EMPOWERING LEARNERS IN THE EFL CLASSROOM: THE USE OF DIGITAL IDENTITY TEXTS

The present study focuses on the analysis of identity texts from English as a foreign language (EFL) students. This research mainly aims to promote the use of identity texts as a key strategy of the teaching for linguistic transfer and academic expertise approach (Cummins, 2001, 2005b, 2006). Such approach intends to foster the development of learners’ cognitive and academic language proficiency skills (CALPS) in a second or foreign language (L2/FL). Identity texts thus enable students to build and evaluate their identities, so that they become aware of who they are as language learners, that is, what kinds of learners they are and how they learn. In this way, they consolidate the different positions that shape their identities; they establish relationships with identities of competence they desire; and they reject negative positions that silence them when they attempt to use the target language. Therefore, identity texts offer the EFL learner an opportunity to express their “selves” positively and have a “voice” in the foreign language. As a result, identity texts contribute to increase the learner’s motivation and investment in their language learning, thereby promoting in turn the development of their cognitive and academic language proficiency skills and, in the case of multimodal identity texts, their digital competence.