A Study of Macao Tertiary Students’ Attitudes Towards Language After the Handover (SpringerBriefs in Education) 9819968186, 9789819968183

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SpringerBriefs in Education Xi Yan

A Study of Macao Tertiary Students’ Attitudes Towards Language After the Handover

SpringerBriefs in Education

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Xi Yan

A Study of Macao Tertiary Students’ Attitudes Towards Language After the Handover

Xi Yan School of Foreign Languages Southeast University Nanjing, Jiangsu, China

ISSN 2211-1921 ISSN 2211-193X (electronic) SpringerBriefs in Education ISBN 978-981-99-6818-3 ISBN 978-981-99-6819-0 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-6819-0 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2023 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. The registered company address is: 152 Beach Road, #21-01/04 Gateway East, Singapore 189721, Singapore Paper in this product is recyclable.

Acknowledgements

I am deeply grateful to Prof. Andrew Moody, Prof. Joseph Sung-Yul Park, Prof. Shouhui Zhao, Prof. Meihua Chen, Prof. Daming Xu, Prof. Jingwei Zhang, and Prof. Kong Io Chun for their support of various kinds. Special thanks go to Alice Xie and Dharaneeswaran Sundaramurthy who guided me with great patience during the process of this book’s writing. This study is supported by the Start-up Research Fund of Southeast University (Grant number: RF102862330). I thank my parents for their love. This book is dedicated to them. I also express my sincere gratitude to my elder brother and his wife who took care of my parents when I was far away. Some parts of this book build and expand upon my earlier works that were published previously. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the following publishers for their permission to use these materials: • Taylor & Francis Ltd., for Yan, X. (2017a). A study of Macao tertiary students’ language attitudes after the handover. Language Awareness, 26(1), 25–40, which appears in revised form in Chaps. 5 and 7. • Taylor & Francis Ltd., for Yan, X. (2017b). The language situation in Macao. Current Issues in Language Planning, 18(1), 1–38, which appears in revised form in Chap. 3. • John Benjamins Publishing Company, for Yan, X. (2019). A study of Macao tertiary students’ attitudes to issues in postcolonial Macao’s language policy and planning. Language Problems and Language Planning, 43(3), 241–261, which appears in revised form in Chaps. 5–7.

v

Contents

1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.2 Macao: A Brief Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.3 Decolonization, Renationalization, and Globalization in Macao . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.4 Theoretical Contributions of This Monograph . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.5 Outline of This Monograph . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

1 1 2

2 Literature Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1 Language Attitudes Research Approaches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1.1 The Direct Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1.2 The Indirect Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1.3 The Analysis of Societal Treatment of Language Varieties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1.4 Discourse-Based Approaches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2 Language and Identity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

11 11 12 12

3 The Language Situation in Macao . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.1 Macao’s Language Situation Before and After the Handover . . . . . . 3.1.1 Government . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.1.2 Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.1.3 Commerce and Trade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.1.4 The Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.1.5 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2 LPLP in the Macao SAR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2.1 LPLP in the PRC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2.2 Macao LPLP from the PRC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2.3 LPLP Within the Macao SAR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

21 21 21 23 24 26 27 28 29 31 32

4 5 6 7

13 14 15 18

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Contents

3.2.4 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.3 Language Attitudes Studies in Macao . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

34 35 37

4 Research Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.1 Research Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.2 Subjects and Instruments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.3 The Questionnaire Survey and Semi-structured Interviews . . . . . . . . 4.4 Identification of Macao Local Students . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.5 Identification of Macao Local Students’ Social Class . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

41 41 43 45 45 46 49

5 Questionnaire Survey Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.1 Profile of the Participants in the Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.2 Macao Tertiary Students’ Attitudes Towards Four Languages . . . . . 5.2.1 Students’ Integrative Orientation Towards the Four Languages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.2.2 Students’ Instrumental Orientation Towards the Four Languages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.3 Macao Tertiary Students’ Attitudes Towards LPLP in Macao . . . . . 5.4 The Correlations Between Social Factors and Language Attitudes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.4.1 Sex . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.4.2 Social Class . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.5 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

51 51 53

6 Interview Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.1 Profile of the Participants in the Interviews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.2 Macao Tertiary Students’ Attitudes Towards Four Languages . . . . . 6.2.1 Students’ Positive Attitudes Towards Cantonese . . . . . . . . . . 6.2.2 Students’ Ambivalent Attitudes Towards Putonghua . . . . . . . 6.2.3 Students’ Positive Attitudes Towards English . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.2.4 Students’ Ambivalent Attitudes Towards Portuguese . . . . . . 6.3 Macao Tertiary Students’ Attitudes Towards LPLP in Macao . . . . . 6.3.1 Students’ Strong Local Allegiances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.3.2 Students’ Practical Attitudes Towards Language Issues . . . . 6.4 Social Factors and Language Attitudes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.4.1 Sex and Language Attitudes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.4.2 Social Class and Language Attitudes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.5 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

63 63 63 64 65 66 68 70 70 72 73 74 76 77 78

7 Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.1 Discussion of Students’ Attitudes Towards Four Languages . . . . . . . 7.1.1 Cantonese . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.1.2 English . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

79 79 79 80

53 55 57 59 59 60 61

Contents

ix

7.1.3 Putonghua . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.1.4 Portuguese . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.2 Discussion of Students’ Attitudes Towards LPLP in Macao . . . . . . . 7.3 Discussion of the Correlations Between Social Factors and Language Attitudes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.3.1 Sex and Language Attitudes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.3.2 Social Class and Language Attitudes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.4 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

81 81 82 84 85 86 87 88

8 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.1 Summary of the Findings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.2 Significance of the Findings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.3 Implications of This Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.4 Limitations of This Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

91 91 93 94 96 96

Appendix A: Questionnaire on Macao Tertiary Students’ Language Attitudes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

99

Appendix B: Interview Informed Consent Form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105 Appendix C: Interview Protocol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107 Appendix D: Linguistic Insecurity Perception Questionnaire . . . . . . . . . . 109

Abbreviations

DSEC DSEDJ DSEJ ELC LMC LPLP MC MGT PRC SAR STDM TDM UC UM UMC

Direcção dos Serviços de Estatística e Censos Direcção dos Serviços de Educação e de Desenvolvimento da Juventude Direcção dos Serviços de Educação e Juventude English Language Center Lower-Middle Class Language Planning and Language Policy Middle Class Matched-Guise Technique The People’s Republic of China Special Administrative Region Sociedade de Turismo e Diversoes de Macau Teledifusao Macau Upper Class The University of Macau Upper-Middle Class

xi

List of Tables

Table 4.1 Table 4.2 Table 5.1 Table 5.2 Table 5.3 Table 5.4 Table 5.5 Table 5.6 Table 5.7 Table 5.8 Table 5.9 Table 5.10 Table 5.11 Table 5.12 Table 5.13 Table 6.1 Table 6.2 Table 6.3

Students’ information of social class in the survey . . . . . . . . . . . Index of eight factors of social class . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Profile of the participants in groups in the survey . . . . . . . . . . . . Home language of the participants in terms of the highest frequency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Overall language proficiencies of the participants . . . . . . . . . . . . Students’ integrative orientation towards the four languages . . . Means of the four factors of students’ integrative orientation . . . Paired-samples t-test results in the comparison of integrative orientation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Students’ instrumental orientation towards the four languages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Means of the four factors of students’ instrumental orientation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Paired-samples t-test results in the comparison of instrumental orientations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Students’ Attitudes towards LPLP in Macao . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Language attitudes of male and female students . . . . . . . . . . . . . Language attitudes of students from different social classes . . . . Significant differences between social classes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Profile of the participants in the interviews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Linguistic insecurity perception of female and male students . . . Linguistic insecurity perception of LMC and UC students . . . . .

47 48 52 52 52 54 54 55 56 57 57 58 60 60 61 64 75 76

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Chapter 1

Introduction

Abstract The complex and multifaceted interactions between local, national, and global forces may take different shapes in modern societies, and language becomes one object upon which the local-national-global tensions are played out. This introductory chapter situates this study against the dynamic interplay of local, national, and global tensions in Macao. After a brief introduction to Macao, it zooms in on decolonization, renationalization, and globalization in Macao and proposes a multidimensional and multilayered perspective in language attitudes studies by considering dynamics at the local, national, and global levels. It ends with an outline of the structure of this monograph. Keywords Macao · Decolonization · Renationalization · Globalization · Language attitudes studies

1.1 Introduction Modern societies may follow different patterns of nationalism, and differ from each other in terms of the sociolinguistic situation. However, these societies are similar in the sense that all of them need to reconcile global developments and influences with local conditions and national ambitions (Stroud & Wee, 2010). In each society, forces associated with globalization operate along with local and national geopolitical and economic changes, and tensions between local, national, and global forces prevail in every aspect of the society. Language1 becomes one object upon which the localnational-global tensions are played out. Therefore, the local-national-global tensions 1 The term language is used in this monograph as a cover term for language, dialect, etc. Chinese dialects used in this monograph should be understood in the popular sense, that is, vernacular dialects, such as Cantonese, Hokkien, but excluding Putonghua (the common speech, the national language of the PRC), which is also known as Guoyu (the national language) in Taiwan, Huayu (the Chinese language) in Singapore, and Mandarin (an English term commonly used in Taiwan and Singapore). In addition, the term zhongwen (中文, Chinese) in Macao denotes standard written Chinese, which is based on Putonghua, whereas spoken Chinese is generally understood to be Cantonese.

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2023 X. Yan, A Study of Macao Tertiary Students’ Attitudes Towards Language After the Handover, SpringerBriefs in Education, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-6819-0_1

1

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1 Introduction

are also discernible in the language situation of the society (see Jourdan & Salaün, 2013; Kamwangamalu, 2010; Lin & Martin, 2005; Tsui, 2007; Vilela, 2002) and its people’s language use and language attitudes (see Blommaert, 2010; Lai, 2005, 2012). This monograph focuses on language attitudes in Macao,2 a former Portuguese settlement3 and a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of the People’s Republic of China (the PRC) after 1999.

1.2 Macao: A Brief Introduction Macao is located at the south-western tip of the Pearl River. With a total population of 682,070 (Direcção dos Serviços de Estatística e Censos [DSEC], 2022a, p. 5) occupying an area of 33 square kilometers (DSEC, 2022b, p. 32), Macao is not only one of the most densely-populated areas in the world, but also one of the world’s most dynamic economies. The Portuguese arrived and settled in Macao in the mid-sixteenth century. With the settlement of the Portuguese in Macao, Macao gradually emerged as the primary stop on four major routes between the West and the East. They were (a) between Macao and Lisbon via Goa; (b) between Macao and Nagasaki, Japan; (c) between Macao and Mexico via Manila; and (d) between Macao and Timor (Wan, 2008). Thanks to its unique geographic position, Macao used to play an important role as a transition center in international trade and entered a golden age spanning from 1580 to 1640 (Cremer, 1991). However, the golden years were short. From then onwards, Macao was struck by a series of crises, including the expulsion of the Portuguese from Japan and the end of the Portuguese trade with Japan in 1639, the huge disruptions accompanying the Ming-Qing transition in China, the capture of Malacca by the Dutch in 1641, and the end of the Portuguese monopoly on trading with China in 1685 (see Fei, 1996, pp. 91–103). With the decline of the Portuguese in the sea-borne trade, Canton emerged as the center for China to do business with many foreign countries such as Britain, France, Denmark, and Sweden during the Canton trade era spanning from 2 There are two different spellings: Macao and Macau, and both spellings are used in Portuguese and English documents (Moody, 2021). In this monograph, the relevant names are faithfully rendered according to the spelling used in cited English sources, but Macao will be used elsewhere. In addition, Hanyu Pinyin is used in this monograph for Chinese proper nouns such as personal names and place names except those in cited English sources which will be faithfully rendered according to the spelling conventions of the sources. 3 Many scholars have different opinions over the sovereignty question of Macao, the settlement date for the Portuguese at Macao, as well as the reasons for the Portuguese settlement at Macao. Readers may refer to Tam (1994) for a comprehensive discussion of the complexity of Macao sovereignty question during different periods and from different perspectives, to Pereira (1991) for a comprehensive review of the changing political status of Macao in the past centuries, and to Tang (1999) and Jin (2008) for a comprehensive review of the controversy over the settlement date and the reasons for the Portuguese settlement at Macao.

1.2 Macao: A Brief Introduction

3

1700 to 1842. During this period, Macao was closely connected with the Canton trade (van Dyke, 2005). The outbreak of the Opium War in 1842 accelerated the fall of Macao. With the opening of the port in Hong Kong and five other ports along the South China coast (i.e., Shanghai, Ningbo, Fuzhou, Xiamen, and Guangzhou), the status of Macao as a transition center in international trade declined rapidly. In 1887, the Luso-Chinese Treaty of Friendship and Trade was signed, which stipulated the perpetual occupation and government of Macao and its dependencies by Portugal. During the colonial period4 of Macao, both China and Portugal underwent tremendous changes. In China, the Chinese Revolution of 1911 overthrew the Qing Dynasty and established the Republic of China. Later, the Communist Party defeated the Nationalist Party and established the PRC on the mainland in 1949. In 1910, the Portuguese monarchy was overthrown and the Portuguese Republic was founded. After coup d’état of 1926, Portugal was under a fascist dictatorship. The Carnation Revolution of 1974 overthrew the dictatorial regime and returned democracy to Portugal. During Macao’s colonial period, Lisbon made Macao an “overseas territory” of Portugal in 1933, an “overseas province” in 1951, and an “autonomous region” in 1971 (see Afonso & Pereira, 1986; Fifoot, 1994), and the conflicts between China and Portugal over the sovereignty of Macao did not cease (see Huang, 1999, Chaps. 12–15; Wu, 2010, Chap. 4). After Carnation Revolution of 1974, Macao was declared by Portugal to be a Chinese territory under Portuguese administration. On April 13, 1987, Joint Declaration of the Government of the People’s Republic of China and the Government of the Republic of Portugal on the Question of Macao (henceforth the Sino-Portuguese Joint Declaration) was signed, which stipulated the resumption of Chinese sovereignty and rule in Macao on December 20, 1999. Macao’s sovereignty was peacefully transferred to China at midnight on December 19, 1999 and the Macao Special Administrative Region (the Macao SAR) was created. Under the “One Country, Two Systems” arrangement, Macao enjoys a degree of autonomy in all matters other than foreign affairs and defense. The past three decades have witnessed a tremendous transformation of Macao’s language situation. Small as Macao is in terms of its size and population, the language situation of Macao is complicated (Moody, 2021; Yan, 2017). Macao is “a museum of languages” (Wong et al., 1998) where Portuguese, English, Japanese, Korean, French, and other languages are spoken. Macao is also a museum of Chinese dialects where people hear all kinds of Chinese dialects, such as Cantonese, Hakka, Hokkien, Shanghainese, and other Chinese dialects. Bolton (1992, p. 28) describes the language situation in Hong Kong and Macao as multilingualism in Chinese overlapping with multilingualism in English and other foreign languages. After the signing of the SinoPortuguese Joint Declaration in 1987, Putonghua began to exert its influence on this 4

It is rather difficult to give a definite answer about the exact beginning date of Macao colonial and transitional periods since different classification schemes have been proposed based on different criteria (e.g., Hao, 2011; Huang, 1999; Pina-Cabral, 2002; Wu, 2010). This monograph follows Huang’s classification in which the colonial period extends from 1849 to 1987 and the transitional one runs from 1987 to December 20, 1999.

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1 Introduction

small territory. The Portuguese language has been experiencing ups and downs in Macao before and after the handover (Yan, 2017), even though it was the dominant language of the government and law in the colonial period and has been stipulated as another official language in the Macao SAR along with the Chinese language. With a long history of contact with Macao (Bolton, 2002, 2003), English is “making significant inroads” into Macao (Mühlhäusler, 1996, p. 255) and has already found its presence felt in various domains of Macao (Moody, 2008; Young, 2011). Finally, Cantonese, the primary means of communication among the Macao Chinese, has maintained its functions in the domains of family, education, employment, and the media, and expanded its functions into the government (Yan, 2017).

1.3 Decolonization, Renationalization, and Globalization in Macao Decolonization refers to “the process whereby colonial powers transferred institutional and legal control over their territories and dependencies to indigenously based, formally sovereign, nation-states” (Duara, 2004, p. 2). Unlike some colonies (e.g., Mozambique and India) heading towards independence and nation-state building, Macao’s sovereignty was returned to the PRC, according to the Sino-Portuguese Joint Declaration. Like some colonies (e.g., Hong Kong and Goa), Macao failed to gain independence at decolonization and is not an independent entity. In a state of “decolonization without independence” (Lo, 2008a), Macao enjoys a certain degree of autonomy according to the Basic Law of the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China (henceforth the Basic Law) (Chinese Government, 1993). Accompanied with Macao’s transfer of sovereignty is its renationalization, also called resinicization (Ma & Fung, 1999) or mainlandization (Lo, 2008b). Following Chan and Lee’s (2007) definition of Hong Kong’s renationalization, Macao’s renationalization refers to the process of the political, economic, and cultural reintegration between Macao and the PRC. Like Hong Kong (Mathews et al., 2008), Macao is also increasingly dependent on and convergent with the PRC. After the handover, one typical example of Macao’s economic dependence on the Chinese mainland is that more than half of the tourists come from the Chinese mainland every year after the implementation of the individual visit scheme in 2003. At the same time, Macao becomes increasingly interconnected with other parts of the world in the ongoing process of globalization, which is defined by Held et al. (1999) as “those spatio-temporal processes of change which underpin a transformation in the organization of human affairs by linking together and expanding human activity across regions and continents” (p. 15). The KOF Index of Globalization is a widely used measure of extent of globalization in different countries and areas. Macao ranks the 137th in terms of globalization out of 208 countries and areas worldwide, according to 2021 KOF Index of Globalization (KOF Swiss Economic

1.4 Theoretical Contributions of This Monograph

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Institute, 2021). Despite the relative low ranking, the effects of globalization are being felt in every domain of Macao’s society. At a confluence of decolonization, renationalization, and globalization, Macao constitutes a treasure trove for us to explore the push and pull between local, national, and global forces in modern societies, and the study of Macao people’s language attitudes can help us better understand their orientations under the dynamic interplay of local, national, and global forces in the Macao SAR.

1.4 Theoretical Contributions of This Monograph The main theoretical contribution of this monograph is to call for a multidimensional and multilayered perspective in language attitudes studies by considering the dynamics at the local, national, and global levels. Although various models and frameworks (e.g., Baker, 1992; Cargile et al., 1994; Giles & Ryan, 1982; Ryan et al., 1982) have been proposed in the past four decades in order to better describe, explain, and predict the formation and change of language attitudes, these models and frameworks seem unable to capture the multifaceted nature of language attitudes under the dynamic interplay of local, national, and global forces in modern societies. For example, Baker’s (1992) model includes various factors such as sex, age, language background, type of school, and popular culture, examines the interactions between variables as well as contextual effects in attitude formation and change, and highlights multiple pathways in links and bi-directional links between variables. This model reflects Baker’s efforts to construct a multivariate, interactive, and developmental theoretical framework for language attitudes research. Cargile et al. (1994) regard language attitudes as a social process and highlight the inter-relationship of various factors in the process. Their model takes various factors in interaction into consideration and is particularly useful for studies of speaker evaluation paradigm. However, one problem with the two models is that they focus mainly on the factors of micro-level individual interaction and deal only marginally with the effects of macro socio-contextual factors and local-national-global tensions in the formation and change of language attitudes. To sum up, these models and frameworks fail in one way or another to reveal how modern societies and their people struggle to seek a balance between local, national, and global forces, how language becomes an object upon which the local-nationalglobal tensions are played out, and how identity repertoires (Blommaert, 2005) or options (Omoniyi, 2006) (see Sect. 2.2 for a detailed introduction) are hierarchized in modern societies. With the application of a multidimensional and multilayered perspective in the study of Macao tertiary students’ attitudes to main languages and various issues in language planning and language policy (LPLP),5 this monograph demonstrates 5

There seems to be a chaos in the definitions of language planning as well as language policy, and different views have been voiced in the past decades over the relationship between language

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students’ orientations and their hierarchy of identities under the dynamic interplay of local, national, and global forces in the Macao SAR, and the findings have wider resonance beyond the site under investigation.

