The Role of English and Its Myths in the Emergence of First Language Dissociation among Some Japanese‐English Late Plurilinguals

Bibliographic Data

ID7169365
AuthorsAshley R Moore (0000-0001-6049-3036, Wheelock College of Education and Human Development, Boston University Boston Massachusetts USA, corresponding author)
Year2025
Volume59
Issue2
Pages846-873
Publication date2025-06-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueTESOL Quarterly (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0039-8322 • E-ISSN: 1545-7249
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1002/tesq.3348
OpenAlexW4401827253
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited24

Linguistic distancing behaviours indicative of linguistic dissociation (Moore, 2023) have been documented in social scientific and literary accounts focusing on the lives of Japanese‐English late plurilinguals (LPs; e.g. Harrison, 2011; Kelsky, 2001; McMahill, 2001; Mori, 1997; Takahashi, 2013). Across these cases, diverse Japanese‐English LPs report distancing themselves from their first language (L1), Japanese, often linking it to negative affective states. However, the causes of these distancing behaviours remain underexplained. I share the results of a critical realist grounded theory method study into the causes of L1 dissociation among 17 Japanese‐English LPs. Data sources included interviews, narrative elicitation “comfort graphs,” and language use journals. My theory posits a complex set of psychological and social causal factors, including the onset of additional language acquisition, the experience of significant intersubjective conflict encoded in their L1 Japanese and the distorting effects of linguaculture ideologies rooted in racist Orientalist logics (Befu, 2001). These findings both further our understanding of linguistic dissociation and, because the data indicate that language education is a primary site for the propagation of these misleading linguaculture ideologies, underscores the importance of better and more critical education for language teachers and, by extension, their students

Construal level theory · Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19 · Dissociation (chemistry · Distancing · First language · Ideology · Language assessment · Language ideology · Linguistics · Literature · Mythology · Narrative · Pedagogy · Social distance · Sociology · EFL/ESL Teaching and Learning · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies · Multilingual Education and Policy · Philosophy · Psychology · Social Psychology

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