With the aim of further exploring students' engagement with language education policy processes and their decision-making practices that shape their language learning experience, this study carried out a nine-month ethnographic fieldwork to examine the English language learning trajectories of three rural high school students in China. On top of showcasing the nuances involved in the local interpretation and implementation of national English language education curriculum amid on-going reform, this study demonstrates how students creatively navigated interwoven individual expectations and institutional agendas in situated practices. It further highlights the need to give voices to students in exploring the multilayered and highly contextualized policy process, to better understand and serve their various language learning needs.