Problems of choosing the main language in a bilingual society of national regions

Abstract

© 2019, Association for Social Studies Educa. All rights reserved. The article deals with the problems of bilingual education in the Republic of Tatarstan and the peculiarities of bilingual students’ linguistic consciousness. On the basis of socio-psycholinguistic experiments, surveys conducted over several years, conclusions were drawn about the language preferences of young students. The authors of the article analyze the causes of the imbalance of Tatar-Russian bilingualism in the Republic and suggest ways of promoting the Tatar language as a systemic approach that reflects the specificity of a multicultural mobile multilingual society. Systematic and consistent questioning of bilinguals and monolinguals allows saying that the linguistic consciousness of bilingualism in the Republic is determined by a complex of linguistic and extralinguistic factors. There are also several factors, which are undoubtedly influenced by factors of a personal nature. Thus, the basic constant and variable parameters of the personality (nationality, gender, education, specialty, family traditions, etc.) play a huge role in creating a general picture of linguistic consciousness, and, most importantly, form a behavior model of a bilingual, including speech and not only, in a multicultural society, which is today any state in the essence. Language education should meet the challenges of the time and prepare the younger generation for successful socialization and integration. The authors believe that the basis of bilingual education should be an ethno-oriented approach to teaching the language as a non-native (another native) one and the education of a bilingual person from childhood, at school and the development of this system for the university.