The Role of Second Language Motivation in Constructing the Self: An Empirical Study to Investigate the Role of Motivational Trajectories in Negotiating and Reconstructing Academic Sojourners’ Desired Selves in the UK

This study is an endeavour to explicate the dissonance of the linguistic quality outcome of study abroad (SA) experiences by exploring the second language (L2) motivation of six academic sojourners in Manchester. A person-in-context approach revealed that developing intimate relationships with ‘native-speakers’, providing L2-mediated interaction opportunities with international students, and social approval were key determinants of the extent to which SA students were invested in social practices. Such social engagements were found to stem from second language motivation that is part of identity construction process. In addition, the thematic analysis of the narrative inquiries suggests that the global status of the English language defies the traditional conceptualisations of L2 motivation as most participants’ motivations were formed despite their negative or neutral attitudes towards the English community. The findings also endorse the role of the other as a robust motivational source by which learners can replenish their motivation stream, leading to social identity investment to construct their ideological selves. The paper concludes with a recommendation to re-interpret the conceptualisation of the Ideal L2 Self system because ‘native-speakers’ are rarely the closest parallels to L2 learners, and it should incorporate explicit intrinsic orientations. Furthermore, language institutions in SA contexts should direct their focus on establishing conversation clubs and hosting social events for SA students to provide a safe space for their identities to be developed, enacted and reconstructed.


Introduction
The vast majority of people view a sojourn abroad as "the most efficient or even the only way to truly acquire a second language" (McCormick, 2018, p. 36). However, there is no consensus on whether studying abroad is crucial to L2 development (Isabelli-García et al., 2018). This can be ascribed to numerous dimensions, as Larsen-Freeman (2018) claims to be more than 100, in which L2 learners differ that affect their L2 learning in the SA experience (Geeslin & Schmidt, 2018). One of these differences is L2 motivation (García-Nieto, 2018). Although most students who choose to study abroad are driven by an L2 learning motivation (Yang, 2016), some SA students have shown insignificant advancement in L2 gains (Coleman, 2015;Jackson, 2018). Tullock (2018) argues that SA is a border-crossing experience where learners are immersed in a different context that involves not only linguistic, but also cultural differences engendering identity-related challenges. Without negotiating one's identity to position themselves in that context, L2 motivation is likely to lead to insignificant advancement in L2 gains (Darvin & Norton, 2016). This has raised the curiosity of this study to examine the interplay between L2 motivation and identity negotiation in a SA context, namely Manchester.

Research Scope
Whilst L2 motivation research in SA contexts is mainly focused on teenagers, little research has been done to examine the L2 motivation of other groups, such as adults (García-Nieto, 2018). Thus, this study will examine the role of L2 motivation in initiating and maintaining identity negotiation processes of adult academic sojourners in the UK. To achieve this, this study adopts Ushioda's (2009) person-in-context approach that accounts for L2 motivation as an identity-construction desire that emerges from different life goals and social roles. Hence, this study attempts to answer the following questions:

1-What does a person-in-context approach reveal about the L2 motivation of adult academic sojourners in
Manchester? 2-What is the role of L2 motivation in negotiating and constructing the social identities of adult academic sojourners in Manchester?

Identity Investment in Study Abroad Contexts
Due to the unprecedented degree of globality of English, the UK is one of the most desired SA contexts (Isabelli-García et al., 2018). This is because L2 learning is one of the key motives of studying abroad (Kinginger, 2009). This motive stems from the belief that studying abroad offers exceptional opportunities to be massively exposed to and immersed in the target language with 'native' and expert L2 speakers, which will lead to substantial L2 gains (Jackson, 2018). However, this common belief is highly variable. On the one hand, research has shown that students in sojourning contexts demonstrate remarkable development in L2 oral communicative proficiency (Sharma, 2019). On the other hand, similar studies reported insignificant linguistic gains during the academic sojourn due to the paucity of local 'native-speaker' interactions (Wang, et al., 2017). In addition, researchers have identified other reasons that impede the development of L2 learning in sojourning contexts, such as preference of co-national friendship (Handley & Wang, 2018), the degree of host hospitality and receptivity (Jackson, 2018), and other individual differences, such as motivation, attitude and personality (Larsen-Freeman, 2018). Jackson (2018) explains that language learners who feel threatened by their insufficient linguistic and intercultural competence engage in a critical self-analysis, leading to spending their sojourn period with co-nationals (Gareis et al., 2011;Kinginger, 2008). However, those who engage in a deeper self-analysis to explicate their communication breakdowns try to discover what went wrong and what they should have said or done. They start negotiating identity work in order to become agentive actants (Badwan, 2017;Harvey, 2017;Hicks, 2000;Lantolf & Pavlenko, 2001). This highlights the indisputable role of identity when researching language learning in sojourning contexts. When language learners participate in L2-mediated interactions, they engage in a continuous construction of their identities by adapting to, and adopting, new linguistic and sociocultural norms (Goharimehr, 2019;Norton, 1997) that enable them to position themselves in the L2 world (Peirce, 1995).
In foreign contexts, L2 learners' engagement with the target language is often accompanied by an imagined community constructed through learners' imagination (Kanno & Norton, 2003;Wu, 2017). The imagined identity in the imagined community creates a powerful vision for the self, giving an important sense of direction in order to be in that community (Kanno & Norton, 2003;Quan, 2019;Trentman, 2013). Therefore, when learners go beyond investing their time, effort and money to further invest their identity in L2 learning, they expect to gain a range of symbolic (i.e. friendship, education, language) and material resources (i.e. money, instrumental gains) that advance their social positions and cultural values (Norton, 2015). As a result, it can be argued that academic sojourning contexts open up spaces for evaluating the return on investment for language learners.

