Japanese Elementary School Children’s Identities in a Multilingual Space

Abstract

Language learning is based on social interaction. In order to understand children’s identities, the research focused on the environment in which the child is immersed. For the purpose of this study, Gee (2014)’s notion of discourse was adapted, specifically the latter type which is discourse. In order to look into the identity of the children in this study, there is a need to look into the kind of environment in which the children are situated. Discourses also gradually have changed through social interaction. Therefore, discourses and identities were reconstructed by social interactions.