Language attitudes of the Vietnamese in Melbourne

1998 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mai N. Pham

Abstract This study is an attempt to investigate language attitudes of the older and younger generations of Vietnamese bilingual adults in Melbourne, in relation to their ethnicity in the Australian context and in the light of the historical background of the Vietnamese immigrants in Australia. A survey of 165 Vietnamese bilingual adults and students in Melbourne was carried out to investigate their language use in private and public domains, their appraisal of English and Vietnamese, their attitudes towards Vietnamese language maintenance, acculturation, and the question of their ethnic identity in Australian society. The results of the findings reveal that there is a significant difference between adults and students in various aspects of their language attitudes. Overall their choice of language use in private and public domains varies with situations and interlocutors. Although both groups show positive attitudes towards the appraisal of Vietnamese, the maintenance of Vietnamese language and culture and the retaining of their ethnic identity, what is significant is that students demonstrate stronger positive attitudes than adults. With regard to factors that influence the maintenance of Vietnamese, while adults think that government language policy is the most important factor, students express their confidence in the ability of the Vietnamese themselves to maintain their language.

Author(s):  
Su-Hie Ting ◽  
Jonathan Zie-Ming Teng

Abstract The study assessed Chinese teenagers’ perceptions of vitality of Hokkien Chinese in Penang using the Expanded Graded Intergenerational Disruption Scale (EGIDS). The survey involved 156 students aged 13–19 (100 Hokkien; 56 non-Hokkien Chinese). The results showed that the vitality of Hokkien in Penang is at EGIDS Level 6b (Threatened). The identity function of Hokkien in Penang is that of a home language, and children are the youngest generation of Hokkien speakers. The stability of the diglossic situation between Hokkien and Mandarin has been disrupted due to Mandarin encroaching into oral domains of language use, particularly the friendship and education domains. Both Hokkien and non-Hokkien teenagers have positive attitudes towards Hokkien. Chinese educational background is the only social factor that makes a significant difference in Hokkien usage among the Chinese teenagers, while gender, socio-economic status and language attitudes have no significant effect on Hokkien usage. In view of this, institutional support for Mandarin is the most important structural factor that has a clear, but adverse, impact on Hokkien usage. Hokkien cannot compete with the functions of Mandarin as a marker of Chinese identity in Malaysia, a gateway to career and business opportunities, and a global language within the Chinese diaspora.


2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 1008-1017
Author(s):  
Prof. Bader S. Dweik ◽  
Sara N. Al-Rahal

The purpose of this study is to investigate the domains of use of the Turkmen language and Arabic in Baghdad and to explore attitudes towards Turkmen and Arabic. A sample, comprising (100) subjects from the Turkmen of Baghdad, is selected purposefully to fill out a sociolinguistic questionnaire to solicit information about the participants' demographic background, language use in different contexts and language attitudes towards the ethnic language, Turkmen and the mainstream language, Arabic. The results have revealed that the Turkmen of Baghdad use their ethnic language in different domains especially at home and among the family members. Also, they use both languages (their ethnic language and Arabic) in different social domains such as neighborhood, place of work, schools, media and other public places and have displayed positive attitudes towards Turkmen and Arabic alike.


2014 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Leni Amalia Suek

The maintenance of community languages of migrant students is heavily determined by language use and language attitudes. The superiority of a dominant language over a community language contributes to attitudes of migrant students toward their native languages. When they perceive their native languages as unimportant language, they will reduce the frequency of using that language even though at home domain. Solutions provided for a problem of maintaining community languages should be related to language use and attitudes of community languages, which are developed mostly in two important domains, school and family. Hence, the valorization of community language should be promoted not only in family but also school domains. Several programs such as community language school and community language program can be used for migrant students to practice and use their native languages. Since educational resources such as class session, teachers and government support are limited; family plays significant roles to stimulate positive attitudes toward community language and also to develop the use of native languages.


Author(s):  
Boglárka Straszer

This article provides an overview of some sociocultural and demographic factors of language maintenance and shift among Hungarians in Finland and Sweden, predominately at the group level. Some of the factors described are: the historical background of Hungarian immigration, settlement patterns, demographic development, geographical areas, participation in Hungarian associations along with the attitudes of the majority group towards Hungarians and the Hungarian language. After this some data is presented about language choice, culture and identity of second-generation Hungarians. The article shows that Hungarians are not a single unified group in Sweden or Finland and both groups face factors that can support or hinder the preservation of the Hungarian language and culture. Swedish-Hungarians have a greater ability to preserve their Hungarianism as a group due to population size and concentration in certain areas, while Finnish-Hungarians can maintain their Hungarian identity due to their comparably high status in society and the positive attitudes of the Finnish majority.