1.5 Outline of This Monograph This monograph is divided into eight chapters. Chapter 2, Literature Review, is structured in two sections: a survey of research approaches in previous language attitudes studies and a discussion of the relationship between language and identity in sociolinguistic studies. This chapter suggests that language attitudes studies should be approached from a multidimensional and multilayered perspective by considering the dynamics at the local, national, and global levels. The dynamic interplay of the local, national, and global forces may assume different sociolinguistic shapes in modern societies and Macao provides one version. Chapter 3 first describes Macao’s language situation in the domains of government, education, commerce and trade, and the media before and after the handover. It then reviews Macao’s LPLP after the handover to show how the Macao SAR Government deals with the local-national-global tensions. In addition, a critical review of language attitudes studies in Macao is presented, with an emphasis on the limitations in previous studies and the suggestions for this study. Chapter 4 details the research design for this study and is structured in five sections. The first section focuses on the research questions and hypotheses of this study, followed by a discussion of the subjects and instruments for this study. After a description of the questionnaire survey and semi-structured interviews, the following two sections detail the identification of Macao local students and their social class. The results of the questionnaire survey and interviews are presented in Chapters 5 and 6 respectively and discussed in Chapter 7. Chapter 8, Conclusions, is made up of four sections. It begins with a brief summary of the findings, before moving to a discussion of the significance of this study and its implications. Finally, several limitations of this study and suggestions for further studies will be discussed.

planning and language policy (see Ferguson, 2006). This monograph does not attempt to make a distinction between language planning and language policy, and uses the two terms interchangeably. A broad definition is used in this monograph to refer to both as the government’s efforts to solve language problems.

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KOF Swiss Economic Institute. (2021). 2021 KOF Index of Globalization. https://kof.ethz.ch/en/ forecasts-and-indicators/indicators/kof-globalisation-index.html Lai, M.-L. (2005). Language attitudes of the first postcolonial generation in Hong Kong secondary schools. Language in Society, 34(3), 363–388. https://doi.org/10.10170S004740450505013X Lai, M.-L. (2012). Tracking language attitudes in postcolonial Hong Kong: An interplay of localization, mainlandization, and internationalization. Multilingua, 31(1), 83–111. https://doi.org/ 10.1515/mult.2012.004 Lin, A., & Martin, P. (Eds.). (2005). Decolonisation, globalisation: Language-in-education policy and practice. Multilingual Matters. Lo, S. S.-H. (2008a). Political change in Macao. Routledge. Lo, S. S.-H. (2008b). The dynamics of Beijing-Hong Kong relations: A model for Taiwan? Hong Kong University Press. Ma, E. K. W., & Fung, A. Y. H. (1999). Re-sinicization, nationalism and the Hong Kong identity. In C. Y. K. So & J. M. Chan (Eds.), Press and politics in Hong Kong: Case studies from 1967 to 1997 (pp. 497–528). Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies, the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Mathews, G., Ma, E. K.-W., & Lui, T.-I. (2008). Hong Kong, China: Learning to belong to a nation. Routledge. Moody, A. (2008). Macau English: Status, functions and forms. English Today, 24(3), 3–15. https:// doi.org/10.1017/S0266078408000242 Moody, A. (2021). Macau’s languages in society and education: Planning in a multilingual ecology. Springer. Mühlhäusler, P. (1996). Linguistic ecology: Language, change and linguistic imperialism in the Pacific region. Routledge. Omoniyi, T. (2006). Hierarchy of identities. In T. Omoniyi & G. White (Eds.), The sociolinguistics of identity (pp. 11–31). Continuum. Pereira, F. G. (1991). Towards 1999: The political status of Macau in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In R. D. Cremer (Ed.), Macau: City of culture and commerce (2nd ed., pp. 261–282). API Press. de Pina-Cabral, J. (2002). Between China and Europe: Person, culture and emotion in Macao. Continuum. Ryan, E. B., Giles, H., & Sebastian, R. J. (1982). An integrative perspective for the study of attitudes toward language variation. In E. B. Ryan & H. Giles (Eds.), Attitudes towards language variation: Social and applied contexts (pp. 1–19). Edward Arnold. Stroud, C., & Wee, L. (2010). Language policy and planning in Singaporean late modernity. In L. Lim, A. Pakir, & L. Wee (Eds.), English in Singapore: Modernity and management (pp. 181– 204). Hong Kong University Press. Tam, C. K. (1994). Aomen zhuquan wenti shimo: 1553–1993 [The whole story of Macao sovereignty problem: 1553–1993]. Yongye Press. Tang, K.-J. (1999). Aomen kaibu shijian kao [A study of the time of the opening of the port in Macao]. In K.-J. Tang (Ed.), Aomen kaibu chuqishi yanjiu [A study of Macao early history after the opening of the port] (pp. 82–103). Zhonghua Book Company. Tsui, A. B. M. (2007). Language policy and the social construction of identity: The case of Hong Kong. In A. B. M. Tsui & J. W. Tollefson (Eds.), Language policy, culture and identity in Asian contexts (pp. 121–141). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. van Dyke, P. A. (2005). The Canton trade: Life and enterprise on the China Coast, 1700–1845. Hong Kong University Press. Vilela, M. (2002). Reflections on language policy in African countries with Portuguese as an official language. Current Issues in Language Planning, 3(3), 306–316. https://doi.org/10.1080/146642 00208668043 Wan, M. (2008). Mingdai Aomen maoyi [Macao trade during the Ming Dynasty]. In Z.-L. Wu, G.-P. Jin, & K.-J. Tang (Eds.), Aomenshi xinbian [A new edition of Macao history] (Vol. 2, pp. 341–364). Macao Foundation.

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Wong, Y., Long, U.-S., & Sio, C.-I. (Eds.). (1998). Aomen yuyan bowuguan [Macao, museum of languages]. Haifeng Press. Wu, Z.-L. (2010). Aomen zhengzhi zhidu shi [A history of Macao political system]. Guangdong People’s Publishing House. Yan, X. (2017). The language situation in Macao. Current Issues in Language Planning, 18(1), 1–38. https://doi.org/10.1080/14664208.2016.1125594 Young, M. Y. C. (2011). English use and education in Macao. In A. W. Feng (Ed.), English language education across Greater China (pp. 114–130). Multilingual Matters.

Chapter 2

Literature Review

Abstract Previous language attitudes research is characterized by different research approaches. At the same time, the relationship between language and identity has become a hot topic in previous language attitudes studies, which in turn provide an important perspective to explore the relationship between language and identity. This chapter reviews approaches adopted in previous language attitudes research and the relationship between language and identity. In order to avoid the one-to-one correlation between language and identity in previous language attitudes research and highlight the multiple and dynamic relationship between language and identity, this chapter suggests that language attitudes studies should be approached from a multidimensional and multilayered perspective by considering the dynamics at the local, national, and global levels. Keywords Language attitudes research approaches · Language and identity · A multidimensional and multilayered perspective

2.1 Language Attitudes Research Approaches Language attitudes refer to “subjective evaluations of both language varieties and their speakers, whether the attitudes are held by individuals or by groups” (MyersScotton, 2006, p. 120). Language attitudes play an important role in different settings, such as job interviews, educational settings, medical services, and judicial domains. At the same time, language attitudes also exert an impact on language maintenance, shift, and death (Garrett, 2010). According to Hyrkstedt and Kalaja (1998), there are two paradigms in language attitudes research: the positivistic paradigm and the social constructionist paradigm. Within the first paradigm, attitudes are viewed as static and fixed in the minds of individuals. Although they are not directly observable, attitudes can only be inferred, identified, and measured. Three broad approaches are usually adopted within this paradigm: the direct approach, the indirect approach, and the analysis of societal treatment of language varieties. The second paradigm, the social constructionist © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2023 X. Yan, A Study of Macao Tertiary Students’ Attitudes Towards Language After the Handover, SpringerBriefs in Education, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-6819-0_2

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paradigm, is a newly emerging one. Within this paradigm, attitudes are viewed as social, context-dependent, and variable by nature, and discourse-based approaches are preferred under this paradigm. This part introduces four major approaches to language attitudes studies: the direct approach, the indirect approach, the analysis of societal treatment of language varieties, and discourse-based approaches.

2.1.1 The Direct Approach The direct approach, in Garrett’s (2010) words, “has probably been the most dominant paradigm if one looks across the broader spectrum of language attitudes research” (p. 159). Under this approach, researchers use questionnaires and interviews containing direct questions to investigate speakers’ attitudes towards languages. There are some advantages with the employment of questionnaires. For instance, it is relatively easy to collect a large amount of data with questionnaires within a relatively short period of time, and it is also relatively easy to analyze the data compared with open-ended discussions and interviews (Dörnyei & Taguchi, 2010). However, one disadvantage of this method is that the respondents may underreport or overreport their language choice and attitudes under the influence of the prevailing attitude (Dörnyei & Taguchi, 2010). Interviews can be employed to collect detailed accounts from informants for linguistic, conversational, as well as content analysis (Codo, 2008). However, conducting interviews is costly and time-consuming. In addition, the validity of interviews may be influenced because of interviewees’ social desirability bias and acquiescence bias. Social desirability bias refers to the tendency for informants to give responses which they think are the most socially appropriate and desirable. Acquiescence bias refers to the tendency for subjects to agree with items, regardless of content, as a way of gaining the researcher’s approval. In addition, the researcher may be unable to gather detailed information due to various constraints such as socio-cultural differences in using direct questioning and the difficulty in verbalizing personal attitudes (Codo, 2008). For example, in some areas people may be suspicious and reluctant to be interviewed, and a researcher’s familiarity with the area, its people, and its language(s) may play an important role in obtaining cooperation in completing interviews.

2.1.2 The Indirect Approach The indirect approach, also referred to as the “speaker evaluation paradigm” (Ryan et al., 1988), has been the most widely adopted approach in language attitudes research (Cargile et al., 1994). Matched-Guise technique (MGT) is the dominant method under this approach.

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MGT was developed by Lambert and his colleagues (Lambert et al., 1960). Interested in inter-ethnic attitudes in Montreal, Lambert and his colleagues employed MGT to assess different perceptions of self and other among Francophone and Anglophone people. Four balanced bilinguals were recorded reading an ethnically neutral passage of prose in both French and English. These recordings served as stimulus materials for evaluation. The findings suggest that the Anglophone subjects make a more favorable evaluation of English guises than French ones. Interestingly, the Francophone subjects also rate English more positively than French. In the employment of MGT, subjects may not be aware that their language attitudes are being investigated. Therefore, MGT is particularly useful where it is intrusive or detrimental or impossible to investigate language attitudes directly through questionnaires or interviews. However, in the process of designing and administering MGT to subjects, scholars have noticed some problems with MGT and the indirect approach has not been devoid of criticism in the past decades (see Garrett, 2010). For example, some voices (e.g., English) which are claimed as a language of a community may lack representativeness, because a community can be further divided into many sub-communities where many varieties exist (e.g., British English, American English, Australian English).

2.1.3 The Analysis of Societal Treatment of Language Varieties In addition to direct and indirect approaches, another approach employed in language attitudes research is the analysis of societal treatment of language varieties. Under this approach, “language attitudes are not inferred from explicit requests to respondents for their views or reactions, but from the various ways in which the target languages are treated” (Knops & van Hout, 1988, p. 7). In Ryan et al. (1982)’s opinion, “the first source of information about views on language varieties lies in the public ways in which they are treated (i.e., official language policies as well as use by various social groups in government, business, mass media, education and church)” (p. 7). Under this approach, methods include participant observation, ethnographic studies, and content analysis of sources in the public domain, and various data can be used for analysis, including both qualitative and quantitative data (Kristiansen, 2003). The analysis of societal treatment of language varieties provides “an important source of insights into the relative status and stereotypical associations of language varieties” (Garrett, 2005, p. 1251) and “a valuable description of the roles of contrasting language varieties as well as the broad foundation concerning historical changes and geographic differences upon which the more sociolinguistic or social psychological studies can be based” (Ryan et al., 1988, p. 1069). Despite its strength of unobtrusiveness, the analysis of societal treatment of language varieties is criticized for its possible subjective biases in research design and interpretation of findings (Saville-Troike, 1982).

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2.1.4 Discourse-Based Approaches In recent years, many scholars suggest discourse-based approaches to language attitudes studies. For example, Hyrkstedt and Kalaja (1998) maintain that the positivistic paradigm characterized by MGT should give way to the social constructionist paradigm which features discourse-analytic research. There is some overlapping between the analysis of societal treatment of language varieties and discourse-based approaches since methods of discourse analysis can also be employed to analyze societal treatment of language varieties. Discourse-based approaches bring us a new perspective on the nature of language attitudes. However, discourse-based approaches are useful for investigating language attitudes of some individuals rather than those of a group of people, therefore, quantitative methods such as questionnaire surveys may be needed to investigate language attitudes of a group of people. Nowadays many scholars adopt a combination of different approaches in their language attitudes research. A typical example is Garrett et al. (2003), in which a variety of methods were employed to investigate attitudes towards varieties of Welsh English. The methods include mapping, labeling, narrative analysis, content analysis of keyword responses, and dialect recognition. Previous studies of language attitudes in Hong Kong also use a combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods. For example, Lung (1996) adopted a combination of MGT, a questionnaire survey, and semi-structured interviews to investigate Hong Kong people’s attitudes towards Cantonese and Putonghua. Lung, assisted by four field workers, surveyed language attitudes of 103 Hong Kong people sampled by a network sampling technique. The subjects came from all walks of life with various working and education backgrounds, ranging in age from 12 to 70 years old. Lai (2002) employed a combination of a questionnaire survey, MGT, and focus group interviews to investigate language attitudes of Hong Kong people. 1048 Form 3 students from 28 secondary schools participated in her questionnaire survey and Matched-Guise test. To sum up, different approaches to language attitudes involve not just different procedures and processes, but different ways of understanding language attitudes. Language attitudes can be investigated with different approaches in a way that allows a deeper and broader understanding of its nature. However, each approach has its strengths and weaknesses, and there may be conflicting views and foci among different approaches, which, if not well managed, may jeopardize the consistency of a study. Therefore, it is important to weigh the advantages and disadvantages of each approach and choose the most appropriate approach(es) according to the research questions.

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2.2 Language and Identity It is impossible to assess people’s language attitudes without discussing their identities. However, “the study of language attitudes has failed to account fully for the ways in which these identities may influence the nature and expression of these attitudes” (Cargile & Giles, 1997, p. 196), and attention should be paid to the issue of identity in language attitudes studies. This section presents a brief review of the relationship between language and identity and its relevance to language attitudes studies. According to Edwards (2009), identity refers to “self-definition by groups or individuals” (p. 258). One essential component of identity is the differentiation from the other (Hall, 1996; Tajfel & Turner, 1979). Blommaert (2005)’s identity repertoires and Omoniyi (2006)’s identity options provide two useful perspectives for us to understand the multifaceted nature of identity. Blommaert (2005) views identity “not as a property or a stable category of individuals or groups, but as particular forms of semiotic potential, organized in a repertoire” (p. 207, italics in original) and “the particular stratification of identities and their resources will depend on the particular environment in which one lives” (p. 211). Similarly, Omoniyi (2006) argues that identity options form a hierarchy where an individual’s choices are based on the potential of options to achieve the specific goal he or she pursues in a particular moment. In his opinion, “an individual’s various identity options are co-present at all times but each of those options is allocated a position on a hierarchy based on the degree of salience it claims in a moment of identification” (p. 19). In this monograph, identity repertoires and identity options are used interchangeably. The relationship between language and identity is often discussed from two perspectives. The first perspective takes an essentialist view and assumes a one-to-one correlation between language and identity. The second one adopts a constructivist view which recognizes the fluidity of identities and emphasizes the construction of identities in code-switching and language choice. The two perspectives are not entirely incompatible and a more integrative account of identity is needed in order to capture the complex relationship between language and identity. The complex relationship between language and identity is typically reflected in Hong Kong sociolinguistic studies. Hong Kong has become a new part of the PRC under the name of “Hong Kong Special Administrative Region” since 1997. Hong Kong identity has been a major focus in sociolinguistic studies on Hong Kong, and scholars hold different opinions on the relationship between language and identity in Hong Kong. For example, in Joseph’s (2000) opinion, Hong Kong has available a range of sociolinguistic identities, among them, three important identities are a Chinese identity grounded in Putonghua, a Hong Kong identity grounded in Cantonese, and an international identity in English. Snow (2004), however, has a different understanding of Hong Kong identity. In his opinion, the Hong Kong identity consists of a strong local identity and a broader Chinese identity. He further points out that the local identity is closely associated with the spoken and written forms of Cantonese, whereas the Chinese identity is grounded in Putonghua and Standard

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Chinese. Joseph and Snow differ in terms of the specific components of Hong Kong identity and their corresponding language varieties. Findings from previous Hong Kong language attitudes studies and different interpretations of these results make the issue of identity more prominent and mirror the complex relationship between language and identity. In their study of the relationship between language attitudes and academic achievement among 466 Form 4 students from 11 schools, Pierson et al. (1980) employed a combination of direct and indirect measures in order to test which measure can better predict language proficiency. The direct measure used 23 statements to elicit students’ agreement or disagreement about language learning and use in Hong Kong. The indirect measure asked students to rate the degree to which 20 stereotypes fit themselves, their ideal self, Chinese people, and Westerners. Apart from the attitude questionnaire, students were also required to provide their background information and take a Cloze test in English. Results from the direct measure show that Hong Kong students were generally not in favor of English as the main official language of Hong Kong. They expressed a fear of cultural identity loss and reported their discomfort at English for communication among Chinese people. On the other hand, they held positive attitudes towards English and regarded English as a valuable tool for cross-cultural communication. Results from the indirect measure show that the subjects rated the Chinese more favorably on 12 stereotypes, including conservative in outlook, loyal to one’s family, trustworthy, hardworking, gentle and graceful, able and far-sighted, understanding of others, persistent, clever and smart, motivated to strive for success, logically-minded and wise, and sincere. Westerners were viewed more favorably on such stereotypes as cool and clear-headed, frank and honest, easy to get along with, successful, humble and polite, presentable in appearance, self-confident, and like to help others. The statistical results indicate that a direct measure is a better predicator of English attainment than an indirect measure. Pennington and Yue (1994) modified and applied the direct measure of Pierson et al. (1980) to measure Hong Kong students’ attitudes to English and Chinese. The subjects were 285 Hong Kong secondary students, spanning Forms 1–6 and ranging in age from 12 to 20 years old. Students were required to fill in the Chinese version of Pierson et al. (1980)’s questionnaire with 23 statements. Their findings show that students most strongly agreed with such statements as “I wish that I could speak fluent and accurate English”, “The command of English is very helpful in understanding foreigners and their culture”, “I do not feel awkward when using English”, “I would take English even if it were not a compulsory subject in school”. Students expressed a stronger motivation to learn English, compared with those in Pierson et al. (1980). High social values were accorded to English, like Pierson et al. (1980). Contrasted with Pierson et al. (1980), students disagreed with such statements as “If I use English, it means that I am not a patriotic”, “At times I fear that by using English, I will become like a foreigner”, “When using English, I do not feel that I am Chinese anymore”, “English should not be a medium of instruction in the schools in Hong Kong”. In other words, Hong Kong students in the 1990s did not associate the use of English with threats to their ethnolinguistic identity, nor did they think that English should be abandoned as a medium of instruction. According to Pennington and Yue (1994),

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the old antagonism of Chinese vs. English in the early 1980s had become outdated and the unique Hong Kong ethnolinguistic identity had dissipated since 1984. Hyland (1997) employed Pierson et al. (1980)’s questionnaire to investigate language attitudes of 926 students at a Hong Kong university before the change of sovereignty. Results show that respondents expressed strongly positive instrumental attitudes and positive integrative orientation to English. However, not strong social values were accorded to English, in contrast with Pennington and Yue (1994)’s findings. Like Pennington and Yue (1994), the subjects in Hyland’s study did not feel a threat from English. Hyland (1997) attributed it to the weakened position of the colonial government, Hong Kong’s economic integration with southern China, the emergence of Hong Kong identity, and other factors. Lai (2005) adopted a questionnaire survey to investigate language attitudes of Hong Kong secondary students. A total of 1048 Form 3 students from 28 secondary schools participated in her questionnaire survey. Her findings indicate that these students showed the most positive inclination towards Cantonese and the highest instrumental orientation to English. Putonghua was rated the third along both integrative and instrumental dimensions. Lai (2005) believes that in addition to Cantonese which serves as a marker of Hong Kong identity, English has developed “from an alien foreign language that threatened students’ cultural identity to an element of Hong Kong identity” (p. 379). The above review of four studies of Hong Kong people’s language attitudes shows that Hong Kong people’s language attitudes and the specific configurations of their sociolinguistic identities have undergone changes. Bolton and Luke (1999) point out different parameters for identity construction in Hong Kong, such as ancestral home, Chinese, Hong Kong, and the West. In their opinion, “a person’s identity cannot be adequately understood without making reference to all of the parameters at the same time” (p. 162). Therefore, we need to consider different parameters for identity construction and examine the hierarchy of identities and their complex relationships with different languages and scripts under the dynamic interplay of local, national, and global forces. In modern societies, sets of languages, rather than single languages, perform the essential functions of communication and identity for individuals and communities (Aronin & Singleton, 2008). The complex and multifaceted interactions between local, national, and global forces may take different shapes in modern societies, and language becomes one object upon which the local-national-global tensions are played out. At the same time, identity repertoires (Blommaert, 2005) or options (Omoniyi, 2006) are hierarchized with great dynamism. Some language attitudes studies have considered the dynamics at the local, national, and global levels and demonstrated the usefulness of a multidimensional and multilayered perspective in language attitudes research. For example, in her questionnaire-based study of Hong Kong secondary students’ attitudes towards Cantonese, Putonghua, and English, Lai (2012) finds that the intense interplay between local, national, and global forces in the Hong Kong SAR has contributed to Hong Kong secondary students’ language attitudes.

