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Identity and Investment in Learning English and Chinese: An Ethnographic Inquiry of Two Nepali Students in Hong Kong

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Education, Ethnicity and Equity in the Multilingual Asian Context

Part of the book series: Multilingual Education ((MULT,volume 32))

Abstract

This chapter reports on an ethnographic study of two Nepali students’ identity and investment in learning English and Chinese (Cantonese) in Hong Kong. This ethnographic inquiry lasted for more than 2 years during which I had interactions with the participating students and observed their language practices and social interactions at various locations (i.e., at school, home, friendship networks, and social media). Analysis of the data reveals that self-other identification processes play important roles in learners’ investments in learning a particular dominant or non-dominant language. In light of these findings, this chapter concludes with a call to researchers to undertake further research on the social identification processes and investment in learning languages. This chapter also calls on educators to understand the identities of the linguistic minority students in order to respond to their needs so that they could invest meaningfully in learning institutionally legitimized languages.

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Acknowledgments

I would like to thank Dr. Xuesong (Andy) Gao for his insightful feedback on the first draft of this chapter. I would also like to thank all anonymous reviewers for their comments on the draft.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China

    Chura Bahadur Thapa

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  1. Chura Bahadur Thapa
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Correspondence to Chura Bahadur Thapa .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. The Education University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China

    Jan GUBE  & Fang GAO  & 

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Thapa, C.B. (2019). Identity and Investment in Learning English and Chinese: An Ethnographic Inquiry of Two Nepali Students in Hong Kong. In: GUBE, J., GAO, F. (eds) Education, Ethnicity and Equity in the Multilingual Asian Context. Multilingual Education, vol 32. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-3125-1_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-3125-1_3

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore

  • Print ISBN: 978-981-13-3124-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-981-13-3125-1

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