international lingua franca,one can access the viewpoints and worldviews of far more than just the nativespeakers of English. This then is the empowering quality of English to which theparticipants attested because it helps to “open” their minds. Had Fazira only ac-quired literacy in one language, she would have been exposed to ideas from justone cultural stance. Through her readings in English, she has been able to view lifethrough other dimensions and cultural perspectives. Fazira stated that English hasmade her more open-minded and “liberal.”

More liberal and I feel I am more accepting and I find that people can talk tome about anything, their dark secrets, they can talk to me [laughs] and Iwould be, ya, I would be more accepting.

Azlina prefers to read books in English but emphasized that being exposed tovarious ideas does not necessarily mean that she embraces them; for example, shedoes not favor feminism but is appreciative of being exposed to the concepts:

The things that English writers write is what I like, their ideas, theirthoughts. The ideas are universal truths, universal values, about loving, car-ing, sharing, faithfulness. I don’t believe in feminism. Maybe because I’m aMuslim. Feminism is against that. I don’t just pick up English writers, itcould be African writers, Asian writers writing in English.

When asked if English had impacted her thinking, Azlina replied,

Yes, in being open-minded. Being a Malay I won’t tolerate people cursing infront of me, touching me, or holding hands. But through my readings, my ex-posure, I tolerate that. Yes, definitely, I would be very docile. I’ll be totallydifferent. My education has changed me. Education which offers me theEnglish language therefore allows me to read about different ideas and val-ues. Even people who are educated but who don’t read English books, oh myGod, their thinking is so narrow-minded.

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Shareen, another Malay participant, shared that knowing English as a secondlanguage allows her to be able to make comparisons with other cultures and to re-flect on her own culture: “Because I know English, I can see that Malays are indi-rect, (they have) ways of saying things. I can compare, I can make comparisons.”This is similar to what Fazira and Azlina expressed. Knowledge of English enablesthem to reflect and make comparisons. It decenters them from just one culturalworldview.

Rosie believes she has become a different, more open-minded person. She com-pares herself during her schooldays when she did not speak English with her Malayfriends towhatshe iscurrentlyandfeels that shehasoutgrownsomeofher friends:

But they are very curious to know, “Are you still a Malay? You speak goodEnglish but are you still a Malay?” They’re very curious to know. My school-mates they ask me “You speak English?” And I say, “Ya, I speak a lot of Eng-lish now.” There’s a very vast difference, Rosie in primary school and Rosienow. You know when I was in school, I don’t speak English with my Malayfriends. So nowadays when I meet them for any gathering, I tend to slip intoEnglish whenever I feel it’s necessary, so they ask, “Are you still Rosie theMalay girl?” Ya, I’m still Rosie the Malay girl but somehow I’ve changed, inthe sense that I’ve changed a lot in my thinking.

Rosie stated that she prefers the new Rosie because the old Rosie had a dull life andwas not very open.

Mariam, another Malay participant, goes even further by stating that her knowl-edge of the English language has empowered her and given her agency in such away that she does not have to conform if she does not want to:

It has given me agency. Agency. Ability to act. Not just by action but also bysilence. If I’m silent, it doesn’t mean I’m passive. It could be that I’m resist-ing. When I choose to pull out myself by not conforming but I know the lan-guage. I can move and survive within my own means. I have the ability toact. I’m not dependent on others. I have the language in me. Because of that Icreate a gateway for me to be able to assert my own identity without havingto conform. Or else I have to conform because I don’t have the tools.

In her personal narrative, Mariam wrote of the positive influence of English onher life:

I think English has also made me healthily ambivalent as it awoke my moreabstract side that enabled me to assert and respect my individuality withoutharming the bubble of others. It has made my view of life richer andmulti-faceted and I would not erase any part of it in my life.

