Reflection and reflexivity in influencing the developmental trajectories of ideal multilingual selves: a longitudinal qualitative inquiry

This study conducted a longitudinal inquiry into how reflection and reflexivity influenced the development of ideal multilingual selves (IMS). The Dominant Language Constellations (DLC) was adopted to understand the operationalisation and development of IMS and how students’ reflection and reflexivity at different cognitive levels influenced the maintenance or development of their IMS. Five rounds of interviews and two rounds of written journals were collected from nine Chinese learners of German over 28 months. Findings suggested that most participants reflected on their multilingual experiences at lower cognitive levels, which could hardly maintain the vision of being multilingual longitudinally. In comparison, learners who continued to strengthen their IMS tended to demonstrate higher levels of reflection on multilingual experiences. They were also likely to activate more languages, including their first languages (L1s), in their DLCs during the reflective and reflexive process and identify the meaning of being multilingual for constructing their future selves. This research emphasised the significance of different levels of reflections and reflexivity in influencing the development of IMS and underscored the role of a holistic view of language in evoking higher-level reflective and reflexive thinking during LOTE learning.