To what extent do you agree with the Slovak proverb 'The more Essay

To what extent do you agree with the Slovak proverb 'The more languages you speak, the more of a person you are How is this no - Essay Example The word 'identity' has taken on a different meaning. Identity has become part of the chaotic behaviour creating social perception (Freeman79 ) "Identity is a complicated cycle process: knowing, claiming and recognizing". (Chryssochoou 2000) which requires the use of language to communicate. The process of socialization, and communication have become the part of the sociolinguist's job. In this essay we will identify the complex meaning of identity and associate it with the meaning of language. Multiple identities are related to the multiple roles we take in society. It will be shown that speaking a second language, is not an extension of the first language thus a countable number of identities but another set of independent roles in itself. As an independent set of roles is established, a new pluralistic identity has been established. A bilingual person can perceive himself as a different set of identities depending on which language he is speaking. An English speaker will not speak the same language at home as he will speak at work in a foreign country. Or if he does speak at work it will not be at the same linguistic level as it would be if he were speaking to native English speakers. A multilingual personal will have more identities. The more languages a person speaks the more identity roles he will have. Building a better self identity of a L2 learner is done through the use of L1 in the classroom. This technique is the opposite that 20 years ago. Only the target language was thought as being the best result for teaching. As the proverb is dealing with two distinct topics, the essay will deal define the concept of identity then show how identity changes with the concept of multilinguism and then show it affects identity differently. The globalization of languages will be presented to show the effect on languages. A Sociological approach to self identity "The core of an identity is to put the "self" into a "role" and integrating the meanings and expectation s with the role and the performances" (Stets & Burke, 2000). Self is comprised of the mind as the thinking part (Stets & Burke, 2000). The thinking part creates action by the use of language as a means of communication. The concept of one's self or self concept is a collection of meanings used based on information that we have interpreted or gathered from others and taken as information about our 'evaluation' of our existence. (Chryssochoou, X 2000) The language two learner builds his acquisition on how the quality of his performance is perceived by others. Our sense of changing from the learner and the others can be perceived as idealistic or realistic, as the level of the learner is constantly changing (the classroom versus the real environment) Most of what we know about ourselves come from our environment. . Two dimensions of Self esteem have been identified: seeing oneself as competent and capable and feeling that one is accepted and valued (Chryssochoou, X 2000). Self worthine ss and having the ability to succeed are important in establishing the identity theory."In terms of language acquisition, efficacy is a belief about one's ability to become fluent" (Bandura 1995) Identity is a generic term as it is complex and multi-faceted. "The identities are the meanings, one has as a student, a teacher, a mother, a worker†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦" (Stet & Burk, 2000). The Identity Theory in Sociology takes into account 5 common principles