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Soraya’s experience summed up the dilemma of some of the Malay participantsin this study. When asked what her greatest problem was in studying English, shesaid it was her difficulty in trying to hide her American accent, which she had ac-quired while in the United States. Yet, when asked if her knowledge of English wasan advantage or disadvantage, she asserted that it was an advantage because “youcan accept a variety of cultures, you are not biased to a certain group of people.”Soraya’s command of English motivates her and gives her “higher self-esteem”and has made her a more open-minded person “to accept other people, to acceptothers.” Even though Soraya is acutely aware of the complexities of the differingcontexts in which she moves and switches languages to adapt, she is quietly appre-ciative of English, even if in certain contexts it means social marginalization forher. Even when she abstains from using English language, she values the empow-erment English provides her and views it as an asset in her life. This silent empow-erment gives new meanings to the concept of investment, in which the benefits ofreaping one’s investment in a target language in a complex multicultural societyare highly dependent on the localized contexts and at times have to be silenced. Al-though English is taught as a compulsory second language in schools, “survivalformulas” for when or how to use it are not. These have to be developed by the ESLspeaker herself to adjust to the demands of a complex postcolonial society such asMalaysia.

The non-Malay participants also described how the acquisition of English hasopened their minds and empowered them with a less ethnocentric perception oflife. Peggy, a Chinese participant, feels that her knowledge of English liberates herfrom having to conform to any culture and helps her to transcend culture-bound be-havior by providing a recourse to switch to an alternate and more “ethnically neu-tral” identity:

Speaking the language now it has given me the leeway to be individualistic. Ithink if you speak Chinese, you tend to be part of the culture. But I think likefor me, this is just for me, because I speak the language, I can give myself ex-cuses because I feel that I can be myself. I don’t have to conform to any tradi-tional (pauses) but because I speak English, I consider myself to be an indi-vidual. It gives me a sense of identity as I don’t have to conform to anycultural group.

Tina, a young Iban lady from Sarawak, feels that the neutrality of the Englishlanguage helps her in expressing herself better in certain contexts. She feels thatthe Iban language is inappropriate for expressing anger, venting of strong feelings,or decision-making because Iban is a gentle and nonconfrontational language.Tina stated that in Iban culture, one does not confront another but must keep one’sfeelings inside. Tina describes the English language as “a weapon” to “fight peo-ple, to express dissatisfaction, your anger, your happiness maybe.”

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Sara, the Kadazan student from Sarawak, states that having a command of Eng-lish gives her a form of “double vision,” which she explains as the ability to slip inand out of her own culture and to possess a self-reflective awareness on her ownculture. Sara says, “You can move outside of your culture and evaluate and thinkabout it but you can move inside it, it’s fluid. English would allow for this.”

Hence the findings show that all the participants felt that English offers themanother cultural prism through which to view life. It provides an alternative lan-guage for expression when one does not want to clash with the cultural norms ofone’s native language or if one finds one’s mother tongue inadequate for the task,and it allows one to slip in and out of one’s own cultural boundaries.

DISCUSSION: IDENTITY CONSTRUCTIONSAND CONTEXT

The participants were engaged in a complex process of identity construction thatwas highly dependent on the contexts in which they were interacting. Subjectspossessed a range of diverse identities that they switched on and off in strategicand nonstrategic ways to fit in and be socially accepted. The identities that be-come foregrounded depend largely on the interpersonal contexts in which indi-viduals find themselves, the purposes for their being there, and whether they de-sire acceptance and accommodation by the group with which they areinteracting.

Given that previous studies have been conducted in largely predominant nativeEnglish-speaker settings (Goldstein, 1995; McKay & Wong, 1996; Nero, 1997;Peirce, 1995), the findings of this study generate many questions on language,identity, and theory, and they signal a need to move beyond the narrow focus on na-tive versus nonnative speakers as the only relevant identity in investigations of sec-ond language use. First, the findings suggest that identity is indeed a multilayered,nonunitary, and complex construct, which is highly dependent on the contexts ofinteraction. Previous research has shown that individuals in any setting negotiate awide array of social and cultural roles and identities: as gendered and cultured indi-viduals; as expatriates or nationals; as native speakers or nonnative speakers; as in-dividuals with political connections; and as members of families, organizations,and society at large (Duff & Uchida, 1997). However, in postcolonial contexts,where the participants can perceive resistance against the use of the language of theformer colonial masters, the sociocultural context for using English becomes evenmore complex. Participants have to know when and how to switch identities, mini-mize, withdraw, or even abandon for the time being their use of English to conformto the dominant group’s unspoken expectations. The Malay participants of thisstudy, who were all proficient users of the English language, described their needto make strategic identity switches not to distance, offend, annoy, or embarrass

