A Study On The Third Language Acquisition Of Dongxiang Ethnic High School Students

Students of ethnic minority groups in China experience the course with acquiring Chinese and English as the second and third language after their acquisition of their native language.Dongxiang students are no exception.Previous domestic researches mostly focus on other larger ethnic groups such as Uygur,Tibetan and Mongolian ethnic groups.Few empirical studies have been made on Dongxiang students.This thesis investigates English learning process of high school students in Ethnic Middle School of Dongxiang County to prove the cross-linguistic influence of previously acquired languages,namely,Dongxiang language and Chinese,on acquiring English language.The research questions are proposed as follows:(a)Do ethnic students have any advantage in learning a third language after their acquiring their mother tongue and Chinese?(b)Do the first two acquired languages serve as the source of transfer or only one serves as the sole source in the process of English learning for Dongxiang students?(c)What are the possible variables that determine the frequency of transfer in English learning process for Dongxiang students? The purpose of this research is to monitor the English learning process of Dongxiang students,to delve into the role of acquired languages in the third language learning process,to discuss the specific variables that affect the cross-linguistic transfer,and to provide evidence for the existing linguistic influence models.As an empirical research,questionnaire and interviews were employed as the primary research strategy.A sample group of 303 students in Ethnic Middle School of Dongxiang County were selected at random to participate the questionnaire survey.10 students and 4 English teachers were invited for interviews.272 valid questionnaires and recordings of interviews were collected as the main data resource.The related data were analyzed with the software SPSS V.22.0 after sorting out the questionnaires.The research findings suggest that L1(Dongxiang language)has a smaller influence on L3 English while L2(Chinese)has greater influence on L3(English)in the aspect of phonetics,grammar,syntax and writing.However,the potential advantage of Dongxiang students in acquiring a new language was not proved in this study.Possible variables such as,language typology,language proficiency,frequency,metalinguistic awareness,age and gender are discussed respectively.This study is expected to contribute some ideas for the English language teaching and students' learning in Dongxiang County.It is suggested that students and teachers take advantage of the cross-linguistic influence of Dongxiang language and Chinese during the English learning process,especially,making a distinction between Chinese and English in speech sound,grammar,syntax and writing.This research could serve as the helpful reference for future studies in similar research fields.