Identity and a Model of Investment in Applied Linguistics
Open accessAbstract
ABSTRACT This article locates Norton's foundational work on identity and investment within the social turn of applied linguistics. It discusses its historical impetus and theoretical anchors, and it illustrates how these ideas have been taken up in recent scholarship. In response to the demands of the new world order, spurred by technology and characterized by mobility, it proposes a comprehensive model of investment, which occurs at the intersection of identity, ideology, and capital. The model recognizes that the spaces in which language acquisition and socialization take place have become increasingly deterritorialized and unbounded, and the systemic patterns of control more invisible. This calls for new questions, analyses, and theories of identity. The model addresses the needs of learners who navigate their way through online and offline contexts and perform identities that have become more fluid and complex. As such, it proposes a more comprehensive and critical examination of the relationship between identity, investment, and language learning. Drawing on two case studies of a female language learner in rural Uganda and a male language learner in urban Canada, the model illustrates how structure and agency, operating across time and space, can accord or refuse learners the power to speak.
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Written from the paper’s full text.
TL;DR
The article revisits Norton’s foundational identity-and-investment framework and proposes an expanded model in which investment is shaped where identity, ideology, and capital meet. It illustrates the model through two contrasting learners: Henrietta in rural Uganda and Ayrton in urban Canada.
Key findings
- The authors argue that investment should be examined at the meeting point of identity, ideology, and capital, extending earlier work that distinguished investment from motivation and treated learners as socially positioned rather than unitary.
- They review how investment research has spread across North America, Asia, Africa, Europe, and Brazil, including studies of Chinese learners, Ugandan digital literacy, and language-teacher identity.
- Henrietta, an 18-year-old female learner in rural Uganda with per-capita income under $1 a day, limited electricity, and no running water, participated in a digital-resources study on HIV/AIDS; her investment was tied to an imagined identity as knowledgeable and connected to Canadians, but constrained by economic, infrastructural, and ideological positioning.
- Ayrton, a 16-year-old Filipino male in a wealthy Vancouver neighborhood whose family emigrated through the Investor Class requiring at least CAN$1.6 million net worth, had multiple digital devices, seamless connectivity, and an online currency-trading course; his capital and habitus supported legitimate participation and an entrepreneurial identity.
Methods
- Conceptual and theoretical article combining a literature review with model-building; the proposed model integrates identity, ideology, and capital.
- Uses two illustrative case studies drawn from prior research: Henrietta from a Uganda HIV/AIDS digital-resources study and Ayrton from a study of digital literacies in home settings.
- Comparative qualitative analysis of structure and agency across time and space; no new large-scale empirical data or statistical analysis is reported.
Limitations
- No formal limitations section is present; the text notes that for Henrietta, whether perceived benefits become durable symbolic capital is yet to be seen.
- Evident from the text: the two cases are illustrative and come from separate prior studies, not a representative sample, so the model is not empirically tested here.
- Evident from the text: the article is largely a review and theoretical proposal relying on secondary literature and selected cases, with no systematic coding or generalizable outcome measures described.
Model-written summary. Check it against the paper before relying on it.
Integrity signals
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Claims the paper makes
0 of 5 cited sources checked · 0 supported · 0 flagged
- Finding
The model says language learning now occurs in spaces that are less bounded by territory and harder to control visibly.
“The model recognizes that the spaces in which language acquisition and socialization take place have become increasingly deterritorialized and unbounded, and the systemic patterns of control more invisible.”
Quote in the paperNot yet classified - Finding
The authors claim the model is meant for learners who move across online and offline contexts and take on more fluid identities.
“The model addresses the needs of learners who navigate their way through online and offline contexts and perform identities that have become more fluid and complex.”
Quote in the paperNot yet classified - Finding
The paper proposes a model of investment that places investment at the intersection of identity, ideology, and capital.
“it proposes a comprehensive model of investment, which occurs at the intersection of identity, ideology, and capital.”
Quote in the paperNot yet classified - Finding
The paper says Henrietta's rural context and limited resources constrain her access to the technology she needs for literacy development.
“Not only is her own economic capital limited, but also the technological infrastructure of her local context is poorly resourced.”
Quote in the paperNot yet classified - Finding
The paper claims Ayrton's social position lets him present himself as a legitimate participant in the online spaces he occupies.
“Indeed, his possession of economic, cultural, and social capital and his identity as a member of a highly industrialized country allow him to position himself as a legitimate participant and contributor in the different affinity spaces he occupies online.”
Quote in the paperNot yet classified
- Finding
The article says Ayrton's privileged position gives him the technological and social resources that make learning feel natural to him.
“The social position of Ayrton as part of a privileged class in a highly industrialized country has made technology natural, providing him with all the affordances of learning.”
Quote in the paperNot yet classified - Finding
The article says the authors' model was designed in response to contemporary conditions and locates investment at the intersection of identity, capital, and ideology.
“As presented above, the model we propose responds to the demands and realities of the new world order, locating investment at the intersection of identity, capital, and ideology.”
Quote in the paperNot yet classified - Finding
The model is built around the idea that learners perform multiple identities across different fields as power circulates through linked spaces.
“Recognizing how power flows in different directions through these contiguous spaces, learners operating in different fields perform multiple identities.”
