Many of my students struggle with learning a language and advance to the next level. Especially, when we run it from B1 level and above.

There are many reasons for this barrier. I also spent years achieving certain level (now it is C1) of English. Over the last years, I have a regular language practice with people from different cultures, social groups and ages. Observations showed me that identity is an important factor indicating how deeply and quickly a person can make progress in their foreign (or second) language. More precisely, how quickly the person understands that a new language demands another identity depends on how this person develops thier own first identity.

To give a brief definition, “identity” answers the question “who you are”. Identity consists of  daily choices, experiences, societal roles, relationships etc. Main point in the list is that identity is relatively stable over time.

As you can see from paragraph above, identity is not static. Although, shaping how we present our selves to others, the phenomenon is durable, it changes. For example, the person can change professions, marital status, hobbies, countries of living, aesthetic preferences and ethical imperatives. And if these changes last more o less consistently, we can speak of a new identity. 

On the one hand, identity is what many people are attached to. They value it and stick to it. Identity gives them a sense of security, belonging to some groups or communities, acceptance. On the other hand, learning a new language, a person should accept “something new” not only on the level of grammatical structures, vocabulary and pronunciation, but a cultural level. And this cultural aspect is usually neglected or (even if realized) difficult to accept.

By “culture” in the article, I understand societal practices and content which are being produced by natives. 

My new students often share with me during our first meeting or by email: “I want to icebreak the speaking barrier”. “I want to expand my vocabulary to this or that domain”. “I understand words but do not understand the meaning of the sentences”. “Help me!” 

For a teenager, often there are no personal reasons to learn the language. Only societal factors like school or parents push them to improve their language skills for getting permission to the next stage of socialization (high school). For adults, it can be a more comprehensive story. An adult maight say: “I want language for work or education”. Or “I want English for travel”. “Let me keep my level as it is”. “Please just talk with me”. “I want to refresh my grammar and vocabulary what I learned before”. 

In both cases I often feel between the lines, that language considered a tool for solving some tasks. Yes, language is a tool and no, it is something more... Yes, because for most everydays situations and travels, language can be an instrument (A2-B1 is enough). But if the person needs to talk on various topics around history, business, economy, politics, philosophy, psychology, medicine, art, literature… the language becomes more than just “talking tool”. It becomes a part of this individual, their identity. We incorporate idioms, phrasal verbs, regionalisms and colloquialisms into the way we perceive reality and describe it. 

Sure, identity can be built from outside. But outsiders can only impose motivations and incentives which are not natural for the individual. Let’s see why. 

Identity is shaped through repetition. Routine activities can be done automatically, be boring and “natural” (“usual”). Everyday choices, job or education often build our identities because they are repetitive. 

That is why gamers(teenagers), who spend hours on gaming platforms, switch to English more easily than the rest of my young students. They do game session regularly, they are open to experiencing a new culture. 

Similar patterns observed among traveller-students (nomads). They have energy to go to a new place (culture) and explore it. The more aspects of native culture we accept as ours, the large terrain of a foreign language we embrace “actively”. “Actively” means thinking in the language, thinking “out loud” by talking or writing.
 
I know that English is a language of an empire (British or American add whichever you prefer). In a lot of places this “culture” consists of processed loanwords and loan artefacts. So, if I am an adult when learning language, I make a choice, where I accept the part of British/American/Canadian etc culture. What to adopt and what to reject. This selection gives more levers in building identity in a more preferable way.  

That is why, in many cases, I see students who initially struggle with language because they faced with the choice of building a new identity which gives them new opportunities, but can replace/destroy/abandon previous identity. It seems for them and the people around them (like a friends and classmates, colleagues).  

In learning a new language, I am an optimist. A good piece of news is that we can build several identities simultaneously. Bilingual families are bright examples here. Usually children in these families are more open to a new (something)language, because of conscious parent’s activities or just room created by cultural diversity and openness. 

Another example of more effective learning language are hobbies. See gamers example above. I also wrote about the way how to learn a foreign language here. 

By learning new language, we open “Pandora’s box”. I mean we move beyond binary oppositions: 0-1, “we-they”, “true-false”. So we begin to think that this is right for my (home)first culture, that is right for my “second” culture… and there are the rest cultures also. And this rest is not black or white, it can have something common and something totally different. The world gives choices and opportunities to build a new self.

To wrap up, the more a person understand their first identity the easier to make a choice about building new one. I can help people do this, but I cannot do it for them.