초록 열기/닫기 버튼
Drawing on notions of learner identity, investment, and imagined communities (Norton, 1995, 2000) in the sociocultural approach to learner motivation, the present study explores Korean secondary school students’ identities and contextual factors involved in the learning process. Interviews were conducted with twenty students regarding their relationships with English and their desire to use English. Three salient learner identities were observed: test takers, professional career persons, and global citizens. Findings show that the current identities of the learners were limited to test takers due to the contextual constraints placed on them by the college entrance examination. However, they extended their imagined communities to include career persons and global citizens recognizing English as an important tool for gaining access to their imagined communities. Findings indicate that learner motivation is closely related to how the learners identify themselves in the second language process, which is also highly affected by the sociocultural context in which learners are situated. This paper highlights the importance of learners’envisioning their desired communities as a means to sustain their investment and participation in the learning process.
