Spatiotemporal scales in narrative inquiry research on language identity development during study abroad

This paper examines how language identity of international English language students develops in study abroad settings. The methods used in this study stem from different narrative approaches that focus on aspects of identity and narrative form. The analytical focus is on various scales of time and space over which identity developments occur, from historic to the more immediate contexts of interaction. First, autobiographical narratives are constructed using thematic analysis of interview and diary data. To complement the big-picture findings, short stories of critical identity episodes are analysed in terms of content and context. Finally, the small-scale analysis of interview data provides insights into how identity work is interactively constructed. The diverse findings are unified into a rich research narrative by applying the concept of spatiotemporal scales as an overarching, unifying logic. It is argued that a combination of narrative inquiry approaches and the spatiotemporal perspective results in a more nuanced understanding of identity dynamics of language learners. The findings demonstrate a range of language-related identity developments in a single case study and encourage further narrative studies in applied linguistics.