NNS proficiency and identity construction in sports media discourse and interactions

This paper addresses the relationship between NNS proficiency and professional and national identity by examining the case of Fabio Capello, whose four-year management of the English national football team established an extended intercultural setting for assessing the impact of the limited L2 skills of a high-profile NNS professional in the public sphere. By referring to the Interlanguage (IL) model, a quantitative and diachronic analysis of Capello’s L2 competence during his tenure is carried out. The analysis is completed by drawing on aspects of identity theory to assess how closely and at what points L2 competence was involved in the mediated construction of his identity as a ‘fitting’ foreign manager of the English squad.