Lived narratives: Female investment and identity negotiation in learning English in rural Pakistan

Abstract

English is the key to education and jobs in Pakistan. Female students do not get as many opportunities as males do in rural Pakistan for learning English. This narrative inquiry was conducted to understand the experiences of female learners of English. Investment and identity negotiation theory was employed as a theoretical framework to make sense of their lived narratives. Thematic narrative analysis was used to analyze and extract themes from the qualitative data. The study found that female learners heavily invested physically, socially and financially to learn English due to its increasing significance in both personal and professional fields of life. Moreover, they continuously negotiated their identities during their learning English process. This narrative inquiry provides several pedagogical and practical implications for female learners of English in Pakistan and alike contexts.