LingTera ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 10-18
Author(s):  
Setyo Wati

This research aims to: (1) describe the language attitudes of undergraduate students of English Education Department of Surakarta Muhamamadiyah University toward English language in terms of their behavioural, cognitive, and affective aspects; and (2) investigate the differences in language attitudes of undergraduate students towards English across gender and length of study at English education department of Surakarta Muhammadiyah University. This research employed a mixed method research design to collect, analyse and to mix both quantitative and qualitative data in a single study. Researcher used theory in a quantitative study to provide an explanation about the relationship among variables in the study. Thus, it is essential to have grounding in the qualitative study. The results of the study are as follows. The undergraduate students have different language attitudes, in terms of cognitive, behavioural, and affective aspects of language attitudes towards English. There is a statistic difference in the undergraduate students’ language attitudes towards English across gender. The attitudes of male undergraduate students towards English are higher than that of female ones indicating more positive attitudes towards English. It means that there is a rejection of the null hypothesis, because there is a significant difference between male and female undergraduate students’ attitudes towards English. There is a difference among the three groups in terms of length of English study. The freshman group showed slightly higher language attitudes compared with those of the other two groups.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bradley Rentz

This dissertation provides an analysis of language attitudes of 1.3% of the adult population of the island of Pohnpei in the Federated States of Micronesia. It presents both quantitative survey and qualitative interview data collected July–August 2016 and July–August 2017. The results are situated within a poststructuralist, postcolonial theoretical framework that critically evaluates the colonial history of the island and its ideological effects on language use, as well as highlighting the diversity of opinions found on the island. Because of this framework, the dissertation does not aim to construct a monolithic narrative of language attitudes on Pohnpei, but rather seeks diversity wherever possible. To carry out these goals, the dissertation adapts quantitative methods (multidimensional scaling, cluster analyses, correspondence analysis, and poststratified Bayesian generalized hierarchical modeling) and combines them with critical theoretical tools such as sociolinguistic scale and translanguaging. The results showed two main different ideological groups both in terms of language use and language attitude patterns. Both groups highly value Pohnpeian, English, and other local languages generally. However, the first group values English over Pohnpeian and other local languages. They in general only use Pohnpeian to connect with Pohnpeians and in situations related to the soupeidi system, but use English for most other situations including education, work, media, and government. This group’s language use patterns with scale-based language ideologies, where local levels of scale (such as family and kousapw) are highly multilingual, but become increasingly monolingual as scale increases toward the translocal level. The other group, conversely, finds Pohnpeian to be the most important language for them overall and tend to find Pohnpeian to be the most important language in every domain. The results of the dissertation indicate a disconnect between the current mostly monolingual English-focused educational practices among both private and public schools on Pohnpei and the desire of the research participants for greater use of Pohnpeian and other local languages. The current educational system likewise devalues the symbolic resources of its students, which has perpetuated negative ideologies about local languages. These ideologies adversely affect both the students and the linguistic future of local languages including Pohnpeian.


Author(s):  
Hong Liu

Abstract This paper aims to improve our understanding of the social psychology of code-switching by investigating societal attitudes towards two types of Chinese-English code-switching, insertions of English words in Chinese sentences and switching to English at clausal boundaries in Chinese. It examines how subjects’ evaluation of code-switching is influenced by their general language attitudes and language use associated with network exposure. The subjects were recruited from four different cities in mainland China. They participated in an online perception experiment and completed a socio-biographical questionnaire. Quantitative analyses show that clausal switching was rated as the least likable CS mode, but at the same time was considered as having high status as an indication of high English proficiency. Their evaluation was mainly influenced by their general attitudes towards English language and culture. Network exposure also played a marginal role, affecting their judgement of the speaker’s English proficiency.


2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 44
Author(s):  
Bader Saed Dweik ◽  
Sara Najim Al-Rahal

The purpose of this study is to investigate the domains of use of the Turkmen language and Arabic in Baghdad and to explore attitudes towards Turkmen and Arabic. A sample, comprising (100) subjects from the Turkmen of Baghdad, is selected purposefully to fill out a sociolinguistic questionnaire to solicit information about the participants' demographic background, language use in different contexts and language attitudes towards the ethnic language, Turkmen and the mainstream language, Arabic. The results have revealed that the Turkmen of Baghdad use their ethnic language in different domains especially at home and among the family members. Also, they use both languages (their ethnic language and Arabic) in different social domains such as neighborhood, place of work, schools, media and other public places and have displayed positive attitudes towards Turkmen and Arabic alike.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 823-855
Author(s):  
Nico Nassenstein ◽  
Gerrit J. Dimmendaal

The present paper provides first insights into emblematic language use in Bunia Swahili, a variety of the Bantu language Swahili as spoken in and around the city of Bunia inIturi Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Structural variability in Bunia Swahili shows that this language variety consists of basilectal, mesolectal and acrolectal registers, which are used by speakers to express different social identities. Whereas the basilectal variety shows structural similarities with Central Sudanic languages, the mesolectal and acrolectal registers are closer to East Coast Swahili. We argue that these lectal forms are to be understood as fluid repertoires which are used by speakers as a form of adaption to different conversational settings and as indexical representations of their (ethnic) identity. We go on to describe the historical background to these diverging ways of speaking Bunia Swahili, which are due mainly to the long-lasting conflict between different groups in the area.


2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (5) ◽  
pp. 581-596

Technology plays a crucial role in the self-guided learning of a second language in general and English in particular. Nevertheless, many students in different contexts still ignore the application of technology-enhanced language learning (TELL) tools in enhancing their foreign language proficiency. Therefore, this study is conducted to investigate the attitudes towards the use of TELL tools in English-language learning (ELL) among English majors at one university in Vietnam. To collect data, 197 English majors participated in finishing the questionnaire, and 20 students were invited to join the interviews. The findings are that the majority of students have positive attitudes towards the use of TELL tools and the frequency of using these tools is very high. In addition, the results also reveal that there is no significant difference in attitudes towards and frequency of using TELL tools in learning English in terms of the year of study. However, students of different levels of academic achievements have different attitudes towards using TELL tools and use TELL tools to learn English differently. Received 2nd May 2019; Revised 16th July 2019, Accepted 20th October 2019


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