Identity Issues among Post-secondary Nonnative Students in an English Speaking Country

An important issue in education is the learners’ identities. In major metropolitan areas, universities host students from multiple backgrounds. These students bring multiple identities to the classroom. Respectively, an inaugural element of identity is the learners’ multiple linguistic backgrounds. In this paper, the relationship between the learners’ identities and their linguistic backgrounds is discussed. It is proposed that in post-secondary classes, the issues of identity need to be considered appropriately. Specifically, multiple identities of the learners need to be acknowledged and accommodated. Incorporation of the learners’ multiple first languages can act as a facilitative tool from both educational and psychological perspectives.