The Impact of English: Academic Achievement and Identity Investment in an American University

Abstract

 For Chinesedoctoralstudents, English is the most essentialsubjectwhenstudyingin U.S.universitiesand livinglifein the U.S. UsingEnglish not onlypromotes academic success, butalsohelps them to pursuebetter job opportunities and a better lifein theU.S. Thepurposeof this studywas to exploreChinesedoctoralstudents’English use, perceptions ofacademic achievement in relation to their academic motivation and identityinvestment.Chinesedoctoral student interviews,questionnaires, classroom observations,andjournal entries wereused in this qualitativecase study. The findingsof thestudyshow that Chinesedoctoralstudents’ English use and perception ofacademic achievementhadimpacts on their academicmotivation. Moreover, Chinese doctoralstudents’identities werealso reflected in the investment ofacademic achievement