A practicalities and experiences of being non-native english teachers in korea by sardor akramov. A student of

 
 
 

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Theoretical basis for research - Language learning as self-
formation 
According to Michel Foucault (1985), humans exercise freedom through 
the practice of ‘ethical self-formation’ (or ‘self-creation’ [Infinito, 2003]) 
when they engage with the rules that govern their situation. Foucault 
(1985) suggests that, even within the context of a strict set of rules, or a 
‘pre-given power structure’ (Hennig, 2010) there are many different 
ways that we can conduct ourselves, and in choosing to act in a certain 
way we act upon ourselves, to create ourselves. Through voluntary 
actions of self-improvement and decisions about who we wish 
ourselves to be, we can exercise our individual freedom, add value to 
ourselves, and resist external forces that seek to control our 
subjectivity. The way in which a particular action may add value to us is 
connected to beliefs we and others hold about that action, and the 
meaning attributed to that action in a given social context, and this is 
true for acquiring knowledge of certain languages in certain 
environments. For example, in Korea, knowledge of English may imply 
possession of a rare and enviable international character (Cho, 2014); 
to a Sri Lankan person in Canada, English may imply high class and 
social possibilities, while knowledge of Tamil may be associated with an 
undesirable connection to the Sri Lankan caste system (Canagarajah, 
2010); and in Hong Kong, knowledge of German may imply specialness 
and industriousness (Hennig, 2010). Thus, in learning a language, we 
create ourselves, taking onto our selves the attributes that we, and 
others, ascribe to that language, so as to give our lives an ‘individuality 
and special shape’ (Hennig, 2010), to attain social approval, and strive 
towards our telos (Greek: 'end'), Foucault's (1984) word for the 
idea/image we hold within our minds of a superior, future version of 
ourselves that we might become through engaging in self-formation. 
This theory was selected as a lens through which to examine