چکیده:
Drawing on Norton Peirce's (1995) theory of investment and Darvin and Norton's (2015) expanded the model of investment, the present study aims to research investment in second language (L2) learning among Iranian English language learners. The participants included 852 male and female English language learners belonging to different age groups and English language proficiency levels. A 42-item questionnaire, developed and validated by the present authors (forthcoming), was administered online and by hand. The results showed that Iranian English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners moderately invested to learn English language and that there were significant differences in the extent of investment between male and female participants and different language proficiency levels (low- and high-proficiency learners). Moreover, the results of the study demonstrated that there was no significant difference in the extent of investment between different age groups (teenage and adult ones). The study concludes with suggestions for future research on investment in L2 learning and a discussion of how such research can impact language education policy in EFL contexts.
خلاصه ماشینی:
Investment implies a commitment to the purposes, practices, and identities forming the process of learning which are continuously negotiated in various social relationships and power structures (Darvin & Norton, 2018) and through which a more complete image of the language learner can be reflected (Norton, 2013a).
Researchers such as McKay and Wong (1996), Skilton- Sylvester (2002), Potowski (2004), Bearse and de Jong (2008), and Haneda (2005) employed the notion of investment to explore the language learning development of learners in different skills and contexts.
Hence, Darvin and Norton extended theories of identity and investment, and constructed a model of investment in 2015 by considering the requests of a more fluid, changing, and mobile world, in which language learners can participate in unlimited spaces of learning and socialization and prove themselves as legitimate speakers in different degrees (Darvin & Norton, 2015).
In the 2015 model of investment, Darvin and Norton drew on the theoretical advances, which came into existence since the construct of investment was first developed two decades ago, and placed investment at the intersection of the three elements of identity, capital, and ideology (see Figure 1) to give information on how structures of power function, and provide a better understanding of the opportunities for language learners to practice agency (Huang & Benson, 2013).
Participants' Age, Gender, and Language Proficiency Level (View the image of this page) INVESTMENT IN L2 LEARNING AMONG IRANIAN ENGLISH 189 Table 1 indicates that the participants of the adult group take the higher number of participation (69%) followed by the teenage group forming 31% of the total participants.