A Study On Language Identity Of High School Students In Cross-border Ethnic Minority Areas

Language identity is a complex and dynamic phenomenon of cultural and psychological convergence,and it is an important factor affecting language use and language behavior.Research on language identity can not only enrich the theory of language acquisition in multilingual phenomena,but also provide an empirical basis for language education.However,domestic studies on language identity are not abundant and mainly focus on the theoretical review of the relationship between language and identity,or static research on a single language group.In particular,there is a lack of empirical research on language identity in cross-border ethnic minority areas.The cross-border ethnic minority area between China and Vietnam is located in the southwestern gate of the motherland.It is an important location of the two national strategies: “The Belt and Road” and “Two Corridors and One Circle”.In recent years,top state leaders of China and Vietnam have confirmed during their meetings to effectively integrate the two strategies.This means that cross-border ethnic areas have become hot spots in the new era under the new situation.Under the theoretical guidance of language identity,this study takes high school students and teachers in Pingxiang,Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region as research subjects to investigate their language identity from three dimensions: language use,language attitude and language awareness through both quantitative and qualitative methods.It attempts to answer the following questions: 1.What is the status quo of the language identity of high school students in Pingxiang City? 2.What are the subjects’ perceptions towards language identity? 3.What are the possible reasons for subjects’ language identity? Questionnaires with single choice,multiple choice,and Likert scale questions are adopted.A total of 322 questionnaires and 10 interview records are collected.The collected quantitative data is processed and analyzed by SPSS 21.0.The results show that:(1)In terms of language use,high school students in Pingxiang City are bilinguals or multilinguals.They tend to use their native languages and Putonghua within the family.In public places,they tend to use Putonghua.There are intergeneration differences in the use of native languages.Except for classes,they hardly speak English.In terms of language attitudes,they have a higher emotional evaluation towards Putonghua and native languages,and consider both languages friendly and pleasant.They have a higher functional evaluation of English.In terms of language awareness,they have a clear language awareness and can accurately distinguish the differences among Putonghua,English,native languages and other languages or dialects.(2)In terms of language learning and teaching,subjects have a higher degree of identity towards Putonghua and native languages.As for foreign language choice,they have a higher degree of identity towards Vietnamese than English.(3)Under the dual influence of the objective factors including internal and external environment and language value,and the subjective factors including ethnic identity and language competence,the subjects’ language identity shows a trend of diversification.The results indicate that language education in Pingxiang City is incompatible with the current status of language identity.In view of the current status of language identity in the region,efforts of local government,schools,teachers,and students still need to be brought into play.First of all,a harmonious and stable multilingual environment should be built so that languages can develop in an equal environment;second,bilingual education should be promoted to protect native languages;third,reforms should be encouraged to cultivate language talents with an international perspective;finally,a new and creative teacher training model should be constructed to improve teachers’ humanistic awareness according to local conditions.Results of this study provide some reference for the harmonious language ecology of cross-border ethnic minority areas,and shed light on local language teaching and research both theoretically and empirically.