The publication addresses the multifaceted phenomenon of the learner's cultural identity in the course of learning foreign languages. The author sees the importance of this problem in the controversial neoglobalization, in which languages and cultures are not just migrating across the borders adapting to local languages, but local cultures absorbing the invaders and demonstrating self-assertion. The publication includes the analysis of the "third culture" concept. It also studies the cultural identity in the learners of English. The results of the opinion poll held among Russian students of English are processed. The finding is that foreign language instruction can develop in students the skills of dealing with cultural diversities and retaining their own cultural self.

Keywords: culture, cultural identity; neoglobalization; global English; the phenomenon of the "third culture"; native speakers and culture bearers.