L2 Learners' Identity in SA Contexts
In their research on second language identity, Benson et al. (2013) present six identity facets: embodied (located in the body), reflexive (the self's view of the self), projected (presented in interaction), recognised (by others during interaction), imagined (future possibilities) and identity categories. During the SA experience, the embodied identity is subject to relocation, allowing for the reflexive and imagined identities to be reformed and constructed through the recognition of the projected identity in social interactions (Benson et al., 2013). The reflexive identity incorporates both learners' conception of their language competence and their capacity of using the L2 in various interactions. The projected identity is the self-representation to specific others in specific contexts through the L2 and other culturally semiotic modes in order to express and impress others (Goffman, 1990). However, when the projected identity fails to achieve the intended recognition, the recognised identity is likely to damage the reflexive identity because failure of self-representation undermines self-concept (Chik & Benson, 2008), hence leading to frustration (Benson et al., 2013). The imagined identity is the possible and ideal selves and what individuals imagine or aspire to become, while the identity categories and resources, such as gender, age, nationality, 'native and 'non-native' speaker categories, designate the social and individual construction of the self.
However, Benson et al. (2013) combines the imagined self along with the ideal self to refer to the imagined identity, giving no space for the ideal self to be reformed and restructured after the imagined community becomes real. As Badwan (2019) argues, some SA experiences can undermine L2 learners' long-held views of language and the imagined homogeneous community when it is brought into comparison with the real super-diverse community. For instance, when SA students in the UK are confronted with authentic language use in the social domain, they are usually shocked and sometimes frustrated to discover how unprepared they are to understand and interact with 'native' English speakers, despite their considerable pre-sojourn L2 learning (Badwan, 2017;McCaughey, 2015). Therefore, this study will refer to the pre-sojourn imagined identity as an imagined identity where sojourners had not yet been exposed to the real community, whilst referring to the genuinely emerged ideal identities during their SA experience as ideal imagined identities. Benson et al. (2013) introduced a tri-dimensional model for identity development in SA contexts. The first dimension is identity-related aspects of L2 proficiency. This dimension includes both socio-pragmatic competence, which is the ability to interpret and express social meaning (Holmes & Riddiford, 2011) to survive everyday social interactions (Aveni, 2005), and the ability to project the desired identity. The second dimension is the linguistic self-concept, where the reflexive identity of the self develops in terms of the perceived knowledge, ability, use and progress of the L2 that influence learners' self-assessment of proficiency (Benson et al., 2013). The third dimension is L2-related personal competence, which entails linguistic and non-linguistic gains from SA experience, such as intercultural competence, which is "the ability to interact effectively with people from [different] cultures" (Guilherme, 2000, p. 297), and selfconfidence. Gardner and Lambert (1972) divided L2 motivation into integrative and instrumental. Integrative motivation is defined as the desire, willingness and/or aptitude to integrate with the target language community (TLC). It designates a psychological and emotional connection with the TLC (Gardner, 2010). On the other hand, instrumental motivation is geared towards learning an L2 to gain practical benefits or achieve short-terms goals, such obtaining educational qualifications, passing examinations, and fulfilling job requirements (Gardner, 2001). However, the global status of English defies the constraints of integrativeness (Ali, 2016;Islam, 2013). For instance, some English learners are motivated to advance their L2 level to understand English pop music (Lamb, 2011), whilst others are motivated by an "international posture" orientation, which is "a tendency to relate oneself to the international community rather than any specific L2 group" (Yashima, 2009, p. 2). Thus, as English is losing its connection with the Anglophone community (Lamb, 2004), it invalidates Gardner's notion of integrativeness (Dörnyei, 2010).

Motivation
Research in the 19 th century discovered that some learners were intrinsically motivated to learn an L2 for selffulfilment and knowledge gains (e.g. Harackiewicz & Elliot, 1993;Ramage, 1990), which has inspired Noels et al. (2000) to adopt the self-determination theory from the field of psychology into L2 motivation research. This theory categorises L2 motivation as either intrinsic (IM) or extrinsic (EM). The former denotes that the L2 appeals to learners because it is enjoyable and leads to satisfaction. The latter, however, indicates that the L2 attracts learners because of an instrumental end. IM is subdivided into three sub-categories: (1) IM-knowledge, the desire to discover genuine ideas and gain more knowledge, (2) IM-accomplishment, the inclination to reach a goal or complete a task and (3) IMstimulation; aesthetic appreciation during a task execution. In the same manner, EM is divided into (1) external regulation, the gain of tangible outcomes, (2) introjected regulation, the infused pressure from other people, and (3) identified regulation, the congruence with personal relevant goals in identity-shaping. However, a recent theory in motivation science by Locke and Schattke (2019) states that intrinsic motivation is inappropriately defined as it combines both enjoyment and satisfaction. The reason behind this criticism is that doing something because it leads to self-satisfaction does not necessarily mean it is enjoyable. In other words, some language learners may be driven by a self-fulfilment goal (e.g. gaining more knowledge, which is IM), but the process of learning is a dull unexciting activity (i.e. not enjoyable). Therefore, the definition of IM should have enjoyment and satisfaction unbound by an 'and/or' option.
Further research has revealed that L2 learning is regulated by motivational self-guides. Thus, Dörnyei (2005) proposes three types of motivational guides: (1) ideal L2 self, the desire to speak like an ideal L2 speaker, (2) ought-to self, the desire to obtain pragmatic outcome or avoid negative consequences with a sense of obligation, responsibility or oughtto-possess attributes, and (3) L2 learning experience, related to situation-specific influences regarding the experience of L2 learning where the motivation is mainly intrinsic (Dörnyei, 2009).
The ideal L2 self is mainly characterised with integrative and long-term instrumental orientations, where L2 learners seek to "reduce the discrepancy between [the] actual and ideal selves" (Dörnyei, 2005, p. 105). The ought-to self, on the other hand, is characterised by pressure, obligation and responsibility to meet social expectations (Dörnyei, 2018). Kormos and Csizér (2008) claim that this motivational system is more relevant to L2 learners who come from Asian and Arab countries. In such contexts, L2 learners' motivation is projected by peers and parents' pressure that is characterised by the fear of not meeting other's expectations (Alharbi, 2017). Another self-system has been added to the L2MSS framework by Thompson & Vásquez (2015) to describe the motivation of language learners who learn a foreign language driven by a desire to go against social norms and parental approval. This type of motivation is referred to as 'anti-ought to self' (Thompson, 2015) or 'rebellious self' (Lanvers, 2016). A study by Alharbi (2017) revealed that some Saudi English learners in SA contexts are motivated by the ought-to self to avoid negative consequences from relatives and peers, whilst others are driven by the anti-ought to self to go against the norms of the conservative Saudi social context.
However, Dörnyei (2010) assumes that "the actual L2 speakers are the closest parallels to a person's idealised L2speaking self" (p. 79). This raises the question as to what if the envisioned ideal L2 speaker is not an actual 'native' speaker. This is because research has shown that SA language learners find achieving 'native-like' proficiency far from important to most SA students (Rindal & Piercy, 2013). Moreover, current findings propose that 'non-native' varieties of spoken English attract language learners more than 'native-speakers' in SA contexts (Badwan & Simpson, 2019;Canagarajah, 2014). Additionally, Ushioda (2017) expounds that most learners find achieving 'native-like' proficiency as an unrealistic goal of L2 learning. This is because in the current globalising world, "native speaker models and contexts of interaction may not provide a meaningful motivational frame of reference" to L2 learners (Ushioda, 2017, p. 476). Ushioda (2012) further argues that the ideal L2 self characterises L2 learning as a prime goal of L2 learners, whilst it can be a part of the life-learning goal. Therefore, Ushioda (2009) laments the separation of L2 motivation from wider life goals and personal development of language learners as individuals. Thus, she developed the person-incontext approach to highlight the importance of the social construction of motivation by calling for the consideration of learners' voice and perspectives (Ushioda, 2011a(Ushioda, , 2018. This relational approach endorses exploring learners' L2 motivation qualitatively and account for learners' voice (Ushioda, 2018). Moreover, it regards L2 learners as "selfreflective intentional agent, inherently part of and shaping her [sic] own context" (Ushioda, 2009, p. 218), in relation to real persons with whom learners engage rather than the traditional cause-effect focus on L2 motivation and language learning characteristics (Nikoletou, 2017). This is because when learners' voice interacts, discusses, compromises, adapts to, and adopts others' opinions, values, preferences and beliefs, learners' identities and motivation become engaged and allowed for further development (Ushioda, 2011b). This highlights another prominent feature of this approach as it accounts for learners' identity as an inextricably bound construct to L2 motivational development (Harvey, 2014;Lamb, 2017). It recognises the dynamic and complex of nature of motivation and identity that are interrelated to individuals as well as sociocultural forces that are fundamentally "emergent from relations between real persons" (Ushioda, 2009, p. 215).
Following Ushioda's (2009) relational approach, Harvey (2014) has discovered two prominent findings. First, L2 motivation can be a part of a broader motivation for social growth and personal development. Second, the role of social factors, such as 'significant others' (family and friends), 'less significant others' (colleagues and acquaintances), and the 'general other' (with whom learners may engage in their life) are imperative to the "ideological becoming" of L2 learners (Harvey, 2014, p. 21). The name 'ideological' designates the setting in which such 'becoming' takes place, as called by Medvedev (1978) "the ideological environment" (p. 14). Such environment is characterised by "diverse voices through which communication and understanding are mediated, in a convergence which is fundamental to growth and development" (Harvey, 2014, p. 93).
Harvey (2014) has found that English learners are initially motivated by an authoritative discourse, which is the fixed discourse that "demands our acknowledgement and unconditional allegiance", such as "the authority of religious dogma or acknowledged scientific truth" (Bakhtin, 1981, p. 343). The authoritative discourse by which Harvey's participants were driven was 'the importance of learning English'. Even if the authoritative discourse does not motivate L2 learners, it creates a motivating imagined other (i.e. the imagined English world). Accordingly, it leads to learners' investment in language learning activities at schools as well as extra-curricular language programs.
When learners practically participate in the real world of English and become part thereof, the authoritative discourse becomes internally persuasive. Internally persuasive discourse is the self-formed discourse that is "tightly interwoven with one's own words" (Bakhtin, 1981, p. 345). It is creative, authentic, and open to change, appropriation and assimilation "generated by specific lived conditions" (Morson, 2004, p. 325). When the imagined other becomes real, language learners become motivated to speak, engage and claim their voice in the real other (Harvey, 2014).
Language learners who are motivated to "be in the world of other" and find their voice try to put themselves in communicative situations, enhance their listening and understanding of the other, and imitate people around them by "selectively assimilating the words of others" (Bakhtin, 1981, p. 341). When learners achieve this, the imagined other becomes more real and meaningful. Gradually, they become more motivated to forge their voice in the community to communicate their own worldviews and develop their own voice to express their identities and act as active social agents. The interaction with the imagined other motivates language learners by allowing them to see an imagined self that is full of success and fulfilment through the eyes of the other. Thus, dialogic interaction between authoritative and internally persuasive discourses, along with the appropriation of the words of others and the need and struggle to understand others, enable the ideological development of the language learner (Harvey, 2017). It motivates language learners because it allows them to be "responsible authors" of their utterances (Harvey, 2014, p. 274). Therefore, ideological becoming describes L2 motivation as a quest driven by the other for "claiming authority for one's own voice through appropriating and re-accenting the words of others in various authoritative and internally persuasive discourses -and then either rejecting those words or making them part of one's own internally persuasive discourse" in order to be in the world (Harvey, 2014, p. 94).

