Multilingual capital, teacher agencies, and learner identities: co-constructive reflexive narratives on Mandarin Chinese speakers in language and intercultural education

Purpose This study explored the subjectivities of eight co-authors who are domestic and foreign teachers and graduate student researchers at an international studies university in China, positioning themselves as Mandarin Chinese speakers to refine the meanings of multilingual capital, teacher agencies, and learner identities in language and intercultural education. Design/methodology/approach The eight co-authors embarked on a co-constructive and reflexive narrative inquiry. This collaborative endeavor has allowed the co-authors to navigate their subjectivities as Mandarin Chinese speakers in multilingual and intercultural research. All co-authors were involved in their collective writing project, promoting scholarly conversations about the mediated role of Mandarin Chinese. Findings Each co-author has shared their personal motivations for learning their target languages beyond English, fostering scholarly conversations about the Sinophone linguistic ideology, teacher agencies, and learner identities. They collectively reflected on the role of Mandarin Chinese in promoting theory and praxis in language and intercultural education from both domestic and foreign perspectives. Originality/value This article concludes by exploring the dynamic nature of professional, academic, and multilingual identity development. It offers implications for various educators, researchers, teachers, and learners in language and intercultural education and presents new insights into linguistic ideologies, teacher agencies, and learner identities.