Abstract: There is much research done in relation to language and identity. I believe that the backgrounds of the scholars that are looking into these areas are as diverse as ELL students (e.g., English as second language teachers, ESL scholars, and learning sciences scholars). Their contrasting and/or similar perspectives regarding the learning of a second language are influenced by distinct theoretical perspectives. To better understand how identity is recognized in the literature, I will focus particularly on the differences and similarities between ESL and SLA articles. I intent to merge theory with practice, although, we cannot understand how these articles relate to each other without discussing how the theoretical perspectives consider identity development and learning of a second language.

Furthermore, I will take a raciolinguistic perspective (Rosa & Flores, 2017), since I believe that language and race cannot be separated, as conventional theories would posit. While often separated, raciolinguistics seeks to examine the interacting roles of language ideologies, racial differences, and linguistic differences (Educational Linguistic, 2015).

Key words: English second language, second language acquisition, identity development, language theories