Aveni's book is the result of her experiences in Russia as a coordinator and researcher with a cohort of 76 American students in a study abroad program during the 1995–1996 academic year. The volume consists of four chapters and three appendixes. Focusing on the construction of “the self,” Aveni's study examines the social and psychological factors that affect language learners' spontaneous use of a second language (L2) and the ways in which learners exploit and avoid spontaneous speaking opportunities (p. 2).
The first chapter explores the reasons why L2 learners choose to use the L2 to create and maintain an ideal self-image in the face of threatening situations in an L2 context. Chap. 2 analyzes how these L2 learners present the self in their social interactions while trying to protect their sense of security along two social scales: the social hierarchy (represented in social status and control), and social distance (represented in being validated and safe). In Chap. 3, we read a detailed investigation of the factors (and their interaction) that may affect L2 learners' self-presentation, both socio-environmental and learner-internal cues. The former involves caretakers' (and interlocutors') behavior, attitudes, and personal characteristics such as age, gender, and physical appearance, while the latter includes learners' attitudes toward themselves, self-comparison, their L2 proficiency, the L2 learning environment, and their ability to predict the potential outcome of communicative interactions. The final chapter highlights the ways in which learners address the presentation of the self in the L2 and overcome barriers to their L2 use. It also explores the “fight” and “flight” behaviors in self-presentation and preservation strategies in the L2.
Many insightful analyses of constructing the self in the L2 have enriched the literature of second language acquisition (SLA) studies. Aveni uses Grounded Theory Methodology (GTM) (Strauss & Corbin 1990, 1998) as the foundation for this study, thereby demonstrating its usefulness for the field of SLA. It is by drawing upon GTM that Aveni is able not only to describe an observed phenomenon but also to derive a theory from it. This is why her research is “novel” in many ways (p. 3).
Appendix 3, which gives profiles of individual participants, helps us get the gist of the differences among the narrators and interviewees. As a whole, however, the book lacks detail in the comparison between Russian and American cultures, which may be considered a flaw from the point of view of American learners of Russian as L2. And yet, it is this very overarching experience of self-presentation and the maintenance of security in an L2 that makes the book beneficial both to professionals in any L2 learning program and to classroom teachers, as well as to students of any foreign language and culture (Bailey 1983).
While rigorous in its intellectual and scholarly character, the book also reads like an intriguing story. Embedded with moving narratives and interesting interviews from 11 participants, Aveni's book impresses readers not only with its theoretical exploration but also with the participants' experience and life stories.