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members of the local group, or to avoid showing off or “boasting” in a former colo-nialist language. Using English could be interpreted as being Westernized or re-nouncing their Malay cultural identity. It could also be interpreted as being less re-ligious. Making identity switches here meant an actual language switch itself, tothe exclusion of the English language.

English and Empowerment

However, even as the participants strategically withdrew or avoided using the Eng-lish language within certain localized interactions, importantly, it was not becausethey were ashamed of their command of the English language. On the contrary,participants reported a sense of empowerment on achieving mastery of the Englishlanguage, but they knew when to wield or sheath what some of them have de-scribed as a “sword” or a “weapon” (their use of the English language) to conformand fit in with the social interaction. The Malay participants made strategic shiftsin language and identity because of cultural expectations and perceptions frommembers of their own ethnic group and a desire to invest in their cultural identity.To the Malays, the Malay language is a symbol of their cultural identity and an em-blem of group solidarity.

The Concept of “Investment”

The findings of this study help to shed a new perspective on Peirce’s concept of in-vestment and contribute to an extension of the concept of investment in a targetlanguage. Norton (1997) stated that she has used the term investment to “signal thesocially and historically constructed relationship of learners to the target languageand their sometimes ambivalent desire to learn and practice it” (p. 411). Her centralconcerns are not what motivates the learner to learn the target language or the kindof personality the learner has, but what the learner’s investment in the target lan-guage is and how the learner’s relation to the target language is historically and so-cially constructed. Her construct of investment recognizes the language learner ashaving a complex history and multiple desires and that investing in the target lan-guage is an investment in the learner’s social identity, which changes across timeand space. If learners invest their time and effort in learning the target language,they do so with the expectation that they will be rewarded with a “wide range ofsymbolic resources, which will in turn increase the value of their cultural capital”(Peirce, 1995, p. 17).

However, the findings of this study reveal that in multicultural postcolonial so-cieties such as Malaysia, investment in the English language becomes a tricky is-sue within certain contexts because sometimes the investment has to be hidden or“masked.” When investing time and effort in a target language, one expects, ac-cording to Peirce’s (1995) theory, that the investments will be rewarded; however,

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the findings of this study reveal that within certain settings, investing in a languagewithin certain contexts can incur resentment, nonacceptance, and evenmarginalization.

Identity “Masking”

Clarifying that the participants of this study do not negate nor regret their time andeffort making an investment in the target language (English) is important. The dif-ference between Peirce’s (1995) study and this study is that the sociocultural con-texts are different and therefore the participants’ personal histories and needs aredifferent. Within certain contexts, “masking” their investment in the English lan-guage made more sense because it neither brought rewards, nor increased their cul-tural capital in any way. Investment in the English language is therefore not aclear-cut process of investing and reaping rewards in complex, multilingual,postcolonial settings but requires the users of the language to know when to“mask” or “unmask” their use of the English language to fully reap its rewards. Im-proving the value of one’s “cultural capital” (p. 17) is not a given at all in nonnativeEnglish language settings and indeed, the capital that the nonnative ESL speakerreaps is not so open-ended and positive, but may bring along negative dividendssuch as disenfranchisement and cultural displacement.

