Identity construction and investment transformation

Abstract

This paper reports on a qualitative study that investigated the identity negotiation and English learning investment transformation of learners in a Chinese university. The informants included three female undergraduate students from English and Bioscience majors enrolled in a Chinese university. Recordings of conversation, students' self-reports, and interviews were collected over one and a half years. This paper draws on ideas from the framework of communities of practice (Wenger, 1998), and employs the notions of identity, investment (Norton, 2000). The paper examined how English second language (L2) learners constructed multiple identities to position themselves in a Chinese educated urban community and an English speaking Christian community. It analysed how their participation and identities in the two communities were constructed, and how their motivation for learning English was transformed. The study reveals how, in an era of globalization, and specifically in the rapidly changing economic, sociocultural and political context of the People's Republic of China (PRC), English language learning entails complex and intertwined issues of motivation, identity and culture, which demand further exploration.

From Rural China to the Digital Wilds: Negotiating Digital Repertoires to Claim the Right to Speak

“…In a special issue of Journal of Asia Pacific Communication , Norton and Gao (2008) demonstrated the theoretical relevance of investment to the Chinese EFL context. Since then, there have been a growing number of empirical studies on Chinese EFL learners' investment, with some based on learners' experiences in major cities (see Gao et al., 2008; Guan, 2021), some contributing to unpacking the identity and investment of language teachers (see Liu, 2022) or learners from underrepresented backgrounds (see Cui, 2022; Gu, 2008; Jiang et al., 2020). This growing literature generates insights into how power circumscribes communication and language learning in the Chinese context and confirms that investment can be applied, as a critical tool, to understand students' complex learning realities, and to probe and expose inequalities “beneath the mantle of diversity and differences” (Darvin & Norton, 2023, p. 37).…”

Investment in Learning Chinese by International Students Studying Chinese as a Second Language (CSL)

“…Despite the wide use of the model of investment in the context of English learning [31][32][33][34], including in cases of Chinese English learners with various backgrounds [35][36][37], more evidence is needed to confirm its interpretive power in the context of Chinese (as one of the languages other than English) learning and teaching due to the following factors:…”

Education, Religious Commitment, and Religious Tolerance in Contemporary China

“…Religious organizations also collaborate with these institutions to publish research and host conferences on or around campus, thereby giving college students more exposure to religion (Ji 2011;Nanbu 2008). Even though religious student groups are not officially recognized at Chinese universities, students have no trouble finding or establishing such groups to meet for Bible study or discussion of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism on campus (Gu 2008;Ji 2006;Ma and Li 2014;Yang 2005).…”