When classroom interactions matter: Student identity (re)construction

This paper aims at reporting how teachers (re)construct student identity in their English as foreign language (EFL) classroom interactions. Even though it is empirically proven that in classroom interactions teachers represent their identity and, to a certain extent, subconsciously intend to shape student identity, empirical data are required for justifying how the (re)constructions of student identity occur. Based on the observations and in-depth interviews with two content course English teachers of a state Islamic higher education institution in Indonesia, this study revealed that teachers were shown to make efforts and endorsements to build student identity from the earlier stages of their teaching. Despite the fact that (re)constructions of student identity by the teachers were sporadically and spontaneously done in classroom interactions, it was found that the teachers’ commitment to build students’ character was the point of departure of the student identity (re)constructions. It is interesting to note that teachers utilized some cultural factors as effective triggers to construct student identity. Some recommendations are also proposed for further investigations of the processes of character building as well as student identity representation within dynamic sociolinguistic nature of classroom interactions.