The Investment In Language Learning By Less Commonly Taught Foreign Language Learners

In an era of globalization characterized by diversity and mobility,China's government has formulated a series of policy,which has made the education of less commonly taught foreign languages(LCTFLs)an emerging field catching the attention of both the mass and the academia.However,most of the existing research in terms of language learners' motivation and identity at home and abroad either was conducted in the context of English learning,or focused on macro aspects like the development of LCTFL programs or the training mode,paying no attention to the interactive effects of individual LCTFL learners and the social contexts of language learning.Drawing on the model of language learner investment by Darvin & Norton(2015)and based on the data from classroom observation,in-depth interviews and questionnaires for the parents,this study explores the investment in the target languages(TLs)and English by students of three LCTFL programs from a foreign studies university in China.The results indicate that learners can be categorized as motivated investors and reluctant/indifferent investors according to the their willingness to invest in TL and English learning,and both TL and English investment would be influenced by learners' perceived benefits pertaining to TL/English,learners' possession or lack of the affordances for TL/English investment,social-structural factors in the learning or employment contexts,and the affective factors related to TL/English;the results also unveil the paradoxical relationship between TL(s)and English,and the multiple roles of English in TL classroom.In conclusion,although the extent to which learners invest in either the TLs or English varies from one to another,it would be concomitantly influenced by social ideologies,symbolic capital pertaining to both TL and English learning,and learners' imagined self-identity.