Exploring the Role of Students' Language User Identities in their L2 Use and Investment

Abstract

ABSTRACT: This is an exploratory case study of the language user identities of four undergraduate foreign language majors and how they investin learningand using the languages they speak. The participating students were from different levels of the Translation Studies and Foreign Language Teacher Education programs from the School of Languages at a public university in Colombia. Based on Darvin and Norton’s (2015) model of investment, I studied how issues of identity, ideology, and capital affect students’ investment and language use. Data were drawn from information obtained from a larger study, in-depth interviews with the students, narratives written by them, and question naires to their L2 teachers. Findings revealed that students’ L2 user identities were influenced by their beliefs about themselves, the languages they spoke and their cultures, as well as the experiences they had with the languages. Their investment was influenced by their identities and language ideologies, and was incorporated into activities they did routinely through out the day. They also were highly invested in their language courses at the university. Analysis of the findings in light of Darvin and Norton’s (2015) model of investment showed the applicability of this model for studying identity and investment, particularly in regard to the role technology and ideologies played in students’ investments and L2 uses, the complexity of their identities and habitus, and the relevance of their capital and perceived benefits as learners. I concluded that students’ L2 user identities play a significant role in how they use and invest in languages, entwined with the capital and language ideologies they hold. Considering this, it becomes relevant and important to acknowledge students as more than L2 learners or students, and rather as L2 users, which is what many of them are or will become.