Quote in the paperNot yet classified - Finding
The model says learners position themselves and are positioned by others according to the ideologies and capital they have.
“Governed by different ideologies and possessing varying levels of capital, learners position themselves and are positioned by others in different contexts.”
Quote in the paperNot yet classified - Finding
The model says learners can use their agency to negotiate power, challenge norms, and claim the right to speak.
“Recognizing that they have the agency to assert their own identities, learners are able to negotiate symbolic capital, reframe relations of power, and challenge normative ways of thinking, in order to claim the right to speak.”
Quote in the paperNot yet classified - Finding
The article says Henrietta's desire to join knowledgeable people will shape how much she invests in the course's digital literacy practices.
“It is Henrietta's investment in this imagined identity that will determine to what extent she will invest in the digital literacy practices of the course.”
Quote in the paperNot yet classified - Finding
The article says Ayrton's investment in being a currency trader is concrete and linked to accumulating economic capital.
“In contrast to Henrietta's aspiration to communicate with other people, Ayrton's investment in the imagined identity of a currency trader is much more concrete.Its realization comes with more tangible measurements of success and translates into the accumulation of economic capital.”
Quote in the paperNot yet classified - Finding
The authors say learners invest not only for material or symbolic gain but also because they can use their existing capital as affordances for learning.
“In this model, learners invest in particular practices not only because they desire specific material or symbolic benefits, but also because they recognize that the capital they possess can serve as affordances to their learning.”
Quote in the paperNot yet classified - Finding
The authors claim the model treats identity as a struggle among habitus, desire, competing ideologies, and imagined identities.
“What this model seeks to do is to elucidate further that identity is a struggle of habitus and desire, of competing ideologies and imagined identities.”
Quote in the paperNot yet classified - Background
Earlier work on identity and investment was concentrated in North American language-learning settings and focused on the learner and the learning context.
“Earlier research that drew on Norton's constructs of identity and investment was focused on language learning research in the North American context and focused on the learner and the learning context.”
Quote in the paperNot yet classified - Background
The article argues that Norton's work on identity and investment emerged from applied linguistics' social turn and has been taken up in later scholarship.
“This article locates Norton's foundational work on identity and investment within the social turn of applied linguistics.It discusses its historical impetus and theoretical anchors, and it illustrates how these ideas have been taken up in recent scholarship.”
Quote in the paperNot yet classified - Method
The article uses two case studies, one of a female learner in rural Uganda and one of a male learner in urban Canada, to show how the model works.
“Drawing on two case studies of a female language learner in rural Uganda and a male language learner in urban Canada, the model illustrates how structure and agency, operating across time and space, can accord or refuse learners the power to speak.”
Quote in the paperNot yet classified - Background
The article defines capital, following Bourdieu, as power that extends across economic, cultural, and social forms.
“For Bourdieu (1986), capital is power and it extends from the material/economic to the cultural and social: Economic capital refers to wealth, property, and income; cultural capital refers to knowledge, educational credentials, and appreciation of specific cultural forms; and social capital refers to connections to networks of power.”
Quote in the paperNot yet classified0 of 1 sources checked- cites Bourdieu (1986)
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
- Background
It cites work arguing that global and neoliberal discourse emphasizes mobility and flexibility, but actual globalization also involves control and regimentation.
“Duchêne, Moyer, and Roberts (2013) point out that while "the discourses of globalization and neoliberalism are ones of 'mobility,' 'flows,' 'flexibility' and 'de-regulation,' many of the practices entailed in globalization are of control and regimentation" (p.9).”
Quote in the paperNot yet classified0 of 1 sources checked- cites Duchêne, Moyer, and Roberts (2013)
- Background
The paper says De Costa calls for an ideology-based framework to examine language learning in a more critical way.
“De Costa (2010) asserts the need for an ideology-based theoretical framework.”
Quote in the paperNot yet classified0 of 1 sources checked- cites De Costa (2010) source
- Method
The paper says the model asks about learners' present and imagined identities, the benefits they see in investment, and the control systems that make investment difficult.
“Built around these ideas, this model extends the question, "To what extent are learners invested in the language and literacy practices of their classrooms and communities?" to include the following:”
Quote in the paperNot yet classified - Background
The paper says the model keeps Norton's view of identity as multiple, contested, and changing over time and space.
“The conception of identity in this model still aligns well with the theoretical underpinnings of Norton's (2013) work, which defines identity as multiple, a site of struggle, and continually changing over time and space.”
Quote in the paperNot yet classified0 of 1 sources checked- cites Norton's (2013)
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
- Background
The article says globalization makes learners' lives more complex and full of contradiction.
“As globalization accelerates the flow of goods, people, ideas, and resources (Appadurai, 1990), the lived realities of learners have also become more complex and fraught with contradictions.”
