The non-mother tongues teaching in the age of migrations: the importance of linguistic biographies

Abstract

Although a concept such as ‘identity’ has been at the centre of the debate on second language learning, its dissociation from agency has the effect of oversimplifying it, and allows for an excessively unproblematic conceptualization of the process of second language learning/teaching. Based on data obtained from questionnaires administered to adult immigrants living in Madrid who come from Romania, Morocco, Equatorial Guinea and other sub-Saharan countries, it is suggested that agency is crucial in any anthropological reflection on language learning, as it underlies identity and motivation, is mediated by what Schiffman (2006) calls ‘linguistic culture’ and, moreover, is intimately associated to alterity.