Language and Identity in the Iranian Context: The Impact of Identity Aspects on EFL Learners' Achievement

Identity orientations refer to the relative importance that individuals place on various identity attributes or characteristics such as race, religion, culture and language when constructing their self-definitions (Chew, 2007; Cheek, 1989). Accordingly, the present study aims at identifying the impact of identity aspects on the Iranian learners' English language achievements at Shiraz University Language Center (SULC). Moreover, the study seeks for finding the impact of demographic factors on language achievement and aspects of identity among the Iranian EFL learners. To fulfill the objectives and find answers to the posed questions, a questionnaire representing aspects of identity and consisting of 45 items in the form of Likert Scale (personal: 10 items + social: 7 items + collective: 8 items + relational: 10 items + special: 10 items) was distributed among 180 language learners attending at SULC. Both descriptive statistics (Mean + SD) and inferential statistics (t-test + ANOVA+ Correlation + Multiple Regressions) were run on the data. The results demonstrated no significant relationship between language achievement and the aspects of identity; that is, none of the identity aspects is a predicting variable for language achievement in the Iranian context. Among the demographic factors, only gender can account for two aspects of identity, namely, personal and relational identities. Apparently, the results are local not universal.