Space, scale and languages: identity construction of cross-boundary students in a multilingual university in Hong Kong

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Introduction
The article to be reviewed is titled “Space, scale and languages: identity construction of cross-boundary students in a multilingual university in Hong Kong”, and was written by Mingyue Michelle Gu and Ho Kin Tong. The article draws on the ideas of scale and space while investigating identity construction among a group of mainland Chinese cross-boundary students. The authors accomplish this by exploring their choices of language and linguistic characteristics in a multilingual university locate in Hong Kong. The authors endeavor to explain how the movements by these students across spaces produced differing index values concerning languages and impacts how they use language, which becomes symbolic of people and the identity of their groups. The authors show that the principles developed by the students in their places of origin could be influential of their identity construction and peer communication within the university. The article finally shows that the students take advantage of their multi-lingual capabilities to demonstrate multi-layered identities and to be accepted within their social circles (Li, 1995).
Summary
An increasing number of researches have attempted to explore the linguistic forms and identity constructions of both international and local migrants. The researches have basically paid attention to (1) revealing the connections between features of language choice and code-switching among various groups …