Constructing Imagined Affiliations through Digital Brokering: Translingual Practices of CSL Learners in HKU

While studies of language learning in digital environments have proliferated, less attention has been paid to how social media mediated imagined communities shape the identity development and language investment of second language learners. This study examines how international undergraduate students learning Chinese as a second language (CSL)at the University of Hong Kong (HKU) in China construct imagined affiliations and enact agency through their participation in digital communities. Drawing on Anderson's notion of imagined communities, Norton's theory of investment, and Wenger's communities of practice, the research employs qualitative narrative inquiry to explore learners' experiences across digital social media such as WeChat, Xiaohongshu, and HelloTalk. The findings show that learners engage with transnational digital spaces to project future identities, gain symbolic capital, and sustain motivation. These imagined communities, often ambient and affectively charged, serve as meaningful spaces for identity rehearsal and linguistic agency. This paper highlights the digital borkeriing value of recognizing social media as imagined affiliations for identity negotiation and investment in second language learning, with implications for digital pedagogy design and learner empowerment.