Narratives of second language

identity amongst young English

learners in Hong Kong
Sharon Besser and Alice Chik

This article reports on an exploratory study responding to the problem of

understanding how young learners position themselves as speakers of a
foreign language. A group of 24 Hong Kong primary-school children (ages
10–12) who are in the process of simultaneously learning English and
developing narratives of identities as English speakers, participated in a
photo-elicitation project. Two distinct narratives of identity were found.
‘Cosmopolitans’ seemed to draw on multiple resources, largely based on
their access to the social and economic benefits of using a great variety of
English learning opportunities and popular culture media. ‘Pragmatists’
had fewer resources and were more uncertain about their future learning
opportunities. This study demonstrates the importance of considering how
educational policy, cultural values, and distribution of resources may impact
on young learners studying in similar contexts. Implications are explored
and suggestions made for ways teachers can support and foster identity
development.

Introduction Most research on language identity development amongst young

learners is set in contexts where immigrant children acquire the
majority language as their second language (L2) (see, for example,
Cummins 2000 on North American contexts). In these immersion
and/or bilingual settings, children form identities as speakers of that
L2 based around their needs to survive in school and to assimilate with
the community of speakers of that majority language. There has been
significantly less work done in contexts, such as Asia, where children
learn languages for other reasons, such as the perceived advantages they
bring for social, economic, and academic upward mobility (Evans 2013).
As the numbers of young English learners increase globally, there is a
need to develop understanding of not only how young learners learn
English in these settings, but how they negotiate their identities as
English learners and users. Hong Kong is a particularly interesting
context because English is desired as a form of linguistic capital, but
the population is predominately Chinese speaking and opportunities to
learn English are not equally distributed (Poon 2010). This article aims

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 to expand our theoretical understanding of L2 identity development by
raising questions and looking at how young Chinese-speaking learners
(ages 10–12) position themselves as English speakers and learners in
Hong Kong.

Theoretical Language identity development is a holistic, complex process that

perspective includes linguistic, social, and cultural aspects (Block 2007). Broadly,
L2 identity is defined as ‘any aspect of a person’s identity that is
connected to their knowledge or use of a second language’ (Benson,
Barkhuizen, Bodycott, and Brown 2013: 28). According to Benson et al.
(ibid.: 28), the concept of L2 identity includes several crucial aspects:
1 L2 identities are indistinct from one’s personal or social identity;
2 identities influenced by L2 learning have specific qualities that are
often difficult to define;
3 when we acquire a L2, ‘the second language identity work becomes
an integral part of the wider task of the construction of narrative
identities’ (op.cit.: 28).
When we adopt this conception of L2 identity to understand young
learners, we assume that children make decisions about who they are.
Furthermore, as children learn a L2, this process of language learning
then becomes a key feature of the overall identity work children do.
According to Johnston (2004: 23),
building an identity means coming to see in ourselves the
characteristics of particular categories (and roles) of people and
developing a sense of what it feels like to be that sort of person and
belong in certain spaces.
So, for a young learner of English, particular categories and roles
available might be:
■■ someone who is good at English
■■ someone whose parents make them go to after-school English lessons
■■ someone who likes English music
■■ someone who likes English video games
■■ someone who does not like English.
‘Certain spaces’ are classrooms, activities, learning materials, and
relationships where young learners have opportunities to develop and
try out what it is like being an English speaker.
Agency may play a critical role when young learners construct their L2
identities in a given context (Norton 2000; Block 2007). Agency refers to
learner initiative and is interdependent and mediated by the sociocultural
context (van Lier 2008). As children make decisions about who they are as
English learners, for example, they can become ‘agentive characters who
are active and assume responsibility, and more passive characters who do
not’ (Johnston op.cit.: 23). A multitude of factors affects whether young
learners choose to be agentive or passive. As children take up positions
of identity, they are pushed and pulled between their own desires and
choices and the cultural forces of their community. These factors are also
relational in the sense that children are subjects of and to these choices

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 and forces. In this way, identities are culturally and socially embedded
(Markus and Nurius 1986; Block 2007). Social structures may refer to
opportunities and resources to use language. Resources can be material
or immaterial such as access to after-school tutoring or life experiences
conducive to foreign language (FL) acquisition. Ideology of the context
could refer to the expectations of the community about how important
it is to be proficient in the L2, or social and political conflicts about who
has the power to make policy decisions about language learning and use
in a community (Block 2007). With this in mind, we now examine the
sociocultural forces affecting English learning in Hong Kong.

