Language experiences, evaluations and emotions: multilingual identity construction amongst Chinese ethnic minority undergraduates

Chinese ethnic minority undergraduates are often engaged in at least three languages. Understanding their multilingual identity is of significance to the educational balance and social stability in Chinese society. Furthermore, it provides empirical evidence and comparative insights for other multilingual societies that face similar tensions between national common language, ethnic language and English, thus promoting global discussion on language policy. This study analysed data collected from 426 questionnaires and semi-structured interviews and explored multilingual identity construction amongst Chinese ethnic minority undergraduates by methodologically operationalising Fisher et al.’s (Fisher, L., M. Evans, K. Forbes, A. Gayton, Y. Liu, and D. Rutgers. 2024. “Language Experiences, Evaluations and Emotions (3Es): Analysis of Structural Models of Multilingual Identity for Language Learners in Schools in England.” International Journal of Multilingualism 21 (1): 418–438.) 3E model through metaphors. Participants were asked to describe their conceptualisation of language experiences, evaluations and emotions using metaphor expressions. Findings suggest that metaphors for the 3E dimensions in English exhibited more diversity than those in Chinese and ethnic language, and students were inclined to use similar conceptual categories when describing Chinese and ethnic language. Furthermore, students also used the same metaphors to describe different dimensions of multilingual identity because the source domains were highlighted differently, which also suggested that language experiences, language evaluations and language emotions were intertwined. It is anticipated that the findings of the study can help improve language education amongst Chinese ethnic minority undergraduates.