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.

KEYWORDS:

• Investment
• Chinese language learning
• international students
• identities
• China
• Africa

Disclosure statement

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

Notes

1. The Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi (HSK), translated as the Chinese Proficiency Test, is the standardised test of Standard Chinese language proficiency of Mainland China for non-native speakers such as foreign students and overseas Chinese.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China—Center for Language Education and Cooperation (general project) [grant number: 22YH45C].

Notes on contributors

Wen XU

Wen XU is Assistant Professor of Chinese Language Education at Shanghai Jiao Tong University. Her research interests focus on the intersection of language, education and society. Currently, her research projects and publications encompass studies of international students’ lived experiences in China.

Jiani Ma

Jiani Ma is Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education, Beijing Normal University. Her research interests focus on internationalisation of higher education, global education governance, education and the Belt and Road Initiative.

Pin Zhou

Pin Zhou is currently a lecturer in the School of Chinese Language and Literature, Soochow University. His research interests lie in second language acquisition and teaching Chinese as a second language.