Quote in the paperNot yet classified0 of 1 sources checked- cites Appadurai, 1990 source
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Experts’ personal metaphors and similes about language learning strategies
Oxford, R. L., Griffiths, C., Longhini, A., Cohen, A. D., Macaro, E., & Harris, V. (2014) · System · doi:10.1016/j.system.2014.01.001 · Cited by 35 · see citing works
De Costa, P. I. (2010) · Language and Linguistics Compass · doi:10.1111/j.1749-818x.2010.00229.x · Cited by 34 · see citing works
Learning about HIV/AIDS in Uganda: Digital Resources and Language Learner Identities
Norton, B., Jones, S., & Ahimbisibwe, D. (2011) · Canadian Modern Language Review/ La Revue canadienne des langues vivantes · doi:10.3138/cmlr.67.4.568 · Cited by 31 · see citing works
Self-citation'Passivity' or 'Potential'?: Teacher responses to learner identity in the low-level ESL classroom
Ollerhead, S. (2012) · Literacy and Numeracy Studies · doi:10.5130/lns.v20i1.2620 · Cited by 24 · see citing works
Promoting investment by Chinese learners in classroom discourse
Trent, J. (2008) · Journal of Asian Pacific Communication · doi:10.1075/japc.18.1.03tre · Cited by 21 · see citing works
Hybrid Identities and Adolescent Girls
Kamada, L. D. (2009) · Multilingual Matters eBooks · doi:10.21832/9781847692344 · Cited by 17 · see citing works
Inter-ethnic processes in post-Soviet space: theoretical background
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Review of Language and Learning in the Digital Age
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Cited by
Sorted by citations
A Transdisciplinary Framework for SLA in a Multilingual World
The Douglas Fir Group (2016) · Modern Language Journal · doi:10.1111/modl.12301 · Cited by 1,329 · see citing works
“Variation in access to opportunities across learners within a classroom or across classrooms plays a significant role in shaping learners’ investment in these contexts (Darvin & Norton, 2015; Morita, 2004).”
BackgroundIntroduction: Identity, Transdisciplinarity, and the Good Language Teacher
Costa, P. I. D., & Norton, B. (2017) · Modern Language Journal · doi:10.1111/modl.12368 · Cited by 430 · see citing works
“Collectively, these developments call for new constructions of “good practice” in the field of language teacher education (Hawkins & Norton, 2009) as well as enhanced understandings of ideology and capital, and learner and teacher investment (Darvin & Norton, 2015).”
Self-citationWolff, D., & Costa, P. I. D. (2017) · Modern Language Journal · doi:10.1111/modl.12370 · Cited by 284 · see citing works
International Journal of Language Studies
Nodoushan, P. M. A. S. (2014) · ADVANCED SCIENCES INDEX · Cited by 261 · see citing works
Investment and motivation in language learning: What's the difference?
Darvin, R., & Norton, B. (2021) · Language Teaching · doi:10.1017/s0261444821000057 · Cited by 260 · see citing works
“…published her influential TESOL Quarterly article, ‘Social identity, investment, and language learning’ (Norton Peirce, 1995) and the fifth year since we, Darvin and Norton (2015), co-authored ‘Identity and a model of investment in applied linguistics’ in the Annual Review of Applied Linguistics.”
BackgroundMethodInfluentialSelf-citationA Short Story Approach to Analyzing Teacher (Imagined) Identities Over Time
Barkhuizen, G. (2016) · TESOL Quarterly · doi:10.1002/tesq.311 · Cited by 264 · see citing works
“In these contexts teachers have more agency and power (Darvin & Norton, 2015) to manipulate and possibly change the social structures they engage with.”
BackgroundMethodInfluentialResearch tasks on identity in language learning and teaching
Norton, B., & Costa, P. I. D. (2017) · Language Teaching · doi:10.1017/s0261444817000325 · Cited by 218 · see citing works
“Wernicke 2014; De Costa, Rawal & Zaykovskaya 2017). According to Magnan & Lafford (2012), to facilitate student linguistic success abroad, candidates ought to engage in social computing networks with their future host families before arrival on site, receive extensive departure training about the target culture, live…”
BackgroundMethodInfluentialSelf-citationDuff, P. A. (2019) · Modern Language Journal · doi:10.1111/modl.12534 · Cited by 201 · see citing works
Lasagabaster, D. (2017) · Modern Language Journal · doi:10.1111/modl.12414 · Cited by 171 · see citing works
“Within the social turn of applied linguistics, studies on identity and investment led Darvin and Norton (2015) to assert that “language constructs our sense of self, and that identity is multiple, changing and a site of struggle” (p. 36).”
BackgroundIdentity and Language Learning: Back to the Future
Norton, B. (2016) · TESOL Quarterly · doi:10.1002/tesq.293 · Cited by 168 · see citing works
Self-citationDafouz, E. (2018) · International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism · doi:10.1080/13670050.2018.1487926 · Cited by 152 · see citing works
“…and position themselves in multiple ways before they even speak (e.g. as a native, bilingual, or monolingual speaker) and, as a result of this, they ‘navigate through spaces where they are not only granted or refused the right to speak, but also the right of entry’ (Darvin and Norton 2015, 43).”
BackgroundMethodInfluentialTranslanguaging and positioning in two-way dual language classrooms: a case for criticality
Hamman‐Ortiz, L. (2017) · Language and Education · doi:10.1080/09500782.2017.1384006 · Cited by 158 · see citing works
Liu, G., Darvin, R., & Ma, C. (2024) · Computers in Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.chb.2024.108362 · Cited by 165 · see citing works
Self-citationSixty Years of Language Motivation Research
Al‐Hoorie, A. H. (2017) · SAGE Open · doi:10.1177/2158244017701976 · Cited by 141 · see citing works
“Today’s technology has expanded what used to be imaginable for learners and teachers, opening the gate for imagined identities that are characteristic of the new world order (Darvin & Norton, 2015).”
