The Role of School in Developing Ethno-cultural Identity: Ethno-cultural Feelings and Knowledge among Russian-speaking Students in Estonia

The role of the language of instruction in the formation of the ethno-cultural identity of Estonian Russian-speaking students

“…Th e analysis showed similar to earlier research (Soll, 2006(Soll, , 2012 that the language of instruction does not have a direct impact on self-defi nition. Th e interviewees who had a certain ethno-cultural identity with a Russian focus studied in Estonian-language, Russian-language and language immersion classes; the students who had the uncertain ethno-cultural identity with a Estonian-Russian focus studied in Estonian-language or Russian-language classes; and the others who used alternative self-identifi cation strategies studied in Russian-language or language immersion classes.…”

“…Studies carried out in Estonia have, so far, analyzed the appreciation for Russian as a mother tongue (Pavelson & Jedomskihh, 1998), the fears of losing Russian profi ciency given the change of instructional language (Vihalemm, 2002); and, in general, the self-defi nitions of the Russianspeaking population (Masso & Vihalemm, 2003;Masso & Tender, 2007;Vihalemm & Masso, 2007). Th e role of the language of instruction in the development of ethnic identity has been examined only in a few studies (Soll, 2006(Soll, , 2012, which have concluded that the language of instruction does not have a direct impact on the formation of ethno-cultural identity. Until now, there have not been any studies in Estonia which analyze how the socializing environments created by instruction languages help to generate the development of ethno-cultural identity.…”

“…Nii nagu varasemad uuringud (Soll, 2006(Soll, , 2012, näitas ka praegune õppekeele analüüs, et enesemääratlus pole üheses seoses õppekeele kogemusega. Enesemääratlusviis ei sõltu õppekeelest, ka mitte elukohast, kuigi meie valimisse kuulusid õpilased kolmest piirkonnast (Tallinn, Ida-Viru, Lõuna-Eesti).…”

“…Samas leidub vaid üksikuid uuringuid, mis on keskendunud õppekeele rollile identiteediloomes. Kvantitatiivsed uuringud (Soll, 2006(Soll, , 2012 näitavad, et õppekeel ei mõjuta otseselt õpilaste etnokultuurilise identiteedi kujunemist. Senini puuduvad aga Eestis uuringud, mis võimaldaksid analüüsida, kuidas õppekeelte loodud sotsialiseerimiskeskkond võib etnokultuurilise identiteedi kujunemisel osaleda.…”

Changes in Language Policy in Estonia: Self-Descriptions of Russian-Speaking Students

“…The empirical basis for the article was formed from data gathered by conducting synchronous online interviews in writing (Salmons 2010) in autumn 2012. Unlike earlier quantitative approaches (Soll 2012), such interviews provide a more detailed understanding of the role of the language of instruction in the construction of identity among youth. In the context of this study, the advantages of the online method in comparison with interviews are as follows: it makes it possible to gather data from different geographical regions; it minimises the effect of the conductor of the interview in the course thereof (e.g.…”