Peter I De Costa
Biographic Data
| ID | 120214 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Peter I De Costa |
| GIVEN NAMES | Peter I |
| FAMILY NAME | De Costa |
| SIGNATURE | DE COSTA P I |
| AFFILIATIONS | Michigan State University |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-0389-1163 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 91 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 429 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 91 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2009 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 11 |
Language and Identity
Identity has emerged as an important construct in applied linguistics research, including investigations of additional language learning and teaching, multilingualism, migration and globalization, and several other areas of study examining the role of language in investigating and solving real‐world problems. Two complementary theorizations of identity—Norton's poststructuralist framework and Bucholtz and Hall's sociocultural framework—have conti…
GenAI and Global South Tesol teacher educator pedagogical practices: An emotion and identity perspective
Research on how to integrate GenAI into teaching and learning practices has been much investigated; however, little is known about how GenAI technologies shape language teacher educators’ practices, emotions, and identities. Empirical research on the emotions and identities of language teacher educators (LTEs) in the Global South is even more underexplored. This case study investigates how GenAI technologies shaped the emotions and identities of …
‘Women, Life, Freedom’: A value-laden account of Iranian English language teachers’ identity construction through critical language pedagogy
In this study, we report on the experiences of Iranian English language teachers after the domestic Women, Life, Freedom social movement. We situate the study within a critical language pedagogy perspective, and draw on a framework with the three-pronged values of liberty, equality, and community to explore how this social movement, which subsequently earned global renown, shaped our participant teachers’ identity construction. Data were collecte…
Situating the entangled positive and negative racialized emotions within a (critical) World Englishes methodology course
As teacher preparation programs incorporate anti-racist pedagogies to address deficit and racialized ideologies affecting students’ learning opportunities, emotions, and racialized language ideologies have been found to individually influence pre-service English teachers. These influences shape their engagement or disengagement with their professional training as they learn to adopt the role of ESL teachers, with limited research focusing on the …
Centering acceleration in an EMI transnational higher education context: A scaling practice and emotion perspective
Negotiating constrained multilingualism: Some reflections and recommendations
The saying ‘When life gives you lemons, make lemonade’ is often espoused to inspire optimism in the face of adversity in order to encourage individuals to make the most of a disadvantageous situati
Mentoring for well‐being in (un)caring institutions: Possibilities and limitations for language teacher education
This study explores how language teacher well‐being, as an ecological phenomenon that includes layered (un)caring practices, is shaped through institutional discourses and mentoring relationships across three distinct contexts. Using a participatory multiple case study design, we analyze narrative and textual data from three mentoring pairs in which we participated as language teacher educators: one with a veteran professor in Kazakhstan and two …
(Re)centering social justice in world Englishes for the English language classroom
Building on three broad pedagogical approaches (raciolinguistics, culturally relevant pedagogy, and translanguaging) and three adjacent pedagogical efforts (valuing languages equally, addressing racialization and postcolonialism, and advocating for justice in language education) in applied linguistics, this conceptual article seeks to (re)center social justice in the World Englishes (WE) research agenda by distilling three pedagogical practices t…
The principle-practice gap: A methodological synthesis of discrepancies between narrative inquiry ethical ideals and actual reporting practices
Ethics has become a central concern in applied linguistics, with researchers from both qualitative and quantitative paradigms increasingly engaging with ethical considerations. While methodological guidelines have been proposed to support ethical research practices (De Costa, 2024), it remains unclear to what extent these are implemented and reported. Narrative inquiry, in particular, poses complex ethical challenges due to its relational and oft…
Emotions in switching the code: Contributions for English language teachers’ identity construction
Ethnography, Linguistic Ethnography, and Participant Observation
Ethnography is a qualitative research approach used to draw conclusions about how societies and individuals function within cultural practices in communities. The goal then of ethnography is to comprehend cultural practices and their importance to community members. Ethnographers are frequently drawn to complicated social environments that demand further examination to obtain a deep and comprehensive understanding of the social phenomena under in…
Teacher Identity and Language Teaching
This entry outlines concerns surrounding teacher identity. It takes a post‐structural perspective on teacher identity, one that conceives of identity as multiple, context bound, and constructed from language and discourse. Also emphasized in the entry is the significance of taking into consideration the sociocultural factors surrounding language teachers and their agency. Following a quick review of how language teacher identity research has evol…
