The evolution of identity research in CALL: From scripted chatrooms to engaged construction of the digital self

Abstract

Drawing on past and current scholarship on digitally mediated communication in language learning, this review article examines the evolution of identity research in computer-assisted language learning (CALL) from the 1990s to the present day. The article offers an in-depth overview of critical issues and topics associated with language learner identification in educational digital settings and non-institutionally situated online cultures. A chronological approach is followed, addressing three main historical periods broadly related to the major conceptual shifts in applied linguistics: early developments and the communicative turn (1995-2000), the social and intercultural turns (2000-2010), and the critical and multilingual turns (2010-2020). Thus, this paper seeks to link the research on digital identity in CALL to second language acquisition (SLA) theories and highlight key studies and their importance for the field and the shifting paradigm. The article concludes with a summary of newly emerging themes in digital identity studies and outlines new directions for research on language learner identity in digital spaces. Singling out identity research within the discipline of CALL as a historically evolving topic that reflects the ever-changing realms of the digital world contributes to strengthening interdisciplinary ties between broadly conceptualized digital humanities, digital humanistic pedagogies, and computer-assisted language learning sciences.