On Third Language Acquisition Of Uyghur Senior High School Students In South Xinjiang

Third Language Acquisition has become a current core issue in applied linguistics and language acquisition. Third Language Acquisition(third or additional language acquisition) is a relatively new area of research in the 1980 s appearing in linguistics. Third Language Acquisition means that a third language or more have been mastered or have been learnt in addition to the mother tongue and the second language. Third language is a term which indicates a subsequent order after second language in contrast to second language. In other words, third language acquisition is often understood as the learning language after second one, including a third, fourth or fifth language, and so on. The book The First Language in Foreign Language Learning written by Ringbom, analyzing the influence of the first Finnish and the second Swedish language on learners learning English as the third language, marks the beginning of the third language acquisition officially in 1987.Senior High School English Education of Uyghur Senior High School Students in South Xinjiang differs from the Senior High School English Education of the hinterland provinces or developed coastal cities in its unique humanistic and geographical environments. The most obvious sign of Senior High School English Education in South Xinjiang is that the Senior High School English Education in South Xinjiang has two language aids that are Chinese and their mother tongue Uyghur, while the Senior High School English Education in the hinterland provinces or developed coastal cities has only Chinese as the aid in the process of learning English. Thus, the process of the third language acquisition by Uyghur Senior High School students appears to be longer and more complicated compared with the process of the second language acquisition for other hinterland senior students in China.The content of the study focuses on the kinds of factors that have an influence on the third language acquisition of Uyghur Senior High School Students, including their subjective factors and some objective factors. The thesis has been written in order to analyze and make a reasonable explanation for the subjective factors and some objective factors of the Uyghur senior high school students in the process of learning English as the third language and its positive factors and obstacles in the process of learning English as the third language, to put forward reasonable suggestions on the third language teaching in South Xinjiang, and to guide the long-term development of the third language teaching work in South Xinjiang. The study takes Uyghur senior high school students and some senior high school English teachers in South Xinjiang as the research subjects and on the theory of linguistics, pedagogy, psychology to throw light on the Uyghur students’ third English language acquisition process.Senior High School English Education in South Xinjiang with multiple humanities and social significance has a pivotal role to guide the senior high school students to set up the correct ethnic concept, outlook on world life and the values. Language is not only the most important tool in human thinking and communication, but also an important condition for people to participate in social activities, to promote the comprehensive development of great significance. South Xinjiang is a Uyghur main habitat and Senior High School English education there has its own characteristics. Therefore, it is necessary to conduct a research on English acquisition of Uyghur senior high school students in a multi-language, multi-cultural background. The aim of the research is to guide the Uyghur Senior High School English teaching and to improve Uyghur Senior High School students’ foreign language learning skills. Another goal of the research is to foster more international vision of multilingual talents, to promote economic development in South Xinjiang and to achieve a harmonious and prosperous society.