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The Influence of English Learning on Identity (Re)Construction at Chinese Universities

English language is perceived as cultural capital in many non-native English-speaking countries, and minority groups in these social contexts seem to invest in the language to be empowered and reposition themselves from the imbalanced power relation with the dominant group. The study employs interview-based qualitative research method by interviewing nine Kazakh minority students in universities in Xinjiang and other inland cities in China. The findings suggest that through English learning, some students have reconstructed multiple identities as multicultural and global identities, which created ‘a third space' to break limits of their ethnic and national identities and confused identity as someone in between. Meanwhile, most minority students were empowered by English language to resist inferior or marginalized position and reconstruct imagined elite identity. However, English learning disempowered a student who has little previous English education in school, and placed them on unequal footing with other students, which further escalated the educational inequities.