Identity Construction and Multilingual Practices: A Study on Uyghur Students in Tertiary Education in China

• Other Authors: Guo, Xiaoyan (author.)
• Format: Others
• Language: English; Chinese
• Published: 2016
• Online Access: http://repository.lib.cuhk.edu.hk/en/item/cuhk-1292422

本研究探索了少數民族學生在國家內部區域間流動過程中的身份構建與語言互動問題。研究以上海一所著名高校（匿名為“Zhendan大學”）中來自新疆的維吾爾族大學生為對象，聚焦于他們在多語言學習和運用過程中的身份構建問題。通過整合批判性民族志語言學方法及批判性應用語言學中的身份建構理論，研究提出一個綜合的理論框架，用以研究身份在不同社會語境中的構建過程。基於該理論框架，研究主要探索了三個問題：（1）上海的維吾爾族大學生在多語學習和使用中的身份建構和轉化是如何受到社會話語的影響的？（2）他們是如何在多語言互動情境中協商和表現身份的？（3）他們的身份構建和協商如何受到新自由主義社會經濟情境的影響？ === 本研究採用質性取向的民族志性質研究方法。研究者於2013年11月至2016年1月期間，通過正式半結構訪談和非正式訪談（日常交流、網絡交流等）、觀察、日常交際互動（微信朋友圈或者面對面）搜集了二十名維吾爾族學生的語言學習和使用相關的資料。數據分析結合了主題類屬分析和批判話語分析方法。 === 研究所見：三種主要的社會話語影響了上海維吾爾族大學生的身份構建和轉化，即：傳統性民族話語、現代性“國家-民族”話語及後現代多元話語。在三種話語的交織影響下，維吾爾族學生身份構建經歷了從起初傳統性民族話語影響下尋求而“真實維吾爾”的身份，到英語作為高價值資本的本地語境中建構起“Zhendan維吾爾”精英身份的變化歷程。在上海後現代多元話語的影響下，維吾爾學生在人際交往中通過策略性地處理社會話語、創造性地利用多語言和符號資源，表達出不同的身份與角色。在學習與運用普通話、本地方言的過程中，他們將維吾爾語與當地文化進行融合，在語言交際實踐中表現出一系列出眾的身份，即精緻、時尚、開放、多元以及國際化的自我形象。最後，在新自由主義社會文化、教育政策和實踐中，大部分維吾爾族學生被貼上了“英語差生”的標籤,只有極少數家庭社會資源豐富的學生可以展現出“優秀維吾爾英語學習者”的身份。這兩類身份，在新自由主義社會經濟環境下又產生了不同的結果：前者是“競爭力弱的維吾爾族學生”，他們在就業市場上被邊緣化；後者則表現出“成功的Zhendan維吾爾學生”的形象。 === 本研究貢獻體現於兩方面：就身份研究而言，研究探討了身份構建與語言學習如何在宏觀、中觀、微觀社會語境中的互動，彌補以往身份研究在這三個層面上缺乏整合的不足。就實踐意義而言，研究以詳實的實證資料呈現維吾爾族大學生在主流社會情境中的語言學習與身份協商的現象，研究結果對政策決策者、多語言大學教育以及維吾爾族學生的發展有現實啟發意義。 === 關鍵字：身份建構；多語實踐；國家內部流動；維吾爾族大學生 === The study explores how a cohort of Uyghur students construct and negotiate their identities through multilingual learning and use as they move from Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region to study in a prestigious university (anonymised as Zhendan University) located in Shanghai, China. An integrative theoretical framework is proposed, based on socio (linguistic) ethnographic approaches and critical applied linguistic perspectives regarding identity construction, to explore 1) the way multilingual exposure shapes Uyghur students’ identity construction and transformation in the host context; 2) how they negotiate positioning and perform subject positions through multilingual interactions; and 3) how their identity construction and negotiation are connected with the neoliberal socioeconomic orders. === The study employs a qualitative ethnographic-oriented research methodology. The fieldwork was conducted at Zhendan University, Shanghai, between November, 2013 and January, 2016. Multiple sources of data were gathered, comprising semi-structured interviews, observations, momentary interactions in both digital and physical environments, documents, field notes, and online exchanges. The data were analysed synthesizing thematic analysis and critical discourse analysis. === The findings and discussion of the study suggest that three salient social discourses of language and identity, that is, the traditionalist ethnic discourse, the modernist nation-state discourse, and the late modernity discourse, emerged to shape Uyghur students’ identity construction and transformation in the host context. Under the interplay of intersectional and shifting discourses, Uyghur participants experienced a shift from searching for an authentic Uyghur identity both within and across the community, underpinned by a traditionalist ethnicity discourse of Uyghur-people-Uyghur-language, to the construction of a situated elite identity as ‘Zhendan Uyghur’, drawing upon the discourse of English as a high-value capital. Against the late modernity discourse of the host context, Uyghur participants were found to be able to perform a range of subject positions in situated interactions by strategically navigating discourses, and by creatively appropriating multiple linguistic and semiotic resources. They negotiated distinctive positions by using Chinese and local linguistic resources and by localizing Uyghur linguistic and cultural resources, and performed sophisticated and cosmopolitan selves through translanguaging practices. Linking participants’ identity construction to the neoliberal language educational policies and practices, it was found that a majority of them were subsumed to be ‘less competent’ Uyghur English learners, while a small body negotiated a favourable identity as ‘good’ Uyghur English learners. Such categories resulted in different consequences for them in the neoliberal economic and educational markets, with the former relegated to the status of ‘less competitive’ Uyghur in the employment market and the latter assuming a ‘successful Zhendan Uyghur’ image. === The study contributes to the understanding of intersections between ethnic minorities’ identity construction, language and migration by focusing on the social process of intra-national migration. It advances the knowledge of identity construction through language by bridging the gap between the meso-level of social discourse, the micro-level of momentary interactions, and the macro-level of the wider socioeconomic process. The findings of the study have significant implications for policy makers, the host institution and Uyghur students. === Key words: identity construction; multilingual practices; intra-national migration; Uyghur students === Guo, Xiaoyan. === Thesis Ph.D. Chinese University of Hong Kong 2016. === Includes bibliographical references (leaves ). === Abstracts also in Chinese. === Title from PDF title page (viewed on …). === Detailed summary in vernacular field only. === Detailed summary in vernacular field only. === Detailed summary in vernacular field only. === Detailed summary in vernacular field only. === Detailed summary in vernacular field only.