A critical review of English medium instruction (EMI) teacher development in higher education: From 2018 to 2022
The past few years have witnessed an emergent growth of both academic and practical works on English medium instruction (EMI) teachers' professional development. This paper presents a critical analysis of 30 empirical studies on EMI teacher development in a wide range of higher educational settings from 2018 to 2022. Through a systematic process of paper selection and review, we have identified three general routes to EMI teacher development, nam…
Yeah, But I Don’t Speak English”: Critical Language Portrait Dialogues with Adult Multilingual Language Learners
Considering Emotions as Entanglements in Applied Linguistics
This thematic issue, “Considering Emotions as Entanglements in Applied Linguistics,” explores the complex, relational, and sociocultural dimensions of emotions in language teaching and learning. Moving beyond individualistic and psychodynamic perspectives, the issue proposes a framework of “emotions as entanglements,” highlighting how emotions intersect with spatial and temporal dynamics, ideologies, power structures, and social identities (e.g.,…
The (Un)Bearable Wellness of Being: Problematizing Emotions as Entanglements in Applied Linguistics
The peer review history for this article is available at https://publons.com/publon/10.1111/ijal.12821
Centering critical digital literacy in the lives of language teaching professionals: A collaborative autoethnographic exploration
English language teachers’ emotion-bearing situations in a professional development course: A critical-ecological perspective
This study adopts a critical-ecological perspective and examines English language teachers’ emotion labour in a professional development course structured around sharing emotion-bearing situations (EBSs). Data were collected from 10 Iranian teachers via online discussion, reflective journals, and semi-structured interviews. Data analyses revealed that the teachers’ EBSs were connected to micro-level (classroom), meso-level (institution), and macr…
I never knew I could have so many future possibilities’: A case study of an ethnic minority student in mainstream higher education in China
Contributions of significant others to second language teacher well-being: A Self-Determination Theory Perspective
The present study explores the contributions of significant others to 10 Iranian English language teachers’ well-being by drawing on self-determination theory. We define significant others as individuals who play a key role in the emotional dynamics that teachers experience and serve as the impetus for those emotional experiences. Data were collected from questionnaires, narrative frames, and semi-structured interviews. Analyses of the data revea…
Unpacking the positioning of being “disengaged” and “disrespectful” in class through nexus analysis: An International Student’s Navigation of Institutional and Interactional University Norms
Given the significance of creating an inclusive academic environment for international students, our study examines how three newly arrived international students (a Chinese female and two Korean males) navigated the institutional and interactional norms in an academic orientation class at a U.S. university. Drawing on nexus analysis, we examine student class disengagement at the intersection of discourses in place, interaction order, and histori…
Ideology
Ideologies, as shared beliefs about what is acceptable or valued in a society, are present in various aspects of everyday life, including education, public discourse, and popular culture. Applied linguistics research has increasingly used the concept of ideology to examine the intersection of language and social structures, including the social norms, contested value systems, and imagined representations of the social world, both in concrete prac…
She is “just an intern”: Transnational Chinese language teachers’ emotion labor with mentors in a teacher residency program
This paper investigates the emotion labor experienced by transnational world language teachers (TWLTs), with a focus on Chinese language teacher candidates in a US dual immersion school residency program. Despite existing research on emotion labor in language teaching, the experiences of Chinese TWLTs have been underexplored. Through an analysis of mentorship and co-teaching, our findings reveal that much of the emotion labor among our participan…
Emotion as pedagogy: Why the emotion labor of L2 educators matters
Critical teacher education for equitable learning in multilingual classrooms: A possible way forward
Addressing the ongoing calls to reform teacher education to prepare future teachers to serve students from diverse backgrounds, this introduction reviews recent developments in teacher education to situate our thematic issue on critical teacher education for equitable learning in multilingual classrooms. The five empirical papers and two commentaries included in this issue focus on the connection between language, power, and critical consciousnes…
Introduction: Identity, Transdisciplinarity, and the Good Language Teacher
What constitutes a "good teacher" and "good teaching" has come under much scrutiny in an age of globalization, transnationalism, and increased demands for accountability. It is against this evolving landscape and the pathbreaking work of the Douglas Fir Group (DFG, 2016) that this special issue engages the following two broad questions: (a) In what ways is language teaching "identity work"? and (b) To what extent does a transdisciplinary approach…
Research tasks on identity in language learning and teaching
