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Applied Linguistics Advance Access published online on April 30, 2007
Applied Linguistics, doi:10.1093/applin/amm008
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© Oxford University Press 2007

Autobiographic Narratives as Data in Applied Linguistics

Aneta Pavlenko

Temple University


  Abstract

In the past decade, language memoirs, linguistic autobiographies, and learners’ journals and diaries have become a popular means of data collection in applied linguistics. It is not always clear however how one should go about analyzing these data. The aim of this paper is to offer a critical review of analytical frameworks applied to second language users’ personal narratives. I discuss the strengths and weaknesses of these frameworks in relation to the type of information they seek: subject reality, life reality, and text reality. I argue that some analytical approaches, in particular content and thematic analyses, are insensitive to the interpretive nature of autobiographic data. Subsequently, I offer recommendations for systematic analysis of bi- and multilinguals’ narratives on macro- and micro-levels in terms of content, context, and form.

Received for publication 1 January 2006.
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