Investments and identities across contexts: A case study of a Hong Kong undergraduate student's L2 learning experiences

Investments and identities across contexts: A case study of a Hong Kong undergraduate student's L2 learning experiences

• Sung, Chit Cheung Matthew City University of Hong Kong

Journal of Language, Identity, and Education, 18(3), 190-203, 2019

Routledge

2019

• A Human Growth & Development
  • AC Socialization, Self-concept, Self-esteem, Identity, Affective, Emotional, Psycho-social & Moral Development
• N Students & Student Services
  • NM Student Life & Leisure Activities, Summer Activities; Peer Groups

Foreign Countries Undergraduate Students Second Language Learning Context Effect Learning Experience Classroom Environment Universities Study Abroad Work Environment Outcomes of Education Sense of Community Identification (Psychology) Life Style Aspiration Holistic Approach Imagination Global Approach Language Usage Small Colleges Liberal Arts Biographies English (Second Language) Interpersonal Relationship Foreign Students Professional Identity English for Special Purposes Language Proficiency Cultural Capital Student Attitudes

• Hong Kong

• 1997.7 onwards

• Post-Secondary Education

This article reports on a case study of a Hong Kong undergraduate student's lived experiences of second language (L2) investments and identities across different contexts, including inside and outside the classroom on the university campus, in the professional workplace, and during study abroad. Findings indicate that the student's differential L2 investments across contexts appear to be closely intertwined with the different identities constructed in specific circumstances and mediated by the perceived likelihood of yielding a good return on the investments. His selective L2 investments were also found to be driven by a desire for membership in an imagined international community and an imagined identity associated with a cosmopolitan lifestyle in the projected future. The article argues for the importance of a holistic understanding of individuals' L2 learning experiences both inside and outside the classroom in order to appreciate the complexities of their variable L2 investments and identities across contexts.
[Copyright of Journal of Language, Identity, and Education is the property of Routledge.]

• English

Journal Articles

• 15348458

https://bibliography.lib.eduhk.hk/bibs/f53333dd

2020-03-03