Research Design
Following Ushioda's (2009Ushioda's ( , 2011aUshioda's ( , 2018 recommendation in researching L2 motivation, this study employed a qualitative method to explore English learning motivation of academic sojourners in Manchester. The qualitative method involved a narrative approach through conducting individual face-to-face semi-structured interviews with six participants. However, the number of participants in qualitative narratives is relatively handful compared with quantitative approaches, which raises the concern of generalisability (Dörnyei, 2007). Nevertheless, Larsen-Freeman (2018) urges second language acquisition researchers to "no longer seek to generalize as much as to particularize" when investigating L2 development due to the complex interplay of various individual differences (p. 64). Moreover, narrative data create a sense of resonance of the participants' voice in readers' mind (Ushioda, 2018), which may trigger fellow researchers to delve into uncharted territories in L2 motivation.

Sample Population & Participant Selection
This study included six participants, all of whom are adult academic sojourners in Manchester. The study used purposive sampling of both criterion and snowball sampling strategies. The purposive sampling incorporated critical parameters with which the participants had to comply: 1-An international or EU student currently enrolled in an academic program in Manchester.

2-
The minimum age of the participant must be 18 years old.

3-
The minimum length of stay in the UK must be 9 months to have enough data to elaborate in the study and maintain equal balance amongst participants.

Meet the Participants
After the brief description of the participants' demographic information with the given pseudonyms in the table below, the English learning trajectory of each participant is summarised and presented to familiarise the reader with the participants' language learning history:

Participants' English Learning Trajectories
Although all the participants started learning English to pass the English subject at school, they differ in their English motivational trajectories: Julie: After finishing her TESOL undergraduate study in Vietnam, she worked as an English teacher for a year. However, she wanted to advance her career because people in Vietnam tend to prefer 'native' English teachers over Vietnamese English teachers owing to their 'native-English' accent. Thus, she believed that improving her speaking skills is crucial to enhance her career prospects and she aspires to speak like 'native' speakers, especially like 'Shane' from the pop band 'Westlife'. When she came to the UK, she was 'shocked' because she thought that people would speak standard English and that most people in Manchester would be 'native-English' speakers. However, that did not impede her goals and she had regularly attended the conversation club and the international society events at her university to meet non-Vietnamese people to practise and develop her English-speaking skills.
Arya: In her childhood, she used to watch English movies and cartoons to imitate the speakers and improve her Englishspeaking skills. At that time, English media was banned by her father because 'it had too much exposure' that contradicted their culture. Although spoken English was used neither inside nor outside of the classroom, she wanted to be different in her family. In her undergraduate study as a TESOL student in Pakistan, she was disappointed with the way teachers taught English to English-major students by translating the material into Urdu. Thus, she told herself that 'I am going to be a teacher someday and teach it the right way'. After obtaining her bachelor's degree in TESOL, she went to Sheffield to enter a two-year ESOL program, where she was bullied and ridiculed because of her accent. After receiving considerable encouragement from her family, she believed that she should not stop pursuing her dreams because of her classmates. She continued and passed the program and stayed in Sheffield for two more years and completed her English GCSE † before going back to Pakistan. After spending four years in Pakistan, she came to Manchester to do a Master's degree in TESOL and Applied Linguistics. Currently, her motivation involves an integrative orientation because of her British Pakistani boyfriend whom she met in Manchester.
Isabella: According to her, 'English was imposed to me... I used to hate English'. Her father had always told her about the importance of English in the current world. He forced her to enrol in extra-curricular English programs in Spain. In the beginning, she did not like learning English, but she was the best amongst her classmates because she was a 'very good student'. At the age of 15, her father sent her to Kent for an 'on-campus summer school' for three weeks. It was this experience that motivated her to learn English as she realised that through English, she was able to meet and interact with many people who came from different parts of the world. After that, she started to develop an interest in English music and movies and became more invested in learning the language. After finishing high school, she decided to study English language and literature at a university in Spain. In the fourth year of study, she came to Manchester on ERASMUS exchange program for four months with her friends from Spain. This experience significantly increased her motivation to learn more about the language and the English culture. After finishing her undergraduate studies, she felt that she needed one more step to 'feel complete'. Thus, she returned to Manchester to do her Master's in TESOL and Applied Linguistics where she met her English boyfriend.
Andi: In senior high school, he went to Australia as an exchange student for 4 weeks. Although he found it difficult to communicate with people in the social context, his motivation to learn English began to increase because he realised that it could help him communicate not only with 'native' speakers, but also with international students. When he entered university to obtain a degree business management, he believed that learning English is primarily linked to his self-image as a business manager in the future. Before coming to Manchester to do a Master's degree in business administration, he joined a three-month IELTS ‡ preparation program in Indonesia. Though he was able to achieve the score of 6 in the IELTS test with 7.5 in speaking, his writing was 5.0 while the minimum entry requirement is 5.5 in each category. Therefore, he had to enter a pre-sessional course in Manchester prior to starting his credit units. According to him, "my prime motivation to learn English is to impress my parents and my girlfriend and for my selfdevelopment".
Rafi: After graduating from high school, he decided to become an English teacher because English has a high 'prestigious issue' in Bangladesh. Before coming to the UK, he mentioned that his 'expectation was ideal that people would speak like BBC'. However, he was 'shocked' to see how heteroglossic the real English was. Although he went through a state of self-questioning as he had expected to be ready to participate in the real world of English, he decided to immerse himself in English and international societies to develop his speaking skills. He worked for a few months in Manchester United Stadium as a tour guide and now he is a part-time interpreter in the health sector to help Bengali patients in Manchester. According to him, his L2 motivation had always been instrumental. However, he was inspired by his 'non-native' English-speaking teachers and was motivated to speak and sound like them. According to him, the formality of their speech and understandable accent are what appeal to him. Thus, he is trying to change his accent to sound like a formal English teacher similar to his ideal L2-speaking teachers.
Saud: Besides passing compulsory English courses and achieving the required IELTS score, he did not have any motivation to learn English until he decided to do his Master's studies in business administration in Manchester. At that time, he had come to Manchester alone to engage with the TLC. However, he mentioned that the TLC was not hospitable and when he tried to interact with 'native-speakers', they tended to avoid maintaining a conversation with him. Consequently, he preferred to invest his time with co-nationals. After he graduated and decided to do a PhD in Manchester, he was disappointed in the TLC, which persuaded him to bring his family with him because he saw that his attempt to invest in L2 learning was in vain. After spending more than four years with co-nationals and his family, he now blames himself for not socialising with international students to improve his English skills. † GCSE stands for General Certificate of Secondary Education, which is an academic qualification in a specific subject. ‡ IELTS is "The International English Language Testing System". According to the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR), an overall score of 6 designates his overall language skills as an "Independent User of English", while 7.5 in speaking indicates a proficient level in spoken English.

