Exploring the Autobiography as a Genre and a Data Collection Tool

Nadia Abid · Elena Bonta

Sept 2023 · Cambridge Scholars Publishing

About this eBook

This book provides researchers and teachers of different disciplines, such as literature, cultural studies, and applied linguistics, with a deeper understanding of the autobiography, both as a genre and a data collection method. The book presents a variety of forms of autobiographies produced in varied fields, including confessional poems, politicians’ autobiographies, and autobiographical novels. Unique among these autobiographies are those that were produced in the field of education, namely foreign language education. The richness of the studies reported in the chapters lies in the wide variety of qualitative and quantitative analytical tools borrowed from different disciplines (mainly applied linguistics and ethnography). The book features conceptual metaphor analysis, appraisal theory, multimodality analysis, generic analysis, and content analysis.

About the author

Dr Nadia Abid is Assistant Professor of Applied Linguistics at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities of the University of Sfax, Tunisia. Her research focusses on the development of intercultural communicative competence in different learning environments such as virtual exchanges, textbooks and study abroad programs. Her recent publications include: “EFL and Ethnocentrism: 6th Form and 9th Form Tunisian EFL Pupils as a Case Study” in Culture at the Crossroads: From Epistemological Meanderings to Interdisciplinary Praxis, and “Teaching Global Issues for Intercultural Citizenship in a Tunisia EFL textbook: ‘Skills for Life’” in Interculturality and the English Language Classroom.

Dr Elena Bonta is a professor at the Faculty of Letters of Vasile Alecsandri University of Bacău, Romania. Her research focuses on contemporary English language, conversational pragmatics, interpersonal communication, verbal communication in organizations, language autobiographies and English teaching methodology. Her most recent publications include: “Self- expression in Language Autobiographies. The Language of emotion and its implications for EFL Classes, in Journal of Innovation in Psychology, Education and Didactics” in the Journal of Innovation in Psychology, Education and Didactics (JIPED), and “Implementing critical thinking in the classroom: The case of media literacy, in Journal of Innovation in Psychology” in Education and Didactics.