The growing interest in identity and language education over the past two decades, coupled with increased interest in digital technology and transnationalism, has resulted in a rich body of work that has informed language learning, teaching, and research. To keep abreast of these developments in identity research, the authors propose a series of research tasks arising from this changing landscape. To frame the discussion, they first examine how t…
When language teacher emotions and language policy intersect: A critical perspective
Linguistic entrepreneurship as affective regime: Organizations, audit culture, and second/foreign language education policy
Navigating ethical challenges in second language narrative inquiry research
Using language ideology and positioning to broaden the SLA learner beliefs landscape: The case of an ESL learner from China
Exploring the language policy and planning/second language acquisition interface: Ecological insights from an Uyghur youth in China
Decolonial Struggles in Indigenous Language Education in Neoliberal Times: Identities, Ideologies, and Activism
(2021). Decolonial Struggles in Indigenous Language Education in Neoliberal Times: Identities, Ideologies, and Activism. Journal of Language, Identity & Education: Vol. 20, Decolonial Struggles in Indigenous Language Education in Neoliberal Times: Identities, Ideologies, and Activism, pp. 291-295
Elite multilingualism, affect and neoliberalism
We live in volatile times. As I write this commentary during the summer of 2018, three seismic geopolitical events have taken place: the historic Trump-Kim summit in Singapore, a failed G7 meeting
Examining the English language policy for ethnic minority students in a Chinese university: A Language Ideology and Language Regime Perspective
We focus on the learning of English in a Chinese university in Jiangsu and the university’s preferential language policy, which allowed Uyghur minority students from Xinjiang to be enrolled despite their lower scores in the entrance examination. Guided by the constructs of language ideologies [Kroskrity, P. V. (2000). Regimes of language: Ideologies, politics, identities. Santa Fe, NM: School of American Research Press] and language regimes [Sonn…
Emotion and identity construction in teachers of young learners of English: An ecological perspective
Making Ethical Decisions in an Ethnographic Study
From Refugee to Transformer: A Bourdieusian Take on a Hmong Learner's Trajectory
This ethnographic case study of a male Hmong refugee, Vue Lang, is situated against a backdrop that is characterized by a burgeoning immigrant population in the United States and a growing need to provide them with English language instruction. The Bourdieusian concepts of capital, habitus , and field (Bourdieu, 1991) are used to explicate Vue Lang's development while enrolled in a community English as a second language (ESL) project. By drawing …
Why linguistic entrepreneurship
This introduction builds on De Costa et al.’s (2016], [2019) notion of linguistic entrepreneurship, which is defined as “the act of aligning with the moral imperative to strategically exploit language-related resources for enhancing one’s worth in the world” (2016: 696). The four empirical studies and two critical commentaries that constitute this special issue explain the relevance of this construct and explore how it is instantiated in a range …
Tesol Quarterly Research Guidelines
This article provides research guidelines for authors intending to submit their manuscripts to TESOL Quarterly . These guidelines include information about the TESOL Quarterly review process, advice on converting a dissertation into a research article, broad introductions to a number of research methods, and a section on research ethics. The research methods discussed here are experimental research, survey research, ethnographic research, discour…
Research tasks on ethics in applied linguistics
The growing concern for ethics in applied linguistics may be attributed to attempts to stem the rising incidence of ethical lapses in order to ensure that the core ethical principles of (1) respect for persons, (2) yielding optimal benefits while minimizing harm, and (3) justice are preserved. Following a brief historical review of this topic, and building on the growing commitment to carry out ethical applied linguistic research, we map out seve…
Language ideologies and standard English language policy in Singapore: Responses of a ‘designer immigrant’ student
Small’ language teacher emotions between nationalism and neoliberalism
Conducting a Netnography in Second Language Acquisition Research
In this Methods Showcase Article, we highlight a qualitative research methodology called netnography, an adaptation of ethnography and ethnographic methods applied to researching digital/online communities. We briefly discuss how netnography has evolved from its origins in the fields of consumer research and marketing to its more recent applications in the field of second language acquisition (SLA) for exploring phenomena related to online langua…
How do foreign language teachers maintain their proficiency? A grounded theory investigation
Reenvisioning Language Anxiety in the Globalized Classroom Through a Social Imaginary Lens
The last three decades have witnessed a notable growth in research on affect. Among the various affective variables, foreign language anxiety has been heavily studied. This interest in foreign language anxiety is consistent with increased attention to emotions in the neurosciences, cognitive psychology, and the social sciences. Instead of attempting to establish a grand unified theory on affect, this article focuses on and reenvisions the affecti…
Considering Emotions as Entanglements in Applied Linguistics