Data Collection
In order to conduct productive interviews, the eight steps of the interview process by McNamara (2009) were followed. The interview included primary questions about English learning trajectories, motivation and investment before and after coming to Manchester from which follow-up questions emerged during the interview. The follow-up and probing questions were formulated in a neutral wording form with stimulating expressions to elicit more elaboration from the participants.

Data Analysis
Despite the small number of participants, the qualitative interviews generated a large corpus of textual data that made it difficult to be presented in a case study form. Hence, a thematic analysis approach was used to account for the participants voice to form the thematic trends amongst the participants. Such approach was deemed effective because it directs the attention towards answering the research questions in a detailed organised manner apart from repetitive data that some participants may share (Fereday & Muir-Cochrane, 2006). The thematic analysis moved beyond the semantic level of analysing the surface meaning of the data and followed a latent approach to further "identify or examine the underlying ideas, assumptions, and conceptualisations -and ideologies -that are theorised as shaping or informing the semantic content of the data" (Braun & Clarke, 2006, p. 13).

Generating Initial Codes & Themes
Most qualitative researchers assert that the traditional conceptualisation of coding reliability is impossible (Merriam & Tisdell, 2015). This is because narratives often reflect participants' experiences in relation to a specific context. Since 'rigour' is a more applicable concept in qualitative inquiries than reliability (Syed & Nelson, 2015) and this study aimed to investigate the participants 'in context', the rigour of the coding process was achieved through two main measures. First, the semi-structured interviews allowed instant data confirmation from the participants. This helped data interpretation to be corroborated by the participants at once. Second, the six phases of thematic analysis proposed by Braun and Clarke (2006, p. 35) were followed. Although each phase is adequately described, the 15-point checklist by Braun and Clarke (2006, p. 36) was used as a step-by-step guide to ensure coding rigour. Finally, the transcribed data was frequently revisited to confirm the final codes by at least two participants.
The coding process involved collating selective bits of the data into the representative nodes that form the possible themes. To search for major themes, the codes that form possible themes from which the research questions can be answered were collated: The following diagrams visualise the two major themes and related subthemes that were generated from the qualitative narratives: All the participants were initially driven by an external instrumental motivation to pass their English subject in school and achieve the required IELTS score for their higher education studies. It is unsurprising to find that Isabella, Julie, Rafi and Arya developing a different instrumental orientation because, as English teachers, English is fundamental to their career prospect.

Integrativeness as an Intimate Necessity
Because of their intimate relationships with English 'native-speakers', Arya and Isabella have developed an integrative orientation as they aspire to integrate with their boyfriends' social circles and do not see themselves going back to their home countries in the near future: Isabella: "Basically, I'm not planning to come back to Spain right now. Well, I'm planning to stay here... I would like to come back to Spain maybe in the future but for now I'm just gonna stay here... I [am] involved in the British lifestyle, hanging out with local people and from all countries... because we don't have that in Spain. It is a multicultural experience. It is nice, very nice".
In addition to her positive attitudes towards the English community, meeting people from different countries is a joyous privilege which Isabella cannot have in Spain. This 'multicultural' environment is a motivating factor for her to learn English and integrate with both the English and non-English communities, indicating an international posture orientation (Yashima, 2009). However, Arya used to be 'mocked' by her 'native' English classmates because of her 'nonnative' accent: Arya: "There were times when other British students would make fun of me. There was the time that they called me 'freshy' I was in frustration I would stay in the next room of our class".
Consequently, Arya had developed negative attitudes towards the TLC, and she used to isolate herself from English 'native-speakers'. Despite that, she created an intimate relationship with a member who belongs to the English community. As a result, an integrative orientation has emerged in her L2 motivation to integrate with his family and friends and become a member of the TLC.

Ideal L2 Self as Self-promotion
The ideal L2 self was found dominant in Isabella, Rafi and Julie. However, their views of their ideal L2 selves are dichotomous. For instance, Julie aspires to sound like a 'native' speaker: Myself: "Do you think you want to sound like a 'native speaker'?" Julie: "Of course! I wish to speak like West Life, especially Shane. I try to imitate him and the way he speaks... I didn't have many Vietnamese people around me so to enjoy the life here I must improve my speaking skills to understand and communicate and meet new friends. And when I speak with them with a good accent using good vocabulary, I feel better, I feel very happy and meaningful".
English pop music did not only contribute to Julie's English learning motivation as Lamb (2011) postulated, but her ideal L2 self was formed because of such globalisation. Since she does not have 'many Vietnamese people around her', she invested in her social identity to bridge the gap between her actual self and Shane (her ideal L2 speaker). The appropriation of others' (i.e. Shane) words developed her agency within the community (Lantolf & Pavlenko, 2001) leading her social circle to expand and include 'native' and 'non-native' English speakers with whom she can further appropriate and re-accent the words of others (Hicks, 2000). Thus, she regularly attends the conversation club and the international society events in her university where she can imitate the way her ideal speaker speaks to reduce the discrepancy between her actual and idealised L2 self (Dörnyei, 2005, p. 223). However, Arya and Isabella aspire to be proficient English speakers without compromising their identities as 'non-native' English speakers: Isabella: "I need to improve my pronunciation. I don't want to say I want to get rid of my Spanish accent it's not like that... I'm not British... it's about getting your message across and being understood by others".
Despite her involvement in an intimate relationship with a 'native-speaker', she perceives her ideal L2 self as a Spanish, and 'not British' speaker of English who can 'get her message across'. Moreover, she believes that her identity as a Spanish English speaker should not impede her future self as a proficient English speaker. Thus, she tries to make her utterance more intelligible with no 'native-speaker' parallel to her idealised L2 self (cf. Dörnyei, 2010). Meanwhile, Rafi's ideal L2 self is his 'non-native' English teachers: Rafi: "English has a prestigious issue in my country... Sometimes I feel tempted to take nativespeaking courses while they promise you to improve your accent and become like native but something inside me says that it doesn't mean anything for me. I never wanted to sound like a nativespeaker. I really admire the way some of our teachers speak... the way X speaks, the way Y speaks. I wish I could speak like them. They're non-native speakers and they still speak in a way that's understandable by us... the presentation, the use of formal English, I guess. I'd say that our teachers are motivating. It affects me a lot. I feel more motivated to speak when I'm in X's class or Y's. The nonnative ones motivate me more".
Not only motivated by his 'non-native' teachers, Rafi also aspires to speak in their classes and sound like them. They affect his motivation 'a lot'. Going beyond the academic circle, he is also motivated by his 'non-native' friends when they speak in English. This could be related to the fact that he finds their utterance more 'understandable' than 'nativespeakers', which creates a safe space for him to interact and speak confidently.