Learning English Hong Kong schools are divided into tuition-charging private schools and
in Hong Kong state-funded public schools, many sponsored by religious and charitable
organizations. Children attend primary school from the age of 6 to 11,
and then they are allocated to a secondary school. All public primary
schools use Chinese as the medium of instruction, with some content
subjects being offered in English, and English language is taught as a
separate subject. About one quarter of the public secondary schools use
English as the medium of instruction (EMI), with all content subjects
being taught in English. Most private primary and secondary schools
are EMI schools catering to better-off families. The demand for EMI
education far exceeds the supply of available places, so the process of
getting allocated to an EMI school is highly competitive (Poon op.cit.).

Research aims and The research questions that frame the present study are as follows:
methodology
1 What narratives of identity do Hong Kong young learners form?
2 What resources do they draw on to position themselves as English
learners and users?
The data discussed in this article are extracted from a larger study
which examined cultural practices surrounding English learning and
testing in Hong Kong (Chik and Besser 2011). We approached the
school principals and they nominated teachers, students, and parents
to participate, and standard research ethical protocols were followed in
obtaining permission. The 24 students aged 10–12 years (12 boys and 12
girls) were from six different schools (see Table 1). The six schools were
broadly categorized as follows: tuition-charging private schools and state-
funded public schools of which there were two groups: church-affiliated
schools and schools affiliated to charitable organizations. Notably,
three of these six schools were viewed as ‘elite’ by parents and school
guides. The six schools were located in six different school districts,
chosen to represent a cross-section of economic classes in Hong Kong.
The Education Bureau encourages parents to send their children to the
primary schools in their own residential school districts. Thus, except
for the tuition-charging private schools, the geographical locations of the
schools frequently reflect the socio-economic backgrounds of the student
population. Over a three-year period, we followed these children using
a multi-method qualitative approach (Creswell and Plano Clark 2007)
to conduct interviews, field work, and classroom observations. In this
article, we focus on data produced from a photo-elicitation project that
took place between 2007 and 2008.

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 School School Location Participants
name type/size (school year)
Elite private Tuition paying Affluent David (P5)
($40,000/year)/ neighbourhood Jack (P5)
EMI K*–12 school Ted (P6)
James (P6)
Private Tuition paying Middle-class Hilda (P5)
($18,000–$30,000/ neighbourhood Candy (P5)
year) Rain (P6)
Don (P6)
Elite church Tuition free Upper middle-class Andy (P5)
neighbourhood Joe (P5)
Carmen (P6)
Eric (P6)
Church Tuition free Middle-class Cathy (P5)
neighbourhood Carol (P5)
Celia (P6)
Cherry (P6)
Elite Tuition free Middle-class Bobbie (P5)
organization neighbourhood Teresa (P5)
Ada (P6)
Justin (P6)
Charitable Tuition free Working-class Elaine (P5)
1
ta b l e
organization neighbourhood Cara (P5)
Participants and Ben (P6)
schools Michael (P6)
Note: *K = kindergarten

The photo- Photo-elicitation is a method used to capture participants’ reflections

elicitation project in rich detail on a particular topic (Alerby and Hornqvist 2005). The
24 participants were given disposable cameras and instructed to take
photos of English learning opportunities, which included learning
tools, objects, places, and people. We then met with the students and
asked them to describe the learning tools, objects, places, and people
that served as the subjects of the photos. These discussions around
the photos elicited rich detail giving insight into the participants’
English identities. By the end of project, we collected more than 200
photographs and 100 hours of narrative data (in both Cantonese
Chinese and English). The interview data were reviewed in detail and
selected parts translated (if necessary) and transcribed.
Identity development work is done by constructing narratives and
imagining possibilities (Norton op.cit.). Evidence for development,
then, can be found in narratives from the participants that are related
to English learning and their English personal and social world,
particularly narratives in which the child connects learning to him or
herself. Evidence that would develop the notion of ‘specific qualities’
(Benson et al. op.cit.) unique to those who learn a L2 might be ways
participants displayed agency in language learning, or specific ways
participants made use of resources available to them. Furthermore, we
followed Benson et al. (op.cit.) in accepting and valuing the participants’
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 subjective reality and portrayal of their experiences and perspectives as
important and relevant.
As we reread the data, recurrent themes were noted and used for coding
(Creswell and Plano Clark op.cit.). At the coding stage, excerpts and
photographs matching themes (for example English-language popular
culture, tutorial) were extracted. The themes generated thus served as
the framework to analyse the diverse data set. Factors that seemed to be
affecting narratives of identity formation were labelled as resources (for
example after-school tutoring, ideology surrounding EMI education,
parental expectations). Data analysis yielded a clear division amongst
the narratives of the participants. These narratives served as evidence
for differences in identity development. We named these for the
purpose of explanation, as ‘Cosmopolitans’ and ‘Pragmatists’.