BackgroundLanguage Teacher Educator Identity
Barkhuizen, G. (2021) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108874083 · Cited by 131 · see citing works
The Cambridge Handbook of Task-Based Language Teaching
Nuzzo, E., & Velásquez, D. C. (2021) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108868327 · Cited by 131 · see citing works
Jiang, L. (2018) · Journal of Second Language Writing · doi:10.1016/j.jslw.2018.03.002 · Cited by 127 · see citing works
Jiang, L., Yang, M., & Yu, S. (2020) · TESOL Quarterly · doi:10.1002/tesq.566 · Cited by 120 · see citing works
Doiz, A., & Lasagabaster, D. (2018) · TESOL Quarterly · doi:10.1002/tesq.452 · Cited by 108 · see citing works
Anderson, J., Chung, Y.-C., & Macleroy, V. (2018) · Language and Education · doi:10.1080/09500782.2018.1430151 · Cited by 100 · see citing works
“Whilst essentially collaborative and dialogic in nature (Bakhtin 1981), the theory sees the agency of the learner as central, recognising how, beyond linguistic and cognitive dimensions, learning involves an investment of self (Norton and Toohey 2011; Darvin and Norton 2015; Pahl and Rowsell 2012).”
BackgroundRescuing “emotion labor” from (and for) language teacher emotion research
Benesch, S., & Prior, M. T. (2023) · System · doi:10.1016/j.system.2023.102995 · Cited by 104 · see citing works
Multimodal Composing and Traditional Essays: Linguistic Performance and Learner Perceptions
Kim, Y., & Belcher, D. (2020) · RELC Journal · doi:10.1177/0033688220906943 · Cited by 98 · see citing works
Kendrick, M., Early, M., Michalovich, A., et al. (2022) · TESOL Quarterly · doi:10.1002/tesq.3146 · Cited by 95 · see citing works
Deroo, M. R., & Ponzio, C. (2019) · Bilingual Research Journal · doi:10.1080/15235882.2019.1589604 · Cited by 95 · see citing works
“While increased superdiversity has unbound language from nation-states’ ideologies (Blommaert, 2013; Darvin & Norton, 2015), new trends in bi/multilingual pedagogies may conflict with teachers’ language ideologies tied to old nationalistic monolingual paradigms.”
BackgroundIdentity, Investment, and Faces of English Internationally
Norton, B. (2015) · Chinese Journal of Applied Linguistics · doi:10.1515/cjal-2015-0025 · Cited by 91 · see citing works
“I then turn to a discussion of an expanded model of investment that I have developed with Ron Darvin, which responds to changes in the communicative landscape in an increasingly digital era, and locates investment at the intersection of identity, capital, and ideology (Darvin & Norton, 2015).”
BackgroundMethodInfluentialSelf-citationDigital multimodal composing in L2 classrooms: A research agenda
Jiang, L., & Hafner, C. A. (2024) · Language Teaching · doi:10.1017/s0261444824000107 · Cited by 95 · see citing works
“The sociological concept of investment (Darvin & Norton, 2015) has been used to explore how often-marginalised learner identities can be empowered through DMC in L2 classrooms (Jiang et al., 2020; Kendrick et al., 2022).”
Language, Education and Technology
(2017) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-02237-6 · Cited by 95 · see citing works
Investment and Language Learning in the 21 st Century
Darvin, R., & Norton, B. (2016) · Langage et société · doi:10.3917/ls.157.0019 · Cited by 90 · see citing works
“(Darvin, 2015).”
InfluentialSelf-citationExploring Language Teacher Identity Work as Ethical Self‐Formation
Miller, E. R., Morgan, B. D. G., & Medina, A. L. (2017) · Modern Language Journal · doi:10.1111/modl.12371 · Cited by 92 · see citing works
Kocabaş-Gedik, P., & Ortaçtepe, D. (2020) · Journal of Language Identity & Education · doi:10.1080/15348458.2020.1726756 · Cited by 85 · see citing works
“Language teachers, thus, can construct imagined identities which are formed by their own imaginary practices and reflections, and such identities might influence their investment, identification, and belonging (Darvin & Norton, 2015; Norton Peirce, 1995; Pavlenko & Norton, 2007).”
BackgroundMultilingualism and policy making in Greater China: ideological and implementational spaces
Shen, Q., & Gao, X. A. (2018) · Language Policy · doi:10.1007/s10993-018-9473-7 · Cited by 87 · see citing works
Ou, A. W., & Gu, M. M. (2018) · International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism · doi:10.1080/13670050.2018.1472207 · Cited by 80 · see citing works
Sustaining Critical Approaches to Translanguaging in Education: A Contextual Framework
Mendoza, A., Hamman‐Ortiz, L., Tian, Z., Rajendram, S., Tai, K. W. H., Ho, W. Y. J., & Sah, P. K. (2023) · TESOL Quarterly · doi:10.1002/tesq.3240 · Cited by 89 · see citing works
Galante, A. (2019) · Applied Linguistics Review · doi:10.1515/applirev-2018-0116 · Cited by 80 · see citing works
From Rural China to the Digital Wilds: Negotiating Digital Repertoires to Claim the Right to Speak
Liu, G., & Darvin, R. (2023) · TESOL Quarterly · doi:10.1002/tesq.3233 · Cited by 78 · see citing works
Self-citationCreativity in language learning and teaching: Translingual practices and transcultural identities
Jones, R. H. (2019) · Applied Linguistics Review · doi:10.1515/applirev-2018-0114 · Cited by 83 · see citing works
The Role of English Language Institutes in Iran
Haghighi, F. M., & Norton, B. (2016) · TESOL Quarterly · doi:10.1002/tesq.338 · Cited by 74 · see citing works
“The role of ELIs in Iran is thus best understood with reference to the enhanced range of identities made possible by improved communicative command of English and associated increases in economic, social, and cultural capital (Darvin & Norton, 2015).”
