Language attitudes of foochow undergraduates towards English, Bahasa Malaysia, Mandarin and their vernacular
This stu dy investigated the attitudes of the Foochow undergraduates towards the four language varieties in their linguistic repertoire across the cognitive, affective and behavioral components of attitude. Their attitudes towards these varieties were then explaine d in...
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| Format: | Final Year Project Report / IMRAD |
| Language: | English English |
| Published: |
Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, UNIMAS
2009
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/6914/ http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/6914/1/Language%20Attitudes%20of%20Foochow%20Undergraduates%20Towards%20English%2C%20Bahasa%20Malaysia%2C%20Mandarin%20and%20Their%20Vernacular%2024%20pgs.pdf http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/6914/8/LANGUAGE%20ATTITUDES%20OF%20FOOCHOW%20UNDERGRADUATES%20TOWARDS%20ENGLISH%2C%20BAHASA%20MALAYSIA%2C%20MANDARIN%20AND%20THEIR%20VERNACULAR.pdf |
| Summary: | This stu
dy investigated the attitudes of the Foochow undergraduates towards the
four language varieties in their linguistic repertoire across the cognitive, affective
and behavioral components of attitude. Their attitudes towards these varieties
were then explaine
d in terms of their integrative and instrumental orientation. A
survey was conducted on 184 Foochow undergraduates in Universiti Malaysia
Sarawak by using a questionnaire. The findings from the survey revealed that the
respondents have different attitudes
towards the four varieties. The Foochow
undergraduates had consistent and positive attitudes towards English, Mandarin,
Foochow and Bilingualism (Mandarin and Foochow). However, their attitude
towards Bahasa Malaysia is positive only in the cognitive aspec
t but not affective
and behavioral
-
wise. In the respondents’ integrative orientation, Mandarin ranked
the highest followed by Foochow, English and Bahasa Malaysia. In their
instrumental orientation, English is the variety they perceived as having the
highe
st instrumental value, followed by Mandarin, Bahasa Malaysia, and
Foochow. The study also found that the cognitive component of attitude is not
analogous with instrumental orientation. On the other hand, the affective
component of attitude is analogous wit
h integrative orientation. This study
revealed that the Foochow undergraduates retained positive attitude towards their
vernacular but a pattern of shift to Mandarin was evident. Their negative attitude
towards Bahasa Malaysia in the affective and behavior
al aspect revealed their low
emotional attachment with the national language. Meanwhile, their highly positive
attitude towards varieties perceived as having high instrumental value like English
and Mandarin indicated that they are active language pragmati
sts. This study is
useful as it indicates the Foochow community’s current thoughts, beliefs, desires
and preferences for varieties around them, as well as to reveal the vitality status of
their vernacular vis
-
à
-
vis standard varieties |
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