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2 Literature Review

The multidimensional and multilayered perspective will be adopted in this study to investigate Macao people’s language attitudes. In doing so, more attention will be paid to the multifaceted nature of the Macao identity and its complex relationships with various languages and scripts in Macao. Such a perspective also enables us to better explore the local-national-global tensions and people’s orientations and their hierarchy of identities under the dynamic interplay of local, national, and global forces in the Macao SAR.

References Aronin, L., & Singleton, D. (2008). Multilingualism as a new linguistic dispensation. International Journal of Multilingualism, 5(1), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.2167/ijm072.0 Blommaert, J. (2005). Discourse: A critical introduction. Cambridge University Press. Bolton, K., & Luke, K.-K. (1999). Language and society in Hong Kong: The social survey of languages in the 1980s. Social Sciences Research Centre, University of Hong Kong. Cargile, A. C., & Giles, H. (1997). Understanding language attitudes: Exploring listener affect and identity. Language and Communication, 17(3), 195–217. https://doi.org/10.1016/S02715309(97)00016-5 Cargile, A. C., Giles, H., Ryan, E. B., & Bradac, J. J. (1994). Language attitudes as a social process: A conceptual model and new directions. Language and Communication, 14(3), 211–236. https:// doi.org/10.1016/0271-5309(94)90001-9 Codo, E. (2008). Interviews and questionnaires. In W. Li & M. G. Moyer (Eds.), The Blackwell guide to research methods in bilingualism and multilingualism (pp. 158–176). Blackwell. Dörnyei, Z., & Taguchi, T. (2010). Questionnaires in second language research: Construction, administration, and processing (2nd ed.). Routledge. Edwards, J. R. (2009). Language and identity: An introduction. Cambridge University Press. Garrett, P. (2005). Attitude measurement. In U. Ammon, N. Dittmar, K. Mattheier, & P. Trudgill (Eds.), Sociolinguistics: An international handbook of the science of language and society (Vol. 2, pp. 1251–1260). Mouton de Gruyter. Garrett, P. (2010). Attitudes to language. Cambridge University Press. Garrett, P., Coupland, N., & Williams, A. (2003). Investigating language attitudes: Social meanings of dialect, ethnicity and performance. University of Wales Press. Hall, S. (1996). Introduction: Who needs identity? In S. Hall & P. du Gay (Eds.), Questions of cultural identity (pp. 1–17). Sage. Hyland, K. (1997). Language attitudes at the handover: Communication and identity in 1997 Hong Kong. English World-Wide, 18(2), 191–210. https://doi.org/10.1075/eww.18.2.03hyl Hyrkstedt, I., & Kalaja, P. (1998). Attitudes toward English and its functions in Finland: A discourseanalytic study. World Englishes, 17(3), 345–357. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-971X.00108 Joseph, J. E. (2000). The tao of identity in heteroglossic Hong Kong. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 2000(143), 15–31. https://doi.org/10.1515/ijsl.2000.143.15 Knops, U., & van Hout, R. (1988). Language attitudes in the Dutch language area: An introduction. In R. van Hout & U. Knops (Eds.), Language attitudes in the Dutch language area (pp. 1–23). Foris. Kristiansen, T. (2003). Language studies and language politics in Denmark. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 2003(159), 57–71. https://doi.org/10.1515/ijsl.2003.009 Lai, M.-L. (2002). Language attitudes of the first post-colonial generation in Hong Kong secondary schools: Issues in gender, medium of instruction, social class and cultural identity [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. University of Durham.

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Lai, M.-L. (2005). Language attitudes of the first postcolonial generation in Hong Kong secondary schools. Language in Society, 34(3), 363–388. https://doi.org/10.1017/0S004740450505013X Lai, M.-L. (2012). Tracking language attitudes in postcolonial Hong Kong: An interplay of localization, mainlandization, and internationalization. Multilingua, 31(1), 83–111. https://doi.org/ 10.1515/mult.2012.004 Lambert, W. E., Hodgson, R., Gardner, R. C., & Fillenbaum, S. (1960). Evaluational reactions to spoken languages. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 60(1), 44–51. https://doi.org/ 10.1037/h0044430 Lung, W.-C. (1996). A study of language attitudes towards Cantonese and Putonghua of the Hong Kong Chinese people in the run-up to 1997: A 3-tier approach [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. University of Essex. Myers-Scotton, C. (2006). Multiple voices: An introduction to bilingualism. Blackwell. Omoniyi, T. (2006). Hierarchy of identities. In T. Omoniyi & G. White (Eds.), The sociolinguistics of identity (pp. 11–31). Continuum. Pennington, M. C., & Yue, F. (1994). English and Chinese in Hong Kong: Pre-1997 language attitudes. World Englishes, 13(1), 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-971X.1994.tb00279.x Pierson, H. D., Fu, G. S., & Lee, S. Y. (1980). An analysis of the relationship between language attitudes and English attainment of secondary students in Hong Kong. Language Learning, 30(2), 289–316. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-1770.1980.tb00320.x Ryan, E. B., Giles, H., & Hewstone, M. (1988). The measurement of language attitudes. In U. Ammon, N. Dittmar, & K. Mattheier (Eds.), Sociolinguistics: An international handbook of the science of language and society (pp. 1068–1081). Walter de Gruyter. Ryan, E. B., Giles, H., & Sebastian, R. J. (1982). An integrative perspective for the study of attitudes toward language variation. In E. B. Ryan & H. Giles (Eds.), Attitudes towards language variation: Social and applied contexts (pp. 1–19). Edward Arnold. Saville-Troike, M. (1982). The ethnography of communication: An introduction. Basil Blackwell. Snow, D. (2004). Cantonese as written language: The growth of a written Chinese vernacular. Hong Kong University Press. Tajfel, H., & Turner, J. C. (1979). An integrative theory of intergroup conflict. In W. G. Austin & S. Worchel (Eds.), The social psychology of intergroup relations (pp. 33–53). Brooks-Cole.

Chapter 3

The Language Situation in Macao

Abstract In Macao, the dynamic interplay of the local, national, and global forces prevails across all sectors from politics to economy to education. At the same time, the push and pull between the local, national, and global forces are also discernible in Macao’s language situation as well as the Macao SAR Government’s language planning and language policy (LPLP). This chapter introduces Macao’s language situation before and after the handover as well as Macao’s LPLP after the handover. In addition, a critical review of language attitudes studies in Macao is presented, with an emphasis on the limitations in previous studies and the suggestions for this study. Keywords Macao · Language situation · Language planning and language policy (LPLP) · Language attitudes studies in Macao

3.1 Macao’s Language Situation Before and After the Handover This section introduces Macao’s language situation before and after the handover, with a focus on the status and functions of Chinese, English, and Portuguese in four major domains: government, education, commerce and trade, and the media.

3.1.1 Government During Macao’s colonial period, the Portuguese language was the dominant language of the government and law. Before the 1980s, most laws and regulations issued in the Macao Government’s Official Gazette1 were in Portuguese only. Although many notices were issued in a bilingual version (i.e., Portuguese and Chinese), the front 1

The Portuguese name of the Macao Government’s Official Gazette has undergone changes during different periods (see Li, 2010, pp. 91–92), and the English translation (i.e., Official Gazette) is used for the entirety of this monograph in order to avoid ambiguity and confusion. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2023 X. Yan, A Study of Macao Tertiary Students’ Attitudes Towards Language After the Handover, SpringerBriefs in Education, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-6819-0_3

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page of the Official Gazette states clearly that Portuguese shall prevail if there is any inconsistency or ambiguity between the Portuguese and Chinese versions. In addition, special policies were issued by the Macao Government during the colonial period, making the knowledge of Portuguese a requirement in the employment and promotion of civil servants (see Aresta, 1995). Cremer (1991) points out the marked contrast between Chinese, English and Portuguese in the Macao government during the colonial period: Having had a Chinese or Chinese/English education—either in Macau or in China—is in fact a disadvantage for recruitment into the civil service, where Portuguese is the official language. The Macau Government understandably shows a preference for Portuguese education from Government-funded schools. Immigrants and persons with Chinese nationality can join the Government, but often only at the low echelons as assistants, manual workers, or security personnel [...]. Over 60 percent of the civil servants are either local-born or hold Portuguese passports. For officials at the top of the government hierarchy, fluency in Portuguese is essential. (pp. 204–205)

Cremer (1991)’s account shows that Portuguese was at the top of Macao’s sociolinguistic hierarchy in the domain of government during the colonial period. After the Chinese and Portuguese governments came to an understanding in Lisbon in 1991 and Portuguese Ministerial Council passed a decree granting the Chinese language the official status in Macao and the same legal force as the Portuguese language has, Chinese was granted the official status in Macao as of January 1992, as stipulated in Decreto-Lei No. 455/91 (Macao Government, 1991). After the establishment of the official status of the Chinese language in Macao, the status of the Chinese language ascended. However, the Chinese language did not gain full control of the political discourse in Macao before the handover. In Lam’s (2007) opinion: Chinese, despite its official status, had little importance during the transitional period since the governor and most officials were Portuguese who knew no Chinese at all. Portuguese was still the unmarked language for the legislative assembly and meetings in which Portuguese speakers were present. (p. 43)

In addition, it was difficult to promote legislation in the Chinese language before the handover. Legal advisors proficient in written Chinese were hard to find. Legislation in the Chinese language was merely word-for-word translation based on Portuguese legal texts, thus causing ambiguity and unintelligibility (Lin, 2005). Although some translated laws and regulations began to appear in the Macao Government’s Official Gazette after the signing of the Sino-Portuguese Joint Declaration, Chinese translations were for reference only. A typical example of the dominance of the Portuguese language in Macao politics before the handover was the predominant use of Portuguese as the working language in judicial jurisdiction, even though Portuguese-Chinese translation and interpretation were provided. At that time, most of the judicial staff in Macao could speak Cantonese, but they lacked the knowledge of written Chinese (Cabrita, 1992, p. 385). After the handover, the judicial field has become the last domain where the Portuguese language is dominant. The annual report of Macao judiciary sets a special

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entry to make a record of the overall use of Chinese and Portuguese languages in courts of various levels. For example, in the judicial year 2011–2012, 77.9% of the collegial bench verdicts approved by intermediate courts of Macao were written in Portuguese, whereas only 22.1% were in Chinese (Macao SAR Court, 2013). Before the handover and even after, Putonghua was and is still mainly used for meeting officials from Beijing but has not become the dominant language in Macao political arena, contrary to some scholars’ prediction that Putonghua would replace Portuguese as the main working language in Macao’s administration (see Tan, 1999). Cantonese, the primary means of communication among the Macao Chinese, has quickly expanded its functions and entered political domains previously reserved for Portuguese only. It has become the default working language of the Macao Legislative Assembly meetings. Lam (2007), through interviews with several Macao civil servants from different departments and bureaus, has also found that Cantonese is the default working language in oral communication among the Chinese colleagues, and standard written Chinese the dominant language in written communication. In addition to Portuguese, Putonghua, and Cantonese, the role of English in the Macao SAR Government should not be neglected, although English was not granted official status in the Basic Law, which has, however, been translated into English. Moody (2008) surveys language use in the websites of 63 Macao government agencies or institutions. He finds that Chinese websites are available for all the government agencies and institutions, and that Portuguese versions are available for all but three institutions. He also finds that 70% of the government institutions (including the Legislative Assembly and Identification Bureau) provide English websites, indicating that the use of English within Macao “is not restricted to communication outside the community” (p. 5) and English “is also used as a governmental language of communication within Macau” (p. 6). In addition, the higher proportion of English spoken by Macao civil servants (58.6%) compared with that of Portuguese (43.1%) suggests that “English fulfills functions in a wider range of functional domains in Macau than does Portuguese” (p. 8). The wide use of English is also reflected in Macao government publications. For example, reports of census results before the handover were written in Portuguese and Chinese, while since the handover, they have been published in three languages, i.e., Chinese, Portuguese, and English.

3.1.2 Education Before and after the handover, different school systems, modeled on those of the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Portugal, have coexisted in Macao (Adamson & Li, 2004; Bray & Hui, 1991; Lau, 2009). Despite the pluralistic character of Macao education, the diversified education system in Macao is dominated by “Chinese education taught in Cantonese as the mainstream” (Lau, 2009, p. 2). In Berlie’s (1999a) opinion:

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3 The Language Situation in Macao In Macao, although Chinese only became an official language in 1987, no great change has taken place with regard to the supremacy of the Chinese language (Chinese characters and spoken Cantonese) in education over the last seventy years. Already, in 1928–29, 102 schools out of 125 were Chinese schools, including fifteen Sino-Portuguese schools. (pp. 75–76)

In other words, the Chinese language (spoken Cantonese and written Chinese) was the dominant medium of instruction in Macao Chinese education even before the handover. According to Macao SAR’s non-tertiary education statistics (Direcção dos Serviços de Educação e de Desenvolvimento da Juventude [DSEDJ], 2022), there are a total of 115 schools in Macao in the school year 2022–2023. Among these schools, 96 schools adopted Chinese as their medium of instruction, accounting for about 83.48%. The number of English-medium schools registered 16, making up 13.91%. The number of Portuguese-medium schools was only 3, accounting for 2.61%. It is easy to notice the unbalanced proportion of these schools in terms of media of instruction, with Chinese-medium schools occupying a dominant position in Macao. Although there is no clear distinction between Putonghua-medium and Cantonesemedium schools in Macao SAR’s non-tertiary education statistics, Putonghua education is receiving much attention in Macao education. After the handover, many primary and secondary schools (including English- and Portuguese-medium schools) offer Putonghua education in their curriculum. In contrast to Macao’s primary and secondary education, there is another linguistic landscape in Macao’s tertiary education. The University of East Asia was established as a private institution in 1981. It was later acquired by the Macao Foundation upon the entrustment of the Macao Government and renamed as the University of Macau (UM) in 1991. Before the handover, English was the principal medium of instruction in UM (Bray & Hui, 1991; Bray & Koo, 2004). After the handover, English is still the main medium of instruction in UM. At present, there are ten higher education institutions in Macao: UM, Macao Polytechnic University, Macao Institute for Tourism Studies, Academy of Public Security Forces, City University of Macau, University of Saint Joseph, Kiang Wu Nursing College of Macau, Macau University of Science and Technology, Macau Institute of Management, and Macau Millennium College. A look at the programs offered by Macao’s higher education institutions reveals that English is the dominant medium of instruction in some institutions (e.g., UM), whereas Putonghua is the main medium of instruction in other institutions such as Macau University of Science and Technology.

3.1.3 Commerce and Trade Before the handover, various Chinese dialects such as Cantonese and Hokkien were used in Macao’s economic field (Cremer, 1991). Among these Chinese dialects, Cantonese played a dominant role, as evidenced by Cremer’s (1991) study of language use by Macao entrepreneurs.

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Macao witnessed quick economic development in the early 1960s, by taking advantage of Hong Kong investment and American and European import quotas for certain labor-intensive products (Berlie, 1999b). At the same time, Macao became highly dependent on Hong Kong’s economy and deeply influenced by Hong Kong (Lo, 1995). Before the handover, English was the main language of Macao’s international trade documents (see Cremer & Willes, 1991, 1994). Harrison (1984) also noticed the wide use of English in Macao’s banking, tourism, hospitality industry, and other economic fields. In his opinion, English has become the second most useful language in Macao, the first being Cantonese. With the arrival of the Asian financial crisis in 1997, Macao’s export-oriented industry and real estate industry declined, but the gaming industry acted and is still acting as the major pillar of Macao’s economy. In order to eliminate the monopoly of Sociedade de Turismo e Diversoes de Macau (STDM) in the gaming industry, the Macao SAR Government released gaming licenses to six companies after STDM’s monopoly expired in 2002. In 2006, Macao surpassed the Las Vegas Strip as the number one gaming market in the world. At the same time, Macao is making great efforts to establish itself as a convention and exhibition center, as well as a tourism destination. The successful application of World Heritage City in 2005 has further helped promote the positive image of Macao as an ideal tourism destination. Macao’s booming gaming industry, tourism, and other industries attract millions of people around the world to Macao every year. At present, an English-friendly environment is being created in Macao. Putonghua and Cantonese play an important role in Macao’s tourism and trade. For example, Putonghua and Cantonese serve as the main tools of communication for tourists from the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and other countries such as Malaysia and Singapore. With Macao’s closer economic relationship with the Chinese mainland, Cantonese continues to be widely used as a tool for doing business with people from the Pearl River Delta. At the same time, frequent economic transactions outside the Pearl River Delta promote the use of Putonghua. As a matter of fact, even within the Pearl River Delta, two important cities near Macao (i.e., Shenzhen and Zhuhai) should not be neglected. Luke and Zhang (2003) highlight the establishment of Shenzhen and Zhuhai as two Putonghua speech communities in the Pearl River Delta and regard it as the establishment of two fulcrums of great influence in Guangdong. Macao, the only area in East Asia having Portuguese as one of its official languages, remains connected to other Lusophone countries, such as Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal, and Timor-Leste. The creation of the Forum on Economic and Trade Co-operation between China and Portuguesespeaking Countries in 2003 has further strengthened Macao’s role as an economic and cultural exchange platform between China and the Lusophone world. The Portuguese language can help strengthen the intermediary role of Macao between China and the Lusophone countries in Asia, Africa, Europe, and Latin America. The rapid development of Macao’s economy has created a high demand for multilingual talents. Through a contrastive analysis of 213 recruitment advertisements collected from Aomen Ribao (澳門日報, Macao Daily) on the same date (November

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15) in four different years (1990, 1998, 2002, 2006), Lam (2007) finds that, compared with 1990, the overall demand for English in 2006 was still very high in the employment sector, and English still enjoyed the most favored status as a prerequisite for jobs requiring foreign language skills. Putonghua received an increased recognition and the demand for Putonghua was on a steady increase, although employees with Cantonese proficiency were also in increased demand. On the other hand, Portuguese had always been neglected and the demand was still quite low. In 2003, Macao Education and Youth Bureau conducted a survey of the employers’ evaluation of Macao secondary school graduates (Direcção dos Serviços de Educação e Juventude [DSEJ], 2003). Questionnaires were sent to 3413 public and private employers, and 148 valid questionnaires were obtained. The findings show that more than 73.0% of the employers thought that the oral English proficiency was necessary in their work. The oral Putonghua proficiency was also highly regarded as necessary by 68.9% of the employers. When it came to the oral Portuguese proficiency, only 18.2% of the employers thought that it was necessary.

3.1.4 The Media Some Portuguese newspapers (e.g., Jornal Tribuna de Macau, Hoje Macau), which began publication in the 1990s, are still being published after the handover, but their circulation is rather small compared with the Chinese newspapers in Macao (Lam, 2009). In marked contrast, the Macao newspaper market was and is still dominated by the Chinese newspapers (Li, 2010), with Aomen Ribao (澳門日報, Macao Daily) having the largest circulation (Lam, 2009). In addition, Macao currently has The Macao Post Daily, the Macao SAR’s first English daily newspaper which began publication in August, 2004, and The Macau Daily Times, its second English daily newspaper with the first issue published in June, 2007. Macao’s TV and radio broadcasting have a relatively short history. According to Lam (2009), from 1984 to 1990, television programs were broadcast through one bilingual channel for 6 h a day (from 18:00 to midnight) with the news in Chinese followed by the news in Portuguese and other programs. In 1990, the introduction of a second channel enabled the independent operation of Chinese and Portuguese channels. At present, the local television (Teledifusao Macau, TDM) and radio (Radio Macau), run by the Macao Government, operate Chinese and Portuguese networks. TV and radio programs are mainly broadcast in Cantonese and Portuguese. There are also some special TV and radio programs prepared for the promotion of Putonghua. Interestingly, although the TDM Chinese channel is dominated by the Cantonese programs, this channel often broadcasts some Putonghua-dubbed TV series imported from the Chinese mainland. Another interesting phenomenon is that the TDM Portuguese channel also broadcasts news in English and English TV series with Portuguese subtitles. In addition, Macao has one cable TV station (Macao Cable TV Limited) and one Cantonese radio station (Radio Vilaverde Limited), and both are private-owned. Despite the small local media resources available in Macao, Macao

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people have a wide range of TV and radio programs from the Chinese mainland, Taiwan, and Hong Kong due to easy-access satellite and digital cable broadcasting. So far, there has not been much research conducted on Macao people’s media preference. Yin et al. (1999) report their study on Macao youth’s media preference before the handover. Two hundred questionnaires were distributed among Macao students of secondary and tertiary levels and 185 valid questionnaires were obtained. The findings suggest a mixed preference among Macao youth. Chinese Jade Channel of Television Broadcast Limited from Hong Kong is their favorite channel. In terms of Macao youth’s newspaper and radio preference, Aomen Ribao (澳門日報, Macao Daily) and Macao local radio station become their first choice. Yin’s (2002) interviewbased investigation of the media preference of 150 Macao citizens shows that Macao people’s media preference remains the same after the handover. Their favorite TV programs are those of Television Broadcast Limited from Hong Kong, and their favorite newspaper and radio station are Aomen Ribao (澳門日報, Macao Daily) and Radio Macau. Despite such diversity in media preference, it remains unchanged that before and after the handover, Macao people like to read Chinese newspapers, listen to Cantonese radio programs, and watch Cantonese TV programs.

