The Language Identity Development Of Non-English Language Major Undergraduates

At present,there are about 300,000 undergraduates studying in non-English language majors in universities in our country.The degree of language identity affects their learning production and profession planning.This paper defines language identity as the group’s emotional attitudes and value judgments about a language.Based on the theory of L2 self-motivation system,this paper aims to study the influencing factors and interaction patterns of language identity among undergraduates majoring in non-English languages.Specifically,this study aims to answer the following three research questions:（1）What are the main factors affecting the language identity of non-English language major undergraduates?（2）What are the differences in the language identity of different groups of students?（3）Is there a mutually restrictive relationship between the factors above in the development process,and if so,what is the relationship?This study investigated the influencing factors of language identity among non-English language majors of different genders,grades and languages by means of questionnaires and interviews.This study used Zoltán D?rnyei et al.（2006）Language Learning Motivation Questionnaire,and the investigation covered 314 students from 5 different language majors.Variance and clustering are used in this research,and the structural equation model of influencing factors is obtained according to the analysis results.The main findings of this study are as follows:（1）The main factors affecting the language identity of non-English majors in my country are cultural interest,the vitality of the target community,milieu,the attitude towards the crowd,instrumental motivation,confidence,and integration motivation.（2）The overall level of professional identity of college students majoring in non-English languages is relatively low.In terms of gender comparison,boys value practical help more than girls and are more confident in obtaining relevant jobs.Compared with freshman to senior year students,in addition to cultural interest remaining stable,other motivations have a downward trend after freshman year.In terms of languages,except for environmental factors that are not very different,other factors are very different between languages.From the perspective of the groups of students who choose different languages,there are differences between all factors.（3）Both instrumental motivation and integrative motivation can directly affect language identification.Instrumental motivation has a stronger impact on language identification than integrative motivation.Instrumental motivation is affected by the environment and the vitality of the second language community.Self-confidence and environment are mutually beneficial,and can influence attitudes towards L2 speakers through interest in cultural products.In addition to instrumental motivation and integrative motivation,self-confidence also has a direct impact on language identity,while the vitality of the L2 community does not have a direct impact on L2 population attitudes,and there is no significant interaction between instrumental motivation and integrative motivation.The findings of this study have enlightening value for college students to make student and career planning,as well as schools and education departments to make educational planning for non-English language majors.The limitation of this thesis is the insufficiency of sample.Future research can explore the influencing factors of language identity of non-English majors from other perspectives,and can also investigate a wider language learning group.