Abstract
The growing participation of nonnative English-speaking (NNES) international students in English-speaking graduate schools has prompted scholars to explore the different challenges (i.e., linguistic, social, and financial) that complicate these students' academic pursuits. The analyses offered by previous studies have often focused on students' present academic participation without taking their personal histories and aspirations into consideration. Through the lens of investment, which highlights learner agency and imagined communities (Kanno & Norton, 2003; Norton, 2000; Norton Peirce, 1995), this study examines how the academic/professional backgrounds and aspirations of two NNES doctoral students have affected their selections in learning investment in the present academic community. The findings demonstrate that their academic paths are individualized by their trajectories before, during, and after their doctoral studies. Moreover, rather than trying to avoid or overcome all possible barriers brought along by being NNES and international, the students are able to exert their own agency to selectively invest in areas that would most likely increase their market value in their current and envisioned future communities.
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