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We further the understanding of identity by examining the ways through which adults present themselves as subjects in learning processes. We recruited 134 adults who had recently read self-help books pertaining to health, careers, or relationships, and conducted qualitative interviews that focused on the motivations, goals, and learning outcomes that they attributed to their reading. We found that, during the process of being interviewed about their self-help reading experience, roughly half of our interviewees engaged in unsolicited“identity talk”—rhetorically embracing or distancing themselves from the social role of the self-help reader. Our study provides three key contributions to the scholarship of education: a nuanced ethnographic description of the complex and diverse ways in which adult learners  \nCanadian Journal of Education / Revue canadienne de l’éducation 41:4 (2018)©2018 Canadian Society for the Study of Education/ Société canadienne pour l’étude de l’éducation  \n[www.cje-rce.ca](www.cje-rce.ca)  \nposition themselves as subjects in self-directed learning processes; an illustration of the theoretical utility and limitations of research focused on the identity work of individuals; and an exhortation to further research concerned with understanding the role of identity in processes of educational engagement/disengagement.  \nKeywords: identity, self-help reading, agency, distancing, embracement  \nRésumé  \nLe concept d’identité est devenu important dans l’étude de l’éducation au Canada. Nous approfondissons la compréhension de l’identité en examinant les façons dont les adultesse présentent comme des sujets dans les processus d’apprentissage. Nous avons recruté 134 adultes qui avaient récemment lu des livres des livres d’auto-assistance sur la santé, les carrières ou les relations. Nous avons mené des entretiens qualitatifs axés sur les motivations, les objectifs et les résultats d’apprentissage qu’ils attribuaient à leur lecture. Nous avons constaté que, au cours du processus d’interview sur leur expérience d’auto-apprentissage, près de la moitié de ces personnes se livraient à des « conversations identitaires » non sollicitées—s’embrassant ou se distanciant, sur le plan rhétorique, du rôle social du lecteurd’auto-assistance. Notre étude fournit trois contributions clés à l’étude de l’éducation: une description ethnographique nuancée des façons complexes et diverses dont les apprenants adultes se positionnent comme sujets dans les processus d’apprentissage autodirigé; une illustration de l’utilité théorique et des limites de la recherche axée sur le travail identitairedes individus; et une exhortation à approfondir la recherche orientée vers la compréhension du rôle de l’identité dans les processus d’engagement / désengagement éducatif.  \nMots-clés : identité, lecture d’auto-assistance, agence, la distanciation, l’embrassement  \nAcknowledgements  \nThe authors would like to acknowledge the contributions of graduate research assistants Kristin Atwood, Brandi Kapell, and Laurie Vermeylen. Research for this article was supported by a standard research grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (Grant No. 410-2011-0324) .  \nCanadian Journal of Education / Revue canadienne de l’éducation 41:4 (2018) [www.cje-rce.ca](www.cje-rce.ca)  \nIntroduction  \nIn scholarship regarding education in Canada, identity has become a prominent concept. Since the year 2000, the Canadian Journal of Education has published numerous articles exploring connections between identities and educational processes, including studies of colonization and racism (Gebhard, 2017; St. Denis, 2007), gender (Rahm, Lachaîne,& Mathura, 2014; Wang, 2000), sexuality (Drazeno","cbCaidc5ChvfoUOS","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaidc5ChvfoUOS","pdf",689701,27,"English","# Abstract\n# Introduction\n## Conceptual framework for identity work\n## Research approach and findings","[{\"question\":\"What does the study investigate about identity in education?\",\"answer\":\"It examines how adults present themselves as subjects in learning processes, specifically through their experience of reading self-help books.\"},{\"question\":\"How was the research conducted?\",\"answer\":\"Researchers recruited 134 adults who recently read self-help books on health, careers, or relationships and conducted qualitative interviews about motivations, goals, and learning outcomes.\"},{\"question\":\"What key finding relates to identity talk?\",\"answer\":\"During interviews, roughly half of participants engaged in unsolicited identity talk, rhetorically embracing or distancing themselves from the social role of the self-help reader.\"}]","“I’m not a person that reads” - Identity Work, Adult Learners, and Educational (Dis)engagement | PDF",1792083712,68]