Schecter, Sandra Ruth2015-01-262015-01-262014-06-242015-01-26http://hdl.handle.net/10315/28207Within an English-speaking cosmopolitan context, the hybrid identity negotiations of 12 international people were examined. The purpose was to view the processes that influence participants’ perceptions and the positive attributes they associate with being in a third space. The understandings were organized under the categories: language, culture and identity. The most salient theory utilized is from Homi Bhabha’s The Location of Culture. Central texts include Canagarajah, Myhill, Bourdieu and Schecter among others. Analyses revealed that respondents’ ability to flexibly compartmentalize elements of diversity in language and culture allowed them to maintain a strong core identity. Findings elucidate the importance of choice in participants’ navigation of their third space identity, by using characteristics of hybridity to their advantage. By analyzing successful third space engagements, it maybe possible to transfer elements of individuals’ traverse to immigrant and refugee high school students struggling with acculturation.enAuthor owns copyright, except where explicitly noted. Please contact the author directly with licensing requests.EducationEnglish as a second languageLanguageElectronic Thesis or Dissertation2015-01-26Venn diagramEducationPedagogyLanguage learningESLEnglish language learningELLEnglish language learnersIdentityLanguageCultureHybridityThird spaceNative speakerLFELingua francaEnglishNegotiationBinaryChoiceInternational studentsImmigrantsTorontoNew York