Ought-to Self as a Pressure
This type of motivation is a predominant force by which Saud's English language learning is driven. He believes that he ought to become a competent English speaker because of external pressure from his friends and colleagues: Saud: "I have spent now four years here and when I go back to my home country and speak in front of audience in the English language they will say why you've spent four years and not speak like a native speaker so to be honest I would like to be as a native speaker... when I have presentation and I have to give it to audience I think I should be confident in English as a native speaker or near a native speaker this is very important".
Saud believes that becoming a competent English speaker is a privilege that he "ought to possess in order to meet [the] expectations" and avoid disparagement from his peers (Dörnyei, 2018, p. 22), indicating a sense of pressure. Living in Manchester for four years created a language learning responsibility which his 'audience' would use against him if he did not become a competent English speaker. This supports Alharbi's (2017) findings that Saudi English learners in SA contexts carry the burden of achieving 'native-like' proficiency as a responsibility projected by their peers in their home countries.

The Role of the Other in Motivating the Self
This sub-theme is shared by Arya and Andi who are predominantly motivated by the other to reach their ideological becoming self. The authoritative discourse, the importance of English, was motivating for them. This was the "unchallenged fact" that "demanded their allegiance" (Bakhtin, 1981, p. 21). Although English media materials were banned by her father because 'they had too much exposure', Arya used to be 'cheeky' and watch English films 'behind their backs' for the purpose of learning English. This indicates a sign of the anti-ought to self: Arya: "Learning English was compulsory but after that I don't know I developed interest in it and I just wanted to be able to speak properly... I used to be cheeky and watch movies behind their backs... I just wanted to be different in my family because I would do everything that is opposite to what they were doing. I've kinda have some rebellion nature".
Similar to Thompson (2015) and Lanvers' (2016) conclusions, having a 'rebellion nature' has driven Arya to learn English to 'be different' in her family. It made her go against social norms and parental approval (Thompson & Vásquez, 2015). Thus, the notion of anti-ought to self is plausible where English is a foreign language (Alharbi, 2017). As he was against with the way of learning rather than the language itself, Arya's father played an integral role in motivating Arya to learn English and eventually to enrol in an ESOL program. Accordingly, the anti-ought to self had evanesced and the process of ideological becoming started to flow into her L2 motivation. Similarly, Andi's parents are fundamental to his L2 motivation: Andi: "My prime motivation is my parents because I am self-funded, and my parents gave money to me so I do it for them and make my family proud of me. They always encourage me... When I get demotivated, I think about my family and goals to reach my self-image to keep my motivation... even my girlfriend, somehow I want to impress her that her boyfriend can speak English. It has an impact on my motivation' Andi describes his parents as a 'prime' motivation to learn English. His aspirations to impress his girlfriend, 'make [his] family proud', and achieve the desired 'self-image' do not only drive him to learn English, but also replenish his motivation when he is 'demotivated'. Although being 'self-funded' may indicate a sense of obligation, Andi's parents have mainly invested in him to acquire a Master's degree in business administration rather than become a competent English speaker. Therefore, the role of the other inspires Andi to exceed his parents' expectations.
Less significant others have a more considerable influence on Andi than Arya. As Arya was constantly 'mocked' by her classmates, her boyfriends' social network has enabled her to find a safe space to interact outside the classroom. However, Andi finds the academic environment 'very motivating': Andi: "When I presented my project and my teacher gave me good response and it made me more proud of myself and motivated me automatically. When people recognise my skills, I am willing to do more... He [his teacher] motivates me. He always encourages the students at [X University] to improve ourselves, gives very useful advice and supportive and also my classmates they are also cooperative we are not mocking each other even if we pronounce it wrong, we try to correct each other... it's very motivating. So, I think this kind of ambiance motivates me to learn more English".
Recognition and appreciation of his English-speaking abilities make Andi 'more proud', and thus motivate him 'automatically' and make him 'willing to so more' (i.e. willing to invest more). The 'ambiance' that motivates Andi to 'learn more English' is an ideological environment where diverse voices come into live interaction and his understanding of English is mediated in a convergence to further give him safe space to develop, grow and become in the world (Harvey, 2017;Medvedev, 1978). However, Arya's ideological environment is her social environment (i.e. with her boyfriend, his family and his social circle) where she feels safe to express herself and "selectively assimilate the words of other" (Bakhtin, 1981, p. 341). In accordance with Harvey's (2014) findings, being a member of that ideological community where English learners exchange positive feedbacks rather than 'mock each other' helps the authoritative discourse become more internally persuasive by fuelling their motivation and allowing them to invest in their social identity in a broader circle of the English world.

Investment
Since all participants started learning English in foreign contexts, they created an imagined community in which their imagined identity started to develop (Norton & Toohey, 2001). When the imagined world became real, the participants found it difficult to exercise agency in the real world, attributing their investment to several social factors that influenced their social identity.

The Imagined vs. Real Community
The authoritative discourse of the importance of English required Arya, Julie, and Rafi to create an imagined community (Harvey, 2017). However, in accordance with Badwan's (2019) postulation, the SA experience undermined their longheld views of the English language when the imagined homogenous community revealed itself as a super-diverse community: Julie: "My expectation was that the people in the UK would speak RP English like to what I listen in my audiobooks or some official programs but when I came here in Manchester, I couldn't hear what they said... I mean the accent and it was so fast, so I had a lot of challenges, so it made me shock. I didn't expect that much".
They expected people in Manchester to have a standard English variety. Similarly, Rafi describes his imagined community as 'ideal' where people 'would speak like BBC', which may explicate his inclination to his non-English teachers' norms as he described them to have a 'formal' speaking standards. When they arrived in Manchester and the imagined community became real, they experienced a state of self-questioning when they brought the imagined and real communities into comparison, leading to 'a lot of challenges' and 'made [them] shocked' because they 'didn't expect that much'. Consequently, the heteroglossic community drove them to question their English learning efforts and identities as English teachers, leading them to be discouraged and reluctant to take part in the English community (Harvey, 2014). In contrast, Andi, Isabella and Saud did not have an 'ideal' imagined community because they had visited the UK before and they were informed by their friends about the real English world before coming to Manchester.

