A Sociolinguistic Study Of English Teaching For Uygur Middle School Students In Yining City

The current research studies the Uyghur middle school students'English learning in three high schools,No.3 middle school,No.8 high school and No.23 high school in Yining city.It takes the methods of literature and field survey(questionnaire,interview and observation)as data collection methods.The current research analyses the differences and similarities of the English teaching and learning in the three different types of classes:Classes Mainly for Chinese(CMC);Classes Mainly for Bilingual Students(CMBS);Classes Mainly for Minority Speaking Students(CMMSS).It also studies the achievement and disadvantages of Uighur students'English education in the past dozens of years on sociolinguistic theory,ethnology theory,and education theory from the aspects of macro policy environment,teaching environment and individual's learning environment.Some suggestions for improving the local English education are put forward based on the investigation.The current research finds that the Uygur students in the CMC enjoy high degree of motivations for English learning and the good tests results.They master their mother tongue(Uyghur)and Chinese well.Therefore,they can learn English in Chinese environment without the help of their mother tongue.Teachers give high praise to Uygur students in the class and believe that they have more advantages than the others in English learning.The Uyghur students' parents pay a lot attention to and support their children's study.They are willing to spend money and effort on it.As English Teaching in the CMBS is at the beginning stage,the numbers of English teachers are in a great shortage and the relevant education policies are not mature enough.There are not unified syllabuses,teaching materials or evaluation mechanism.Thus,the teaching activities only depend on teachers' own exploration and the students' English learning behavior requires to be further strengthened.At present,their English learning is in the "lots of interest but less action"status.They believe they are interested in English,but actually are reluctant to spend efforts on it.Some of them even give up learning.Most parents hold the positive attitude toward English learning,while a few of them worry that learning English will give the "unnecessary" burden to their children,which affects their college entrance examination results.Although the CMMSSs in Yining don't have English courses in school at the current time,the Uygur students hold positive attitudes toward English learning.They think English is important,and they like it.Their parents share the same opinion with the students.They believe English is the "world language" and learning English will offer a bright future to their children.Because the students' Chinese abilities are poor,most of them,the teachers and the parents hold the view that if the CMMSSs study English in school,Uygur,at least both Uygur and Chinese should be adopted as the teaching language.On the above analysis,the current research finds some improvement space in the English teaching for Uyghur middle school students.It can be summarized from three aspects.On the macro level,the management authority and research institute should improve the learning environment for Uygur students.To begin with,as most of the students are thirst to master a foreign language,the authority should enrich the local English education scales and increase the kinds of English education levels,even to set up other foreign language courses.Besides,the education institutions and scholars should study the multilingual acquisition theories,and explore the regulations on balancing the Uyghur-Chinese-English trilingual learning.In addition,the current education evaluation policy of college entrance exam is not conducive to the development of students' potential.It does harm to cultivating their comprehensive quality.Some innovations should be adopted in foreign language evaluation on the characteristics of ethnic minorities and multiple evaluation criteria and various evaluation methods should be implored in the evaluation process.On the teaching environment,the national education authority and the schools should coordinate with each other.They should improve the quality and increase the quantity of English teachers;to enact the authorized English syllabus and text books;and to promote the communications among schools nationwide in order to share the advanced experience.In addition,grade teaching,compulsory courses and selective courses should be set up according to the students'Chinese level and English level.There is also some advice for individual learners.Students should conquer psychological barriers and hold the positive view on English learning and be engrossed in it.The research finds that students' Chinese ability affects their English learning positively.Therefore Students should try their best to improve their Chinese level in order to promote English learning and enjoy the achievements of the English teaching reform.