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This text examines the under-researched and often troubling phenomenon of silence in second language learning through a triangulation of SLA research, memoirs and language learner diaries, and psychoanalytic concepts of anxiety, ambivalence, conflict and loss. It moves beyond the view of silence as the mere absence of speech, inviting the reader to consider it as both a psychical event and a linguistic moment in the continuous process of identity formation.
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SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION 6 Series Editor: David Singleton, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland
Silence in Second Language Learning A Psychoanalytic Reading
Colette A. Granger
MULTILINGUAL MATTERS LTD Clevedon • Buffalo • Toronto • Sydney
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Granger, Colette A. Silence in Second Language Learning: A Psychoanalytic Reading Colette A. Granger – 1st edn. Second Language Acquisition: 6 Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Second language acquisition. 2. Silence. 3. Psychoanalysis. I. Title. II. Second language acquisition P118.2.G734 2004 418--dc21 2003008651 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue entry for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN 1-85359-698-1 (hbk) ISBN 1-85359-697-3 (pbk) Multilingual Matters Ltd UK: Frankfurt Lodge, Clevedon Hall, Victoria Road, Clevedon BS21 7HH. USA: UTP, 2250 Military Road, Tonawanda, NY 14150, USA. Canada: UTP, 5201 Dufferin Street, North York, Ontario M3H 5T8, Canada. Australia: Footprint Books, PO Box 418, Church Point, NSW 2103, Australia. Copyright © 2004 Colette A. Granger. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced in any form or by any means without permission in writing from the publisher. Typeset by Wordworks Ltd. Printed and bound in Great Britain by the Cromwell Press Ltd.
To my family
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Contents Foreword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vi Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix Silence in Second Language Learning: A Present Absence . . . . . . 1 1 Averting the Gaze: Silence in Second Language Acquisition Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Defining Silence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Individual Differences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . From Personality to Identity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . From the Individual to the Social ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... And Back, from the Social to the Individual. . . . . . . The Individual and Psychoanalysis . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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14 14 22 28 31 34 37
2 Changing the Subject: Psychoanalytic Theory, Silence and the Self The Dynamic Self . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Anxiety, Judgement and Conflict . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Loss, Mourning and Melancholia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ambivalence: Holding On, Letting Go . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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40 40 44 47 55
3 Looking and Looking Again: Memoirs of Second Language Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Searching for Stories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Split by the Difference: Eva Hoffman . . . . . . . . . . . . Public and Private Selves: Richard Rodriguez . . . . . . . The Secret Self: Patrick Chamoiseau . . . . . . . . . . . . Mastering the Subject: Alice Kaplan . . . . . . . . . . . .
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64 64 69 74 78 84
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4 Reading Between the Lines: Language Learner Diaries . . . . . . . 89 Why Diaries? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .