Teachers’ attitudes towards varieties of Hong Kong English
Implications for English language teaching
Previous language attitude research in Hong Kong compared Hong Kong English (HKE) to exonormative standard
Englishes, whereas this study uses five varieties of HKE with more or less localised features. One hundred English language
teachers were listener judges in a verbal-guise experiment, and the results showed that most of the speakers received positive
evaluations, particularly on solidarity dimensions. The speaker with most local features received the most negative evaluation,
but the difference was most evident on status dimensions. Thus, speakers of HKE are seen as likeable, competent and proficient,
which suggests that Hong Kong may have entered into the nativisation stage of Kachru’s
(1983) model. We argue that the recognition of HKE demonstrated in this study should have implications for English
language teaching. We propose adopting pedagogies grounded in local language and culture, which would encourage students and
teachers to express themselves in localised English, and express a local identity.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Hong Kong English
- 3.Language attitude research in Hong Kong
- 4.Methodology
- 4.1Procedure
- 4.2Speakers
- 4.3Participants
- 4.4The questionnaire
- 5.Findings
- 5.1Overall findings
- 5.2Status and solidarity
- 5.3Accent recognition
- 5.4Language attitudes and gender
- 6.Discussion
- 7.Conclusion
- Notes
-
References
References (53)
Bacon-Shone, John, Kingsley Bolton, and Kang-kwong Luke
2015 Language Use, Proficiency and Attitudes in Hong Kong. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.
Bolton, Kingsley, and Helen Kwok
1990 “
The Dynamics of the Hong Kong Accent: Social Identity and Sociolinguistic Description”.
Journal of Asian Pacific Communication 11: 7–45.
Cavallaro, Francesco, Bee Chin Ng, and Mark F. Seilhamer
2014 “
Singapore Colloquial English: Issues of Prestige and Identity”.
World Englishes 331: 378–397.
Chan, Jim Y. H.
2013 “
Contextual Variation and Hong Kong English”.
World Englishes 321: 54–74.
Chan, Jim Y. H.
2016 “
A Multi-Perspective Investigation of Attitudes towards English Accents in Hong Kong: Implications for Pronunciation Teaching”.
TESOL Quarterly 501: 285–313.
Chan, Jim Y. H.
2018 “
Gender and Attitudes towards English Varieties: Implications for Teaching English as a Global Language.”
System 761: 62–79.
Chan, Ka Long Roy
2017 “
Attitudes towards Hong Kong English: Native English Teachers and Local English Teachers”.
Asian Journal of English Language Teaching 261: 85–110.
Chan, Ka Long Roy
2019 “
Trilingual Codeswitching in Hong Kong”.
Applied Linguistics Research Journal 31: 1–14.
Chan, Ka Long Roy
2020 “
The Future of Hong Kong English: Codification and Standardisation.” In
Wei Tang, ed.
Hong Kong: Past, Present and Future. New York: Nova Science Publishers, 69–88.
Chan, Ka Long Roy, and Lydia N. C. Chan
2021 “
Segmental Features of Hong Kong English: A Contrastive Analysis”.
Journal of Universal Language 221: 1–44.
Chan, Ka Long Roy, and Hans J. Ladegaard
fc..
What do People Notice in Accent Evaluation Studies? The Importance of Prosody.
Cheng, Winnie, and Martin Warren
Deterding, David, Jennie Wong, and Andy Kirkpatrick
Dörnyei, Zoltan, and Tatsuya Taguchi
2010 Questionnaires in Second Language Research: Construction, Administration, and Processing. London: Routledge.
Edwards, John
2010 Language Diversity in the Classroom. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.
Forde, Kevin
1995 “
A Study of Learner Attitudes towards Accents of English”.
Hong Kong Polytechnic University Working Papers in ELT and Applied Linguistics 11: 59–76.
Garrett, Peter
2010 Attitudes to Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Groves, Julia
2011 “
‘Linguistic Schizophrenia’ in Hong Kong”.
English Today 271: 33–42.
Halliday, Michael
1968 “
The Users and Uses of Language”. In
Joshua Fishman, ed.
Readings in the Sociology of Language. The Hague: Mouton 139–169.
Hansen Edwards, Jette G.
2016 “
The Politics of Language and Identity: Attitudes towards Hong Kong English pre and post the Umbrella Movement”.
Asian Englishes 181: 157–164.
Hansen Edwards, Jette G.
2018 “
TH Variation in Hong Kong English.”
English Language and Linguistics 231: 439–468.
Hansen Edwards, Jette G.
2019 The Politics of English in Hong Kong: Attitudes, Identity and Use. London: Routledge.
Hansen Edwards, Jette G.
2021 “
‘I have to Save this Language, it’s on the Edge like an Endangered Animal’: Perceptions of Language Threat and Linguistic Mainlandisation in Hong Kong”.
Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 401: 307–326.
Hundt, Marianne, Lena Zipp, and André Huber
2015 “
Attitudes in Fiji towards Varieties of English”.
World Englishes 341: 688–707.
