Investment, Chinese Language Learning and Imagined Identities: A Case Study of African International Students in China

Abstract

This article challenges the current framing of English as a dominant global language and focuses specifically on African international students’ investment in Chinese language learning and the enactment of imagined identity in China. Drawing upon Darvin and Norton’s theorisation of “Identity and a model of investment,” we present an analysis of 59 African youths’ Chinese language practices across different contexts. The interview data revealed that they invested heavily into Chinese language learning and use, while displaying linguistic entrepreneurship beyond the classroom setting and mobilising their agency towards preferred linguistic outcomes. The African students’ linguistic investment turned them into proficient speakers who were able to express multiple desires that were constantly changing across time and space. The sociological construct of investment enabled us to unpack the socially and historically constructed relationship of African international students to the Chinese language and community, while compelling us to reflect on the changing world order and global language system.

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