Investments In A Voice:A Narrative Inquiry Of Three EFL Learners’ Identity Construction In China

The present study aims to explore how EFL(English as a Foreign Language)learners construct,negotiate and perform their identities through English language learning and use in the context of China.By probing into three cases of undergraduate EFL learners at a university in Shanghai(anonymized as Handa University),the study investigates their English learning and use experiences through a longitudinal inquiry to address the following research questions: 1)How do EFL learners’ investments in L2 practice construct and transform their identities? 2)How do gender and social class identities construct their L2 practice,and how does their L2 practice transform their gender and social class identities? 3)How do EFL learners enact their voice through L2 practice to perform their identities?The study proposes a theoretical framework based on the model of investment(Darvin& Norton,2015)and the construct of voice(Bakhtin,1981;Kramsch,2003),to account for EFL learners’ discursive construction of identities across the micro-meso-macro levels of contexts.A narrative inquiry approach is employed with a case study approach as the research methodology of the study.During a 13-month(Oct.2017-Oct.2018)longitudinal inquiry,data are collected through multiple methods including interviews,diaries,on-site observation and document collection.Data thus collected are analyzed with the narrative inquiry framework(Connelly & Clandinin,2006)and the critical discourse analysis(Fairclough,1992,2003).Findings from the study suggest that EFL learners’ identities are constructed and transformed with their investments in L2 practice.Constructed by learners’ interactions with the external world and discourses across the micro-meso-macro contexts,investments afford learners multiple feedback from social interactions,which further induce their reflections and make them gain new understandings of themselves and L2 practice.Accordingly,learners adjust their self-positioning,expectations for the future and subsequent L2 practice.Thus,learners’ L2 investments become an important locale for their identity transformation.The study also contends that EFL learners’ L2 practice and their gender and social class identities are mutually constructive.Regarding gender identities,learners draw on discourses internalized from L2 practice to construct their gendered identities.As to social class identities,learners’ L2 practice is conditioned by the resources afforded by their social class status and driven by a social awareness to achieve upward social mobility.In addition,gender and social class identities can work in an intersecting way to construct learners’ L2 practice.Furthermore,the study argues that EFL learners orchestrate multiple discursive resources to enact their voice.They selectively draw on genres,linguistic styles,stances,etc.from diverse discourses to perform their identities through L2 practice.Among all the discourses they have exploited,the neoliberal discourse has exerted a significant influence on their voice.The study contributes to the understanding of Chinese EFL learners’ actual English learning and use experiences by enriching exemplars on learners’ identity transformation through L2 practice.It also advances the knowledge of identity construction through L2 practice by providing a framework that elaborates the macro ideologies,the meso social relations,and the micro personal intricacies in the language learning and use process.It is expected that the findings of the study can provide practical implications for foreign language policymakers,education practitioners,and foreign language learners.