This thematic issue, “Considering Emotions as Entanglements in Applied Linguistics,” explores the complex, relational, and sociocultural dimensions of emotions in language teaching and learning. Moving beyond individualistic and psychodynamic perspectives, the issue proposes a framework of “emotions as entanglements,” highlighting how emotions intersect with spatial and temporal dynamics, ideologies, power structures, and social identities (e.g.,…
A methodological synthesis of narrative inquiry research in applied linguistics: What's the story
Narrative inquiry has gained traction in applied linguistics as a complementary approach to positivistic research, focusing on the subjectivities of individuals’ lived experiences and using stories as data, analytical tools, and reporting practice. Although numerous methodologically oriented publications on narrative inquiry in the field reflect its vitality, scholars have raised questions about the complexity and ambiguity underlying what exactl…
Contributions of a Professional Development Course to Language Teacher Identity Development: Critical Incidents in Focus
Despite the widely recognized significance of critical incidents (CIs) in teachers' professional learning, little research has investigated the role of CIs in language teacher identity development. This study attempts to fill this gap by exploring the contributions of a Telegram-based professional development course-framed around CI storying-to the language teacher identity development process of a group of teachers. Data were collected from 10 t…
Developing Mutual Intelligibility and Conviviality in the 21st Century Classroom: Insights from English as a Lingua Franca and Intercultural Communication
Due to ongoing increases in global mobility and migration, global citizens consistently find themselves in contact with a range of linguistic and cultural backgrounds (Zhu, 2011).Through a growing focus on multilingualism in second language (L2) research (i.e., Ortega, 2013), greater recognition has been given to the complex multilingual repertoires of language users across the globe (Blommaert, 2010).However, a primarily pedagogical focus on the…
English as an International Language: Perspectives and Pedagogical Issues edited by Farzad Sharifian
Disinventing and Reconstituting Languages
Language ideologies and standard English language policy in Singapore: Responses of a ‘designer immigrant’ student
From Refugee to Transformer: A Bourdieusian Take on a Hmong Learner's Trajectory
This ethnographic case study of a male Hmong refugee, Vue Lang, is situated against a backdrop that is characterized by a burgeoning immigrant population in the United States and a growing need to provide them with English language instruction. The Bourdieusian concepts of capital, habitus , and field (Bourdieu, 1991) are used to explicate Vue Lang's development while enrolled in a community English as a second language (ESL) project. By drawing …
Reconceptualizing Language, Language Learning, and the Adolescent Immigrant Language Learner in the Age of Postmodern Globalization
The massive shift in migration patterns brought about by globalization has heavily impacted the language learning experience of adolescent immigrant learners. Given these changes wrought by globalization, this paper argues for a reconceptualization of language, language learning, and the adolescent immigrant language learner. In line with poststructural concerns that have framed recent SLA research on immigrant learners, particular emphasis is gi…
Using language ideology and positioning to broaden the SLA learner beliefs landscape: The case of an ESL learner from China
Research in the Doctoral Program in Second Language Acquisition at the University of Wisconsin-Madison
Faculty and graduate students in the Doctoral Program in Second Language Acquisition (SLA) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison engage in a broad spectrum of research. From Professor Sally Magnan's research on study abroad and Professor Monika Chavez's work in foreign language policy through Professor Richard Young's examination of language-in-interaction, Professor Jane Zuengler's investigation of language socialization, Professor Diana Frantz…
Exploring identity in SLA: A dialogue about methodologies
A panel discussion presented at the Second Language Acquisition Graduate Student Symposium on 17 April 2010 at the University of Wisconsin-Madison
Constructing SLA differently: The value of ELF and language ideology in an Asean case study
This paper examines how a designer immigrant student from Indonesia, a recipient of an ASEAN scholarship, used English as a lingua franca (ELF) with her Singaporean teacher and classmates. I illustrate how the constructs of ELF and language ideologies can bridge a conceptual gap in second language acquisition (SLA) – one which perceives any deviation from English as a native language norm in terms of error and fossilization. By drawing on classro…
Reconceptualizing Cosmopolitanism in Language and Literacy Education: Insights from a Singapore School
By examining how a student from Vietnam used English to interact with her peers in an English-medium secondary school in Singapore, this paper argues for an examination of language and literacy development through a cosmopolitan lens. Building on earlier research on cosmopolitanism (e.g., Campano & Ghiso, 2011; Canagarajah, 2013a, 2013b, 2013c; Hansen, 2010; Hull & Stornaiuolo, 2010), I illustrate how a broader understanding of cosmopolitanism in…
Making Ethical Decisions in an Ethnographic Study
Reframing graduate student writing strategies from an Activity Theory perspective
This study adopts a sociocultural approach, more specifically, an Activity Theory (Leont’ev, 1978, 1981; Engestr?m, 1987, 1999) framework, to explore an international graduate student’s use of writing strategies. Using a case study design, we investigate how an MA student from Nepal learns to write academic papers that meet the academic norms of a US graduate school. Through the analysis of course materials, the participant’s written work, stimul…
