Interaction, however, is a complex activity. In my research I take the position that every time language learners speak, they are not only exchanging information with their interlocutors--they are also constantly organizing and reorganizing a sense of who they are and how they relate to the social world. Questions learners might ask themselves include the following: Under what conditions can I speak? How will I be perceived by my interlocutor? How will my utterances be received? How relevant is my history and experience to this interaction? Thus, how learners perceive themselves, their histories, and their desires for the future determine, to some extent, what they speak about, to whom, and for what purposes. Furthermore, the greater the power difference between the language learner and the target language speaker, the more complex the interaction becomes. In sum, because social identity is an integral part of language learning, language learning is an ongoing process of construction and negotiation.