3.1.5 Summary As can be seen from the above introduction to the language situation in Macao before and after the handover, the Portuguese language played a dominant role in the government and law before the handover. After the handover, Cantonese rapidly replaced Portuguese in the government and Portuguese became mainly limited to the judicial domain. In addition, English has made inroads into the Macao SAR Government. Before the handover, Cantonese played a dominant role in the local economy and English was the main working language for international trade. After the handover, multilingual talents became highly valued in Macao’s commerce and trade. In the field of education, Macao’s education features schools of different media of instruction. Before the handover, Chinese education in Cantonese was dominant, but Portuguese education was the key to social ascendance, providing access to government positions. After the handover, Chinese-medium schools still rank the top in number, followed by English- and Portuguese-medium schools. At the same time, English and Putonghua receive much attention in schools’ curriculum. When it comes to higher education, Macao’s higher education features different media of instruction. In the domain of the media, the Chinese media has played a dominant role. Lam (2007) believes that Macao is moving from diglossia without bilingualism before the handover to increasing multilingualism after 1999. Moody (2008) argues that the current situation in Macao cannot be described as diglossic. Before the handover, Portuguese was mainly used in some official domains, such as government, law, and Portuguese-medium schools. It is problematic when it comes to the educational domain where Chinese education was the dominant model of education.

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It is also true of the media where the Chinese media has exerted a stronger influence than the Portuguese media on patterns of media consumption of the Macao Chinese. When it comes to the economic field, Cantonese played a dominant role. To complicate the matter further, English also made the inroads into various domains of Macao society before the handover. In Fishman’s (1967) model of diglossia, diglossia refers to the use of two languages or varieties in different contexts at the societal level, whereas bilingualism refers to individual use and knowledge of two languages. Fishman elaborates on the relationship between diglossia and bilingualism and points out four possibilities: (a) Both diglossia and bilingualism; (b) Diglossia without bilingualism; (c) Bilingualism without diglossia; and (d) Neither diglossia nor bilingualism. Applying Fishman’s model of diglossia and following Fishman’s (1980) suggestion of using bi- and dias generics in more complex communities, a tentative conclusion may be drawn that Macao society before the handover was basically characterized by diglossia without bilingualism, but this diglossic situation was not stable, as can be seen from the previous discussion. Under the dynamic interplay of local, national, and global forces, the Macao SAR features multilingualism, with Cantonese, Putonghua, Portuguese, and English working as the dominant languages in various domains of Macao. In this new linguistic dispensation, “sets of languages rather than single languages, now perform the essential functions of communication” (Aronin & Singleton, 2008, p. 2). When it comes to Macao’s language situation after the handover, bilingualism without diglossia seems appropriate. However, since Fishman’s variant of bilingualism without diglossia is mainly used to describe three-generation families where language maintenance and language shift occur, it has some limitations when applied to the Macao SAR. Macao after the handover features postdiglossia. Postdiglossia is a term originally used to describe the language situation of the Singapore Chinese community, which is characterized by “multilingual-multifunctional use of languages in realities” and “serious ‘leaking’ both ways, multiple standards of language use, rising trends in code-switching practices, and conflicting language attitudes found in the society” (Xu & Li, 2002, p. 278). In a postdiglossic community such as the Macao Chinese community, diglossia seems to be breaking down and languages are crossing over their earlier domains and forming a new linguistic dispensation with Cantonese, Putonghua, English, and Portuguese working as the dominant languages.

3.2 LPLP in the Macao SAR This section discusses LPLP in the Macao SAR, with special attention paid to unique features, thorny issues, and unresolved difficulties in Macao LPLP after the handover. Three key terms (i.e., status planning, corpus planning, and acquisition planning) will be introduced which are pertinent to the following discussion. In his dichotomy, Kloss (1969) made a distinction between status and corpus planning. The former is concerned with the standing of one language compared with other languages. For

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example, the establishment of Chinese as an official language in Macao before the handover has elevated the status of the Chinese language in Macao (Ching, 1992). The latter deals with the structure and form of a language. For example, the PRC Government carried out the task of the simplification and standardization of Chinese characters after 1949 (Chen, 1999). Cooper (1989) adds another planning activity, i.e., acquisition planning, to focus on the planning of language in education. The tripartite structure of language planning will be applied to the following discussion of LPLP in the Macao SAR.

3.2.1 LPLP in the PRC It is necessary to first look at LPLP in the PRC in order to better understand how the Macao SAR Government deals with the local-national-global tensions in its LPLP. In contemporary China, a large proportion of people are bilinguals proficient in Putonghua and their local dialects. As for the relationship between Putonghua and dialects, Zhou and Ross (2004) summarize two principles: a mainstream principle and a diversity principle, i.e., “promote Putonghua for public use and designate Chinese dialects for complementary private use” (p. 4). Putonghua is widely used in public domains such as government, education, and the media, whereas local dialects are mainly confined to families. In 1998, the Chinese mainland carried out a largescale investigation into the use of languages and scripts in China. According to the results of this survey (Zhongguo Yuyan Wenzi Shiyong Qingkuang Diaocha Lingdao Xiaozu Bangongshi, 2006), 53.06% of people throughout China use Putonghua when communicating with others, 95.25% mainly use simplified Chinese characters in their daily life, and 44.63% know Hanyu Pinyin2 and use it for transliteration. With a territory of 9.6 million square kilometers and 56 ethnic groups, the PRC relies upon LPLP as an important measure to maintain its national unity. After the founding of the PRC, the Chinese Government engaged in “the largest language engineering project in the world in terms of the number of speakers and the second most extensive project—second probably only to that in the former Soviet Union—in terms of the number of languages” (Zhou & Ross, 2004, p. 1). The PRC Government carried out three major tasks in language planning: the promotion of Putonghua, the simplification and standardization of Chinese characters, and the development of Hanyu Pinyin (Chen, 1999). Perhaps the most important law regulating language use and guiding LPLP in the Chinese mainland is Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Standard Spoken and Written Chinese Language (henceforth the Language Law) (Chinese Government, 2000), which was adopted at the 18th meeting of the Standing Committee of the Ninth National People’s Congress of the PRC on October 31, 2000, and came 2

Hanyu Pinyin was first approved and adopted at the Fifth Session of the First National People’s Congress of the PRC on February 11, 1958, and granted a legal basis in 2001 by the Language Law (Chinese Government, 2000).

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into effect as of January 1, 2001. This law stipulates the use of Putonghua and standardized Chinese characters in such public domains as government, schools, and the media. In this law, Article 3 of Chapter 1 expressly states that “the State popularizes Putonghua and the standardized Chinese characters”. Article 18 of Chapter 2 stipulates that “the ‘Scheme for the Chinese Phonetic Alphabet’ shall be used as the tool of transliteration and phonetic notation for the standard spoken and written Chinese language”. Although it was not until 50 years after the founding of the PRC that China passed its own language law, some laws containing language-related articles have been promulgated in the PRC. For example, Article 19 of the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China (Chinese Government, 1982) stipulates that “the state promotes the nationwide use of Putonghua (common speech based on Beijing pronunciation)”. Such provisions also appear in other Chinese laws such as Compulsory Education Law of the People’s Republic of China (Chinese Government, 1986). As can be seen from the above introduction, people in the Chinese mainland tend to speak Putonghua in public places, use simplified Chinese characters, and adopt the system of Hanyu Pinyin for transcription and phonetic notation. To some extent, Putonghua, simplified Chinese characters and Hanyu Pinyin have become important identity markers of the PRC. In marked contrast, the language situation is quite different in Macao. For example, Cantonese is the primary means of communication among the Macao Chinese. In terms of scripts, most Macao Chinese tend to write traditional Chinese characters and even written Cantonese.3 In addition, most Macao residents choose Cantonese Romanization System.4 It seems not easy for the Macao SAR Government and the Chinese Government to handle the relationship between Putonghua and Cantonese, between simplified Chinese characters, traditional Chinese characters, and written Cantonese, and between Hanyu Pinyin and Cantonese Romanization System. To complicate the situation, the Macao SAR Government also needs to balance the relationship between Chinese, Portuguese, and English, since Portuguese is another official language in the Macao SAR and still plays an important role in the Macao SAR Government, especially in legislative and judicial domains, and English, the international language and another official language of its neighbor Hong Kong, is playing an important role in Macao and has become a de facto official language in Macao (Moody, 2008). It is of great necessity and importance for the Macao SAR Government to take good care of the relationship between Chinese, Portuguese, and English.

3

Written Cantonese is a script following the norms of spoken Cantonese rather than those of standard written Chinese. Readers interested in written Cantonese may refer to Snow (2004) which provides an in-depth study of the origin and development of written Cantonese. 4 In 1985, the Macao Government issued Decreto-Lei No. 88/85/M (Macao Government, 1985) which regulates the use of Cantonese Romanization System in Macao official documents.

3.2 LPLP in the Macao SAR

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3.2.2 Macao LPLP from the PRC The first legally binding provision on language issues in the Macao SAR appears in the Basic Law (Chinese Government, 1993a). The Basic Law was adopted at the First Session of the Eighth National People’s Congress of the PRC on March 31, 1993, and was put into effect as of December 20, 1999. The Basic Law sets a foundation for all systems and policies (including language policies) implemented in Macao and regulates aspects of Macao’s life in the following 50 years. Therefore, it is necessary to first look at language-related articles in this law. Article 9 of the Basic Law stipulates that “in addition to the Chinese language, Portuguese may also be used as an official language by the executive authorities, legislature and judiciary of the Macao Special Administrative Region”. According to this article, both Chinese and Portuguese are the official languages in the Macao SAR. However, a closer look reveals that the way this article is worded (e.g., the use of may) indicates that Portuguese is just a subsidiary official language taking a secondary and supplementary official role (Mann & Wong, 1999). In Mann and Wong’s (1999) opinion, “the use of the word may puts the regional government under no obligation by law to use Portuguese for official purposes” (p. 24, italics in original). In addition, the Basic Law does not specify clearly the exact meaning of Chinese, and the strategic use of the Chinese language puts aside the differences between Macao and the Chinese mainland over language use. Article 121 of the Basic Law stipulates that “the Government of the Macao Special Administrative Region shall, on its own, formulate policies on education”. This article gives the Macao SAR Government autonomy in deciding on its educational matters, including the medium of instruction. It allows other languages, especially English, to enter Macao education, even though Article 9 only defines the relationship between Chinese and Portuguese languages in the Macao SAR, to the exclusion of English. In addition, the autonomy promised by the Basic Law also means that the Macao SAR Government should shoulder the responsibility of designing appropriate language-in-education policy under the influence of local-national-global forces. Another important legal regulation is Decision of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress on the Portuguese Text of the Basic Law of the Macao Special Administrative Region of the PRC (Chinese Government, 1993b). According to this decision, the Portuguese translation of the Basic Law shall be equally authentic as the Chinese text. In the event of a discrepancy in the meaning of wording between the Portuguese text and the Chinese one, the Chinese text shall prevail. This decision further defines the status of Portuguese as a secondary official language in the Macao SAR. Similarly, in Decision of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress Concerning the Handling of the Laws Previously in Force in Macao in Accordance with Article 145 of the Basic Law of the Macao Special Administrative Region of the PRC (Chinese Government, 1999), a list of legal documents previously in force in Macao but in contravention of the Basic Law are declared null. In the list, the first legal document is Lei No. 5/90/M (Macao Government, 1990) which sets Chinese and Portuguese language requirements for admission to the public service

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and promotion in the government of Macao before the handover. Such decision is to the advantage of the Macao Chinese since most of them do not know Portuguese. To sum up, the PRC Government is mainly concerned with the relationship between Chinese and Portuguese in the Macao SAR. In other words, status planning of Chinese and Portuguese in the Macao SAR is the top priority. Although the choice of the term the Chinese language leaves some specific language issues unresolved, the establishment of the Chinese language legally as the first official language of the Macao SAR indicates clearly that the Macao SAR is under Chinese rule.

3.2.3 LPLP Within the Macao SAR Three aspects need corpus planning in the Macao SAR. The first has to do with the standardization of Chinese official documents. Under the heavy influence of the Portuguese language, Macao official documents in Chinese are hard to understand. The lack of standardization of Chinese official documents has invited much criticism (e.g., Ching, 2001; Sheng, 2001). After the handover, the Macao SAR Government has adopted some measures to tackle this problem. For example, a textbook on Chinese official documents writing (Lei, 2001) has been published for training civil servants of the Macao SAR. In addition, some institutes (e.g., Macao Polytechnic University) and government organs (e.g., Public Administration and Civil Service Bureau) have organized a series of training courses on Chinese official documents writing to promote the standardization of conventions of Chinese official documents. Secondly, the Portuguese language in Macao is also facing the issue of standardization. The 1990 Luso-Brazilian Orthographic Accord went into effect in some Lusophone countries. However, the Macao SAR Government has not made any decision on whether to implement this accord. Given that Portuguese is still an official language in the Macao SAR and used in Macao’s government, law, and education, it is necessary for the Macao SAR Government to make a timely decision. In addition, Cantonese (both its spoken and written forms) also needs corpus planning. The standardization of Cantonese has aroused much controversy in Hong Kong’s academic circles (Chen, 1998). In 2007, Cantonese pronunciation was included in the scoring system in the Chinese speaking test of Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination, and Hong Kong’s Standing Committee on Language Education and Research started the promotion of proper Cantonese pronunciation with a series of TV and radio programs. However, the Macao SAR Government has not made any decision on whether to promote proper Cantonese pronunciation. The educational system is the central institution where language policies take effect. The formula of “One Country, Two Systems” allows Macao freedom to decide its own language policy, and the Macao SAR Government needs to shoulder the responsibility for its policies which have a bearing on Macao’s stability and prosperity. Since Cantonese is the mother tongue of most Macao Chinese, and Putonghua is the national language of the PRC, a problem arises: which language should be adopted as the medium of instruction in the Chinese stream of Macao education?

3.2 LPLP in the Macao SAR

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There are huge differences between Cantonese and Putonghua at phonetic, lexical, and grammatical levels. In addition, the choice of the medium of instruction is also an issue of identity in the Macao SAR. The use of Cantonese as the medium of instruction highlights the local identity whereas the use of Putonghua as the medium of instruction emphasizes the identification with the PRC. The choice of the medium of instruction involves an adjustment of complex balance of identities for Macao Chinese. Another thorny issue in Macao’s education is the teaching of Portuguese, still an official language in Macao and an important aspect of Macao identity. How to promote this language is a headache for Macao language policy designers since findings from the previous research (e.g., Young, 2009) indicate that students hold low motivation in learning Portuguese, a language of low vitality in Macao, but show high motivation in learning English, the international language. Therefore, it will take the Macao SAR Government much time and efforts to weigh the advantages and disadvantages of different languages and strike a balance between these languages. Law No. 9/2006 (i.e., Fundamental Law of Non-tertiary Education System) (Macao SAR Government, 2006) was promulgated in 2006 to unify Macao’s education system and to standardize the number of years attended by students from different education systems. Under this law, all public schools shall adopt one of the official languages as the medium of instruction, and provide students with the opportunity to learn the other official language. With this stipulation, public schools have become an important area for the promotion of the Portuguese language. However, given that Macao public schools are few in number, it seems that these schools will have a limited impact on Macao educational and linguistic landscapes. In addition, according to this law, private schools can adopt official languages or other languages as the media of instruction. However, private schools adopting other languages as the media of instruction need to go through the evaluation conducted by educational and administrative authorities and should provide opportunities for students to learn one of the official languages. Such requirements for private schools leave room for the penetration of English into Macao education system (Moody, 2008). After Macao’s handover, Macao was slow in formulating a detailed language education policy. A special advisory group on language education policy was formed in 2006 and Language Education Policy in the Scope of Non-tertiary Education of the Macao Special Administrative Region (henceforth Language Education Policy) (DSEJ, 2008) was formulated in 2008. According to this policy, biliteracy (Chinese and Portuguese) and trilingualism (Cantonese, Putonghua, and Portuguese) are to be emphasized. Public schools shall give priority to adopting one of the official languages as the medium of instruction, meanwhile providing students with the opportunity of learning the other official language. Private schools can use official languages or other languages as the media of instruction, although private schools adopting other languages as the media of instruction need to go through the evaluation conducted by educational and administrative authorities, and shall provide students with the opportunity of learning at least one of the official languages. The above policies are in line with those stipulated in Law No. 9/2006. In addition, some new policies were formulated in Language Education Policy. For example,

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Chinese schools are encouraged to gradually adopt Putonghua for the teaching of the Chinese language, and they can adopt Cantonese as the medium of instruction for the teaching of other non-language subjects. In terms of Portuguese teaching, the Macao SAR Government focuses on the cultivation of elite bilingual talents proficient in Chinese and Portuguese. In terms of English teaching, the teaching and learning of English will be strengthened with various measures, such as setting the minimum requirement of English proficiency for new English-medium schools and sending outstanding teachers to Anglophone countries for studies.

3.2.4 Summary After the handover, the Macao SAR Government has been active on some aspects of LPLP (e.g., the standardization of Chinese official documents). However, many language issues remain unresolved under the dynamic interplay of local, national, and global forces in Macao. The first concerns the relationship between Putonghua and Cantonese. On the one hand, the Chinese mainland’s stance on the promotion of Putonghua will not change (see the Language Law) and Putonghua has been frequently used in Macao after the handover (Yan, 2017). On the other hand, Macao needs to maintain its local identity through the continued use of Cantonese. The second has to do with the relationship between traditional and simplified Chinese characters. Traditional Chinese characters serve as an important aspect of Macao local identity and a mark of distinction from the practice on the Chinese mainland. The increased presence of simplified Chinese characters in Macao may change the linguistic identity of Macao (Yan, 2016, 2019). The third has to do with the relationship between Hanyu Pinyin and Cantonese Romanization System. Hanyu Pinyin is widely adopted in the modern world except some areas such as Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan. It seems not easy for these areas to resist the international practice. In addition, the relationship between Chinese, Portuguese, and English is as complex as the above relationships. These languages, laden with different political, cultural, and instrumental values, raise difficult questions for the Macao SAR Government to decide on the issue of the medium of instruction and the first foreign language in Macao’s education. In the Macao SAR, the push and pull between decolonization, renationalization, and globalization play a crucial role in its LPLP. The Macao SAR Government needs to take political, economic, educational, and many other factors into consideration, and keep a delicate balance between local, national, and global forces in its LPLP.