Narratives of ‘Cosmopolitans’ is a term borrowed from Hannerz (2004: 70) in

English identity describing individuals who ‘display an openness towards divergent cultural
development experiences’. Cosmopolitans are competent in that they have cultivated
Cosmopolitans a skill in manoeuvring expertly among cultures that are not their own
(ibid.). A minority of participants could be identified as ‘cosmopolitans’
developing expertise in English language and culture (Block 2002), and
negotiating a L2 identity in English language and culture alongside their L1
identity as Cantonese Chinese speakers. This was the case for David and
Jack (P5, Elite Private), Ted and James (P6, Elite Private), Andy (P5, Elite
Church), and Rain (P6, Private).1 The resources they drew on were their
status as EMI students and popular culture.
Their EMI status came from the circumstances of their EMI primary
school attendance, the result of which was that they were guaranteed
places at prestigious EMI secondary schools. Therefore, ‘EMI student’
was already a given as an identity and did not need to be negotiated.
Attendance at an EMI school seemed to function as a resource for the
cosmopolitan narrative. Participants explained how this enrolment
was a clear pathway to university attendance and future economic
success. Participants at the two private schools had exposure not only to
academics in English, but also access to teachers and peers who served
as role models for cosmopolitans.
In addition, these participants drew heavily on popular culture as
resources. Cosmopolitans had access to iPods, computers, and good
quality English books, and engagement in popular culture was evident,
specifically with media and literature. Rain defined her experiences
with popular culture as a preferred way of engaging in English and
learning:

I can learn by myself outside school, such as chatting with English

speakers through MSN and Xanga, because we like the same idols.
(Rain, P6, Private, in Chinese)

Social networking sites and digital games provided out-of-class

avenues for the participants to interact with English speakers online.
The following describes a social networking/gaming site the boys
participated in called Club Penguin:

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 James: We communicate with other penguins in English
because they are all from other uh the world. With
other kids in other countries.
Interviewer: Really? Like real kids?
James: Yeah. And we use uh because each penguin
[represents] every kid and we will communicate
with them as penguins. (James, P6, Elite Private, in
English)
Another way that participants engaged with English was through
reading books and magazines for pleasure:
Jack showed a photo of a bookshelf in his bedroom. He read off
the titles: Horrible Science, Geronimo Stilton, Captain Underpants.
David then showed the photos of his books including the Harry
Potter series which he had just finished reading and five years of
Guinness World Records. (Jack and David, P5, Elite Private, field
notes)
These titles were the same best-sellers their native English-speaking
peers in Hong Kong and beyond were reading. Having these books and
being able to participate in the same world as their international peers
seemed a significant part of Jack’s and David’s identities as English
speakers.
Ada (P6, Elite Organization) was also an avid reader of English
children’s fiction. She spoke about going to the library and borrowing
books in the Magic Tree House series.

Ada: Sometimes it [the Magic Tree House series] is funny

I think and sometimes it is exciting.
Interviewer: It’s a good series, there’s lots of them.
Ada: Yeah, and this book is, er, my first time to read all
the book.
Interviewer: Oh, so great, you read the whole book. (Interview in
English)
Ada seemed less concerned with being a participant in popular culture,
and more proud of her growing competence to read in English. These
reading experiences were shaping her identity (and those of Jack,
David, and others) as a reader of English texts. Similarly, being a fan of
English pop music was shaping Rain’s identity, and social networking
in English was evidence of James’ comfort in adopting a place as a
participant of that world.

Pragmatists In contrast to the above group, the majority of participants in our study
were negotiating resources of ideology that privileged EMI education
and parental definitions of success. We named their narratives as
‘pragmatist’ in keeping with Hong Kong literature on the subject of
learning English for pragmatic purposes and access to linguistic capital
(see, for example, Lai and Byram 2003).

