A Study On Cross-Cultural Identity Of Chinese Learners In Russia And Its Factors

As a neighbour of China,Russian Chinese language education has a long history,dating back as far as the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty.As relations between Russia and China have reached their best ever level in the 21st century,Chinese language education in Russia is also developing rapidly.Since the Russian Federation included Chinese in the unified state examination for secondary school students in 2020,the number of Chinese language learners in Russia has increased rapidly and Russia has the largest number of Chinese language learners in the world.Chinese language education in Russia has shown unprecedented momentum,and the number of studies on Chinese language education in Russia has also increased,but so far most of the studies on Russian Chinese language learners have focused on Chinese language teaching itself,and there is a lack of studies on the cross-cultural identity of Russian Chinese language learners.As a hot topic in the study of second language acquisition,the results of cross-cultural identity research are of positive significance for Chinese language teachers to grasp the characteristics of second language learners,to tailor their teaching to their needs and to guide the construction and dissemination of China’s national image.This paper examines the current situation of 141 non-Chinese Russian Chinese learners’ cross-cultural identity and its influencing factors from four dimensions:language,culture,ethnicity and values.The socio-psychological factors focus on the influence of Russian Chinese learners’ motivation and attitude on their identity.The following conclusions were drawn from the questionnaire survey and data analysis.The study found that the four categories of Russian Chinese language learners’identity levels are,in descending order,cultural identity,ethnic identity,values identity and language identity.The cultural distance between China and Russia and the good political and economic relations between the two countries make Russian cultural identity and ethnic identity higher.In contrast,Russia is a Western civilization,and non-Chinese learners lack the environment to use the target language,which makes Russian language identity and value identity lower.In terms of individual factors,the longer the duration of Chinese language study,the higher the level of Chinese language proficiency,and the experience of coming to China,the higher the language identity and ethnic identity of Chinese learners;cultural identity is significantly influenced by gender,duration of study,and place of residence,with female learners,those who have studied longer,and those who live in the Far Eastern Federal District of Russia having a higher cultural identity;value identity is more stable and not influenced by the above factors.In terms of psychosocial factors,Russian Chinese learners’ integration motivation is significantly higher than instrumental motivation;the three types of attitudes towards China are,in descending order,economic,political and cultural.The results of the multiple linear regression analysis show that integration motivation has a stronger ability to explain the variation in language,culture and ethnic identity,which is reflected in the fact that the higher the integration motivation,the higher the learners’ language,culture and ethnic identity;instrumental motivation has less ability to explain the variation in the four types of identity.In terms of the influence of attitudes,cultural attitudes had the strongest ability to explain the variation in linguistic and cultural identity;the better the cultural attitudes,the higher the linguistic and cultural identity.Political attitudes have the strongest ability to explain variation in ethnic identity;the better the political attitudes,the higher the ethnic identity.Economic attitudes have some explanatory power for cultural identity;the better the economic attitudes,the higher the cultural identity;value identity is not influenced by attitudes or motivations.Based on the above findings,suggestions are made for improving the cross-cultural identity of Russian Chinese learners.