BackgroundSelf-citationMori, J., & Sanuth, K. K. (2017) · Applied Linguistics · doi:10.1093/applin/amx042 · Cited by 70 · see citing works
Gong, Y. F., Guo, Q., Li, M., Lai, C., & Wang, C. (2021) · System · doi:10.1016/j.system.2021.102462 · Cited by 72 · see citing works
The doctoral gaze: Foreign PhD students’ internal and external academic discourse socialization
Anderson, T. (2017) · Linguistics and Education · doi:10.1016/j.linged.2016.12.001 · Cited by 73 · see citing works
“…language perspective, the socialization of language learners into the various communities around them can have a considerable impact on providing legitimate opportunities to use language, thereby increasing investment in learning and participation (Darvin & Norton, 2015; Norton Pierce, 1995).”
BackgroundBai, L., & Wang, Y. (2022) · Journal of Diversity in Higher Education · doi:10.1037/dhe0000409 · Cited by 73 · see citing works
The African Storybook and Language Teacher Identity in Digital Times
Stranger–Johannessen, E., & Norton, B. (2017) · Modern Language Journal · doi:10.1111/modl.12374 · Cited by 72 · see citing works
“The 2015 model of investment (Darvin & Norton, 2015) provided a useful framework with which to analyze Monica’s investment, and its connection to identity, capital, and ideology.”
BackgroundMethodInfluentialSelf-citationIndigenous Language Revitalization and Applied Linguistics: Parallel Histories, Shared Futures?
McIvor, O. (2020) · Annual Review of Applied Linguistics · doi:10.1017/s0267190520000094 · Cited by 71 · see citing works
“However, much of the second language literature on identity focuses on adult immigrant and foreign language learning contexts (as explained in Darvin & Norton, 2015; Norton, 2000; Norton, 2019; Pavlenko & Blackledge, 2004) and, therefore, may not translate directly to the realities and context of…”
Background“Impossible Is Nothing”: Expressing Difficult Knowledge Through Digital Storytelling
Johnson, L., & Kendrick, M. (2016) · Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy · doi:10.1002/jaal.624 · Cited by 68 · see citing works
Proactive Language Learning Theory
Papi, M., & Hiver, P. V. (2024) · Language Learning · doi:10.1111/lang.12644 · Cited by 66 · see citing works
Digital Literacies in TESOL : Mapping Out the Terrain
Darvin, R., & Hafner, C. A. (2022) · TESOL Quarterly · doi:10.1002/tesq.3161 · Cited by 71 · see citing works
Self-citationDarvin, R. (2019) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-28380-3_12 · Cited by 61 · see citing works
Self-citationDigital Multimodal Composing in L2 Learning: Ideologies and Impact
Jiang, L., & Ren, W. (2020) · Journal of Language Identity & Education · doi:10.1080/15348458.2020.1753192 · Cited by 61 · see citing works
“Moreover, aligning with Darvin and Norton (2015) expanded model, the present study shows that investment in English learning is a relational process between students and teachers.”
BackgroundMethodInfluentialRiestenberg, K., & Sherris, A. (2018) · Canadian Modern Language Review/ La Revue canadienne des langues vivantes · doi:10.3138/cmlr.4051 · Cited by 61 · see citing works
“These characteristics of Indigenous language learning make it appropriate to consider a model of investment (Darvin & Norton, 2015; Norton, 2000, 2013), which has explicit sociocultural components, over a model of motivation alone (e.g., Dö rnyei & Ushioda, 2009), which has no explicit…”
BackgroundToward a theory of affordable loss
Martina, R. (2019) · Small Business Economics · doi:10.1007/s11187-019-00151-y · Cited by 62 · see citing works
“Darvin and Norton (2015, p. 46) suggest that B because learners want to be part of a country or a peer group, to seek romance, or to achieve financial security, learners invest because there is something that they want for themselves.”
Investigating Language Tutor Social Inclusion Identities
Barkhuizen, G. (2017) · Modern Language Journal · doi:10.1111/modl.12369 · Cited by 60 · see citing works
Lambert, C., Gong, Q., & Zhang, G. Q. (2021) · Language Teaching Research · doi:10.1177/1362168820981407 · Cited by 60 · see citing works
“The study thus points to the importance of learners’ individual differences for lexical learning and the potential role of the capital that learners bring to the classroom (Darvin & Norton, 2015).”