Social Approval
Some participants relate their investment to approval by the TLC. For instance, Andi, Rafi, Julie and Saud believe that their social identity investment in language learning is determined by acceptance from others: Rafi: "We teachers are devoted to English... we know and understand that people speak in different accents but general people it's very difficult for them to accept this... The most interesting thing I'd say when I worked here, I represented my country in one of a school project, I used to go to primary schools for international students and present our country. At that time, I realised that children are interested and understand what we say. I realised that most of the students accept the language you speak, then I said that yeah, I can improve my language... the native children they don't really judge the way you speak... After a while, I'd say my motivation increased, because I started to realise that I can manage. Now I am working as an interpreter. I talk to some doctors and nurses to help Bengali speakers".

Myself: "Ok that's a very good progress! How did that happen?"
Rafi: "I think it's because of the acceptance from people... the doctors don't expect too much from us as non-natives. They appreciate you that you speak their language. I realised that people for once they accept you it gives you motivation to stand".
Here, Rafi points out that those people who 'judge' and do not 'accept' him are the ones who have the misconception about the ontologies of English. This assumption was confirmed when he found 'native children' and 'non-native' English speakers in his classroom to provide a safe space for him to speak by accepting, respecting and 'not judging' the way he speaks.
In contrast, Arya used to isolate herself from her classmates because it was not a safe space for her. They used to mock her and ridicule the way she spoke. Consequently, she was in frustration when she heard her peers from the other room calling her 'freshy'. However, being motivated by a significant other, the unsafe space did not impede her identity investment in the world of English: Arya: "When my family came here, I was the one answering all the questions and we did not need any interpreter. I still remember the look on my father's face at the airport when he said 'You know, I've been spending money, I've been spending time with you to learn English. I had expectations, and now I see them fulfilled'. And he said, 'I don't care if you speak English in the future but you made me proud this very moment'. It was even more motivating. The role of the other has an unequivocal influence on Arya's motivation and investment in language learning. She only cares about her family's expectations and fulfilling her father's image of her as a 'son'. Driven by such robust motivation from her parents, she decided to 'put herself in that particular life', a life in the English world, and 'not care' whether her classmates find her accent 'funny'. This has affected her social identity as a language learner to meet her father's expectations. Furthermore, it has led Arya to make a greater investment in her social identity: Arya: "My dream of my whole life is to be a writer, to write books or poetry or whatever but mainly stories, but I have seen writers when they are giving a presentation or interview in front an audience they have to cover each and every line in their book and then again keep it a secret so it's like playing with words so I want to be a person who can do that like I can explain what my book is about and keep it a secret as well to leave it to the reader to find out. If you're talking about the top motivation then that's it, without expecting any money or anything from it. It's just for me to see myself in that position".
Arya's social identity is invested in L2 learning to become an articulate confident speaker who can 'play with words' and give a speech about her book. This investment is driven and guided by her motivational ideological self to claim her voice and to be in the world as a writer with verbal eloquence 'without expecting any money or anything from it'. Rather, it is a matter of 'seeing [herself] in that position'. It is a matter of ideological becoming.

Investment Opportunities
Most participants relate their investment to interaction opportunities and social networks. For Arya and Isabella, living with their English boyfriends has given them a great opportunity to position their identities as English speakers: Isabella: "Sometimes if I don't call my mom I don't speak Spanish... I live with my boyfriend so the rest of the day I speak in English. But obviously it's just a normal conversation with him, so I don't need to feel like I have to speak in a certain way...I feel really comfortable speaking with him and when I'm with him I've got stronger Spanish accent and I feel more relaxed. But then outside our home I just try to just touch a bit better English".
Isabella feels more comfortable speaking to her boyfriend because she can be herself as a Spanish speaker of English. This suggests that this space is safe for her to speak in her way and not 'in a certain way'. Beyond that safe space, however, she puts her identity as an English speaker into negotiation by 'trying to touch a bit better English' to let others 'understand' her 'stronger Spanish accent'.
Andi, Arya and Julie relate their investment opportunities to listening, understanding and "selectively assimilating the words of others" (Bakhtin, 1981, p. 341). They stressed how they carefully observe the way 'native' speakers speak and articulate their spoken discourse in order to imitate them in later English interactions: Arya: "When I speak to a native speaker, I tend to analyse how they speak. So when I say analyse I mean when they say even with intonations and the structure of the sentence or the words they use to that help me a lot to catch the common grammatical structure of that structure was that you would use in certain situations rather than other ones, say like a parrot".
At this stage, they are negotiating their social identity by trying to acquire fixed phrases and features of the English accent in order to become agent within the community. After this stage, the authoritative discourse gradually becomes more internally persuasive (Harvey, 2014).
Andi, Rafi and Julie create their own interaction opportunities by regularly attending the conversation club and the international society events in their university to put themselves in the social community and 'mingle' with others to find their voice: Andi: "If I'm not doing something productive, I try to find people and speak to them and I catch several sentences... I have Indonesian friends, but I meet them once a week on the weekend. I try to limit myself to control to spend my time with international students to practice English and I avoid living with Indonesian people because I want to improve my English...it developed my confidence".
The role of significant others causes Andi to become wisely selective in his social investment as he 'avoids' and 'limits' himself from spending time with his co-national friends to further invest his social identity in English learning by speaking with his international friends where he can 'catch several sentences'. In contrast, Saud suffers from lack of interaction opportunities with both 'native' and 'non-native' English speakers. When he first came to the UK for his Master's studies, he had decided to come alone and leave his family in Saudi Arabia because he wanted to integrate with the English community to develop his English-speaking skills: Saud: "I should study the English language because it's a popular language and you can speak it in every country... I decided to travel alone and study because if my family with me I speak in Arabic but I found a problem, I didn't find someone who can help me to improve my English language because in the UK unfortunately they are not lovely or they are not friendly, just ask a question and an answer... maybe they don't like Arabs".
In addition to the international posture orientation, Saud had had an integrative orientation to learn and invest his social identity to develop his speaking skills. The lack of hospitality and receptivity has led to his withdrawal from social interaction (Jackson, 2018). Consequently, he started to spend his sojourning period with his co-national friends (Gareis et al., 2011;Kinginger, 2008). Thus, he believes that the linguistic quality of his SA experience is insignificant. This confirms Alharbi's (2017) findings that language development of the ought-to self is dependent on language learning opportunities. Currently, Saud blames himself for not investing his social identity in interacting with 'nonnative' English speakers: Saud: "When I attend a conference and I saw my friends and colleagues and they present their presentation and they are confident and I have a motivation I would like to be like her, she's Pakistani. And there's another one she's Algerian... If I see Mashallah they can go and present a presentation and confident like a native speaker then I ask myself why don't I be like them? Why I can't do what they do?... I think it is my fault if I tried to find some way because there is some international society I can go there and speak English".
Driven by the ought-to self, Saud wants to project an identity of a competent English speaker. Therefore, he claims that it is his 'fault' that he did not create an investment opportunity and integrate with 'non-native' English speakers. In addition to external projections from his peers, Saud is internally self-reprimanded for the disparity of his English spoken proficiency compared to his colleagues. Although he aspires to speak like his colleagues and may indicate an ideal L2 self feature, his motivation stems from 'Why I can't do what they do'. This pressure is not only projected by his peers as Alharbi (2017) postulated, but also from his inner self. Hence, the ought-to self is undeniably instigated by introjected and regulated external forces (Ushioda & Dörnyei, 2012) accompanied by internal pressure and selfquestioning. The external forces threaten his recognised identity, whilst the internal drive stems from failure to project an imagined identity of himself as a competent English speaker.

