Abstract

Language and identity are two distinct but inextricably intertwined concepts. This implies that people—especially bilinguals—may manipulate their linguistic repertoires in different social settings to portray different identities. In this regard, we examined the language choices of university students in different social settings and how they use language to construct identity. The study employed a sequential transformative mixed method design; thus, qualitative and quantitative data were collected in two separate periods for analysis. In total, 627 participants took part in the study. Sixty students were personally interviewed, whereas 567 participants filled out an online survey. The results of the study indicate that students speak English in formal communicative situations and speak their L1 in informal settings. They speak English to portray an intellectual identity, while their first languages are spoken to divulge their affiliation with their family and ethnicity.

摘要

语言和身份是两个截然不同但又密不可分的概念。这意味着人们——尤其是双语者——可能会在不同的社会环境中操纵他们的语言库来描绘不同的身份。对此，我们考察了大学生在不同社会环境中的语言选择以及他们如何使用语言来构建身份。该研究采用了序贯变革混合方法设计；因此，在两个不同的时期收集定性和定量数据进行分析。共有 627 名参与者参与了这项研究。60 名学生接受了个人采访，567 名参与者填写了在线调查。研究结果表明，学生在正式交际场合说英语，在非正式场合说母语。