This article challenges the current framing of English as a dominant global language and focuses specifically on African international students' investment in Chinese language learning and the enactment of imagined identity in China. Drawing upon Darvin and Norton's theorisation of "Identity and a model of investment," we present an…

This paper examines the relationship between ethnocentrism and motivation in language learning, focusing on the Ideal L2-Self and Ought to L2-Self constructs of the L2 Motivational Self System. Additionally, the study examined the potential moderating effect of gender on the relationships between ethnocentrism and both the Ideal L2-Self and Ought…

Academic self-concept, a central psychological construct that powerfully explains learners' varied motivations and learning behaviors, needs to be further explored to deepen our understanding of language learner psychology. Drawing on self-reported learning histories, this study investigates the English self-concept of successful English as a…

Anxiety is a significant factor affecting learners' language performance. Hence, this study aimed to explore the anxieties that last-mile learners experienced when learning English using phenomenological approach to qualitative research. Eight Grade 7 participants were selected using purposive and convenience sampling techniques for in-depth…

Although the emergent bilingual status of foreign language (FL) students is often overlooked, that is not to say that students do not, on some level of consciousness, experience changes in their identity as a result of their emergent bilingualism. The continuous process of identity (re)negotiation, that is, the reorganising of one's subject…

This study explores how three multilingual learners of Japanese as a second language (L2) at an Australian university negotiate their language and (imagined) identities in relation to their L2 learning. Based on interview data, the results indicate that while the participants' imagined identities were closely connected with…

This study investigates the impact of positive psychology factors on English as a foreign language (EFL) learners' second language (L2) speaking proficiency. Specifically, it examines the predictive roles of foreign language speaking enjoyment, the ideal L2 speaking self, and L2 speaking grit on L2 speaking proficiency. Data were collected from…

Willingness to communicate in a foreign and second language (L2 WTC) has gradually become a recurrent theme in the SLA. With the advent of an emotional or affective turn brought by the positive psychology movement in applied linguistics, the significant role of positive emotions such as Foreign Language Enjoyment (FLE) in L2 WTC has been…

Increasing numbers of Chinese students are pursuing graduate degrees in Catalonia. Although highly proficient in both Castilian and English when they arrive, they find themselves in a bilingual society where Catalan, not Castilian, predominates both at universities and in the broader social context. Acquiring Catalan is hence important for both…

Despite extensive research on Global Englishes (GE) in English Language Teaching (ELT), relatively little attention has been given to how students from expanding-circle Asian countries perceive the practical implications of GE principles. To address this knowledge gap, this study examines how GE-oriented courses affected university students'…

Drawing on the Language Mindset Meaning System (LMMS) framework, the study investigated how language mindsets (growth vs. fixed) influence the adoption of the four achievement goals, and how they subsequently shape second/foreign language (L2) learners' emotions (i.e. enjoyment and anxiety) in the process of learning English as a foreign language…

Taking the L2 Motivational Self System (L2MSS) model as its theoretical basis, this study aimed to extend knowledge of the learning motivation of Korean language learners. A survey questionnaire was administered to 967 Korean language learners at 28 universities in China to investigate their motivation for learning the Korean language and the…

This intervention study helped EFL learners visualize their possible selves as successful L2 speakers. It included three classes as a control group and three EFL classes as an experimental group at a secondary school in Yemen. The three experimental classes received one ideal L2 self-visualization lesson a week for six weeks, whereas the three…

This study investigates the relationship between identification with the local territory, language attitudes and language proficiency in young immigrants in Catalonia, a region in Spain. The aims of the study are to examine how identification with the local territory affects attitudes and proficiency in languages, and whether language attitudes…

This study adopts Goffman's Frame Analysis theory to examine the discursive identity construction of Chinese Hui Muslims. Excerpts from a conversation within a Chinese Muslim family were qualitatively analyzed, and two examples were presented to represent the ways that the participants use linguistic and discursive resources to construct a unique…