Exploring Bilingual Uyghur-Chinese Students'Social Use of Language inside and out of Classroom

This paper examines language use inside and out of classroom of Uyghur students from the middle schools for both Han and ethnic minorities in Urumqi, Xinjiang, China. A total of 341 Uyghur students between 12 and 15 years of age, attending 3 middle schools for both Han and ethnic minorities in Urumqi, responded to questionnaires requesting information about their language backgrounds, their use of language at school (inside and out of classroom) and in the wider community, their self-perceptions about their linguistic competence in Uyghur and in Chinese and their attitudes towards Uyghur, Chinese and towards bilingualism. The results, in general, demonstrated a positive attitude towards bilingualism, and there was a trend towards favoring the use of Chinese both inside and outside classroom. The implications of the findings for language policy and planning in education are discussed.