Includes bibliographical references (p. [212]-224) and index.

"This book explores the subjective aspects of language learning. It analyzes data gathered from published testimonies and language memoirs of former language learners, spoken and written data from American college language learners, and online data from language learners in electronic chatrooms and text messaging exchanges. In her analysis of these data, Kramsch highlights the subjective aspects of the language-learning experience. Topics investigated include links with memory, emotion, and the imagination, as well as the relationship between symbolic form and the development of a multilingual subjectivity. The author encourages readers to consider foreign language learning from new, diverse, and unique perspectives." -- from back cover.