Simon-Maeda’s poignant autoethnography makes a compelling reading, whose significance transcends that of a common autobiography. Interweaving personal experiences with scholarly insights, her feminist account illuminates the socio-political situatedness of second language learning and reveals ways in which a second language self is fashioned both within and against norms prevalent in one’s adopted society.
Aneta Pavlenko, Temple University Overall, the rich, multilayered analysis as well as the clarity and balance with which she approaches the subject, makes this book worthwhile reading for researchers, teachers, and language learners alike. She argues convincingly, and her book shows us that it is indeed so, that autoethnographies can teach us much about the relationship between language learning, identity, and social contexts.
Abigail McMeekin, University of Lethbridge
Studies in Second Language Acquisition / Volume 34 / Issue 03 / September 2012, pp 525 525
It’s a fascinating book both as a scholarly look at the nature of language learning and as a documentation of the human experience of living across two or more cultures. This book is a timely and valuable contribution to understanding the essentially social characteristic of learning a language and becoming a participant in a language community.
Michael Carroll, Momoyama Gakuin University, Osaka, Japan
JALT Journal, Vol. 34, No. 2, November 2012