The Study Of Self-identity Changes And Second Language Investment In Chinese Study-abroad Students

Self-identity is a philosophical concept that is applied to psychology,sociology and linguistics.Language is one of primary manifestations of self-identity.Canada scholar Lambert is the first who proposes that second language learning may lead self-identity changes and vice versa.After that many scholars make further studies on this field and Norton achieves fruitful research results.She theorizes investment to identify the psychology of second language learners who expect return from English learning and proposes that second language investment is the investment on identity.With the acceleration of internationalization of education,more and more Chinese students go to developed countries for advanced education.But the self-identity changes and English learning investment of Chinese study-abroad students did not get enough attention.Choosing Chinese study-abroad students as studying subjects and the questionnaire as instrument,this study uses SPSS13.0 to analyze the self-identity changes of Chinese study-abroad students,the factors that influence English learning investment and self-identity change,and the influence of English learning investment on self-identity changes.After comparing with the results of previous works on self-identity changes of English learners studying at home,the researcher finds that study-abroad students are more likely to experience additive bilingualism—an ideal non-linguistic outcome.Gender,educational stage and major have an effect on English learning and self-identity change.Meanwhile,investment on English learning has positive effects on self-confidence change,additive change and productive change.Among them,the Chinese study-abroad students'self-confidence is influenced most.Theoretically,the study aims to shed light on this line of research by studying the correlation between self-identity changes and investment.Pedagogically,the study aims to help the teachers who teach English to speakers of other languages and Chinese international students understand and pay more attention to the students' self-identity changes and language investment.