This edited volume offers cross-country and cross-cultural applications of Dialogical Self Theory within the field of education. It combines the work of internationally recognized authors to demonstrate how theoretical and practical innovations emerge at the highly fertile interface of external and internal dialogues. The Theory, developed by Hubert Hermans and his colleagues in the past 25 years, responds fruitfully to the issue of educational experts hitherto working in splendid isolation and does so by combining two aspects of Dialogical Self Theory: the dialogue among individuals as well as dialogical processes within individuals, in this context students and teachers. It is the first book in which Dialogical Self Theory is applied to the field of education. In 13 chapters, authors from different cultures and continents produce theoretical considerations and a wide variety of practical procedures showing that this interface is an ideal ground for the production of new theoretical, methodological, and practical approaches that enrich the work of educational researchers and specialists. Academics, practitioners, and postgraduate students in the field of education, particularly those who are interested in the innovative and community-enhancing potentials of dialogue, will find this book valuable and informative. Ultimately the work presented here is intended to inspire more self-reflection and creative ways to engage in new conversations that can respond to real-world issues and in which education can play a more vital role.

This book offers a truly interdisciplinary perspective on key socio-cultural aspects of second language learning. Building on Bakhtin s philosophy of language and the self, it examines the complex intersections among gender, culture, and agency in the everyday discursive practices of immigrants. Bakhtin s dialogic framework still remains on the periphery of second language acquisition research. The book embraces not only Bakhtin s well-known notion of "dialogue" but also his core concepts of "responsibility" and "ethics" in the analysis of immigrants narrative samples. The significance of narratives is underscored throughout the book, and a dialogic, discourse-centered approach to narrative as a genre is suggested. "Authoring the Dialogical Self " targets a range of disciplines. Scholars in applied linguistics, narrative studies, cultural psychology, and communication studies will find the discussed concepts relevant. The rich data samples and detailed analysis make the book appropriate for graduate courses in TESOL, language and identity, or language and gender."

Education is a main issue in all countries. Policy makers, educators, families, students and, in a more general way, societies expect schools to provide a high quality education. They also expect students to be able to achieve and to become active and critical citizens. As senior researchers in education, we address some of the most complex and demanding research questions: How does learning affect identity? How does participation to educational settings, scenarios and situations impact the way we are or became? Can changes in how we perceive our Selves be considered as part of the learning process? This book attempts to outline some answers to such broad questions using a very robust and updated theoretical frame: the dialogical approach. In these chapters very well-known international authors from different continents and countries analyze school and educational situations through new lens: by considering the teaching and learning processes as multi-voiced and socially complex and considering identity development as a true leverage for development. The focus on the dialogical nature of both learning and identities makes this book interesting not only for educators and educational researchers but also for anyone interested in human sciences, policy makers, students and their families. We also aimed at producing a book that can be useful for different cultures and educational systems. Thus, in this book there are researches and comments from different cultural perspectives, making it appealing for a very large target-public.

Contemporary research in personality, social psychology and sociology has renewed an interest in the self. This volume argues that the self may consist fo multiple selves, any of which may interact with each other in a dialogical fashion. The self is presented as a non-unitary embodiment that transcends the limits of individualism and rationalism. Beginning with philosophical discussion of the self, this volume discusses the decentralization of the self in narrative psychology, the retreat of the omniscient narrator in literary sciences, the genesis of self-knowledge in children and the concept of modern society as a multiplicity of collective voices.

By theorizing subjectivity according to the dialogic model of Mikhail Bakhtin, author Roxanne J. Fand posits a moderating self-narrator who, rather than imposing a single authoritarian voice of fixed ideology and identity, negotiates among diverse internalized voices of one's social-ecological milieu.

In a boundary-crossing and globalizing world, the personal and social positions in self and identity become increasingly dense, heterogeneous and even conflicting. In this handbook scholars of different disciplines, nations and cultures (East and West) bring together their views and applications of dialogical self theory in such a way that deeper commonalities are brought to the surface. As a 'bridging theory', dialogical self theory reveals unexpected links between a broad variety of phenomena, such as self and identity problems in education and psychotherapy, multicultural identities, child-rearing practices, adult development, consumer behaviour, the use of the internet and the value of silence. Researchers and practitioners present different methods of investigation, both qualitative and quantitative, and also highlight applications of dialogical self theory.

In a boundary-crossing and globalizing world, the personal and social positions in self and identity become increasingly dense, heterogeneous and even conflicting. In this handbook scholars of different disciplines, nations and cultures (East and West) bring together their views and applications of dialogical self theory in such a way that deeper commonalities are brought to the surface. As a 'bridging theory', dialogical self theory reveals unexpected links between a broad variety of phenomena, such as self and identity problems in education and psychotherapy, multicultural identities, child-rearing practices, adult development, consumer behaviour, the use of the internet and the value of silence. Researchers and practitioners present different methods of investigation, both qualitative and quantitative, and also highlight applications of dialogical self theory.