‘We are not the same but feel like we are the same group’: international students’ language choice and identity construction at a Chinese university

ABSTRACT

Adopting the notions of identity, investment and translocal scale, this study explores how international students negotiate language choices with multilingual others and construct new sociolinguistic spaces. Interview data with 12 international students at a Chinese university revealed tensions between language norms of local Chinese students and that of international students, especially toward the mobility and status of English and Chinese. As international students invested in learning Chinese, scaled English, French and other multilingual resources beyond local norms and boundaries, they created a translocal sociolinguistic space featuring polycentricity and plurality, and developed an imagined identity of ‘global citizenship’.

基于 ‘身份认同’, ‘投资’ 和 ‘跨地方层级’ 的概念, 本研究旨在探究留学生如何与其他多语使用者进行语言选择的协商, 并依此构建新的社会语言空间. 基于12名来华留学生的访谈数据, 本研究揭示了中国学生与留学生在语言使用规范中存在的冲突, 尤其是涉及英语和汉语的流动性和地位. 随着留学生对汉语语言进行投资, 他们在超越当地语言规范和界限的情况下使用英语, 法语和其他多语资源, 并创建了一个跨地方的社会语言空间, 呈现出多中心性和多样性, 并形成了一个对 ‘全球公民’ 的想象身份.

KEYWORDS:

• Language choice
• identity
• investment
• intercultural communication
• translocal scale

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Zhejiang Provincial Philosophy and Social Sciences Planning Project (浙江省社科规划 课题), P. R. China [grant number 23NDJC275YB]; Hangzhou Normal University [grant number 4075C50221204105].

Notes on contributors

Yuwei Liang

Yuwei Liang is lecturer at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Beijing University of Technology, P. R. China. She has completed her PhD in the School of Education, Communication and Language Sciences at Newcastle University. Her current research interests include intercultural communication, language and identity, and internationalisation of higher education.

Qi Chen

Qi Chen is a lecturer in applied linguistics at the School of International Studies, Hangzhou Normal University, P. R. China. She obtained an MA in applied linguistics and TESOL and a PhD in educational and applied linguistics at Newcastle University, UK. Her current research interests include (1) multilingual language use and language ideologies at internationalised universities, (2) teachers' beliefs, teacher autonomy and classroom teaching practices in EFL contexts, and (3) talk-and-bodies-in-interaction in multilingual and multicultural social contexts.

Ying Li

Ying Li is a professor in applied linguistics at the School of International Studies, Hangzhou Normal University, P. R. China. She obtained a MPhil in Research in Second Language Acquisition at Cambridge University and a PhD in Education at the University of Nottingham, UK. Her current research interests include (1) multimodality in classroom teaching, (2) teacher development in higher education and (3) intercultural language teaching.