The Impact of Language Acquisition on Identity Formation in Bilingual or Multilingual Contexts

Russia has become one of the most preferred countries by many foreign students intending to continue with their further studies from the African continent. These students are therefore not competent in speaking or understanding Russian which surely makes them to study an extra year so as to attain the skills before joining their courses. While they are learning the language these students are not only learning vocabulary or grammar, but they are also learning to construct their identity. The research on the issue of language and the reconstruction of identity in a group of international African students has become necessary and subject of discussion due to the complexity of the mechanism that has to do with the reconstruction process of identity within these international African students enrolling for higher studies in a new environment. Through ethnography, observation, and a survey in the form questuonnaire, the results show that there is an intimate connection between language acquistion and identity reconstruction. The research contributes to the broader sens of language acquisition and identity reconstruction which will have its imolicationds on policy makers, language teachers and organizations working with international students.