‘The aspect of the heart’: English and self-identity in the experience of preservice teachers

Despite having almost no familial or social connection with English speakers and English-speaking countries, 19 interviewees, all preservice English teachers residing in the Israeli periphery, ascribe a central and surprisingly emotional role to English in their lives. The article presents the conclusions of a qualitative research project investigating the sources and nature of their attachment. It demonstrates that the students' professed love of the language has to do with their successful appropriation of various facets of the English languaculture for the enrichment of their self-identity, which remains fundamentally rooted in the local habitus. The interlacing of global and local elements, recognized and taken ownership of through the telling of life stories, does not lead the students to a rejection of one identity in favor of another. Rather, it results in a composite, richer self-identity, woven of different cultural strands. Finally, the article discusses possible pedagogical implications of the learner experiences delineated in the students' accounts and supports the call for creative, student-focused pedagogy in second-language education, rich in intercultural knowledge and in opportunities for self-development and self-expression.