3.3 Language Attitudes Studies in Macao

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3.3 Language Attitudes Studies in Macao Yan and Moody (2010) completed a comprehensive review of sociolinguistic studies, including language attitudes studies on Macao in the past three decades. The review shows that language attitudes research has been a neglected area in Macao for a long period of time, and has begun to attract scholars’ attention in the new millennium. This section reviews previous language attitudes studies on Macao and summarizes the problems existing in previous research. It ends with some suggestions for this study. Mann and Wong (1999) is perhaps the earliest survey of language attitudes in Macao. They employed a combination of a 15-item questionnaire as well as interviews to elicit language attitudes of 72 teachers and students at secondary and tertiary levels. Their secondary-level sample was made up of 31 subjects: 16 students (9 male, 7 female) ranging in age from 15 to 19 years old and 15 teachers (9 male, 6 female) ranging in age from 20 to 50 years old. Their tertiary-level sample was made up of 31 subjects: 16 students (8 male, 8 female) between the ages of 15 and 24 years and 15 teachers (9 male, 6 female) between the ages of 20 and 65 years. Subjects were asked to choose: (1) their language use at home, at work or school, and at social gatherings; (2) their preference for medium of instruction, media language, community language, and languages they hope to learn; and (3) their attitudes towards Cantonese, Putonghua, English, and Portuguese. The findings suggest that, in terms of priority and preference for various domain functions in Macao, Cantonese and English rank at the top, followed by Putonghua and Portuguese. This study provides the important information concerning Macao people’s attitudes towards Cantonese, Putonghua, Portuguese, and English before the handover. However, one limitation of this study is that Mann and Wong (1999) only focused on students’ overall attitudes towards the four languages, to the neglect of multidimensional structure in students’ language attitudes. Young (2006) adopted a 22-item questionnaire to investigate attitudes towards English among 144 Macao-born and 197 mainland-born tertiary students in the first semester of 2004–2005 academic year. The findings show that the two groups hold strong motivation to learn English and feel comfortable when using English. They do not regard the use of English as a threat to their identity. Young (2006) also compares language attitudes of Macao- and mainland-born students. However, it is doubtful whether the indicator of birth of place is an efficient tool in the context of Macao because Macao is a city of immigrants and many Macao students may be born in the Chinese mainland. Therefore, some criteria need to be taken to identify Macao local students (see Sect. 4.4). In addition, mainland-born students come from different provinces which vary in terms of the language and education situation, and they may hold different language attitudes (see Gao et al., 2000; Zhou, 1999, 2000, 2001). Therefore, it is necessary to consider attitude differences among mainlandborn students. With reference to Mann and Wong (1999), Young (2009) designed a 15-item questionnaire to examine the language attitudes and language preferences of 185

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Chinese-ethnic local students (71 male and 114 female) in a university of Macao, ranging in age from 19 to 22 years old. Like Mann and Wong (1999), Young asked students to choose their preferences for medium of instruction, community language, and languages they hope to learn, as well as their attitudes towards Cantonese, Putonghua, English, and Portuguese. In addition, students were also required to selfrate their language proficiency and express their views on changes in language use in the Macao SAR. The findings show that, in terms of the most-preferred community language and medium of instruction, Cantonese is rated the highest, followed by English, Putonghua, and Portuguese. In terms of students’ attitudes towards the four languages, Cantonese receives the most favorable evaluations, followed by English, Putonghua, and Portuguese. Young (2009)’s findings on students’ language preferences and language attitudes are in line with those of Mann and Wong (1999). In addition, most students do not perceive any changes in the use of Cantonese and Portuguese after the handover, but believe that Putonghua and English are used more frequently than before. Young (2009)’s study helps us understand language attitudes in Macao after the handover. One limitation of this study is that like Mann and Wong (1999), Young (2009) did not further investigate students’ language attitudes along different dimensions. The past decade has witnessed some language attitudes research on Macao, and some limitations exist in previous research. First, Macao language attitudes studies are dominated by questionnaire-based studies. Garrett (2010) points out that “it is important to take a wide view and understand that any particular method will only be partially convincing” (p. 59). Questionnaires serve as an efficient tool to collect and compare subjects’ language attitudes. It is relatively easy to collect data from many subjects to identify and generalize their evaluative patterns. However, questionnaires can hardly address subjects’ beliefs that contribute to their responses. Given the strengths and weaknesses of different research approaches (see Sect. 2.1), it is necessary to adopt other research methods to complement one another in providing a rich account of language attitudes in Macao. Second, previous studies have focused on the overall pattern of language attitudes, to the neglect of the correlations between different social factors (e.g., sex and social class) and people’s attitudes. Giles and Coupland (1991) point out that “there is often heterogeneity in language attitudes and behaviour across different factions and members of the same group” (p. 104). Results from previous language attitudes studies have found the correlations between language attitudes and various social factors such as sex and social class (see Sect. 4.1). It is necessary to further examine different attitudinal patterns among Macao people in order to get a better understanding of language attitudes in Macao. Third, little attention has been paid to attitudes to Macao LPLP. The language situation in the Macao SAR is the product of the local versus national versus global tensions, which are not only reflected in Macao people’s evaluations of Cantonese, Putonghua, English, and Portuguese, but also in their attitudes towards various issues in Macao LPLP, such as the choice of the medium of instruction and the first foreign language in Macao non-tertiary education. An examination of people’s attitudes to LPLP in Macao can help us better understand Macao people’s orientations in the

References

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face of the complex and multifaceted interactions between local, national, and global forces. Considering the strengths and weaknesses in previous language attitudes research on Macao, special attention will be paid to the following three aspects in this study. First, in addition to a questionnaire survey, interviews are also adopted in this study to compensate for the limitations of questionnaire surveys. It is hoped that the employment of interviews can enable the subjects to elaborate upon ideas and interests, thereby providing the researcher with more comprehensive data than is possible to obtain with the questionnaire survey. Second, in addition to the examination of the general attitudinal patterns of Macao people, this study also attempts to identify the correlations between various social factors (such as sex and social class) and Macao people’s language attitudes. In doing so, it is hoped that this study could reveal the correlations between various social factors and language attitudes and provide a deeper understanding of language attitudes in Macao. Third, in addition to testing people’s attitudes towards Cantonese, Putonghua, English, and Portuguese, this study also investigates people’s attitudes towards LPLP in Macao. From their responses to various issues in Macao LPLP, such as the choice of English or Portuguese as the first foreign language in Macao public schools and the choice of Putonghua or Cantonese as the medium of instruction in Macao public schools, we can better understand Macao people’s orientations under the dynamic interplay of the local, national, and global forces.

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Giles, H., & Coupland, N. (1991). Language: Contexts and consequences. Open University Press. Harrison, G. J. (1984). The place of English in Macau and a theoretical speculation. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 5(6), 475–489. https://doi.org/10.1080/01434632. 1984.9994175 Kloss, H. (1969). Research possibilities on group bilingualism: A report. International Center for Research on Bilingualism. Lam, I. F. (2009). Aomen meiti xianzhuang yu fazhan [The present situation and development of the Macao media]. In Y.-F. Hao & Z.-L. Wu (Eds.), Aomen jingji shehui fazhan baogao (2008-2009) [Annual report on economy and society of Macao (2008–2009)] (pp. 315–329). Social Sciences Academic Press. Lam, K. C. (2007). English in post-1999 Macau: The functions and status of English [Unpublished master’s thesis]. University of Macau. Lau, S. P. (2009). A history of education in Macao (S. S. L. Ieong & V. L. C. Lei, Trans.). Faculty of Education, the University of Macau. Lei, H. I. (Ed.). (2001). Zhongwen gongwen xiezuo jiaocheng [Chinese official documents writing course]. Macao Polytechnic Institute and Public Administration and Civil Service Bureau. Li, C. S. (2010). Jindai Aomen waibao shigao [A history of foreign newspapers in Macao]. Guangdong People’s Publishing House. Lin, W. (2005). Teding de guifanhua: Aomen falü gongwen fanyi tantao [Special standardization: Legal and official documentary translation in Macao]. Zhongguo Fanyi [Chinese Translators’ Journal], 26(5), 80–85. Lo, S.-H. (1995). Political development in Macau. Chinese University Press. Luke, K.-K., & Zhang, Z.-J. (2003). Jin wushinian lai Guangdong diqu yuyan bianqian dashi [The trends of language change in Guangdong for the last fifty years]. Zhongguo Shehui Yuyanxue [The Journal of Chinese Sociolinguistics], 2003(1), 125–133. Macao Government. (1985). Decreto-Lei No. 88/85/M. http://bo.io.gov.mo/bo/i/85/40/declei88_cn. asp#88 Macao Government. (1990). Lei No. 5/90/M. http://bo.io.gov.mo/bo/i/90/31/lei05_cn.asp Macao Government. (1991). Decreto-Lei No. 455/91. http://bo.io.gov.mo/bo/i/92/02/decretolei455_ cn.asp#455 Macao SAR Court. (2013). Aomen Tebie Xingzhengqu sifa niandu nianbao 2011–2012 [Macao judiciary annual report 2011–2012]. The Macao SAR Court. Macao SAR Government. (2006). Lei No. 9/2006. http://bo.io.gov.mo/bo/i/2006/52/lei09_cn.asp Mann, C., & Wong, G. (1999). Issues in language planning and language education: A survey from Macao on its return to Chinese sovereignty. Language Problems and Language Planning, 23(1), 17–36. https://doi.org/10.1075/lplp.23.1.02iss Moody, A. (2008). Macau English: Status, functions and forms. English Today, 24(3), 3–15. https:// doi.org/10.1017/S0266078408000242 Sheng, Y. (2001). Tan Gang Ao diqu Zhongwen gongwenzhong de yuyan wenti [On the language problems in Hong Kong and Macao concerning official documents in Chinese]. Fangyan [Dialect], 2001(2), 166–170. Snow, D. (2004). Cantonese as written language: The growth of a written Chinese vernacular. Hong Kong University Press. Tan, R.-W. (1999). Aomen de yuyan zhuangkuang yu yuyan guihua [The language situation and language planning in Macao]. Hanyu Xuexi [Chinese Language Learning], 1999(3), 50–53. Xu, D.-M., & Li, W. (2002). Managing multilingualism in Singapore. In W. Li, J.-M. Dewaele, & A. Housen (Eds.), Opportunities and challenges of bilingualism (pp. 275–295). Mouton de Gruyter. Yan, X. (2016). “Macao has died, traditional Chinese characters have died”: A study of netizens’ comments on the choice of Chinese scripts in Macao. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 37(6), 564–575. https://doi.org/10.1080/01434632.2015.1095196 Yan, X. (2017). The language situation in Macao. Current Issues in Language Planning, 18(1), 1–38. https://doi.org/10.1080/14664208.2016.1125594

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Yan, X. (2019). A study of language choices in the linguistic landscape of Macao’s heritage and gaming tourism. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 40(3), 198–217. https://doi.org/10.1080/01434632.2018.1498853 Yan, X., & Moody, A. (2010). Language and society in Macao: A review of sociolinguistic studies on Macao in the past three decades. Chinese Language and Discourse, 1(2), 293–324. https:// doi.org/10.1075/cld.1.2.07xi Yin, D.-G. (2002). Aomen dazhong chuanmei xianzhuang yu fazhan fanglue [The present situation of Macao mass media and its development strategies]. In Z.-L. Wu et al. (Eds.), Aomen 2002 [Macao 2002] (pp. 414–428). Macao Foundation. Yin, D.-G., Lam, I.-F., & Zhang, R.-X. (1999). Aomen qingshaonian yu chuanbo meijie diaocha baogao [A survey report of Macao youth and the media]. In Qingshaonian yu dazhong chuanbo meijie—Yue Tai Gang Ao Sidi Wenhua Jiaoliu Yantaohui lunwenji [Youth and Mass Media— Conference Proceedings of Cross Strait Cultural Communication] (pp. 168–188). Macao Foundation. Young, M. Y. C. (2006). Macao students’ attitudes toward English: A post-1999 survey. World Englishes, 25(3–4), 479–490. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-971X.2006.00468.x Young, M. Y. C. (2009). Multilingual education in Macao. International Journal of Multilingualism, 6(4), 412–425. https://doi.org/10.1080/14790710802152438 Zhongguo Yuyan Wenzi Shiyong Qingkuang Diaocha Lingdao Xiaozu Bangongshi [Leading Group Office for Chinese Languages and Scripts Investigation]. (2006). Zhongguo yuyan wenzi shiyong qingkuang diaocha ziliao [Investigation data on the use of Chinese languages and scripts]. Language and Literature Press. Zhou, M.-L. (1999). The official national language and language attitudes of three ethnic minority groups in China. Language Problems and Language Planning, 23(2), 157–174. https://doi.org/ 10.1075/lplp.23.2.03zho Zhou, M.-L. (2000). Language attitudes of two contrasting ethnic minority nationalities in China: The “model” Koreans and the “rebellious” Tibetans. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 2000(146), 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1515/ijsl.2000.146.1 Zhou, M.-L. (2001). The spread of Putonghua and language attitude changes in Shanghai and Guangzhou, China. Journal of Asian Pacific Communication, 11(2), 231–253. https://doi.org/ 10.1075/japc.11.2.07zho Zhou, M.-L., & Ross, H. A. (2004). Introduction: The context of the theory and practice of China’s language policy. In M.-L. Zhou (Ed.), Language policy in the People’s Republic of China: Theory and practice since 1949 (pp. 1–18). Kluwer Academic.

Chapter 4

Research Design

Abstract Language attitudes research has been a neglected area in Macao for a long period of time, and has begun to attract scholars’ attention in the new millennium. This study focuses on Macao people’s language attitudes under the dynamic interplay of local, national, and global forces in Macao. A combination of a questionnaire survey and semi-structured interviews was adopted to investigate Macao tertiary students’ attitudes towards main languages and various issues in language planning and language policy (LPLP). This chapter details the research design. Keywords Macao tertiary students · Language attitudes · Questionnaire survey · Semi-structured interviews · Research design

4.1 Research Questions Language attitudes serve as an important barometer for us to examine Macao students’ orientations in the face of the complex and multifaceted interactions between local, national, and global forces. The dynamics at the local, national, and global levels should be discernible in Macao people’s attitudes to main languages and various issues in Macao LPLP, and this study aims to answer the following three questions: 1. How do Macao students evaluate Cantonese, Putonghua, English, and Portuguese? 2. What attitudes do Macao students hold towards various issues in Macao LPLP? 3. What social factors correlate with students’ language attitudes? In their study of Canadian Anglophones’ French learning, Gardner and Lambert (1959, 1972) propose the integrative and instrumental orientations that influence Canadian Anglophones’ French learning motivation. According to them, the integrative orientation concerns one’s identification with a speech community and the instrumental orientation emphasizes one’s utilitarian motivation in language learning. This dichotomy has been widely applied and extensively researched in © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2023 X. Yan, A Study of Macao Tertiary Students’ Attitudes Towards Language After the Handover, SpringerBriefs in Education, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-6819-0_4

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previous language attitudes studies (e.g., Lai, 2005, 2012; Lung, 1996; Zhou, 1999, 2000, 2001). In Macao, Cantonese, Putonghua, English, and Portuguese are used in different domains (Yan, 2017). At the same time, the existence of Cantonesespeaking, Putonghua-speaking, Anglophone, and Lusophone communities in Macao makes it possible for students to have different types and varying degrees of contact with these communities. Cantonese, Putonghua, English, and Portuguese work as the dominant languages in Macao and perform the essential functions of communication and identity for Macao and its people. In this new linguistic dispensation (Aronin & Singleton, 2008), Macao students may hold different attitudes towards the four languages along the integrative and instrumental dimensions. This study thus adopts the integrative-instrumental dichotomy as the evaluative dimensions of students’ language attitudes. Although some research (e.g., Baker, 1992; Ladegaard, 1998a, 1998b) finds no sex differences on language attitudes, results from other studies have shown the correlations between sex and language attitudes. For example, with a combination of MGT, questionnaires, and semi-structured interviews, Lung (1997) focused on attitudes of Hong Kong people towards Putonghua and Cantonese. The results show that females express greater integrative feelings towards Putonghua than males. Lai (2007) used questionnaires to test the correlations between Hong Kong students’ sex and their attitudes towards Cantonese, Putonghua, and English, and the findings indicate that female students express more positive attitudes than males towards Putonghua and English along the integrative and instrumental dimensions. The findings of Lung (1997) and Lai (2007) show that Hong Kong female students hold more positive attitudes towards Putonghua (the national language of the PRC) and English (Hong Kong’s ex-colonial language and an official language in the Hong Kong SAR) in the face of the changing language situation in the Hong Kong SAR. After Macao’s handover, Putonghua, the national language of the PRC, emerges as a prestige language in Macao. At the same time, Portuguese, Macao’s ex-colonial language and an official language in the Macao SAR, still functions as a language of power in Macao (Bodomo, 2012; Bodomo & Teixeira-E-Silva, 2012). Faced with Macao’s changing sociolinguistic configurations, it is hypothesized that Macao female students may give higher ratings to Putonghua (the national language of the PRC) and Portuguese (Macao’s ex-colonial language and still a language of power in the Macao SAR) than males along the integrative and instrumental dimensions. Although some studies (e.g., Ladegaard, 2000) find no statistically significant differences between people’s attitudes in terms of social class, other studies have found the correlations between social class and language attitudes. For example, Lai (2001) adopted questionnaires to explore the correlations between Hong Kong students’ social class and their attitudes towards Cantonese, Putonghua, and English. Lai (2001) divided social class of Hong Kong students into middle class and working class, and the results show that the overall attitudes of middle-class students towards English are more positive than those of working-class students. In contrast to Lai (2001), Lai (2010) divided social class in Hong Kong into three groups: middle class, lower-middle class, and working class. With the employment of questionnaires and focus-group interviews, the findings show one statistically significant

4.2 Subjects and Instruments

43

difference between the middle class and the working class in terms of the integrative and instrumental orientations towards English. Lai’s language attitudes studies show a consistent pattern where Hong Kong students of higher social class (i.e., middleclass students) express more positive attitudes towards English, the language of the ruling class during Hong Kong’s colonial period and still a language of power after Hong Kong’s handover. Previous studies in other societies have also found close correlations between higher social class and ex-colonial languages. For example, Chakrani (2013)’s questionnaire survey of 454 university students from four colleges in Morocco finds that the higher their social class, the more likely they are to hold favorable attitudes towards French. During Macao’s colonial period, the knowledge of Portuguese had been stipulated as a requirement for civil servant recruitment and an advantage for promotion. Portuguese, the language of the ruling class, was placed at the top of Macao’s sociolinguistic hierarchy during the colonial period, governing upward mobility in Macao’s civil service. After the handover, Portuguese is still a language of power in the Macao SAR (Bodomo, 2012; Bodomo & Teixeira-ESilva, 2012). Based on previous studies (e.g., Chakrani, 2013; Lai, 2001, 2010), it is hypothesized that higher social class in Macao will positively correlate with their attitudes towards Portuguese (Macao’s ex-colonial language and still a language of power in the Macao SAR) along the integrative and instrumental dimensions.

4.2 Subjects and Instruments UM freshmen of the academic year 2012–2013 were chosen as the subjects of this study, to the exclusion of sophomores, juniors, seniors, and postgraduates so that UM’s English-medium policy cannot produce direct influence on freshmen’s attitudes towards English. A combination of a questionnaire survey and semi-structured interviews was adopted to investigate students’ language attitudes. A questionnaire (see Appendix A) was first developed for this study. Developing the questionnaire is a stepwise process with multiple phases: (a) design of initial item pool from the literature (e.g., Lai, 2005) and the measure of subjects’ sex and social class; (b) three pilot studies, reliability test to test the internal reliability of each factor, Exploratory Factor analysis to test the validity of the factors, and Confirmatory Factor Analysis to test the construct validity of each factor; and (c) modification of questionnaire items and addition of new items. The first part of the questionnaire is divided into two sections aiming at collecting subjects’ socio-demographic and linguistic data. The social data focus on participants’ sex and social class. The linguistic data solicit general information about their language proficiency and languages used at home. One problem in the survey is the identification of subjects’ social class. According to Macaulay (2009, p. 11), two basic questions need to be addressed in the employment of social class: the number of divisions within the category of social class and the identification of the membership in these divisions. There are two ways of measuring

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social class: subjective measurement and objective measurement (Macaulay, 2009). In subjective measurement, the subjects are asked to indicate directly the perception of their social class. In objective measurement, some indicators (e.g., family income, parental occupation, house value, possessions) are used to identify the subjects’ social class. In previous sociolinguistic studies, various indicators of a person’s social class have been used. Researchers use one indicator (e.g., Macaulay, 1976) or a composite of two or more indicators (e.g., Labov, 1966; Trudgill, 1974), and there is no agreement on how to treat social class as a variable. Trudgill (1974) believes that a composite-variable index can provide “an objective, standardised and easily calculated indicator of social class which is at the same time reliable and capable of ranking informants in a scale” (p. 36). With reference to previous sociolinguistic studies (e.g., Labov, 1966; Trudgill, 1974), this study employed a composite-variable index with eight indicators (i.e., parents’ occupation rank, parents’ education attainment, household income level, types of housing, housing space, and residential location). A threepoint scale was developed for each indicator. Because an indicator yielding communalities below 0.50 indicates that this indicator shares much less of the common variability among the indicators and contributes less to the factor solution, indicators yielding communalities below 0.50 were excluded through factor analysis (Hair et al., 2010). By doing so, a social class continuum was obtained by means of the social class index and divided into groups based on the normal distribution of the social class score. In addition, because this study focuses on language attitudes of Macao local students, students who have received their secondary education in Macao will be regarded as Macao local students in this study. A question was designed in the questionnaire, asking students to write down the length of time they spent on their secondary education in Macao, the Chinese mainland, and other places. Because students’ length of secondary education can be indirectly inferred from their length of life in Macao, students will also be asked to write down the length of time they have spent living in Macao, the Chinese mainland, and other places. Based on students’ answers to the two questions, an appropriate questionnaire item will be chosen to identify Macao local students. The second part of the questionnaire requires students to express their extent of agreement to each of 38 statements. A 6-point Likert scale was constructed where 6 represents strong agreement and 1 strong disagreement across all the statements. The first 28 statements in the questionnaire aim at measuring students’ attitudes towards Cantonese, Putonghua, English, and Portuguese. The subsequent 10 statements were designed to measure students’ attitudes towards LPLP in Macao, and topics range from the choice of Putonghua or Cantonese as the medium of instruction in Macao public schools to the choice of English or Portuguese as the first foreign language in Macao non-tertiary education. In addition to the questionnaire survey, interviews were conducted with UM freshmen who provided their contact information in the questionnaire, expressed their willingness to participate in the interview, and signed the informed consent form (see Appendix B). A set of prepared questions were used as the interview

4.4 Identification of Macao Local Students

45

guide (see Appendix C), which had been piloted with one student before the formal interviews. The interviews were semi-structured, that is, the questions were covered closely to ensure that the interviewees focused on the target topic area, at the same time, the interviewees were encouraged to elaborate on the issues they felt concerned.

