A Study Of Thai Major Students’ Cultural Identity Towards Target Language In Yunnan Province

More and more researchers study a series of phenomena which emerge from second language acquisition and social interaction from the perspective of cultural identity. Cultural identity is constitutive of and constituted by the interaction. Many studies viewed language learning as the factor that altered language learners’ cultural identity and indicated that language learners maintained native cultural identity, and meanwhile, they possessed certain target language cultural identity. Most of the research subjects are immigrants, minorities, Chinese learners and English learners. However, there is no research exploring the cultural identity of Thai major students who study in foreign language context and have the experience of studying in Thailand. Therefore, based on previous research on English learners’ cultural identity, this study aimed to explore the characteristics of Thai major students’ target language cultural identity and the impact of the years of target language learning and the experience of studying in Thailand on their target language cultural identity among Thai major students in four universities in Yunnan.The research adopted both quantitative and qualitative methods to collect data by using the questionnaire to investigate 274 Thai major students and the structured interview to survey 16 students. SPSS 11.5 software was used to analyze the data. The questionnaire used in this study was comprised of three parts: personal information, three open questions and target language cultural identity questionnaire. The interview, including eleven questions, was carried out in Chinese and ultimately presented by the text in English. The study adopted cultural identification theory, intercultural identity theory and identity negotiation theory to identify, analyze and discuss the data.The findings showed that: firstly, Thai major students had a strong target language cultural identity, whereas they still maintained strong cultural identification on their own nation’s culture. Towards Thai culture, the highest identity among the five dimensions came to target cultural behavior and politics identity was the lowest. Productive bilingualism was evident among them. Secondly, seniors possessed stronger target language cultural identity than sophomores. The cultural identity of the students who had been to Thailand for studying seemed to be more target language culture oriented than that of the students who had stayed in China. The years of target language learning and the experience of studying in Thailand had negative influence on their attitudes towards Thai. The years of target language learning and the experience of studying in Thailand exerted significant positive influence on Thai major students’ attitudes towards Thai values and politics. Thirdly, Thai major students had relatively high sociocultural competence. Thai language learning influenced language learners’ cultural identity across time and experience. The strong identification on target language culture is needed to be paid attention to.This study provides the picture of Thai major students’ cultural identity towards target language culture. The research findings may also give some implications for Thai language education and Thai language planning and language policy of Yunnan province. However, there exists some limitations and in the future, it is necessary to do a longitudinal study on Thai major students’ target language cultural identity.