Eight years ago, in 2003 Martin Ehala and Katrin Niglas conducted a representative study among Estonian school students. The aim was to get an overview of the attitudes that could influence young people’s language preferences in situations or environments where their choice is between Estonian and English, such as Internet communications, entertainment, school and university, in the workplace and with family. The results showed that in the eyes of the students Estonian has quite a strong integrative value which cannot be said about the instrumental value. A similar survey conducted in 2011 shows that language attitudes of students have generally remained the same as they were eight years ago. However, it is clear that the use of English is increasing and to ensure the sustainability of the Estonian language its natural use of in everyday life should be guaranteed. This would be the precondition of its valuation as a marker of identity.
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