4.3 The Questionnaire Survey and Semi-structured Interviews According to UM registry, a total of 1530 freshmen registered in UM in the academic year 2012–2013. Among them, 1174 students were Macao local students (i.e., students holding Macao ID), with an average age of 19. Because all UM freshmen are required to receive general education which includes English language education, they took English Placement Test and were placed into five levels according to their performance in the test, the survey was conducted in 2012 through English Language Center (ELC) and English Department with ELC providing English teaching to freshmen of Levels 1–4 and English Department to those of Level 5. Every ELC teacher and the instructor of Level 5 students were contacted to obtain the agreement to distribute the questionnaires in their classes. Finally, a total of 407 valid questionnaires were collected. Semi-structured interviews were conducted in 2013. Through contact with students who had provided their personal contact information at the end of the questionnaire, 20 students (5 students from each of the four social classes identified in the questionnaire survey) expressed their willingness to participate in the interview. However, 3 students withdrew before the interview and finally 17 took part in the interview. The interviews took place in Putonghua except one interview which was conducted in English. The lengths of the interviews vary from half an hour to one hour. With the consent of the interviewees, the interviews were recorded and transcribed. After the transcription, all interviewees were given their transcripts and recordings to make sure whether they want to remove anything from their transcripts. No removal requests were received.

4.4 Identification of Macao Local Students This study focuses on Macao local students’ language attitudes. Two items (i.e., their length of secondary education in Macao and that of living in Macao) were designed in order to identify Macao local students with a certain degree of familiarity with Macao. After the data collection, a frequency analysis was conducted to identify the general patterns of participants’ length of secondary education in Macao and their length of life in Macao. The results show that students’ answers for their length of

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secondary education in Macao vary from 0 to 21 years, suggesting that some students may not be clear about the question. Because Macao features different school systems and 6-year secondary education is the common practice in most schools, 6-year life in Macao was chosen as the criterion to identify Macao local students, indicating that these students have also received 6-year secondary education in Macao before being admitted to UM. With this criterion, 132 questionnaires were excluded and finally 275 valid questionnaires were obtained.

4.5 Identification of Macao Local Students’ Social Class As has been mentioned, the social class index is made up of eight factors: parents’ occupation, parents’ education, household income, family’s housing type, housing space, and family locality. Students’ information of their social class (their parents’ occupations excluded) is presented in Table 4.1. Based on students’ information concerning their parents’ education, a three-point scale (see Table 4.2) was designed with scores 1–3 allotted to informants whose parents’ education levels fall within the following groups respectively: Group 1 (no schooling or primary education), Group 2 (secondary education), Group 3 (undergraduate or postgraduate education). Missing cases and cases where students do not know their parents’ education levels were excluded in the measurement of social class. The mean and standard deviation of students’ family household income were 4.74 and 2.13 respectively. Based on the normal distribution of students’ family household income, two cutting points were set up for the three-point scale (see Table 4.2) with points 1–3 allotted to the following groups respectively: students with a household income below 10,000 MOP; students with a household income between 10,000 and 39,999 MOP; students with a household income above 39,999 MOP. Similarly, missing cases and cases where students do not know their family’s household income were excluded in the measurement of social class. Students’ information concerning their family’s housing type is presented in Table 4.1. A three-point scale (see Table 4.2) was designed with points 1–3 assigned to the following three categories respectively: Category 1 (subleased apartment, social housing, and economical housing), Category 2 (privately rented housing), and Category 3 (privately purchased housing). The mean and standard deviation of students’ family housing space were 4.87 and 3.25 respectively. Based on the normal distribution of students’ housing space, two cutting points (500 and 1199 ft2) were set up to design a three-point scale (see Table 4.2) with points 1–3 assigned to students whose family’s housing space falls within the following three ranges: < 500 ft2 , 500–1199 ft2 , and > 1199 ft2 . In line with Trudgill’s (1974) study where different areas were ranked subjectively, several real estate agencies in Macao were consulted and asked to make a ranking of the six areas. Based on their subjective rankings, a three-point scale (see Table 4.2)

4.5 Identification of Macao Local Students’ Social Class

47

Table 4.1 Students’ information of social class in the survey Independent variables

Groups

Valid cases Percentage (%)

Father’s education

No schooling

7

Primary

94

34.2

Secondary

125

45.5

Undergraduate

9

3.3

Postgraduate

12

4.4

Don’t know

25

9.1

No schooling

11

4.0

Primary

96

34.9

Secondary

130

47.3

Undergraduate

12

4.4

Postgraduate

8

2.9

Don’t know

17

6.2

5

1.8

Mother’s education

Family’s household income per < 5000 month 5000–9999

Family’s housing type

Family’s housing space

2.5

18

6.5

10,000–14,999

49

17.8

15,000–19,999

41

14.9

20,000–29,999

43

15.6

30,000–39,999

25

9.1

40,000–49,999

11

4.0

50,000–59,999

17

6.2

60,000–69,999

4

1.5

70,000–79,999

3

1.1

80,000–89,999

3

1.1

> 99,999

1

0.4

Don’t know

51

18.5

Subleased apartment

11

4.0

Social housing

18

6.5

Economical housing

32

11.6

Private-rented housing

25

9.1

Private-purchased housing

188

68.4

< 500 ft2

29

10.5

ft2

53

19.3

600–699 ft2

27

9.8

700–799 ft2

25

9.1

ft2

31

11.3

900–999 ft2

13

4.7

30

10.9

500–599

800–899

1000–1099

ft2

(continued)

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4 Research Design

Table 4.1 (continued) Independent variables

Groups

Valid cases Percentage (%)

1100–1199 ft2

11

4.0

ft2

6

2.2

1300–1399 ft2

5

1.8

1400–1499 ft2

2

0.7

1200–1299

> 1499 Family’s locality

ft2

22

8.0

North District

135

49.1

Central District

52

18.9

South District

15

5.5

Other areas in Peninsula

42

15.3

Taipa

28

10.2

Others (the Chinese mainland) 3

1.1

Table 4.2 Index of eight factors of social class Indicators

Groups

Index score

Parents’ occupation Group 1: blue-collar workers (e.g., taxi driver, bus driver, shop assistant, security guard, cleaner, construction worker, factory worker, waitress, receptionist, etc.)

1

Group 2: technicians, clerks, service and sales workers (e.g., clerk, secretary, civil servant, mechanic, technician, nurse, salesperson, cook, casino dealer, administrative assistant, etc.)

2

Group 3: professionals, employers, managers, and officials (e.g., manager, accountant, lawyer, doctor, teacher, businessman, engineer, architect, company owner, casino supervisor, etc.)

3

Group 1: no schooling or primary education

1

Parents’ education level

Group 2: secondary education

2

Group 3: undergraduate or postgraduate education

3

Family’s household Group 1: < 10,000 MOP income Group 2: 10,000–39,999 MOP Family’s housing type

Family’s housing space

Family’s locality

1 2

Group 3: > 39,999 MOP

3

Group 1: subleased apartment, social and economic housing

1

Group 2: private-rented housing

2

Group 3: private-purchased housing

3

Group 1: < 500 ft2

1

Group 2: 500–1199 ft2

2

Group 3: > 1199 ft2

3

Group 1: North District

1

Group 2: Taipa, Coloane, South District, and other areas

2

Group 3: Central District

3

References

49

was designed with points 1–3 allotted to the following three groups respectively: Group 1 (North District), Group 2 (Taipa, Coloane, South District, and other areas in Macao Peninsula), and Group 3 (Central District). Students living outside Macao were excluded. A three-point scale of parents’ occupations was developed (see Table 4.2) based on students’ answers and previous studies on Macao social class (e.g., Wong & Wan, 2009). Cases where students’ parents were retired, deceased, or unemployed were excluded. In the survey, 24.0% of students’ mothers are housewives, 4.0% do not have jobs, and 1.1% of students do not know their mother’s jobs. Therefore, only father’s occupation was considered in the measurement of social class. After the scale design for the seven factors and the exclusion of those invalid data, factor analysis was conducted to test the validity of the factors for the measure of social class. After the exclusion of variables with communalities lower than 0.50 (Hair et al., 2010), the results of factor analysis show that two components (Component 1: housing type and residential location; Component 2: father’ education and mother’s education) have met the eigenvalue greater than 1 criterion and explain 70.0% of the variance. Finally social class was determined for each informant based on their father’s education, mother’s education, housing type, and residential location. Students’ social class index scores were calculated and the mean and standard deviation of the social class scores were 7.50 and 1.82 respectively. According to the normal distribution of the social class scores, Labov’s (1990) suggestion of at least four divisions of the socioeconomic hierarchy, as well as previous Macao social class studies (e.g., Wong & Wan, 2009), students with a score 4 or 5 were grouped into the lower-middle class (LMC), those scoring 6 or 7 were classified into the middle class (MC), those scoring 8 or 9 were regarded as the upper-middle class (UMC), and those with a score 10 or 11 were put under the category of upper class (UC).

References Aronin, L., & Singleton, D. (2008). Multilingualism as a new linguistic dispensation. International Journal of Multilingualism, 5(1), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.2167/ijm072.0 Baker, C. (1992). Attitudes and language. Multilingual Matters. Bodomo, A. (2012). Africans in China: A sociocultural study and its implications on Africa-China relations. Cambria Press. Bodomo, A., & Teixeira-E-Silva, R. (2012). Language matters: The role of linguistic identity in the establishment of the Lusophone African community in Macau. African Studies, 71(1), 71–90. https://doi.org/10.1080/00020184.2012.668294 Chakrani, B. (2013). The impact of the ideology of modernity on language attitudes in Morocco. The Journal of North Africa Studies, 18(3), 431–442. https://doi.org/10.1080/13629387.2013. 791613 Gardner, R. C., & Lambert, W. E. (1959). Motivation variables in second language acquisition. Canadian Journal of Psychology, 13(4), 266-272. Gardner, R. C., & Lambert, W. E. (1972). Attitudes and motivation in second language learning. Newbury House.

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Hair, J. F., Black, W. C., Babin, B. J., & Anderson, R. E. (2010). Multivariate data analysis (7th ed.). Prentice Hall. Labov, W. (1966). The social stratification of English in New York city. Center for Applied Linguistics. Labov, W. (1990). The intersection of sex and social class in the course of linguistic change. Language Variation and Change, 2(2), 205–254. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954394500000338 Ladegaard, H. J. (1998a). Boys, girls, language and identity: Language attitudes and linguistic behaviour in a rural community in Denmark. International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 8(1), 3–25. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1473-4192.1998.tb00119.x Ladegaard, H. J. (1998b). Assessing national stereotypes in language attitude studies: The case of class-consciousness in Denmark. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 19(3), 182–198. https://doi.org/10.1080/01434639808666351 Ladegaard, H. J. (2000). Language attitudes and sociolinguistic behaviour: Exploring attitudebehaviour relations in language. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 4(2), 214–233. https://doi.org/10. 1111/1467-9481.00112 Lai, M.-L. (2001). Hong Kong students’ attitudes towards Cantonese, Putonghua and English after the change of sovereignty. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 22(2), 112– 133. https://doi.org/10.1080/01434630108666428 Lai, M.-L. (2005). Language attitudes of the first postcolonial generation in Hong Kong secondary schools. Language in Society, 34(3), 363–388. https://doi.org/10.1017/S004740450505013X Lai, M.-L. (2007). Gender and language attitudes—A case of post-colonial Hong Kong. International Journal of Multilingualism, 4(2), 83–116. https://doi.org/10.2167/ijm068.0 Lai, M.-L. (2010). Social class and language attitudes in Hong Kong. International Multilingual Research Journal, 4(2), 83–106. https://doi.org/10.1080/19313150903500945 Lai, M.-L. (2012). Tracking language attitudes in postcolonial Hong Kong: An interplay of localization, mainlandization, and internationalization. Multilingua, 31(1), 83–111. https://doi.org/ 10.1515/mult.2012.004 Lung, W.-C. (1996). A study of language attitudes towards Cantonese and Putonghua of the Hong Kong Chinese people in the run-up to 1997: A 3-tier approach [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. University of Essex. Lung, W.-C. (1997). Language attitudes and sex-based differences in attitudes in Hong Kong. Linguistische Berichte, 171, 396–414. Macaulay, R. K. S. (1976). Social class and language in Glasgow. Language in Society, 5(2), 173–188. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0047404500007016 Macaulay, R. K. S. (2009). Quantitative methods in sociolinguistics. Palgrave Macmillan. Trudgill, P. (1974). The social differentiation of English in Norwich. Cambridge University Press. Wong, T. K. Y., & Wan, P. S. (2009). The emerging middle class in post-colonial Macao: Structure, profile, and mobility. Issues & Studies, 45(2), 221–250. Yan, X. (2017). The language situation in Macao. Current Issues in Language Planning, 18(1), 1–38. https://doi.org/10.1080/14664208.2016.1125594 Zhou, M.-L. (1999). The official national language and language attitudes of three ethnic minority groups in China. Language Problems and Language Planning, 23(2), 157–174. https://doi.org/ 10.1075/lplp.23.2.03zho Zhou, M.-L. (2000). Language attitudes of two contrasting ethnic minority nationalities in China: The “model” Koreans and the “rebellious” Tibetans. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 2000(146), 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1515/ijsl.2000.146.1 Zhou, M.-L. (2001). The spread of Putonghua and language attitude changes in Shanghai and Guangzhou, China. Journal of Asian Pacific Communication, 11(2), 231–253. https://doi.org/ 10.1075/japc.11.2.07zho

Chapter 5

Questionnaire Survey Results

Abstract This study investigates Macao tertiary students’ language attitudes under the dynamic interplay of local, national, and global forces. The push and pull between decolonization, renationalization, and globalization are discernible in their language attitudes. A questionnaire survey was conducted in 2012 to investigate their attitudes towards main languages, various issues in Macao’s language planning and language policy (LPLP), and the correlations between students’ social factors (i.e., sex and social class) and their language attitudes. The results are presented in this chapter. Keywords Macao tertiary students · Questionnaire survey · Language attitudes · Language planning and language policy (LPLP) · Social factors

5.1 Profile of the Participants in the Survey The characteristics of the participants are presented in Table 5.1. As can be seen from this table, 33.45% are male and 65.82% female. In terms of social class, 13.22% are from UC, 36.78% from UMC, 35.54% from MC, and 14.46% from LMC. Table 5.2 presents the results of the most frequently used language in students’ families. As can be seen from the table, Cantonese is the dominant domestic language, with 81.09% students speaking it at home, followed by Chinese (8.72%), Putonghua/ Mandarin (4.00%), English (2.18%), and Fujian dialect (1.09%). Taishan dialect, Portuguese, and Spanish rank the last with only one student speaking each language frequently at home. Another feature of language use in the private domain is that more than one language is used at home. In this survey, 142 students (51.64%) report their families use more than one language at home, with Cantonese, Putonghua, and English being the dominant languages used at home. Table 5.3 provides an account of students’ self-evaluation of their language proficiency. As can be seen from the table, students’ proficiencies in Cantonese, Written Chinese, Putonghua, English, and Portuguese are in a descending order. They have a high level of proficiency in Cantonese and Written Chinese, followed by Putonghua © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2023 X. Yan, A Study of Macao Tertiary Students’ Attitudes Towards Language After the Handover, SpringerBriefs in Education, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-6819-0_5

51

52 Table 5.1 Profile of the participants in groups in the survey

5 Questionnaire Survey Results

Independent variables

Groups

Sex

Male

Table 5.2 Home language of the participants in terms of the highest frequency

Table 5.3 Overall language proficiencies of the participants

Percentage

92

33.45

181

65.82

LMC

35

14.46

MC

86

35.54

UMC

89

36.78

UC

32

13.22

Female Social class

Valid cases

Home language

Frequency

Percentage

Cantonese

223

81.09

Chinese

24

8.72

Putonghua/Mandarin

11

4.00

English

6

2.18

Fujian dialect

3

1.09

Taishan dialect

1

0.36

Portuguese

1

0.36

Spanish

1

0.36

Language skills

M

SD

Cantonese (listening)

2.95

0.24

Cantonese (speaking)

2.94

0.27

Written Chinese (reading)

2.75

0.64

Written Chinese (writing)

2.62

0.68

Putonghua (listening)

2.19

0.88

Putonghua (speaking)

1.99

0.88

English (listening)

1.86

0.62

English (speaking)

1.71

0.61

English (reading)

1.89

0.60

English (writing)

1.66

0.62

Portuguese (listening)

0.49

0.67

Portuguese (speaking)

0.52

0.61

Portuguese (reading)

0.50

0.68

Portuguese (writing)

0.45

0.65

and English. Their Portuguese proficiency remains at a rather low level. In addition, the standard deviation (SD) for Putonghua is the biggest, whereas that for Cantonese is the smallest.

5.2 Macao Tertiary Students’ Attitudes Towards Four Languages

53

5.2 Macao Tertiary Students’ Attitudes Towards Four Languages This section presents students’ attitudes towards Cantonese, Putonghua, English, and Portuguese. The scale reliability of the 28 items is a = 0.870. The findings will be presented according to the statistical results, which include means and standard deviations. For the ease of analysis, the mid-point of the 6-point Likert scale (i.e., 3.50) is set as a criterion, by which ratings above 3.50 are regarded positive, and those below 3.50 negative.

5.2.1 Students’ Integrative Orientation Towards the Four Languages Table 5.4 presents students’ integrative attitudes towards Cantonese, Putonghua, English, and Portuguese. As can be seen from the table, students show positive attitudes towards Cantonese, but with a great deal of variability. They strongly agree with the statement that a Macao person should be able to speak fluent Cantonese. They agree that a Macao person who speaks fluent Cantonese is usually friendly and slightly agree that a Macao person who speaks fluent Cantonese is usually intelligent. In terms of Putonghua, students’ evaluation of Putonghua is mixed. They slightly agree that a Macao person should be able to speak fluent Putonghua and a Macao person who speaks fluent Putonghua is usually friendly. However, they express a slightly negative attitude when asked to make an evaluation of the intellectual capacity of Putonghua speakers. As regards English, students express positive attitudes towards English. They slightly agree with the statement that a Macao person should be able to speak fluent English. In addition, they slightly agree that a Macao person who speaks fluent English is usually friendly and agree that a Macao person who speaks fluent English is usually intelligent. When it comes to Portuguese, students’ integrative feelings towards Portuguese are mixed. They give a negative response to the statement that a Macao person should be able to speak fluent Portuguese. However, they give slightly positive evaluations of Portuguese speakers in terms of their intelligence and friendliness. After the survey of each factor, a comparison was made of students’ overall ratings of their integrative inclination towards the four languages and the results are provided in Table 5.5. As shown in this table, in terms of students’ integrative orientation towards the four languages, they give the highest rating to Cantonese. The second strongest integrative inclination is found towards English, followed by Putonghua. Students’ rating of their integrative feelings towards Portuguese is the lowest. Through paired-samples t-test, the results (see Table 5.6) show statistically significant differences between students’ attitudes towards the four languages.

54

5 Questionnaire Survey Results

Table 5.4 Students’ integrative orientation towards the four languages No.

Statements

M

SD

2.1

A Macao person should be able to speak fluent Cantonese

5.29

0.93

2.15

A Macao person who speaks fluent Cantonese is usually friendly

4.23

1.40

2.25

A Macao person who speaks fluent Cantonese is usually intelligent

3.56

1.39

2.8

A Macao person should be able to speak fluent Putonghua (i.e., Guoyu/ Mandarin)

3.93

1.07

2.3

A Macao person who speaks fluent Putonghua (i.e., Guoyu/Mandarin) is usually friendly

3.65

1.18

2.26

A Macao person who speaks fluent Putonghua (i.e., Guoyu/Mandarin) is usually intelligent

3.42

1.15

2.18

A Macao person should be able to speak fluent English

3.98

1.09

2.19

A Macao person who speaks fluent English is usually friendly

3.89

1.10

2.2

A Macao person who speaks fluent English is usually intelligent

4.08

1.21

2.24

A Macao person should be able to speak fluent Portuguese

3.07

1.21

2.9

A Macao person who speaks fluent Portuguese is usually friendly

3.53

1.06

2.4

A Macao person who speaks fluent Portuguese is usually intelligent

3.75

1.26

Cantonese

Putonghua

English

Portuguese

Table 5.5 Means of the four factors of students’ integrative orientation Factors

M

SD

Students’ integrative orientation towards Cantonese

4.36

0.95

Students’ integrative orientation towards Putonghua

3.67

0.87

Students’ integrative orientation towards English

3.98

0.87

Students’ integrative orientation towards Portuguese

3.45

0.90

5.2 Macao Tertiary Students’ Attitudes Towards Four Languages Table 5.6 Paired-samples t-test results in the comparison of integrative orientation

55

Pairs

Factors

Sig. (2-tailed)

Pair 1

Cantonese-Putonghua

0.000***

Pair 2

English-Portuguese

0.000***

Pair 3

Cantonese-English

0.000***

Pair 4

Putonghua-Portuguese

0.000***

Pair 5

Cantonese-Portuguese

0.000***

Pair 6

Putonghua-English

0.000***

Note *** p < 0.001

5.2.2 Students’ Instrumental Orientation Towards the Four Languages Table 5.7 presents the results of students’ evaluation of the instrumental value of the four languages. As can be seen from the table, students’ overall evaluation of Cantonese is positive. They agree with the statement that Cantonese is a very important language for their further studies. They also agree that Cantonese is the most helpful language for their career development in the twenty-first century. They slightly agree with the statement concerning the importance of Cantonese as a medium of instruction in Macao after the handover. In addition, they express agreement with the statement that Cantonese is regarded by Macao people as highly important for Macao’s economic development. Students’ overall evaluation of the instrumental value of Putonghua is positive. They give a positive response to the statements concerning the importance of Putonghua for their further studies and career development. They agree with the statement that Putonghua (i.e., Guoyu/Mandarin) is an important language of instruction in Macao schools after the handover. In addition, they express agreement with the statement that Putonghua (i.e., Guoyu/Mandarin) is regarded by Macao people as highly important for Macao’s economic development. As regards English, students’ overall evaluation of the importance of English is quite high. They express strong agreement with the statements concerning the importance of English for their further studies and career development. At the same time, they also agree with the statement about the importance of English as a medium of instruction in Macao schools after the handover. In addition, they agree with the statement that English is regarded by Macao people as highly important for Macao’s economic development. When it comes to Portuguese, students’ overall evaluation of the instrumental value of Portuguese is positive, but rather low. They express slight agreement with the statements concerning the importance of Portuguese for their future career development and further studies. They also slightly agree with the statements that the Portuguese language is an important language of instruction in Macao schools after the handover, and the Portuguese language is regarded by Macao people as highly important for Macao’s economic development.

