This review of literature outlines the ways that identity has been theorized in recent years in two educational sub-disciplines concerned with language and education: second language acquisition (SLA) and literacy studies. The article explores how selective appropriations from the work of Bourdieu and Foucault have informed ethnographic and case studies as well as theoretical discussions on identity and learning in these fields. It concludes by arguing that Bakhtin's theories of language have the potential to resolve some of the contradictions between continuity and change that have arisen in these discussions.