BackgroundMethodResultInfluentialPark, M. Y. (2021) · International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism · doi:10.1080/13670050.2021.1913988 · Cited by 59 · see citing works
“Drawing on Bourdieu’s use of economic constructs, Darvin and Norton (2015) developed a model of language investment at the ‘intersection of identity, capital and ideology’ (46).”
BackgroundMethodEmerging identities in virtual exchange
Helm, F. (2018) · doi:10.14705/rpnet.2018.25.9782490057191 · Cited by 58 · see citing works
Han, Y., & Reinhardt, J. S. (2022) · TESOL Quarterly · doi:10.1002/tesq.3142 · Cited by 59 · see citing works
Fisher, L. G., Evans, M., Forbes, K., Gayton, A. M., Liu, Y., & Rutgers, D. (2022) · International Journal of Multilingualism · doi:10.1080/14790718.2022.2060235 · Cited by 62 · see citing works
“Concerned with the relational and socially-and tem-porally-constructed nature of linguistic identity, scholars (e.g. Block, 2007; Darvin & Norton, 2015; Norton, 2013; Norton & Toohey, 2011; Norton Peirce, 1995) have emphasised the complexity and fl uidity of people ’ s identi fi cations with their…”
Lee, S., & Jeon, J. (2022) · Computer Assisted Language Learning · doi:10.1080/09588221.2022.2067182 · Cited by 62 · see citing works
“These findings corroborated previous research (e.g., Park & Lee, 2006) and provided evidence for the highly social nature of language tutoring (Darvin & Norton, 2015).”
Role Models in Language Learning: Results of a Large-Scale International Survey
Muir, C., Dörnyei, Z., & Adolphs, S. (2019) · Applied Linguistics · doi:10.1093/applin/amz056 · Cited by 59 · see citing works
Social Class and The Unequal Digital Literacies of Youth
Darvin, R. (2018) · Language and Literacy · doi:10.20360/langandlit29407 · Cited by 53 · see citing works
““With how the world is just connected and how information is at your fingertips, you can be anyone or anything you want to be and it’s just right there (Interview with Ayrton, October 2013, quoted in Darvin & Norton, 2015, p. 115).”
BackgroundSelf-citationSchmid, E. C. (2021) · Applied Linguistics Review · doi:10.1515/applirev-2020-0117 · Cited by 49 · see citing works
Digital multimodal composing as translanguaging assessment in CLIL classrooms
Jiang, L., Li, Z., & Leung, J. S. C. (2024) · Learning and Instruction · doi:10.1016/j.learninstruc.2024.101900 · Cited by 45 · see citing works
Han, Y., Costa, P. I. D., & Cui, Y. (2018) · Language Policy · doi:10.1007/s10993-018-9463-9 · Cited by 46 · see citing works
“In short, and in keeping with Darvin and Norton’s (2015) model of investment (see Figure 4) that looks at the intersection between ideology, identity and capital, Alim’s ideology towards Putonghua, which he valued for its attendant capital, solidified his investment in learning the language and led him to position him…”
BackgroundResultInfluentialLanguage, Ideology, and Critical Digital Literacy
Darvin, R. (2017) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-02237-6_35 · Cited by 52 · see citing works
Self-citationConnecting worlds: interculturality, identity and multilingual digital stories in the making
Anderson, J., & Macleroy, V. (2017) · Language and Intercultural Communication · doi:10.1080/14708477.2017.1375592 · Cited by 46 · see citing works
“…working, all have noticed the increased levels of engagement, creativity and critical thinking when students feel a sense of agency and ownership, when, in other words, there is an investment of self (Dörnyei, 2009; Van Lier, 2007) and students are given the right to speak (Darvin & Norton, 2015).”
BackgroundObojska, M. A. (2021) · Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development · doi:10.1080/01434632.2021.1913175 · Cited by 45 · see citing works
“Indeed, imaginations of possible selves and modes of belonging have previously been found to influence students’ language learning trajectories (Darvin and Norton 2015; Kramsch 2009; Norton 2013; Pavlenko and Norton 2007).”
BackgroundLegitimising teacher identity: Investment and agency from an ecological perspective
Bowen, N. E. J. A., Satienchayakorn, N., Teedaaksornsakul, M., & Thomas, N. (2021) · Teaching and Teacher Education · doi:10.1016/j.tate.2021.103519 · Cited by 45 · see citing works
“The model is primarily focused on how “learners are able to negotiate symbolic capital, reframe relations of power, and challenge normative ways of thinking, in order to claim the right to speak” (Darvin & Norton, 2015, p. 47).”
BackgroundImagined Communities, Identity, and English Language Learning in a Multilingual World
Norton, B., & Pavlenko, A. (2019) · Springer international handbooks of education · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-02899-2_34 · Cited by 53 · see citing works
Self-citationGalante, A., & Cruz, J. W. N. D. (2021) · Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development · doi:10.1080/01434632.2021.1931244 · Cited by 44 · see citing works
“There is enough evidence that shows that languages shape the identity construction of plurilinguals (Darvin and Norton 2015; Grosjean 2010; Henry and Thorsen 2018; Koven 2007; Pavlenko 2006), and that individuals who are pro fi - cient in their L2 are more likely to self-identify as bilinguals (Sia…”
BackgroundXu, W. J., Stahl, G., & Cheng, H. (2022) · Language and Education · doi:10.1080/09500782.2022.2074797 · Cited by 43 · see citing works
Foreign and multilingual language play on social sites as an identity marker
Dubravac, V., & Skopljak, N. (2019) · Journal of Multicultural Discourses · doi:10.1080/17447143.2019.1701678 · Cited by 42 · see citing works
“However, in the context of learning a lingua franca, it opens up the opportunity for belonging to a much wider community, for acquiring global citizenship (Darvin and Norton 2015).”