Hung, Tony T. N.
2000 “
Towards a Phonology of Hong Kong English”.
World Englishes 191: 337–356.
Hung, Tony T. N.
2012 “
Hong Kong English”. In
Ee-Ling Low, and
Azirah Hashim, eds.
English in Southeast Asia: Features, Policy and Language in Use. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 114–133.
Joseph, John E.
2004 Language and Identity. National, Ethnic, Religious. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Kachru, Braj B.
1983 “
Models for Non-Native Englishes”. In
Kingsley Bolton, and
Braj B. Kachru, eds.
World Englishes: Critical Concepts in Linguistics. London: Routledge, 108–130.
Ladegaard, Hans J.
2000 “
Language Attitudes and Sociolinguistic Behaviour: Exploring Attitude-Behaviour Relationships in Language”.
Journal of Sociolinguistics 41: 214–233.
Ladegaard, Hans J.
2001 “
Popular Perceptions of Standard Language: Attitudes to ‘Regional Standards’ in Denmark”.
Language Awareness 101: 25–40.
Lai, Mee Ling
2011 “
Cultural Identity and Language Attitudes into the Second Decade of Postcolonial Hong Kong.”
Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 321: 249–264.
Lam, Tony
2017 “
Intonational Variation in Hong Kong English: A Pilot Study”.
Asian Englishes 191: 22–43.
Lambert, Wallace E.
1967 “
The Social Psychology of Bilingualism”.
Journal of Social Issues 231: 91–109.
Li, David C. S.
2009 “
Researching Non-Native Speakers’ Views toward Intelligibility and Identity.” In
Farzad Sharifian, ed.
English as an International Language: Perspectives and Pedagogical Issues. Bristol: Multilingual Matters, 81–118.
Li Wei, Alfred Tsang, Nick Wong, and Pedro Lok
2020 “
Kongish Daily: Researching Translanguaging Creativity and Subversiveness”.
International Journal of Multilingualism 171: 309–335.
Low, Ee-Ling
2010 “
Sounding Local and Going Global: Current Research and Implications for Pronunciation Teaching”. In
Lisa Lim,
Anne Pakir, and
Lionel Wee, eds.
English in Singapore: Modernity and Management. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 235–260.
Luk, Jasmine C. M.
1998 “
Hong Kong Students’ Awareness of and Reactions to Accent Difference”.
Multilingua 171: 93–106.
Luke, Kang-kwong, and Jack C. Richards
McKenzie, Robert M.
2008 “
Social Factors and Non-Native Attitudes towards Varieties of Spoken English: A Japanese Case Study”.
International Journal of Applied Linguistics 181: 63–88.
McKeown, Jamie, and Hans J. Ladegaard
2017 “
Evidentiality and Identity Positioning in Online Disputes about Language use in Hong Kong”.
Journal of Applied Linguistics and Professional Practice 171: 53–74.
Munro, Murray J.
2011 “
Intelligibility: Buzzword or Buzzworthy?” In
John Levis, and
Kimberly LeVelle, eds.
Proceedings of the 2nd Pronunciation in Second Language Learning and Teaching Conference. Ames: Iowa State University, 7–16.
Nelson, Cecil L.
2011 Intelligibility in World Englishes: Theory and Application. London: Routledge.
Sasayama, Shoko
2013 “
Japanese College Students’ Attitudes towards Japan English and American English”.
Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 341: 264–278.
Schneider, Edgar W.
2007 Postcolonial English: Varieties Around the World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Setter, Jane, Cathy S. P. Wong, and Brian H. S. Chan
2010 Hong Kong English. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Sewell, Andrew J.
2012 “
The Hong Kong English Accent: Variation and Acceptability.”
Hong Kong Journal of Applied Linguistics 131: 1–21.
Sewell, Andrew J.
2016 English Pronunciation Models in a Globalized World. Accent, Acceptability and Hong Kong English. London: Routledge.
Sewell, Andrew J., and Jason Chan
Trudgill, Peter
1975 Accent, Dialect and the School. London: Edward Arnold.
Tsui, Amy B. M., and David Bunton
2000 “
The Discourse and Attitudes of English Teachers in Hong Kong”.
World Englishes 191: 287–304.
Warren, Paul
2015 Uptalk: The Phenomenon of Rising Intonation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Zhang, Qi
2014 Investigating Hong Kong English. Bern: Peter Lang.
Zahn, Christopher J., and Robert Hopper
1985 “
Measuring Language Attitudes: The Speech Evaluation Instrument.”
Journal of Language and Social Psychology 41: 113–123.
Cited by (3)
Cited by 3 other publications
Ladegaard, Hans J. & Ka Long Roy Chan
2024.
The importance of suprasegmental features in language attitude research: evidence from a study of teachers’ attitudes towards Hong Kong English.
Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development ► pp. 1 ff.
MacDonald, Malcolm N. & Hans J. Ladegaard
2024.
Editorial.
Language and Intercultural Communication 24:2
► pp. 71 ff.
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 4 july 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers.
Any errors therein should be reported to them.