Reenvisioning Language Anxiety in the Globalized Classroom Through a Social Imaginary Lens
The last three decades have witnessed a notable growth in research on affect. Among the various affective variables, foreign language anxiety has been heavily studied. This interest in foreign language anxiety is consistent with increased attention to emotions in the neurosciences, cognitive psychology, and the social sciences. Instead of attempting to establish a grand unified theory on affect, this article focuses on and reenvisions the affecti…
Language Learning as Linguistic Entrepreneurship: Implications for Language Education
Introduction: Scales analysis, and its uses and prospects in educational linguistics
Ideologizing age in an era of superdiversity: A heritage language learner practice perspective
SLA research on age in naturalistic contexts has examined learners’ ultimate attainment, while instructed research has emphasized the rate of learning (Birdsong 2014. Dominance and age in bilingualism. Applied Linguistics 35(4). 374–392; Muñoz 2008. Symmetries and asymmetries of age effects in naturalistic and instructed L2 learning. Applied Linguistics 29(4). 578–596). However, both streams of research, which view age as a biological construct, …
Unpacking the Ideology of Cosmopolitanism in Language Education: Insights from Bakhtin and Systemic Functional Linguistics
In line with what Hull and Stornaiuolo (2010) describe as a cosmopolitan turn in the social sciences and given the growing interest in cosmopolitanism as a result of neoliberalism (Bernstein et al., 2015) and the global rise in the use of English (Seargeant, 2012), this article investigates the ideology of cosmopolitanism by drawing on the constructs of heteroglossia and dialogue (Bakhtin, 1981; Blackledge & Creese, 2013) and Systemic Functional …
The Power of Identity and Ideology in Language Learning: Designer Immigrants Learning English in Singapore
Reflexivity and transnational habitus: The case of a ‘poor’ affluent Chinese international student
Following Sayer’s (2010) examination of reflexivity and habitus, we focus on the transnational habitus (Darvin & Norton 2015) of Aaron, a Chinese international student at a U.S. university. Specifically, we examine how he wrestled with being identified as an ESL learner despite having attended a U.S. high school. Also exploring the relationship between reflexivity and emotions (Flam 2010), we draw on his written work, interviews, and his WeChat c…
How do foreign language teachers maintain their proficiency? A grounded theory investigation
Tesol Quarterly Research Guidelines
This article provides research guidelines for authors intending to submit their manuscripts to TESOL Quarterly . These guidelines include information about the TESOL Quarterly review process, advice on converting a dissertation into a research article, broad introductions to a number of research methods, and a section on research ethics. The research methods discussed here are experimental research, survey research, ethnographic research, discour…
Examining the English language policy for ethnic minority students in a Chinese university: A Language Ideology and Language Regime Perspective
We focus on the learning of English in a Chinese university in Jiangsu and the university’s preferential language policy, which allowed Uyghur minority students from Xinjiang to be enrolled despite their lower scores in the entrance examination. Guided by the constructs of language ideologies [Kroskrity, P. V. (2000). Regimes of language: Ideologies, politics, identities. Santa Fe, NM: School of American Research Press] and language regimes [Sonn…
Expanding the Language Teacher Identity Landscape: An Investigation of the Emotions and Strategies of a NNEST
This article aims to broaden the scope of language teacher identity research by investigating the emotional demands on teachers‐in‐training and nonnative English‐speaking teachers (NNESTs) in particular. We examined how our focal NNEST participant, Puja, was confronted with and successfully negotiated numerous emotional challenges in her first year in a U.S. MATESOL program. Furthermore, we investigated the impact emotions had on her overall teac…
Metadiscourse and Identity Construction in Teaching Philosophy Statements: A Critical Case Study of Two Matesol Students
Drawing on Hyland's (2005) metadiscourse framework, the researchers investigated how two English as a second or foreign language instructors constructed their identity in a teaching philosophy statement written for a master's in TESOL ( MATESOL ) course. Analyses revealed that both instructors employed almost all metadiscourse resources in the model to construct the identity of a competent graduate student and that of a knowledgeable and reflecti…
Forum: Pedagogizing Translingual Practice: Prospects and Possibilities
The notion of translingual practice has gained much currency within college composition and sociolinguistics over the last few years. Translingual practices challenge structuralist conceptualizations of language as discrete, bounded, impermeable, autonomous systems, conceptualizations that unfortunately (1) privilege linguistic codes over nonlinguistic ones, and (2) contribute to the hierarchization and separation of languages, leading some langu…
Sociology (72 works) · Multilingual Education and Policy (57 works) · Pedagogy (52 works) · EFL/ESL Teaching and Learning (51 works) · Linguistics (48 works) · Psychology (46 works) · Second Language Learning and Teaching (45 works) · Political science (38 works) · Computer Science (27 works) · Social science (23 works)