Towards The Learning-Life In Language Conflict

The Dongxiang nationality is one of the indigenous ethnic groups in Gansu province.Most of its people speak Dongxiang language and begin to learn Chinese only when entering primary schools.Consequently,when exposed to English class,the Dongxiang children have to resort to their inadequate Chinese.Although they expend great efforts in learning English,the result is very low efficiency.As a result,students of Dongxiang nationality experience high level of English learning anxiety.The present research focuses on English learning anxiety among Dongxiang undergraduates.With Psychological field theory and Phenomenology as the theoretical basis,the research aims to establish linkages between target group's English learning anxiety and the language conflict that confronts them in their external Learning-life environment.To ascertain the causes of English learning anxiety and accordingly put forward regulating measures,a study on target group's Learning-life is conducted from social cultural perspective.The research mainly deals with the following three questions:(1)What is the present condition of English learning anxiety among Dongxiang undergraduates?(2)What are the contributing factors to target group's English learning anxiety and how do these factors relate to the language conflict facing the target group?(3)What role can Foreign Language Education Planning play in relieving such anxieties?With both qualitative and quantitative method,this study tested the subjects from 7 major Universities of Gansu Province with “Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Table”(FLCAT),including Lanzhou University,Northwest Normal University,Lanzhou Jiaotong University,Lanzhou University of Technology,Gansu Agricultural University,Northwest Minzu University and Gansu Institute of Political Science and Law.The results are used,together with other factors such as residence,life experience and cooperation,as criteria for picking out candidates among others for this study.Finally Students L,J and M are taken as the cases.Statistical analysis on the FLCAS showed that Dongxiang undergraduates apparently suffered from English learning anxieties,among which “test anxiety” took up the highest proportion,followed by “communication apprehension” and “fear of negative evaluation” respectively;the sophomores' anxiety level was significantly higher than that of the freshman,and the male students were higher than females;compared with the students of Han nationality from the same class,Dongxiang students' anxiety level is higher,and their anxieties were significantly different between themselves,showing a greater degree of dispersion.Based on the three case studies of learning experiences,the researcher sorted and contrasted the data from four aspects: schooling,community,family and leisure time life,and found that the English learning anxieties of Dongxiang undergraduates mainly resulted from their unique learning experiences in four aspects,namely(1)language environment,(2)bilingual education,(3)language attitude and(4)cultural identity.And further,the four aspects above were originated in three potential polarities of languages,i.e.the polarity in Dongxiang language and Chinese,Chinese and English,English and Arabic.These competitions of languages could constantly occur in target group's Learning-lives,and could be regarded as a kind of language conflict in general sense.Therefore,the key to relieve the English learning anxiety of Dongxiang undergraduates is to mediate the language conflict in their Learning-lives.As a key adjustment mechanism to language conflicts,language planning has many branches.Among them,Foreign Language Education Planning is the one that puts importance upon a non-native language to realize the language's economic value,balance the influential power of different languages,mitigate the language conflicts,etc.A reasonable foreign language education policy can give full play to the positive function of “Social Safety Valve” when languages are in conflict.Conversely,inappropriate policy will enlarge the social imbalance,and highlight the hidden language conflicts,thus violating the original intention of foreign language education planning.Therefore,a reasonable foreign language education policy plays an important role in adjusting language conflicts.This study suggests that the language conflicts in Dongxiang undergraduates' Learning-lives could be relieved through(1)exploring the cultivation mode of inter-disciplinary talents with regional characteristics,(2)developing foreign language textbooks with regional cultural characteristics,(3)regulating Arabic language education in certain areas of China,(4)establishing a Key Competency based foreign language teaching and evaluation system.Measures above could not only relieve the English learning anxieties among Dongxiang undergraduates,more importantly,they could give full play to target groups' mother tongue language and its cultural advantages,cultivating foreign language talents required by both the information era and the “One Belt and One Road” Initiative.