McKay and Wong (1996) stressed one more dimension—that of agency—toPeirce’s theory of investment. In their study of four Chinese immigrants to Canada,they found that the second-language learner is set up by relations of power andmay exercise resistance to the power relations. The language learner may even setup his own counter discourse that puts him in a more powerful position rather thana marginalized one. Investment enhancing was not as important as agency en-hancement or identity enhancement, and priority was given to enhancing theiridentities in the immediate context and not into “hithertho unattainable resources”(p. 17). In this study, within certain contexts, the ESL speakers also resort to en-hancing their identities in the immediate context, but the difference between thisstudy and McKay and Wong’s study is that it is not because investment is not im-portant, but rather because giving the impression to the group that investment inthe English language is not as critical as investing pride in one’s native tongue andcultural identity. Thus, Soraya argued that in certain contexts, speaking in Malay ismore appropriate, “Once you get the English word out, you, you distance, it’s like,you distance, putting your friends faraway [sic], so I speak in Malay.” And Fazirastated, “So I try to, I try to get into the groove, you know, the kind of people I’mwith, I behave in the expected way.”

Therefore, the findings of this study reveal that SLA in a multicultural,postcolonial, nonnative English language setting is far more complicated. Invest-ment in the target language is taking place; the ESL speakers are all advanced usersof the language who have invested much time and effort in acquiring the language

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and realize its power and potential. They are aware and accept the sociocultural re-alities of their situation. They move in and out of multiple contexts with multilay-ered meanings and asymmetrical power relations and they switch, adapt, resist, ormask according to whether they wish to conform or rebel.

Impacting Identity in Noninteractive Ways

A significant theme that arose from this study, as discussed, is that language alsoaffects identity in noninteractive ways. An important finding is that it is not theuse of English but rather knowing English that affects identity in noninteractiveways. All languages carry within them a particular worldview and a particularculture. The language we acquire determines the way we construct our vision ofthe world. Thus if the participants had only been exposed to writings and textswritten in Malay, they would have acquired literacy through one worldview andone cultural lens.

Being proficient in English enables the participants to transcend their culturalboundaries and access the worldviews and ways of thinking of others. Further-more, because many writings from all over the world have been translated intoEnglish, the participants shared that they could read about differing views thathelped to broaden their minds, even if they did not necessarily agree with some ofthe ideas.

Fantini (1995) commented, “Whereas most people take their own languageand culture for granted, the culturally literate person understands that his or hernative tongue (and culture) is not ‘neutral,’ but a specific medium (or paradigm)directly influencing one’s entire life” (p. 39). Because they are able to communi-cate in two or more languages, these participants have acquired a degree of whatFantini called, “intercultural competence” or “cultural literacy.” Theinterculturally competent or the culturally literate person is aware that one’s lan-guage (or culture) is not the sole way of looking at the world and that other para-digms exist. Because the individual components vary from one culture to an-other, the worldview configurations also differ from group to group. Similarly,each language reflects and affects its representative worldview and no two arealike.

The findings of this study also support the findings of McMahill (1997).McMahill conducted a study of 12 women learning English as a foreign lan-guage in Japan attending an English conversation class on feminism. Her partici-pants reported that by being able to contrast their situations and beliefs by draw-ing on the experiences of others in their feminism classes, the Japanese womenwere “able to reflect more critically on their own gender socialization and resistthe aspects of what they judge as oppressive by drawing on the lived alternativesof others” (p. 613).

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CONCLUSION

In conclusion, the findings of this study reaffirm those of Peirce (1995) andMcKay and Wong (1996) that the teaching and learning of English is far morecomplicated than mere questions of using effective techniques, teaching materialsand processes, and that language learners are complex social beings. Pennycook(1999) states that critical work in teaching English to speakers of other languages(TESOL) should begin with an attempt to “locate aspects of teaching English tospeakers of other (othered?) languages within a broader critical view of social andpolitical relations” (p. 352). Just connecting the teaching of English to the world inwhich it occurs is not enough; this connection must focus on questions of power,inequality, resistance, and struggle. In this research study, the participants’ strug-gles and the complex strategic and nonstrategic identity shifts they employ as theymaneuver their way in society in the search for acceptance, belonging, or both, aswell as in their own personal journeys, highlight the intricate relation between lan-guage and identity. The findings reveal that in a multicultural postcolonial world, acomplex interweaving of multiple concerns take place and the language learnerhas to manage these complexities and experience consequences ranging from cul-tural dissonance to a sense of quiet empowerment.

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