<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<p>The most widely believed misconception about bilingualism purports that exposure to a second language within the community will automatically yield bilingual children, who can apply their balanced language skills in every domain of their future employment. However, this misconception does not represent the real-life experiences of most bilinguals. Through a pivotal focus on individual cases, this study was designed to manifest (1) bilingual identity formation and (2) career prospects of early and sequential bilinguals. The study analyzed collected data from individual surveys and in-person interviews with bilingual professional adults. Findings revealed that conscious engagement with the languages they were exposed to as children plays an active role in a bilingual speaker’s identity formation process and influences their career pursuits, instead of the common notion that being exposed to a second language is adequate to embrace bilingualism. Hence, this article brings implications to consider on career pursuits of bilingual speakers as the results indicate bilingual career pursuits transcend language-related occupations.</p>
</abstract>

The most widely believed misconception about bilingualism purports that exposure to a second language within the community will automatically yield bilingual children, who can apply their balanced language skills in every domain of their future employment. However, this misconception does not represent the real-life experiences of most bilinguals. Through a pivotal focus on individual cases, this study was designed to manifest (1) bilingual identity formation and (2) career prospects of early and sequential bilinguals. The study analyzed collected data from individual surveys and in-person interviews with bilingual professional adults. Findings revealed that conscious engagement with the languages they were exposed to as children plays an active role in a bilingual speaker’s identity formation process and influences their career pursuits, instead of the common notion that being exposed to a second language is adequate to embrace bilingualism. Hence, this article brings implications to consider on career pursuits of bilingual speakers as the results indicate bilingual career pursuits transcend language-related occupations.

Identity Formation and Career Prospects of Bilingual Professionals: Blending Language Skills to Create Novel Applications to Career Pursuits

Sustainable Multilingualism

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

The most widely believed misconception about bilingualism purports that exposure to a second language within the community will automatically yield bilingual...

Identity Formation and Career Prospects of Bilingual Professionals: Blending Language Skills to Create Novel Applications to Career Pursuits

Published Online: Dec 04, 2022

Page range: 56 - 85

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/sm-2022-0013

Keywords
bilingual identity, bilingual professional, career prospects, identity formation, linguistic capital

© 2022 Onur Ural et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Identity Formation and Career Prospects of Bilingual Professionals: Blending Language Skills to Create Novel Applications to Career Pursuits

Published Online: Dec 04, 2022

Page range: 56 - 85

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/sm-2022-0013

Keywordsbilingual identity, bilingual professional, career prospects, identity formation, linguistic capital

© 2022 Onur Ural et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
bilingual identity, bilingual professional, career prospects, identity formation, linguistic capital