Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Research Background

According to the Immigration Bureau of Japan，the number of foreigners reached 2，217，426 as of Dec 31，2008，about 1.74% of the total population of Japan. One reason for this growth is that its political and economic power makes Japan an attractive country/market for foreigners and another reason is that Japan needs to rely on more non-Japanese to compensate for a lack of sufficient labor due to its declining birth rate. Many such people are compelled to conduct their social activity in their second language ―Japanese，and the associated cross-linguistic experiences inevitably shape their lives. At the same time，their day-to-day interactions likewise no doubt contribute to the construction of the Japanese society.

With an increasing mobility and migration around the world，accounts of cross-linguistic experiences in relation to the issue of learners’ identities have begun to receive increasing attention in the field of Applied Linguistics. Some researchers have examined second language learners’ trajectories，identities，and issues of power（e.g.，Norton，2000；McKay & Wong，1996；Kanno，2000）. These studies have focused on the socio-cultural aspects of language learning in ESL contexts where the learners are members of a minority group within societies where English is the majority language. However many of these researchers may have held some forms of “invisible power” over the participants due to their membership in the majority culture or their relationship to the students as teachers.Little research has been done on less commonly taught languages in the target language country from the point of view of an “insider” who has shared similar experiences with the participants. Addressing this gap in research，this study will take an emic approach to explore the issue of identity based on five participants’ reflections and social interactions. The reflections will be based on self-report of how their identities have changed as they acquire a second language and the interactional analysis will focus on ways that they perform aspects of their identity in real-time conversation.