Norton's Model of Investment
Norton's Model of Investment
Norton
(Norton et al., 2014, in Darvin & Norton, 2015) investigated student and
teacher investments in digital literacy and English language in Uganda. They
found that students and teachers are extremely invested in new literacy
practices due to the skills gained by using digital technology, which also
increased cultural capital and special power (Darvin & Norton, 2015). Chang
(2011, in Darvey & Norton, 2015), examined the graduate student
population focusing on nonnative English-speaking international students in an
English speaking graduate school in the United States. Through investment the
students exerted their own agency and were able to invest in areas that would
benefit them.
The world is constantly changing and so literacy teaching and learning is also needing to change. Due to more affordable travel, the internet and social media, learners are able to
communicate in many different spaces, both face-to-face and in virtual worlds.
Literacy has become vital to be able to communicate through writing in social
media and texting. There is also a shift
in power from the native speaker. Shifts in global power, such as China
increasing in influence, is changing what languages are valued.
Darvin and Norton's model of investment places investment at the intersection of identity, capital and ideology. Power goes between the the spaces in different directions, whereby learners have multiple identities.
Darvin and
Norton (2015, p. 43), proposed that “as embodied identities inscribed by race,
ethnicity, gender, and social class, learners navigate through spaces where
they are not only granted or refused the right to speak, but also the right of
entry." According to Bourdieu (1986, in Darvin & Norton, 2015, p. 44),
“capital is power and it extends from the material/economic to the cultural and
social” and includes wealth, knowledge and social connections. The value of
capital according to Bourdieu (1986, in Darvin & Norton, 2015) can change over time and space. Symbolic
capital occurs when learners go between online and offline spaces. The capital they enter the spaces with include their own resources and language skills. Learners then gain new material and can use and change their existing capital, so that it can be used in new contexts.
Norton
(2013, in Darvin & Norton, 2015, p. 45) defines identity as “multiple, a site of
struggle, and continually changing over time and space." The
model show that identity is a struggle of ”habitus and desire, of competing
ideologies and imagined identities” (Darvin & Norton, 2015, p. 45). Habitus is a system which helps people
understand the world and their place in society. Learners are also placed
according to gender, race and ethnicity.
According to Norton (2013, in Darvin & Norton, 2015, p. 46), learners invest as they desire something, such as being a part of a country or peer group, “imagined identities." They value the capital that they have which affirms their identity. Darvin and Norton further propose that (Darvin & Norton, 2015, p. 47), “the desire to be part of an imagined community or to take on an imagined identity enables the learner to gain or to resist” their position in relation to others.
Darvin and Norton further argue that, “recognising 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” Darvin & Norton, 2015, p. 47).
Darvin and Norton’s model raises the questions, “To what extent are learners invested in the language and literacy practices of their classrooms and communities?” (Darvin & Norton, 2015, p. 47) which includes three factors, “How invested are learners in their present and imagined identities?”, “What do learners perceive as benefits of investment and how can the capital they possess serve as affordances for learning?” and “What systematic patterns of control (policies, codes, institutions) make it difficult to invest and acquire certain capital?”(Darvin & Norton, 2015, p. 47).
Darvin and Norton (2015) hoped
that these questions would enable learners to have more control over their
learning and investment in it. It also recognises the impact of technology on
learning, the multiple settings both on-line and off-line where communication
and language learning takes place and the mobile and fast paced life learners
are now leading. Darvin and Norton (2015, p. 48 ) argue that there is a need for
“practical sense” in language learning which enables learners to master rules, incorporating multimodal features.
Norton’s research into identity and investment and the notion of mobility across time and place, opened up new interest in identity and its role in second language acquisition (Morgan & Clarke, in Hinkel, 2011, p. 820). It opened up the idea of learners as active participants in the language learning process and how language practices shape how learners see themselves.
Applying Norton's model of investment to the scenario.
Using Norton's concept of investment, rather than motivation to apply to the student's learning in the given scenario, recognises the learners as having a complex social identity that changes over time. Student's race, gender and class need to be considered for them to feel invested in learning a language. The teacher needs to enable learners to feel invested in their learning. Using digital literacies expands the identities available for the students. Studying abroad as these students in the scenario are doing, is part of their imagined identities. Using technology gives the students power in their learning journey.
Norton's model proposes that the learner invests in the target language and imagines their future and the future community, their imagined identity. The learners in this scenario are seeking the power that the English language is seen to provide for them, and to access better employment. In this regard, Norton's model of investment applies to these students, as long the classroom environment and teaching can be seen as relevant to them.
Investment in the model is seen at the intersection of identity, ideology and capital. In the scenario language can be used as "an ideologically defined social space" (Varvin & Norton, 2015, p. 43). By encouraging the learners to use their various languages, with their different grammatical structures, creates a language ideological effect as the languages are valued. It gives the learner the power to speak, despite gender and race. An issue here in the scenario would be to ensure that the learners don't lose their sense of identity by allowing the target language to dominate and ensuring the inclusion of all the learners ideas and viewpoints. The capital of the students in this scenario includes their economic capital of wealth, cultural capital including their knowledge and culture and social capital. (Darvin & Norton, 2015, p. 44). The capital that students already have such as resources, linguistic skills and social skills, needs to be used in the learning environment. According to Darvin & Norton (2015, p. 45), using this capital in different contexts can be an area of struggle, as "what may be valued in one place may be radically devalued in another". The teaching point here is "the importance of treating the linguistic and cultural capital of learners as affordences rather than constraints and to question and reevaluate the taken-for-granted value systems they use to assess this capital" (Darvin & Norton, 2015, p. 45).
Identity in the model is shown as a site of struggle, continually changing according to different contexts and in how the learner sees themselves. Bourdieu's (1990, in Darvin & Norton, 2015, p. 45) idea of 'habitus', meaning how someone makes sense of the world and their place in it could be applied to the scenario. How the students see themselves in this scenario would be effected by factors such as their race, gender and social class. The female student from a lower social class would have a different view of her place in the world according to the model of investment, than a male from a higher social class. Through desire the learners want to invest in the target language as they want to gain better employment and imagine a better future for themselves. The learners can recognise "that they have agency to assert their own identities...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).
By including real and virtual learning spaces in the scenario, gives the learner more freedom to invest in the language of choice. Students can master the rules and norms in different communicative contexts, by shifting strategies as needed.
References
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