The Complexity of Motivation
The findings subscribe to the dynamic notion of L2 motivation with temporal variations that affects the learning experience (Papi & Hiver, 2020;Ushioda & Dörnyei, 2012). This is because the participants' desires, goals and orientations have considerably changed from instrumental into integrative and other possible future selves as illustrated by the theme of motivation. However, the intrinsic/extrinsic dichotomy is blurred. For instance, Isabella's motivation was regulated and introjected by her father and she was ahead of her classmates because she 'used to be a good student', which indicates IM-accomplishment. When she first came to the UK, she discovered that the 'imposed' English learning in Spain was invaluable for her social communication. This supports Locke and Schattke's (2019) claim that the definition of intrinsic motivation should not link enjoyment to self-fulfilment as Isabella used to 'hate' learning English and yet IM-accomplishment was an effective orientation that made her ahead of her classmates. Moreover, IMstimulation can be found in Julie's motivation as she has "high feelings" when she speaks the L2 fluently (Dörnyei, 2005, p. 78). However, her motivation incorporates external drives to gain better career prospects. Therefore, the findings support other research refutations of the self-determination theory because the intrinsic/extrinsic dichotomy fails to account for the multiple L2 orientations as Isabella and Julie have a blend of intrinsic and extrinsic orientations (Ushioda & Dörnyei, 2012).
Although Arya and Isabella's integrative orientations support Gardner's (2010) claim that integrative orientations are associated with emotional connections, Isabella's integrative orientation had emerged before meeting her boyfriend when English became central to her 'multicultural experience'. Thus, it is global integrativeness that motivated Isabella, where she can '[hang] out with local people and from all countries', rather than exclusively integrating with the TLC. Moreover, Arya developed an integrative orientation despite her negative attitudes towards the TLC. Thus, Gardner's emphasis on how language learning is principally linked to learners' attitudes towards TLC is disputable because integrative orientation can go beyond the TLC, especially when English is the target language. Whilst this argument can be revoked on the basis that Arya's boyfriend is British Pakistani and the Pakistani side of his identity may have impacted her attitudes towards the English community, the argument is underpinned Saud's attitudes when he mentioned that the TLC is 'not lovely' and 'not friendly' and by Rafi's rejection by the TLC. Hence, the global status of English as a lingua franca made the English language independent from the Anglophone community (Ali, 2016;Islam, 2013). Owing to the unparalleled degree of globality of the English language (Crystal, 2012;Isabelli-García et al., 2018;Almazloum & Almeqdadi, 2019), this study proposes that the status of the TL plays a key role in L2 motivation. This postulation is supported by the emergence of Isabella's L2 motivation when she perceived English to be the open doors to 'multicultural' experiences, by Arya and Rafi's interminable investment to develop their English skills for its 'prestigious issue' despite the lack of respect and acceptance from the TLC, and by Saud's desire to become a competent English speaker in spite of his negative attitudes towards the English community.

The Role of Motivation in Constructing the Idealised L2 Self
While Isabella relates her investment to interactions with 'native speakers' (i.e. her boyfriend and his social circle), Julie and Rafi accentuate the value of attending the weekly events of the conversation club and the international society where they can immerse in L2-mediated interactions to negotiate their identities to further construct their ideal L2 selves. Thus, international students can augment the paucity of 'native-speaker' interlocutors in SA contexts.
However, the person-in-context approach revealed two limitations of the conceptualisation of the ideal L2 self. First, the concept of the ideal L2 self is mainly characterised by integrative and long-term instrumental orientations with implicit consideration for intrinsic orientations (Dörnyei & Ushioda, 2011). Nevertheless, Julie feels 'happy' and 'meaningful' when using accurate formulaic phrases with a 'native-like' accent that creates a 'sense of achievement' which makes her 'feel better'. Therefore, the ideal L2 self of Julie includes intrinsic orientations for which the ideal L2 self fails to account. Nonetheless, other participants' L2 motivations repudiate the conceptualisation of the ideal L2 self, which draws another limitation to Dörnyei's (2005Dörnyei's ( , 2018 theory. For instance, Arya and Isabella desire to integrate with their English boyfriends' family and friends in the absence of a parallel 'native-speaker' model to their ideal L2 self. To reiterate, Isabella aspires to become a proficient English speaker without compromising her Spanish accent nor sounding like 'native-English' speakers because of her identity as a 'not British' speaker of English. To underpin this limitation, Rafi's "closest parallel" to his idealised L2 self is his 'non-native' teachers rather than 'native' English speakers (Dörnyei, 2010, p. 79). This subscribes to Badwan and Simpson (2019) and Canagarajah's (2014) claim that 'non-native' varieties of spoken English attract language learners more than 'native-speakers'' in SA contexts. Hence, 'native' speakers are not "always", but rarely the "closest parallels to a person's idealised L2-speaking self" (Dörnyei, 2010, p. 79) because achieving 'native-like' proficiency is far from important to SA students (Rindal & Piercy, 2013). The motivations of Arya, Isabella and Rafi reinforce Ushioda's (2017) claim that 'native-speaker' models do not provide a meaningful reference to most language learners in the 21 st century.

The Role of the Other in Constructing the Ideological Self
Significant others have an unequivocal role in constructing Andi and Arya's social identities. Whenever the general others hinder the process of becoming a 'successful person', such as 'mocking' Arya's accent and calling her 'freshy', significant others not only motivate, but also refuel learners' self-esteem to further condone the disparaging other and continue their quest to find their voice in the world (Harvey, 2014). This makes questioning Gardner's (2010) conceptualisation of motivation and the TLC more cogent as Arya and Andi developed negative attitudes towards the TLC and yet their motivation is beyond instrumentality and integrativeness because the TLC can be insignificant to language learners, especially when it becomes a barrier towards becoming in the world. In accordance with Jackson's (2018) postulation, deeper self-analysis has empowered them to refrain from social interaction withdrawal to further 'go and put [themselves] in that particular life'. This deep self-analysis allowed them to negotiate their identity as English speakers and to decide whether to let their identities be determined by the disparaging general or inspiring significant others. The result of this identity negotiation was a promising investment that made Arya 'not care' if her 'accent was funny' and further orchestrate a genuine ideal imagined identity to become a writer with verbal eloquence to present her book in English with the ability to 'play with words' and arouse people's interest to read her book. Such negotiation outcome confirms Norton's (2015) claim that social identity investment in language learning is established to gain symbolic, as to 'see [her]self in that position', and material resources as a proficient English teacher.
Less significant members in learners' lives play a crucial role in shaping their L2 motivation and investment. Within social dialogic interactions between their voice and the words of others, Arya and Andi negotiate their social identity (Norton, 2013;Quan, 2019) by "selectively assimilate the words of other" through 'analysing how native speakers speak' and 'catching some sentences' to author their own voice within the community (Bakhtin, 1981, p. 341). This identity negotiation occurs in an ideological environment where the 'ambiance', embodied by less significant and general others, is supportive, indulgent and exhilarating that stimulates greater investment in L2 learning. Therefore, the social construction of motivation as well as social identity should be explicitly taken into account when investigating learners' L2 motivation (Harvey, 2014;Ushioda, 2009).