BackgroundA Critical Praxis: Narrowing the Gap Between Identity, Theory, and Practice
Waller, L., Wethers, K., & Costa, P. I. D. (2016) · TESOL Journal · doi:10.1002/tesj.256 · Cited by 42 · see citing works
Representing the Margins: Multimodal Performance as a Tool for Critical Reflection and Pedagogy
Darvin, R. (2015) · TESOL Quarterly · doi:10.1002/tesq.235 · Cited by 41 · see citing works
Self-citationCritical digital literacies, agentic practices, and AI-mediated informal digital learning of English
Liu, G., Lee, J. S., & Xian, Z. (2025) · System · doi:10.1016/j.system.2025.103797 · Cited by 50 · see citing works
Manan, S. A., & Hajar, A. (2022) · Journal of Language Identity & Education · doi:10.1080/15348458.2022.2083623 · Cited by 40 · see citing works
“By this, Norton (2015) precisely refers to the linguistic and cultural capital, learners’ prior knowledge, home literacies, and mother tongues.”
InfluentialSocial class and the inequality of English speakers in a globalized world
Darvin, R. (2017) · Journal of English as a Lingua Franca · doi:10.1515/jelf-2017-0014 · Cited by 40 · see citing works
“To provide a critical framework that responds to these issues, Darvin and Norton (2015) have constructed a model of investment that demonstrates how identity, capital, and ideology are at work in every communicative context (Figure 1).”
BackgroundInfluentialSelf-citationThe materialization of language in tourism networks
Higgins, C., & Ikeda, M. (2019) · Applied Linguistics Review · doi:10.1515/applirev-2019-0100 · Cited by 39 · see citing works
“…differences among language learners and the importance of race, gender, and class in learners’ access to language learning opportunities focuses mostly on discourse and how people engage with one another through studies of agency, investment, and identity (Miller 2014; Darvin and Norton 2015).”
BackgroundDisrupting Boundaries in Education and Research
Smythe, S., Hill, C., MacDonald, M., Dagenais, D., Sinclair, N., & Toohey, K. (2017) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108234931 · Cited by 39 · see citing works
Motivational mechanisms of ethnic minorities’ social media engagement with mainstream culture
Lai, C., Gu, M. M., Gao, F., & Yung, J. W. S. (2020) · Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development · doi:10.1080/01434632.2020.1738442 · Cited by 39 · see citing works
“According to Darvin and Norton (2015), learners invest in particular practices for both desired material or symbolic resources and the perceived likelihood of utilising their existent capital as the affordance of learning.”
BackgroundInfluentialYung, K. W. H. (2019) · Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development · doi:10.1080/01434632.2019.1660667 · Cited by 38 · see citing works
Yazan, B. (2023) · Language Learning Journal · doi:10.1080/09571736.2023.2239843 · Cited by 38 · see citing works
Agency and feedback-seeking: academic English socialization of L2 students in Hong Kong
Sung, C. C. M. (2022) · Language and Education · doi:10.1080/09500782.2022.2085048 · Cited by 37 · see citing works
“Derived from a complex interplay between the past and the present (Reay 2004), habitus can provide individuals with a sense of their place in a given field, continuously shaping their understandings of what is reasonable or possible (Darvin and Norton 2015).”
BackgroundConstructing a Voice in English as a Foreign Language: Identity and Engagement
Shahri, M. N. N. (2017) · TESOL Quarterly · doi:10.1002/tesq.373 · Cited by 36 · see citing works
Lived transitions : experiences of learning and inclusion among newly arrived students
Folke, J. N. (2017) · Cited by 36 · see citing works
Darvin, R. (2022) · English for Specific Purposes · doi:10.1016/j.esp.2022.11.004 · Cited by 36 · see citing works
Self-citationIdentity, Investment, and TESOL
Darvin, R., & Norton, B. (2018) · The TESOL Encyclopedia of English Language Teaching · doi:10.1002/9781118784235.eelt0802 · Cited by 36 · see citing works
Self-citation‘I’m never going to be part of it’: identity, investment and learning Korean
Gearing, N., & Roger, P. (2017) · Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development · doi:10.1080/01434632.2017.1323909 · Cited by 35 · see citing works
“Darvin and Norton (2015, 44) use Bourdieu’s (1986) understanding of capital equalling power, which extends from the material to the cultural and social.”
BackgroundMethodInfluentialLanguage Learning while Negotiating Race and Ethnicity Abroad
Quan, T. (2018) · Frontiers The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad · doi:10.36366/frontiers.v30i2.410 · Cited by 35 · see citing works
“Therefore, identities are multiple, fluid, and sociohistorically shaped and constrained by ideologies (Darvin & Norton, 2015).”
