Language attitudes of foochow undergraduates towards English, Bahasa Malaysia, Mandarin and their vernacular

This study 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 explained in te...

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Main Author: Teddy, Nelson.
Format: Final Year Project Report / IMRAD
Language:English
English
Published: Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, UNIMAS 2009
Subjects:
Online Access:http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/6948/
http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/6948/1/LANGUAGE%20ATTITUDES%20OF%20FOOCHOW%20UNDERGRADUATES%20TOWARDS%20ENGLISH%2C%20BAHASA%20MALAYSIA%2C%20MANDARIN%20AND%20THEIR%20VERNACULAR%2024%20pgs.pdf
http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/6948/7/Language%20Attitudes%20of%20Foochow%20Undergraduates%20Towards%20English%2C%20Bahasa%20Malaysia%2C%20Mandarin%20and%20Their%20Vernacular.pdf
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author Teddy, Nelson.
author_facet Teddy, Nelson.
author_sort Teddy, Nelson.
building UNIMAS Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description This study 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 explained 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 aspect 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 highest 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 with 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 behavioral 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 pragmatists. 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.
first_indexed 2025-11-15T06:17:15Z
format Final Year Project Report / IMRAD
id unimas-6948
institution Universiti Malaysia Sarawak
institution_category Local University
language English
English
last_indexed 2025-11-15T06:17:15Z
publishDate 2009
publisher Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, UNIMAS
recordtype eprints
repository_type Digital Repository
spelling unimas-69482024-08-27T08:01:59Z http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/6948/ Language attitudes of foochow undergraduates towards English, Bahasa Malaysia, Mandarin and their vernacular Teddy, Nelson. P Philology. Linguistics This study 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 explained 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 aspect 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 highest 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 with 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 behavioral 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 pragmatists. 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. Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, UNIMAS 2009 Final Year Project Report / IMRAD NonPeerReviewed text en http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/6948/1/LANGUAGE%20ATTITUDES%20OF%20FOOCHOW%20UNDERGRADUATES%20TOWARDS%20ENGLISH%2C%20BAHASA%20MALAYSIA%2C%20MANDARIN%20AND%20THEIR%20VERNACULAR%2024%20pgs.pdf text en http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/6948/7/Language%20Attitudes%20of%20Foochow%20Undergraduates%20Towards%20English%2C%20Bahasa%20Malaysia%2C%20Mandarin%20and%20Their%20Vernacular.pdf Teddy, Nelson. (2009) Language attitudes of foochow undergraduates towards English, Bahasa Malaysia, Mandarin and their vernacular. [Final Year Project Report / IMRAD] (Unpublished)
spellingShingle P Philology. Linguistics
Teddy, Nelson.
Language attitudes of foochow undergraduates towards English, Bahasa Malaysia, Mandarin and their vernacular
title Language attitudes of foochow undergraduates towards English, Bahasa Malaysia, Mandarin and their vernacular
title_full Language attitudes of foochow undergraduates towards English, Bahasa Malaysia, Mandarin and their vernacular
title_fullStr Language attitudes of foochow undergraduates towards English, Bahasa Malaysia, Mandarin and their vernacular
title_full_unstemmed Language attitudes of foochow undergraduates towards English, Bahasa Malaysia, Mandarin and their vernacular
title_short Language attitudes of foochow undergraduates towards English, Bahasa Malaysia, Mandarin and their vernacular
title_sort language attitudes of foochow undergraduates towards english, bahasa malaysia, mandarin and their vernacular
topic P Philology. Linguistics
url http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/6948/
http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/6948/1/LANGUAGE%20ATTITUDES%20OF%20FOOCHOW%20UNDERGRADUATES%20TOWARDS%20ENGLISH%2C%20BAHASA%20MALAYSIA%2C%20MANDARIN%20AND%20THEIR%20VERNACULAR%2024%20pgs.pdf
http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/6948/7/Language%20Attitudes%20of%20Foochow%20Undergraduates%20Towards%20English%2C%20Bahasa%20Malaysia%2C%20Mandarin%20and%20Their%20Vernacular.pdf