Factors Affecting Learners' Motivation, Investment and Identity Development
In social interactions, Arya, Rafi and Julie were not only reliant on their English learning experience, but also on their reflexive identities as English teachers. Consequently, when their projected identities failed to achieve the intended recognition, their reflexive identities were damaged (Benson et al., 2013), leading to frustration (McCaughey, 2015) and questioning their reflexive identities as English teachers (Chik & Benson, 2008;Hooper et al., 2019). Notably, the motivational future self-guides kept regulating their behaviour and urged them to find a safe space in which their identities can be developed and reconstructed. Such space is mainly characterised by social approval, which did not only stimulate greater investment, but also recovered their damaged identities. Whilst their reflexive identity was in doubt when they first came to Manchester, others' appreciation and acceptance helped confirm their reflexive identity, which motivated them to advance their English-speaking skills. For instance, being 'respected' and not being 'judged' allowed them to be 'willing to do more' and participate in social interactions because it helped them realise that they 'can manage' speaking and communicating with people in English. A context where others do not 'expect too much' from them creates a safe space in which their social identities start to develop and gives them 'motivation to stand' and claim their own voice (Harvey, 2014;Hooper et al., 2019). This does not only support Aveni's (2005) claim that social acceptance and appreciation provide a safe space to speak, but also brings to light that such approval motivates language learners to be 'willing to do more' and invest in their social identity to construct their ideal imagined selves. This highlights the role of the general other in motivating the self as well as stimulating greater investments in learners' identities (Harvey, 2014). Having been accepted by 'native', as Rafi mentions 'native children', and 'non-native' English communities, they decided to invest in their social identity in a broader circle by integrating with 'native' speakers and put their identity into negotiation in order to bridge the gap between their reflexive and recognised identities. This stems from the fact that some participants are 'devoted' to English where it is inextricably bound to their identities as English teachers (Ushioda, 2009). Accordingly, their identities persuade them to invest in L2 learning because living in an English-speaking context triggers their identity negotiation processes that leads to the acquisition of L2 gains (Isabelli-Gracia et al., 2018). Therefore, L2 motivation is a multifaceted dynamic construct (Dörnyei, 2005) that can be inextricably bound to identity when language learning becomes part of a wider life goal (Ushioda, 2009) affected by whom the learner engages with (Nikoletou, 2017), leading them to convert sociocultural influences and personal goals into a psychological drive to learn a language.
All participants, except for Saud, believe that their SA experience provided numerous English-speaking opportunities. They exploited these opportunities to 'analyse how native speakers speak' and 'imitate the sounds and structure of the sentences' of 'native' speakers in order to author their "own words" (Bakhtin, 1981, p. 341). Despite some communicative breakdowns due to intercultural differences, their open-for-negotiation identities lessened the effort to understand, accept and acquire myriads of cultural (Copland & Garton, 2011;Hajar & Mhamed, 2021;Jackson, 2008;Potts, 2015) and linguistic gains (Sharma, 2019). These identity-related aspects of L2 proficiency are indicators of identity development (Benson et al., 2013). Additionally, social interactions in Manchester have developed their selfconfidence, which Benson et al., (2013) define as another dimension of identity development. Therefore, social interactions with both 'native' and 'non-native' speakers are determinant in language learning in sojourning contexts.

Conclusion
This study aimed to find the extent to which learners' voice as social beings contributes to the field of L2 motivation. The findings suggest that the global status of English defies the traditional conceptualisations of L2 motivation as it has become independent from the English-speaking community (cf. Gardner & Lambert, 1972), as well as its 'native' speakers (cf. Dörnyei, 2005). Moreover, this study confirms that L2 motivation emanates from an identity-construction desire by which SA students are regulated and invested in L2 learning (Ushioda, 2009). However, social investment is not only regulated by L2 motivation, but also by the attitudes of the TLC towards L2 learners. When the other accepts, praises and appreciates L2 learners' effort to speak the target language, it stimulates greater investment in L2 practices by providing a safe space for them to claim their voice. When such space is absent, SA students may withdraw from social interactions, hence social investment is paused. Since their motivation to learn an L2 is predominantly based on a self-representation desire, their social identities persuade them to engage in a deep self-analysis to explicate the conflict between their projected and recognised identities. Accordingly, most L2 learners tend to negotiate their identities by appropriating and re-accenting the words of other, whilst other, such as Saud whose motivation ceased to exist for several years, withdraw from social interactions. The result of this negotiation is a quest to find an alternative safe space, such as the international communities, where social investment in L2 learning can resume. Thus, L2 motivation has an integral role in identity construction and negotiation in SA contexts.

Contribution & Research Implications
This study has three key contributions to the field of applied linguistics, namely theoretical, methodological and pedagogical. The theoretical contribution involves taking the status of the target language into account when investigating L2 motivation. Moreover, there is a need to re-interpret the ideal L2 self in order to fit learners' L2 motivations in English-speaking SA contexts because the globalisation of English has made it independent from its 'native-speakers'. Furthermore, social approval (i.e. acceptance and appreciation) is an unequivocal determinant of the extent to which SA students invest their social identities in L2 learning. Thus, the role of the other in accepting and appreciating L2 learners is crucial not only to motivate but also to stimulate greater investment. The methodological contribution accentuates the role of the person-in-context approach in accounting for L2 learners as social human beings with multiple L2 desires, goals and orientations that feed into broader life ambitions. Hence, qualitative approaches helped to delve into uncharted territories of L2 motivation (Ushioda, 2018). The pedagogical contribution is directed towards pre-sojourn program developers to enlighten prospective sojourners about the real world of the TLC to avoid the linguistic and cultural shock that can result in insignificant linguistic outcome of SA experience.

Recommendations
The data of the study suggest that higher education administrators should not expect SA students to automatically acquire an L2 through the mere exposure to the TLC. Thus, they must ensure that, prior to their sojourning journey, SA students are preliminarily acquainted with the use of L2 in the real world, such as pre-sojourn programs. This will help balance and bridge the gap between the imagined and the real TLC, hence avoid the 'shock' and refrain to retreat from social engagement. Moreover, language institutions in SA contexts should provide a safe space for L2 learners where their ideal imagined identities can be constructed and developed. Notably, most participants developed their L2 skills through interacting with fellow international students in Manchester. Therefore, language institutions should put more focus on establishing conversation clubs and hosting interactive events for international students in SA contexts to augment the paucity of 'native' interlocutors.
Drawing on Ushioda's (2018) postulation, my participants' voice will resonate in fellow researchers to further examine the role of social approval in L2 motivation and how it stimulates L2 investment in SA contexts within a wider-ranging population. Longitudinal studies that employ interviews and reflective journals will help trace learners' L2 development through their engagement in L2 interactions over time. In addition, they will provide clearer insights into what other social-related factors can contribute to the advancement of the SA linguistic outcome.

Limitations
One limitation is that some participants have lived in the UK significantly more than others. Since the social context plays a significant role in shaping L2 motivation (Ushioda, 2009), this might have affected their current motivation and social investment because of how they see themselves in the English world. Another limitation is that some participants are relatively older than others, ranging from 24-38.

Note
Wherever the terms 'native', 'non-native' are used in this article, they are placed between inverted commas to signal the criticism of the way they are used to perpetuate discourses of neo-racism and cultural disbelief (Holliday, 2015).