What Motivates L3 Learners’ Investment and/or Divestment in Arabic? Understanding Learning Motivation in terms of “Identity”

The study extends our understanding of the relationship between identity and Arabic learning in the Chinese context from a sociolinguistic perspective. Drawing on Darvin and Norton’s (2015) model of investment, the study explores the interplay between identity and investment in the context of Chinese learners’ motivation to learn Arabic. The sample population comprises 25 adult Arabic learners with Chinese as their first language, English as their second language, and Arabic as their third language. Qualitative data from learners’ retrospective narrative accounts and complementary semi-structured interviews were analyzed in terms of identity and investment. The findings show that these Chinese Arabic learners’ constitutive orientation towards language learning is highly related to their multifaceted and fluid identities (inherited identities, competitive identities, and imagined identities), which are complex and dynamic and can be negotiated and constructed over time, involving learners’ perceptions of affordances in capital resources and their goals of acquiring symbolic and material resources. Therefore, investment/divestment is influenced by the interconnections between identities and perceptions. The study concludes with some methodological and theoretical implications for future research on learning LOTEs (languages other than English) and investment.