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5 Questionnaire Survey Results

Table 5.7 Students’ instrumental orientation towards the four languages No.

Statements

M

SD

2.10

Cantonese is a very important language for my further studies

4.41

1.20

2.23

Cantonese is the most helpful language for my career development in the twenty-first century

4.30

1.16

2.21

Cantonese is regarded by Macao people as highly important for Macao’s economic development

4.44

1.12

2.28

Cantonese is an important language of instruction in 3.81 Macao schools after the handover.a

1.54

2.27

Putonghua (i.e., Guoyu/Mandarin) is a very important language for my further studies

4.07

1.12

2.5

Putonghua (i.e., Guoyu/Mandarin) is the most helpful language for my career development in the twenty-first century

3.98

1.12

2.13

Putonghua (i.e., Guoyu/Mandarin) is regarded by Macao people as highly important for Macao economic development

4.33

0.99

2.20

Putonghua (i.e., Guoyu/Mandarin) is an important language of instruction in Macao schools after handover

4.03

1.12

2.7

English is very important for my further studies

5.29

0.93

2.12

English is the most helpful language for my career development in the twenty-first century

5.17

1.02

2.16

English is regarded by Macao people as highly important for Macao’s economic development

4.79

1.03

2.11

English is an important language of instruction in Macao schools after the handover

4.95

0.93

2.17

The Portuguese language is very important for my further studies

3.52

1.31

2.14

Portuguese is the most helpful language for my career development in the twenty-first century

3.82

1.16

2.22

The Portuguese language is regarded by Macao people as highly important for Macao’s economic development

3.64

1.11

2.6

The Portuguese language is an important language of instruction in Macao schools after the handover

3.59

1.23

Cantonese

Putonghua

English

Portuguese

Note a The negatively worded statement is reversed

5.3 Macao Tertiary Students’ Attitudes Towards LPLP in Macao

57

Table 5.8 Means of the four factors of students’ instrumental orientation Factors

M

SD

Students’ instrumental orientation towards Cantonese

4.24

0.81

Students’ instrumental orientation towards Putonghua

4.10

0.84

Students’ instrumental orientation towards English

5.05

0.80

Students’ instrumental orientation towards Portuguese

3.64

0.92

Table 5.9 Paired-samples t-test results in the comparison of instrumental orientations

Pairs

Factors

Sig. (2-tailed)

Pair 1

Cantonese-Putonghua

0.029*

Pair 2

English-Portuguese

0.000***

Pair 3

Cantonese-English

0.000***

Pair 4

Putonghua-Portuguese

0.000***

Pair 5

Cantonese-Portuguese

0.000***

Pair 6

Putonghua-English

0.000***

Note * p < 0.05. *** p < 0.001

After the examination of each factor, a comparison was made of students’ overall evaluation of the instrumental value of the four languages. Table 5.8 presents a summary of students’ general evaluation of the importance of the four languages. As shown in this table, in terms of students’ instrumental orientation towards the four languages, they give the highest evaluation to English, the second highest rating goes to Cantonese, Putonghua ranks the third, and the lowest rating is found towards Portuguese. Through paired-samples t-test, the results (see Table 5.9) show statistically significant differences between students’ attitudes towards the four languages.

5.3 Macao Tertiary Students’ Attitudes Towards LPLP in Macao Table 5.10 presents a general picture of students’ attitudes towards LPLP in Macao. As can be seen from this table, the first statement investigates students’ attitudes towards the official status of the Portuguese language in the Macao SAR. Students slightly disagree with the statement: “It is not necessary to keep Portuguese as an official language of the Macao SAR.” Items 3.2 and 3.3 focus on the choice of the medium of instruction in Macao public schools at the primary and secondary levels where Chinese is the language of instruction. As can be seen from the table, students agree with the statement of making Cantonese the medium of instruction in these schools and slightly agree with the statement of making Putonghua the medium of instruction in these schools.

58

5 Questionnaire Survey Results

Table 5.10 Students’ Attitudes towards LPLP in Macao No.

Statements

M

SD

3.1

It is not necessary to keep Portuguese as an official language of the Macao SAR

3.40

1.37

3.2

In Macao public schools at the primary and secondary levels where Chinese is the language of instruction, Putonghua (i.e., Guoyu/Mandarin) should be required by the Macao SAR Government to be the language of instruction in these schools

3.78

1.19

3.3

In Macao public schools at the primary and secondary levels where Chinese is the language of instruction, Cantonese should be required by the Macao SAR Government to be the language of instruction in these schools

4.31

1.05

3.4

The Macao SAR Government should encourage Macao people to use simplified Chinese characters

3.12

1.62

3.5

Traditional Chinese characters should be replaced by simplified Chinese characters in Macao

3.17

1.66

3.6

Written Cantonese should be discouraged in Macao

2.89

1.51

3.7

Hanyu Pinyin should replace Cantonese Romanization System in Macao

2.76

1.48

3.8

In Macao public schools where Portuguese is not the 3.47 language of instruction, Portuguese should be taught as the first foreign language in these schools

1.19

3.9

In Macao public schools where English is not the language of instruction, English should be taught as the first foreign language in these schools

4.56

1.16

3.10

In Macao schools where Chinese or English is the language of instruction, Portuguese should be an elective course in these schools

4.05

1.22

Items 3.4–3.7 investigate students’ attitudes towards different scripts in Macao. They slightly disagree with the statements that the Macao SAR Government should encourage Macao people to use simplified Chinese characters and traditional Chinese characters should be replaced by simplified Chinese characters in Macao. They express disagreement to the statement that written Cantonese should be discouraged in Macao. They also disagree with the statement that Hanyu Pinyin should replace Cantonese Romanization System in Macao. The last three items (3.8–3.10) in the questionnaire are designed to investigate students’ attitudes towards the choice of foreign languages in Macao non-tertiary education. As can be seen from the table, students slightly disagree with the statement of making Portuguese the first foreign language in Macao public schools where Portuguese is not the language of instruction. Instead, they agree with the statement of making English the first foreign language in Macao public schools where English is not the language of instruction. In addition, they also express agreement with the

5.4 The Correlations Between Social Factors and Language Attitudes

59

statement that Portuguese courses should be offered as an elective course in Macao schools where Chinese or English is the language of instruction.

5.4 The Correlations Between Social Factors and Language Attitudes The third research question examines the correlations between students’ social factors and their language attitudes. This section addresses this question and aims to find out the correlations between students’ social factors (i.e., sex and social class) and their language attitudes.

5.4.1 Sex Among the 275 participants, 92 are male, 181 female, and 2 participants did not answer this question. Their attitudes towards Cantonese, Putonghua, English, and Portuguese are provided in Table 5.11. As can be seen from this table, both groups display the strongest integrative inclination towards Cantonese and give the highest rating to English in terms of its instrumental value. Putonghua and Portuguese are ranked the third and last by both groups within integrative and instrumental domains. Male students hold positive attitudes towards Cantonese, English, and Putonghua along both integrative and instrumental dimensions, but give negative evaluations to Portuguese along the two dimensions. Female students display positive attitudes towards Cantonese, English, and Putonghua under both integrative and instrumental categories, but hold slightly negative attitudes towards Portuguese under integrative categories. Males display more integrative feelings to Cantonese and Putonghua than females, whereas females give a higher evaluation of the instrumental value of Cantonese and Putonghua than males. In addition, females show more positive attitudes towards English and Portuguese than males within integrative and instrumental domains. Through One-way ANOVA test, significant differences are found between female and male students in terms of their instrumental evaluation of English and Putonghua. The first hypothesis set out in Chap. 4 was that female students would express more positive attitudes to Putonghua and Portuguese along the integrative and instrumental dimensions than males. Results show that female students evaluate Putonghua and English statistically significantly higher along the instrumental dimension than males. Based on the above findings, the hypothesis about female students’ more positive inclination towards Putonghua along the instrumental dimension is supported. However, the hypothesis concerning their more positive attitudes towards Putonghua along the integrative dimension and Portuguese along both dimensions is not supported.

60

5 Questionnaire Survey Results

Table 5.11 Language attitudes of male and female students Male

Female

Sig. (2-tailed)

Factors

M

SD

M

SD

Cantonese (integrative)

4.51↑

0.93

4.28↓

0.95

0.059

Putonghua (integrative)

3.67↑

0.81

3.66↓

0.89

0.970

English (integrative)

3.97↓

0.84

3.98↑

0.88

0.906

Portuguese (integrative)

3.44↓

0.83

3.44↑

0.93

0.976

Cantonese (instrumental)

4.20↓

0.88

4.28↑

0.77

0.430

Putonghua (instrumental)

3.96↓

0.79

4.19↑

0.85

0.033*

English (instrumental)

4.91↓

0.88

5.13↑

0.74

0.030*

Portuguese (instrumental)

3.49↓

0.84

3.71↑

0.96

0.063

Note ↑ stands for the highest and ↓ the lowest across the same factor * p < 0.05

5.4.2 Social Class In this study, students were divided into four classes, i.e., UC, UMC, MC, and LMC. Table 5.12 presents their attitudes towards Cantonese, Putonghua, English, and Portuguese within different classes. As can be seen from this table, in terms of students’ integrative inclination towards the four languages, each group displays the highest integrative feelings to Cantonese, followed by English. Putonghua and Portuguese are ranked the third and last. In terms of their evaluation of the instrumental value of the four languages, each group gives the highest rating to English, followed by Cantonese and Putonghua. Portuguese receives the lowest rating. Through One-way ANOVA test, significant differences are found in factors related to UC and LMC students’ integrative inclination towards Putonghua and Portuguese (see Table 5.13). Table 5.12 Language attitudes of students from different social classes UC

UMC

MC

LMC

Factors

M

SD

M

SD

M

SD

M

SD

Cantonese (integrative)

4.23↓

0.95

4.45↑

1.01

4.36

0.91

4.39

0.79

Putonghua (integrative)

3.24↓

0.83

3.66

0.90

3.68

0.77

3.90↑

0.86

English (integrative)

3.87↓

1.01

4.01

0.82

4.01

0.87

4.16↑

0.71

Portuguese (integrative)

3.10↓

0.77

3.41

0.93

3.47

0.84

3.76↑

0.83

Cantonese (instrumental)

4.21

0.77

4.42↑

0.94

4.24

0.74

3.97↓

0.59

Putonghua (instrumental)

4.05

0.93

4.07

0.92

4.11↑

0.72

3.96↓

0.87

English (instrumental)

5.14

0.55

5.17↑

0.79

4.99↓

0.84

5.06

0.74

Portuguese (instrumental)

3.43↓

0.99

3.61

1.01

3.59

0.85

3.75↑

0.86

Note ↑ stands for the highest and ↓ the lowest across the same factor

5.5 Summary

61

Table 5.13 Significant differences between social classes Factor

Compared classes

Sig.

Integrative inclination towards Putonghua

LMC

UC

0.016*

Integrative inclination towards Portuguese

LMC

UC

0.022*

Note * p < 0.05

The second hypothesis set out in Chap. 4 was that higher social class would positively correlate with their attitudes towards Portuguese along the integrative and instrumental dimensions. Results from this study show that LMC students evaluate Putonghua and Portuguese statistically significantly higher along the integrative dimension than UC students. Based on the above findings, the hypothesis is not supported.

5.5 Summary This chapter has provided preliminary answers to the three research questions. The first question concerns students’ evaluations of Cantonese, Putonghua, English, and Portuguese. In terms of their integrative orientation to the four languages, students display the strongest integrative feelings to Cantonese, followed by English. Putonghua and Portuguese are ranked the third and last. In terms of their instrumental orientation to the four languages, students give the highest rating to English, followed by Cantonese and Putonghua. Portuguese receives the lowest rating. Significant differences are found among students’ attitudes towards the four languages. The second question concerns students’ attitudes towards various issues in Macao LPLP. Students slightly disagree with the statement of not keeping Portuguese as an official language in the Macao SAR. In terms of the choice of the language of instruction in Macao public schools at the primary and secondary levels, they express positive attitudes to both Putonghua and Cantonese, but slightly weighted to Cantonese. For different scripts in Macao, they express slightly negative attitudes towards the statements concerning the use of simplified Chinese characters and the replacement of traditional Chinese characters by simplified Chinese characters. They also express disagreement with the statements concerning the discouragement of written Cantonese and the replacement of Cantonese Romanization System by Hanyu Pinyin. In terms of the choice of the first foreign language in Macao non-tertiary education, students slightly disagree with the statement of making Portuguese the first foreign language in Macao public schools where Portuguese is not the language of instruction, but agree with the statements of making English the first foreign language in Macao public schools where English is not the language of instruction and making Portuguese an elective course in Macao schools where Portuguese is not the language of instruction.

62

5 Questionnaire Survey Results

The third question examines the correlations between students’ social factors and their language attitudes. The results show that female students give a significantly higher evaluation of Putonghua and English along the instrumental dimension. LMC students display significantly higher integrative inclination towards Putonghua and Portuguese than UC students.

Chapter 6

Interview Results

Abstract Previous language attitudes studies on Macao have been dominated by questionnaire surveys, and few studies have employed interviews to survey Macao people’s language attitudes. Semi-structured interviews were conducted in 2013 to investigate Macao tertiary students’ attitudes towards main languages, various issues in Macao’s language planning and language policy (LPLP), and the correlations between students’ social factors (i.e., sex and social class) and their language attitudes. Qualitative content analysis was employed to code data and develop categories, and the findings are presented in this chapter. Keywords Macao tertiary students · Semi-structured interviews · Language attitudes · Language planning and language policy (LPLP) · Social factors · Qualitative content analysis

6.1 Profile of the Participants in the Interviews The profile of the interviewees is presented in Table 6.1. As can be seen from this table, 6 are male and 11 female. In terms of social class, 4 are from UC, 4 from UMC, 5 from MC and 4 from LMC.

6.2 Macao Tertiary Students’ Attitudes Towards Four Languages In the interviews, each student was asked to rank Cantonese, Putonghua, English, and Portuguese in terms of their feelings towards the four languages and the importance of the four languages for Macao and themselves. The results show that in terms of their feelings towards the four languages, Cantonese received the most votes, followed by English and Putonghua. More than half of the students displayed the lowest feelings to Portuguese. Such rankings are consistent with the questionnaire © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2023 X. Yan, A Study of Macao Tertiary Students’ Attitudes Towards Language After the Handover, SpringerBriefs in Education, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-6819-0_6

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Table 6.1 Profile of the participants in the interviews

Student number

Sex

Social class

Student 1 (S1)

Male

LMC

Student 2 (S2)

Female

LMC

Student 3 (S3)

Female

LMC

Student 4 (S4)

Female

LMC

Student 5 (S5)

Male

MMC

Student 6 (S6)

Male

MMC

Student 7 (S7)

Male

MMC

Student 8 (S8)

Female

MMC

Student 9 (S9)

Female

MMC

Student 10 (S10)

Male

UMC

Student 11 (S11)

Male

UMC

Student 12 (S12)

Female

UMC

Student 13 (S13)

Female

UMC

Student 14 (S14)

Female

UC

Student 15 (S15)

Female

UC

Student 16 (S16)

Female

UC

Student 17 (S17)

Female

UC

survey results (see Sect. 5.2.1). In terms of the importance of the four languages, most interviewees gave the highest evaluation to English and the lowest to Portuguese, and such evaluations are in line with the survey results (see Sect. 5.2.2). However, interviewees had different opinions on the importance of Cantonese and Putonghua. For example, although 8 interviewees ranked Putonghua the second and 8 ranked Cantonese the third, 5 interviewees gave the highest rating to Cantonese and only 1 student made the highest evaluation of Putonghua. This section presents in more detail students’ attitudes towards the four languages.

6.2.1 Students’ Positive Attitudes Towards Cantonese When it came to the importance of Cantonese for Macao and students, all the interviewees shared the view that Cantonese is important for Macao and themselves. They regarded Cantonese as Macao’s local language (S1), their own language (S2), or their mother tongue (S11). 廣東話也重要吧, 因為是本地語言。(S1, Line 13) Cantonese is also important, because it is the local language. 重要, 因為是自己的語言。(S2, Line 16) (Cantonese is) important, because it is our own language.

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I think Cantonese is the most important language for me as well as for the Macao society. It is because it is my mother language and Cantonese is the mother tongue of a lot of people in Macao. So it is the most important language. (S11, English in original, Lines 42–44)

When asked to describe their feelings towards Cantonese and Cantonese speakers, interviewees gave positive evaluations. For example, S1 and S16 felt comfortable when they heard Cantonese and saw Cantonese speakers, and S8 and S14 felt Cantonese and Cantonese speakers are friendly. 比較舒服一點。可能我本身也是說廣東話的吧, 所以聽起來就比較舒服。(S1, Line 26) (I feel) a little more comfortable. Perhaps I speak Cantonese, so it is more comfortable to hear Cantonese. 畢竟從小到大都是對著這個語言, 所以相對來說會感覺會非常舒服。(S16, Line 54) After all, I grow up with this language (Cantonese), so relatively speaking, I feel very comfortable. 廣東話就親切啊, 就從小說到大, 聽到大的, 身邊的人百分之九十在說廣東話。(S8, Lines 49-50) Cantonese is friendly, we grow up speaking and hearing it and 90% of the people around us speak Cantonese. 就因為平常都說廣東話, 所以就非常非常親切。(S14, Line 22) Because we usually speak Cantonese, it is very, very friendly.

To sum up, the interviewees showed strong ownership of Cantonese and expressed positive feelings towards Cantonese and Cantonese speakers.

6.2.2 Students’ Ambivalent Attitudes Towards Putonghua In terms of the importance of Putonghua for Macao and students, most interviewees agreed that Putonghua is important for both Macao and themselves. The economic considerations (i.e., receiving Putonghua-speaking tourists from the Chinese mainland) outweigh others behind the importance of Putonghua, and Putonghua was viewed as a language for doing business with Chinese mainland tourists. For example, 這個太重要了。因為現在國內的自由行越來越多, 澳門的市場越來越大, 普遍都是面向 中國的, 所以普通話是必須要學的。(S1, Lines 10–11) This (Putonghua) is very important. Because now more and more individual visitors come from the Chinese mainland, Macao market is bigger and bigger, and is usually open to the Chinese mainland, we must learn Putonghua. 也重要, 因為澳門是做旅遊業的。所以很多內地的旅客過來澳門的時候, 他們想賺他們 的錢, 就要學這個語言。(S2, Lines 12–13) (Putonghua is) also important, because Macao features tourism. When many mainland tourists come to Macao, we need to learn this language if we want to earn their money. 普通話, 現在也很重要, 因為也是內地來的遊客越來越多嘛。所以其實常常在街上 面你會碰到有說普通話的人問路。所以對自己和其他澳門人來說也非常重要。(S12, Lines 16–18)

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6 Interview Results Putonghua is also very important now, because more and more visitors come from the Chinese mainland. As a matter of fact, you may often meet Putonghua speakers in the streets asking for directions. Therefore, Putonghua is also very important for me and other Macao people. 普通話, 我覺得現在它的重要性越來越高。因為現在自由行, 很多內地的人來澳門旅 遊, 然後很多時候在街上都會撞到人問路這樣, 比較會說普通話。(S15, Lines 17–18) Putonghua, I think now it is more and more important. Because of the present individual visit scheme, many Chinese mainland people come to Macao for tourism, then you often meet people in the streets asking for directions, and Putonghua is often spoken.