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 These participants’ parents played a significant role in their L2 identity
development by socializing their children into the belief systems about
the importance of EMI education. As spaces are limited in these EMI
schools, participants knew that they had to be exceptional in English to
stand out and get a place.
My parents think that knowing English is everything, not knowing
English means I have no life. (Candy, P5, Private, in Chinese)
Many of the participants were negotiating a narrative from their parents
that they were not good enough at English to get a place at an EMI
school, and that they needed to get better.
Candy: My father thinks my English is bad. He would give me a 1
[on a scale from 1 to 5]. (Candy, P5, Private, in Chinese)
Eric:  Because, um, eh, my English is not so good. If I can do
more I can improve my English. (Eric, P6, Elite Church, in
English)
With a perceived deficiency in proficiency level, parents required
participants to attend after-school tutorials and to do supplementary
English exercises. Eric showed a photo of a large pile of workbooks he
was working through at the insistence of his parents. Pragmatists were
aware that if they wanted to be admitted to EMI schools, they had to do
something unique such as get high test scores in school examinations or
demonstrate their English proficiency with external tests, for instance the
Cambridge Young Learners English series (YLE) (Chik and Besser op.cit.).
Not all of the pragmatists had the financial access to supplementary
resources such as tutoring or external exams. This was the case for
those who attended the state-funded church and charitable organization
schools. These participants seemed aware of their limited opportunity
to be allocated an EMI school place. Their narratives suggested they
were actively positioning themselves as limited English speakers with
little or no identity in English.
A notable exception was found at the Charitable Organization school.
Here, the parents did not have the financial resources to support extra
English learning, but the Principal worked to mobilize resources to support
students who showed potential for English achievement and success in
EMI schools. His English Ambassador Programme gave a small group
of students a variety of agentive opportunities to explore possibilities
in which they would attend an EMI school and be part of the English-
speaking community. Elaine (P5), Cara (P5), and Ben (P6) participated in
this Programme. In order to be selected, the students explained that they
had to be ‘really good at English’ (Elaine, P5, Charitable Organization). As
part of this Programme, the ambassadors received scholarships to take
preparation classes for the Cambridge YLE and to take the tests:
We were picked to do the YLE exams [because we are the best at
English]. (Ben, P6, Charitable Organization, in English)
Elaine explained that this opportunity to take the Cambridge test was
extremely important for her academic future. Ben shared with us his

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 aspirations for going to medical school and explained that in order to
achieve this dream he would need to attend an EMI school. Coming
from a charitable organization school put him at a distinct disadvantage
in the secondary school allocation process, but this could be overcome
with good scores on the YLE exam and participation in the English
Ambassador Programme.
The English Ambassador Programme also put the students in
leadership roles in devising after-school English programmes such as
English Day. Cara stood out as someone who seemed to really value
these opportunities. She sought out extra time with her expatriate native
English-speaking teacher, up to four times a week after school. She
revealed that she really enjoyed the opportunities in which she served as
‘a role model’ for younger English learners (interview).

Discussion The findings illustrate how a group of Hong Kong young learners’
narratives of English language identity development are interwoven
with the local cultural practices and ideology. As the participants
mobilized resources such as the ideology surrounding EMI education,
popular culture, parents, and English learning opportunities, they
positioned themselves as English speakers in different ways.
The cosmopolitans moved comfortably between the Chinese and
English social worlds, capable of code-switching between languages
and forming relationships with people in both their L1 and L2. The
resources they drew on that influenced their narratives seemed
agentive: the perceived privileged status of an EMI education and
access to English language popular culture. This category of identity
was culturally embedded; participants received EMI education by
default of their social class and then had the choice to draw on English
popular culture for further identity work. They did not seem to be
particularly concerned with their proficiency levels embracing English
use as part of their social worlds. The fact that the cosmopolitans
all came from better-off families reflects the reality that the unequal
distribution of resources may impact on young learners’ identity
development.
The pragmatists seemed to be pulled toward a narrative that favoured a
socially prescribed identity of being an EMI student, a product of Hong
Kong education policy. The parental pressure to conform to this identity
narrative seemed to limit their ability to exercise their agency to make
choices in defining their own L2 identity. The resources the pragmatists
used were limited to supplementary exercises and tutorials, all done
for pragmatic reasons rather than pleasure. During our meetings,
they all seemed to be overtly concerned about proficiency levels, which
were translated into grades and test scores. Agency was based on
performance with measurable objectives of success rather than personal
choice. Overall, the pragmatists were heavily influenced by tension
coming from the uncertainty as to whether they were good enough to
be accepted at an EMI school. They also appeared to question whether
an English-speaker identity was possible before their admission to
an EMI secondary school, or without admission to an EMI school. In

