EFL Learning and Self-identity Development: A Case Study

Abstract

This 2-year qualitative study examined the EFL learning and self-identity development of three college students from a university in Beijing, China. Data collected included interview transcripts, field notes of observations, participants’ Internet postings, participants’ academic works, and so on. Giddens’ theory of reflexivity of self-identity was adopted as a theoretical framework. Norton’s theory of investment was also used in the case analysis. Results revealed that EFL learners constructed multiple identities in their multiple investments, which represented their ambivalent desires in learning and using English; EFL learners could monitor their learning process reflexively and exercise agency in drawing on different resources selectively to construct their ideal identities; unintended consequences were produced by learners’ acts, which in turn served as conditions of their further acts.