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While previous work on identity and Chinese as a foreign language (CFL) learning has highlighted the role of agency, capital, and ideology, few studies have focused specifically on how these dimensions interact in shaping skill development among Anglophone learners in their home-country contexts. Drawing on the investment model and imagined identity, this study investigates how eight learners of Chinese in the United States perceive and engage with oral skill development through online background surveys and semi-structured oral interviews. Findings reveal that learners’ imagined identities are sustained by internal reasons tied to social and cultural capital, supported by technologically-enhanced and culturally-immersive learning. Meanwhile, political and linguistic ideologies function as complex and external forces that learners negotiate with differing levels of acceptance and resistance. This study contributes to the growing body of research on learner identity in CFL and offers pedagogical insights for developing Chinese language programmes in multilingual higher education. It also highlights the dynamic and uneven influence of the three components in the investment model, advocating for language skill development that emphasises intercultural competence in globalised educational contexts.
Xiaolong Lu (Wed,) studied this question.