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 this way, their limited L2 identity development can be attributed to
contextual uncertainties.
The exception was Cara, who seemed to have that ‘certain quality’
Benson et al. (op.cit.) allude to, which is something that is part of her
identity as a result of her experiences with English. Her continuous and
‘privileged’ additional engagement with her expatriate native English-
speaking teacher led her to want to become ‘a role model’ for her peers.
She seemed to have agency, not from resources like the cosmopolitans
had, but from something inside herself, perhaps feelings of success
with her English learning and recognition from being successful.

Conclusion and This exploratory study illuminated the identity work young learners do,
implications mediated through their narratives. We have attempted to demonstrate
that L2 identity development can only be understood in context. In the
Hong Kong context, attendance at an EMI secondary school, a product
of educational policy, becomes a resource. Many participants believed
that if they did not attend an EMI school, then they would not be able
to take up an English L2 identity. These beliefs can be traced to a
communal belief in an EMI education and the resulting upward social
mobility. Research has shown that at policy level, access is not equal
(Poon op.cit.; Evans op.cit.); yet, the present study highlights how young
learners were socialized to view the unequal access as limiting their
imagined possibilities as English speakers. Furthermore, the findings
also highlight how privileged access provides young learners with
agentive opportunities for identity development.
These findings have implications for FL teachers around the globe. By
understanding the relationship between social class and narratives of
identity development, as well as the importance of the role of agency in
identity development, teachers can advocate for equitable opportunities
for English learning. The cosmopolitans in our study had greater
access to resources and opportunities to use and learn English than
their peers, who, with fewer resources, took up pragmatic narratives.
This greater access was related to socio-economic class and seems to
replicate the existing class structure in Hong Kong (Lai and Byram
op.cit.). FL teachers can teach in ways that challenge this. As the
example of Cara and her peers shows, we have found that agency can
transcend limitations imposed by policy, parental beliefs, and social
class. An important implication for educators, then, is that agency
can be nurtured, and the key is engagement beyond the classroom.
The work being done at the Charitable Organization school with the
English Ambassador Programme was an important way of encouraging
children to develop narratives of L2 English identities that were not tied
to the limited access and opportunities to use English outside of school.
Similar programmes that build on success and bring in community
involvement would also go a long way to fostering agency.
In addition, we need other, less privileged, ways of engaging our
students with English beyond the classroom. What is needed is
informal engagement in which young learners are motivated to become
more involved with English for personal reasons and pleasure. One way

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 is to normalize L2 use in daily life, by finding ways for students to make
connections with the English-speaking world outside of the classroom,
for example by involving students in high interest English popular
culture in ways that do not cost money. Another way is to try to increase
interactions between learners and children in the English-speaking
world, perhaps through partnerships with English-speaking expatriate
schools.
In conclusion, we observed that children can develop identities as
L2 speakers in agentive ways, but, at the same time, their narrative
identities are shaped by sociocultural forces and education policy that
render their development as a passive process (Johnston op.cit.). By
age 11 and 12, Hong Kong children are aware of the position English
plays in the manifestation of a society structured by unequal access
to economic capital, and this awareness plays an integral role in
their developing narrative identities as English speakers. This study
demonstrates the importance of considering how educational policy,
cultural values, and distribution of resources may impact on young
learners in similar contexts. With an understanding of the relationship
between policy and English learning, FL teachers can work to advocate
in ways that support their students.
Final version received March 2014

Note Cummins, J. 2000. Language, Power and Pedagogy:

1 All student names used in this article are
pseudonyms.
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The authors
Sharon Besser is a Teacher at Hong Kong
International School. She is formerly a Lecturer
at Hong Kong Polytechnic University in the
Department of English. She works from critical
literacy and sociocultural perspectives to
understand literacy and language development in
schools.
Email: sharonbesser@gmail.com
Alice Chik is an Assistant Professor at the
Department of English, City University of Hong
Kong. Her main research areas include narrative
research, new media, and popular culture in
second language education.
Email: alice.chik@cityu.edu.hk

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