A Study Of Dai Senior High School Students’ Cultural Identity In English Learning

There is a close link between language,identity,and culture.Language is an important component of identity and culture.It is a carrier of culture.In recent years,more and more domestic and foreign scholars and experts(Lamberts,1967;Norton,1995;Bian,2003;Gao,2005)have explored to explore the relationship between the language,identity and culture from different perspectives in the research of second language acquisition and EFL teaching.The results state that there is a close relationship between second/foreign language learning and cultural identity.Language acquisition/learning has an influence on learners’ cultural identity of language learners.The research is often conducted with the participants of college students and ESL/EFL majors.There are few researches involving the junior or senior high school students,especially the minority high school students.Therefore,on the basis of the researches about language learners’ cultural identity,this study aims at investigating the Dai senior high school students’ native cultural identity,English cultural identity,and their identity change after learning English and the impact of demographic features on cultural identity change.The research used the combination of quantitative methodology and qualitative methodology in data collection by employing 150 questionnaires(135 questionnaires are valid)to examine 150 Dai senior high school students’ native cultural identity,English cultural identity and their cultural identity change and the structural interviews to explore 6students’ native cultural identity,English cultural identity and their cultural identity change deeper.The SPSS 18.0 was used to analyze the data.The questionnaires contained the following four parts: demographic features,native cultural identity,target cultural identity,cultural identity change after learning English while the interviews included 8questions about native cultural identity,English cultural identity and identity change.The results demonstrated that,firstly,Dai senior high school students remained a strong native cultural identity,meanwhile,they accepted the target cultural identity.Next,English learning had an effect on five types of cultural identity.The most distinct cultural identity change was productive change.The productive change refers to that when foreign or second language learners learn English,their native cultural identity will be maintained,at the same time,they also accept the target culture identity in the learning process.Therefore,the findings suggested that the productive bilingualism took place in the Dai senior high school students.Finally,by employing the Independent T-test,Correlation Analysis and One-Way ANOVA Analysis,there was a correlation between the starting ageof learning English and the additive change.The earlier the students learned English,the more distinct they had an additive change.Furthermore,the English scores and different majors had an influence on the additive change and the productive change.The higher English scores they got,the more distinct they had an additive change and productive change.Liberal art students had more distinct additive change and productive change than science students.Compared with Gao’s(2005)study,gender difference had no impact on cultural identity change in this study.This study has proved Gao Yihong’s model of EFL language learning relating to cultural identity.The productive bilingualism not only took place in the best foreign language learners and English majors,but also took place in the minority senior high school students.One limited point the writer wants to mention is that the study only observed the Dai ethnic group,and there are 55 ethnic groups in China.It is necessary and persuasive to cover more minority senior high school students in different areas.The implications presented in the study may be that:(1)EFL teachers not only pay attention to the improvement of the minority students’ linguistic skills and communicative competence,but also their cultural identity change.(2)When they teach students’ English and its culture,they should impart the native culture and traditions in English,deepening their understanding of the native culture.