BackgroundBridging imagination and informal digital learning of English: a mixed-method investigation
Liu, G., Zhang, Y., & Zhang, R. (2023) · Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development · doi:10.1080/01434632.2023.2173214 · Cited by 37 · see citing works
“Investing in L2 learning is the process of negotiating identity, accumulating capital, and navigating ideological structures (Darvin and Norton 2015; Darvin and Norton 2023).”
Trajectory of a language broker: between privilege and precarity
Kraft, K. (2019) · International Journal of Multilingualism · doi:10.1080/14790718.2020.1682256 · Cited by 34 · see citing works
“…employability and migrants’ language skills is also seen in migrant workers’ own orientations to the importance of learning specific languages (Darvin & Norton, 2015; Flubacher, Coray, & Duchêne, 2016) and in how refugees are trained in intercultural communication and behaviour skills (Del…”
BackgroundEthnolinguistic Vitality, Identity and Power: Investment in SLA
Clément, R., & Norton, B. (2020) · Journal of Language and Social Psychology · doi:10.1177/0261927x20966734 · Cited by 38 · see citing works
“The construct of investment in language learning (Darvin & Norton, 2015; Norton, 2013, 2020) is informed by the work of Bourdieu (1977, 1986, 1987, 1991), who has explicitly drawn attention to the importance of power in structuring speech.”
BackgroundSelf-citationIdentity, politeness and discursive practices in a changing world
Eslami, Z. R., Larina, T. V., & Pashmforoosh, R. (2023) · Russian Journal of Linguistics · doi:10.22363/2687-0088-34051 · Cited by 34 · see citing works
“7–38 приводить к конфликтам и изменениям (Darvin & Norton 2015, Miller et al. & McKinney 2011) подчеркивает взаимосвязь отдельного индивида, изучаю-щего иностранный язык, и более широкого социального мира, обращает внимание на гибкость и инициативность учащегося при реализации своей идентичности, а…”
Learner Identity and Learners’ Investment in EFL Learning: A Multiple Case Study
Teng, M. F. (2019) · DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) · Cited by 33 · see citing works
Chang, Y.-C., & Chang, Y.-J. (2018) · Language and Intercultural Communication · doi:10.1080/14708477.2018.1450878 · Cited by 33 · see citing works
“Much L2 research has shown that transnational language learners are able to exert their individual agency to overcome existing structural constraints and invest in practices that have the potential to transform their lives (Darvin & Norton, 2015; Flowerdew & Miller, 2008).”
BackgroundWords that don’t translate: investing in decolonizing practices through translanguaging
Darvin, R., & Zhang, Y. (2023) · Language Awareness · doi:10.1080/09658416.2023.2238595 · Cited by 34 · see citing works
“…of positionality, voice, and authority (Dei, 2019), the project of decolonizing language and literacy education requires a space where learners can claim the right to speak (Norton, 2013; Darvin & Norton, 2015), author new knowledges, and reimagine alternatives to colonial thinking and practice.”
BackgroundSelf-citationKaram, F. J., Kibler, A. K., & Yoder, P. J. (2017) · International Journal of Intercultural Relations · doi:10.1016/j.ijintrel.2017.04.006 · Cited by 32 · see citing works
How to Teach an Additional Language
den Branden, K. V. (2022) · Task-based language teaching · doi:10.1075/tblt.15 · Cited by 32 · see citing works
Liu, G. (2023) · Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development · doi:10.1080/01434632.2023.2241859 · Cited by 34 · see citing works
“When language learners traverse across online and offline spaces, the colluding or competing ideologies embedded in different conditions of existence can position learners in various ways and thus shape their identities, as well as inform the values of capital (Darvin and Norton 2015).”
InfluentialIdentity and Language Learning: A 2019 Retrospective Account
Norton, B. (2019) · Canadian Modern Language Review/ La Revue canadienne des langues vivantes · doi:10.3138/cmlr.2019-0287 · Cited by 31 · see citing works
Self-citationSung, C. C. M. (2020) · Lingua · doi:10.1016/j.lingua.2020.102919 · Cited by 30 · see citing works
An EFL Teacher’s Investment in Digital Multimodal Composing
Jiang, L., Yu, S., & Zhao, Y. (2020) · ELT Journal · doi:10.1093/elt/ccaa010 · Cited by 30 · see citing works
- Authors
- Darvin, R., & Norton, B.
- Affiliations
- University of British Columbia (CA)
- Venue
- Annual Review of Applied Linguistics
- Publisher
- Cambridge University Press (CUP)
- Published
- 2015-03
- Volume
- 35
- Pages
- 36-56
- ISSN
- 0267-1905 (ISSN-L)
- 1471-6356
- OpenAlex
- W1995814878
- Cited by
- 1,186
- References
- 112
- Citations by year
- 2026: 182 · 2025: 152 · 2024: 146 · 2023: 93 · 2022: 141 · 2021: 136 · 2020: 102 · 2019: 72 · 2018: 56 · 2017: 58 · 2016: 35 · 2015: 8 · 2014: 1 · 2012: 1
- FWCI
- 349.42
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Annual Review of Applied Linguistics (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Language and Linguistics › EFL/ESL Teaching and Learning
- Social Sciences › Linguistics and Language › Multilingual Education and Policy
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Language and Linguistics › Linguistics and Language Analysis
- Keywords
- identity, investment, Norton, ideology, capital, language learning, deterritorialization, structure and agency, online and offline learning
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