Despite the great importance attached to Putonghua for doing business with Mainland tourists, many students associated Putonghua speakers with Chinese mainland and held negative feelings towards Putonghua speakers. For example, 就會覺得說普通話的人可能比較就是霸道一點, 粗魯一點。(S3, Line 50) I feel Putonghua speakers may be bossier and ruder. 有點感覺就是不太好。感覺就是有點不禮貌, 不文明的感覺。我普遍覺得有點抗拒, 就 是看到都想走遠一點的感覺。(S10, Lines 38–41) I do not hold positive feelings (towards Putonghua-speakers). I feel they are impolite and low-educated. I usually feel resistant to them and want to keep a distance away from them. 普通話, 在澳門的話, 聽到普通話, 就有一些, 啊, 我不能出街, 去逛街了。好多人, 因為 現在好多內地人, 一看到他們, 救命啊, 我不能出街了。(S13, Lines 39–40) In Macao, at the sound of Putonghua, I have some (feelings that) I can’t go out for shopping. Many people, because now there are many Mainlanders, at the sight of them, help, I can’t go out shopping. 就是不太喜歡啊, 因為很多遊客就是很沒有禮貌, 不守規矩。(S17, Line 33) I do not like (Putonghua speakers), because many tourists are very impolite and poorlydisciplined.

To sum up, the interviewees associated Putonghua with Chinese mainland. On the one hand, they attached great importance to the instrumental value of Putonghua and regarded it as a language for doing business with Mainland tourists. On the other hand, they held negative stereotypes of Putonghua speakers.

6.2.3 Students’ Positive Attitudes Towards English When asked their views on the importance of English for Macao and themselves, all the interviewees shared the view that English is important for both Macao and themselves. Many students (e.g., S1, S7, S9, S10, S11, and S17) viewed English as an international language. For example, 我覺得英語比葡語更重要, 因為是一個國際語言。(S7, Line 11) I think English is more important than Portuguese, because it is an international language. 都非常重要。因為英語是國際語言, 然後是很普遍的, 是使用率很高, 所以是非常重要 的。(S9, Lines 16–17) (English is) very important for both (Macao and me). English is an international language, it is very popular, it is widely used, so it is very important.

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I think English is of course the most important language for me. If it is not important, I will not to choose to major in English. For Macao, I think not only for Macao, but for a lot of cities or for a lot of countries, English is very important. English is important, it is a kind of global language, and we must learn it. We must be proficient in order to survive. (S11, English in original, Lines 18–22)

In addition, many students thought that English plays various important roles in Macao. For example, S2 believed that Macao needs English to go global and she needs English in her studies. S3 gave a detailed account of the importance of English for Macao’s economy and its people’s employment. 當然重要, 因為澳門要跨到國際的話, 。(S2, Lines 9–10)

一定需要英文嘛。然後我授課語言也是英文

Of course (English is) important, because Macao must need English to go global. For me, the language of instruction is also English. 英語我倒是覺得越來越重要了, 就是主要是因為現在澳門還算是一個國際化的城市 了, 開始很多那個外來的投資商在澳門發展, 所以可能對於英語的要求比較重視。而 且現在澳門算是一個旅遊的城市, 基本上很多, 就是外來的旅客都是說英語的。所以 你會英語的話, 很顯然你就可能在就是求職方面, 工作全部都是會有幫助的。所以對 於澳門來說, 你要發展這個國際化城市, 那英語肯定是很重要的。(S3, Lines 12–17) I feel English is more and more important, mainly because now Macao can be regarded as a global city, many foreign investors begin to come to Macao for development, English is receiving more attention. In addition, Macao can be regarded as a tourist city, basically many foreign tourists speak English. Therefore, if you know English, it is apparent that English helps you in your job or when you are looking for a job. Therefore, for Macao, if you want to develop this global city, it is certain that English is very important.

When it came to their feelings towards English and English speakers, most interviewees gave positive remarks. For example, some thought that English speakers are diligent (S1), well-educated (S2), or powerful (S12), and some felt that English is beautiful and pleasant to hear (S8) or English pronunciation is fashionable (S9). It is interesting to note that although some interviewees such as S1 and S12 thought that they had no special feelings towards English speakers, they made a high evaluation of the status of English-speaking Chinese. 沒特別的感覺。就覺得他們很可能是, 如果是本地的人話, 我覺得他們應該是很勤勞 的, 辛苦的學習。(S1, Lines 21–22) I do not have special feelings. I feel, if they are local people, they must be very diligent and hard-working. 覺得他會比較讀書比較多, 就是可能大學以上。(S2, Line 24) I think he reads many books, perhaps his educational level is bachelor or above. 沒什麽感覺, 可是如果看到華人說英語的話, 我會覺得他很厲害。(S12, Line 31) I do not have special feelings, but if I see a Chinese person speaking English, I think he must be very powerful. 這個感覺不知道怎麽說, 會覺得很, 說英語的很美, 就我覺得這是一種很好聽啊。(S8, Lines 40–41) I don’t know how to say the feelings, I feel English is very beautiful, I feel it is very pleasant to hear. 我覺得那個發音也很很時尚, 就是那個感覺。好像走到潮流的尖端的感覺, 對, 商業那 個感覺。(S9, Lines 37–38)

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6 Interview Results I feel that pronunciation is very fashionable, it’s that feeling. It seems like a feeling of walking ahead of the trend of fashion tip, yes, that commercial feeling.

To sum up, the interviewees regarded English as an international language of wider communication and greater power. In their opinions, English could allow them to communicate with most people around the world and gain access to the upward and outward mobility. At the same time, the interviewees also displayed positive feelings towards English and made positive remarks on English and its speakers.

6.2.4 Students’ Ambivalent Attitudes Towards Portuguese When it came to the importance of Portuguese for Macao and students themselves, many students (e.g., S3, S5, S13, S14, S15, S16, and S17) believed that Portuguese is of limited use and value for them. For example, 我覺得不重要, 因為就是平常生活中, 不用到這個葡萄牙語嘛。基本上你廣東話、英 語、普通話這些都可以就是很好地跟澳門人溝通了。所以葡萄牙語就是沒那麽重要 。(S3, Lines 8–10) I think (Portuguese) is not important, because in daily life, I do not use Portuguese. Basically, you can use Cantonese, English, and Putonghua to communicate well with Macao people. Therefore, Portuguese is not so important. 我覺得不是很重要啦。因為我不太常接觸到這個語言。(S13, Lines 2–3) I think (Portuguese) is not very important, because I do not have frequent contact with this language. 可是對我來說, 我覺得不太重要, 因為我很少用。而且在生活中, 很少人會跟我說葡語 。(S14, Lines 2–3) But for me, I think it is not very important, because I seldom use it. And in my life, very few people speak Portuguese with me.

However, most interviewees shared the view that Portuguese is important for Macao. For example, S8 viewed the importance of Portuguese from the perspectives of Macao’s historical relationship with Portugal and its role in Sino-Portuguese economic platform. S10 pointed out that Portuguese is still an official language and a legal language in Macao and it gives Macao a comparative advantage over the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong. In addition, students from the Department of Portuguese (e.g., S2) and the Faculty of Law (e.g., S12) and those who plan to work in the government (e.g., S11) thought Portuguese is important for themselves. 當然重要。我覺得很重要, 就可能從小聽到大。澳門就是以前是葡萄牙殖民地, 然後其 實跟葡萄牙也有一段淵源。然後現在又在發展這個經濟平臺。(S8, Lines 2–3) Of course (Portuguese is) important. I think it is very important, perhaps I grow up hearing it. In the past, Macao was a colony of Portugal, and in fact Macao has a historical relationship with Portugal. Now Macao is developing the Sino-Portuguese economic platform. 重要, 因為在澳門葡萄牙語始終是官方語言。很多公司還有很多歷史的文件啊, 法律 的文件都是用葡萄牙語來寫成的, 所以葡萄牙語在澳門挺重要。而且現在有些金磚五 國例如說巴西啊, 那些非洲國家, 它們都是說葡萄牙語的。澳門人都是熟知葡萄牙語的 話, 可以帶給澳門一個優勢, 這是香港和中國都沒有的優勢。(S10, Lines 2–6)

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(Portuguese is) important, because in Macao Portuguese is still the official language. Many corporate, historical, and legal documents are written in Portuguese, so Portuguese is very important in Macao. In addition, now some of the BRIC countries such as Brazil and those African countries speak Portuguese. If Macao people all know Portuguese, it will bring Macao an advantage over Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland. 重要, 因為我是讀葡語系的。當然重要。(S2, Line 2) (Portuguese is) important, because my major is Portuguese. Of course, it is important. 首先我自己來說, 因為我學法律嘛, 法律。其實你當那個法官和律師那些都需要懂葡 語, 所以對我本身是非常重要的。(S12, Lines 4–5) First, for me, because my major is law. In fact, if you want to become judges and lawyers, they all need to know Portuguese, so (Portuguese) is very important for me. I think that Portuguese is very important for me first of all, but I think Portuguese is less important in Macao. For example, it is very common for us to engage in certain kinds of industry like, for example, they are very willing to work in the governmental departments. Actually if you want to work in those departments, you have to be very proficient in Portuguese. So I think it is very important for me first of all. (S11, English in original, Lines 2–7)

Students’ feelings towards Portuguese and Portuguese speakers varied. Some interviewees (e.g., S5 and S14) did not hold special feelings towards Portuguese and its speakers, and some displayed positive feelings towards Portuguese and its speakers. For example, S1 viewed Portuguese speakers as charming, and S9 viewed Portuguese speakers as enthusiastic and kind, and the Portuguese language pleasant to hear. In addition, some interviewees held mixed feelings towards Portuguese and Portuguese speakers. For example, S16 felt her Portuguese relatives were friendly, but she felt unfamiliar with them. 我沒有什麽特別的感覺。只是說我不太明白他們在說什麽。只是在聽他們說而已。我 想他們用葡萄牙語去問我的話, 我也不回答。(S5, Lines 19–20) I do not have special feelings. I do not understand what they are talking about. I am only listening. I think if they ask me in Portuguese, I cannot reply. 我對他們就沒什麽特別的感覺。就是普通的外國人。(S14, Line 16) I do not have special feelings towards them. They are ordinary foreigners. 我就覺得會說葡萄牙語的人很有魅力。(S1, Line 19) I feel Portuguese speakers are very charming. 我覺得他們很熱情, 然後感覺完全是不害羞的, 然後他們很和善。就是一個語言說出來 就是很動聽。(S9, Lines 34–35) I feel they are very enthusiastic; I feel they are not shy at all, and they are very kind. This language is pleasant to hear when speaking it. 因為雖然從小到大我父母那邊也有一些葡萄牙來的叔叔之類的朋友, 蠻友善的, 但是 可能是溝通上有點害怕吧, 畢竟我葡萄牙語只懂得一點點, 就是溝通上不太行, 所以就 會覺得有點陌生, 不太知道他們想什麽, 或是喜歡什麽, 或是覺得現在澳門對他們來說 還好嗎, 喜歡嗎之類的, 都可能沒有辦法知道, 所以有一些陌生。(S16, Lines 38–42) Because although my parents have some uncles from Portugal and they are very friendly, perhaps because I am a little bit afraid of communication with them, after all, I only know Portuguese a little and I am unable to communicate with them. I feel a little bit unfamiliar with them, I do not know what they think about, what they like, or whether they are used to and like living in Macao. I have no ways to know them, therefore, I feel a little bit unfamiliar with them.

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To sum up, the Portuguese language in Macao seems in a dilemma. Portuguese was portrayed by the interviewees as a multifunctional language in Macao playing important roles in Macao’s law, culture, and economy. However, many interviewees did not think that Portuguese is important for themselves. In addition, students’ feelings towards Portuguese and Portuguese speakers varied.

6.3 Macao Tertiary Students’ Attitudes Towards LPLP in Macao The analysis of interview transcripts of students’ attitudes towards LPLP in Macao shows that students displayed strong local allegiances, as reflected in their attitudes towards the choice of Putonghua or Cantonese as the medium of the instruction, the maintenance of traditional Chinese characters, written Cantonese, and Cantonese Romanization System. At the same time, they held practical views on such issues as the choice of English or Portuguese as the first foreign language. The findings are reported in this section.

6.3.1 Students’ Strong Local Allegiances The interviewees associated Cantonese (both its spoken and written forms), traditional Chinese characters, as well as Cantonese Romanization System with Macao’s local culture and traditions, and displayed strong local allegiances. For example, in terms of the choice of Putonghua or Cantonese as the language of instruction at the primary and secondary levels in Macao public schools where Chinese is the language of instruction, 14 interviewees did not think that Putonghua should be required by the Macao SAR Government to be the language of instruction in these schools. Many students thought that they grew up with Cantonese (S2) and most Macao people speak Cantonese in their daily lives (S14). 我覺得不應該, 因為我們本身學中文就是用廣東話, 我小時候學到大, 都是用廣東話 。(S2, Lines 54–55) I don’t think so, because we use Cantonese to learn Chinese, and I grew up with Cantonese in my studies. 我覺得我是比較想要廣東話作授課語言, 是普通話。(S14, Lines 43–44)

因為澳門的大部分的人都是說廣東話而不

I think I prefer Cantonese as the language of instruction, because most people in Macao speak Cantonese rather than Putonghua.

When it came to traditional and simplified Chinese characters, 14 interviewees disagreed that the Macao SAR Government should encourage Macao people to use simplified Chinese characters, and 15 interviewees disagreed that traditional Chinese characters should be replaced by simplified Chinese characters in Macao. Many

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students hold positive attitudes towards traditional Chinese characters. For example, S4, S8 and S11 viewed traditional Chinese characters as a beautiful script. 我覺得不用啊, 因為我覺得繁體字好像比較漂亮。(S4, Line 87) I don’t think so, because I think traditional Chinese characters seem more beautiful. 我個人是喜歡繁體字的, 就我個人是覺得外觀比較美, 就比較有那種中國的風格特色 這樣子。(S8, Lines 85–86) Personally I like traditional Chinese characters. Personally I feel their outlook is more beautiful with Chinese styles and features. To be honest, I think the traditional Chinese is more elegant. (S11, English in original, Lines 150–151)

In terms of Hanyu Pinyin and Cantonese Romanization System, 14 students disagreed that Hanyu Pinyin should replace Cantonese Romanization System in Macao. They viewed Macao’s Cantonese Romanization System as Macao’s long tradition and its people’s habit (S2) and Macao’s local feature different from other places (S4), and thought that the replacement would cause inconvenience in their daily lives (S10). 不應該, 因為我們一直以來都是用粵語拼音。(S2, Line 84) No, because we have used Cantonese Romanization System for a long period of time. 我覺得不應該, 因為我覺得每一個地方是有自己的特色是會比較好一點。如果每個地 方都一樣的話, 那就好像沒什麽意思了。(S4, Lines 99–100) I don’t think so, because I think it is better for every place to have its own features. If every place is the same, it seems boring. 我覺得不應該。因為在上面說澳門是普遍使用粵語的地方。如果突然用漢語拼音的 話, 可能就是在外地有人念你的姓, 就是你不能反應過來, 因為你不知道。(S10, Lines 95–96) I don’t think so. As I have said, Macao is a place where Cantonese is used widely. If Hanyu Pinyin is used suddenly, perhaps in other places you will not recognize that someone is reading your name in Hanyu Pinyin, because you don’t know Hanyu Pinyin.

In addition, some students supported the use of written Cantonese in Macao and considered it as a local habit hard to change (S1), Macao’s own culture (S4), or Macao’s feature different from the Chinese mainland (S13). 我不覺得。我覺得可以鼓勵學, 因為都習慣了, 本地人, 你不可能說叫他們以後不用這 個, 不用那個。(S1, Lines 63–64) I don’t think so. I think we should encourage people to learn (written Cantonese), because the local people are used to it, and you cannot ask them not to use this or that. 我覺得是應該使用的。因為這個是我們本土的文化嘛, Lines 96–97)

所以是需要保留下來的。(S4,

I think (written Cantonese) should be used. Because this is our local culture, it should be preserved. 應該鼓勵啊, 因為就我們的特色吧。如果跟內地一樣的話, 就沒有特色啦。(S13, Line 90) (Written Cantonese) should be encouraged, because it is our feature. If we are the same as the Chinese mainland, we will have no features.

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6.3.2 Students’ Practical Attitudes Towards Language Issues Students took a practical approach to some issues in Macao LPLP and made a rational calculation of the costs and benefits in their choice. For example, in terms of the choice of English or Portuguese as the first foreign language in Macao public schools, 14 interviewees chose English. As can be seen from answers of S2, S11, S12, and S14, they thought that Portuguese is of limited value compared with English, suggesting that they are more global in their orientation on this issue. 我覺得就是英文。就是葡萄牙語只能留在澳門用, 到外地的時候你就不能用了, 所以你 一定要學習一個另外一個語言。中文也是, 只能在內地用。如果你要跨出國際的話, 一 定要學習英文, 因為英文是全世界的語言, 所以英文比較重要。(S2, Lines 100–103) I think (the medium of instruction) should be English. Portuguese can be only used in Macao, and cannot be used in other places, so you must learn another language. The same is true of Chinese, which can only be used in the Chinese mainland. If you go global, you must learn English, because English is the world language, it is more important. That is because English is actually widely used not only in Macao, but in Hong Kong, a lot of states or cities. It is the first thing that we have to admit. So I think that English should be the first foreign language to be taught. (S11, English in original, Lines 193–195) 使用英文的人比使用葡萄牙語的人還要多。那語言你就要越多的人講就越好嘛。那表 示你溝通可以更加方便, 所以應該要使用英語。(S12, Lines 106–107) There are more English users than Portuguese users. A language is better if more people speak it. It indicates that you can communicate with more convenience, so English should be used. 我不覺得。因為我覺得葡語不是那麽的普及, 沒有那麽多國家說葡語。所以我覺得不要 。(S14, Lines 71–72) I don’t think (that Portuguese should be the first foreign language). Because I feel the Portuguese language is not so popular and not many countries speak Portuguese. So I don’t think so.

At the same time, 14 interviewees agreed that Portuguese should be an elective course in Macao schools where Chinese or English is the language of instruction. For example, S1 and S14 thought that it is good for students to learn a new language. S2 and S13 emphasized that students have their own interests and freedom. 因為學多一種語言也沒害。(S1, Lines 91–92) Because it is no harm to learn another language. 我贊成, 因為我覺得學生多學一點語言也是好的。(S14, Lines 77–78) I agree, because I think it is good for students to learn another language. 可以, 因為我小時候, 這個是選修。你喜歡就讀。不喜歡就不用讀了。(S2, Line 108) Yes, because in my childhood, it (Portuguese) is elective. If you like it, you learn it. If you don’t like it, you don’t need to learn it. 這個我贊成, 因為如果你有興趣的話, 就去念啊, 不用強逼你去做這件事。(S13, Line 124) I agree, because if you have interests, you can learn it, and there is no need to force you to do it (learn Portuguese).

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Although 14 interviewees chose English rather than Portuguese as the first foreign language and expressed the view that Portuguese is less useful than English, 14 interviewees expressed disagreement on whether it is not necessary to keep Portuguese as an official language of the Macao SAR. For example, S4 viewed the Portuguese language in Macao as a historical legacy and a cultural symbol of Macao, S9 thought that Portuguese is necessary for the operation of Macao’s legal systems, and S10 considered Portuguese a comparative advantage of Macao over the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong. 我覺得是要的。因為這是這個葡語已經在澳門已經歷史很久了, 所以我覺得這也是澳 門文化標誌性的其中之一。所以我覺得也是很重要, 需要保存下來。(S4, Lines 63–64) I think it is necessary (to keep Portuguese as an official language). Because the Portuguese language has a very long history in Macao, I feel it is also one of Macao’s cultural symbols. Therefore, I think it is also very important, it needs to be preserved. 不是, 就是因為現在有很多法律文件也是用葡語來寫的。還有現在還沒有完全翻譯完, 沒有很完全, 就是很需要翻譯的人才呀。所以現在, 主要來說, 因為要法律嘛, 法律就是 社會的根本, 然後就是所以葡文是很重要了。(S9, Lines 53–55) No, because now many legal documents are also written in Portuguese. In addition, many Macao legal documents haven’t been completely translated into Chinese, and many translators are needed. Therefore, now Portuguese is very important mainly because of law, law is the foundation of a society. 我覺得是有必須繼續的。因為我上面說過了, 澳門在香港和中國的兩邊夾住, 他們兩個 都是很強的出口大國, 然後都是貿易很強。如果澳門是想從他們之間突圍而出的話, 澳 門一定要保存住自己的葡語優勢。這是必須的。(S10, Lines 62–64) I think it is necessary (to keep Portuguese as an official language). As I said previously, Macao is situated between Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland, both are powerful in export and trade. If Macao wants to stand out among them, Macao must keep its own Portuguese advantage. It is essential.

As can be seen from the above three excerpts, students were aware of the positive roles of the Portuguese language in the Macao SAR, even though Portuguese does not represent the primary means of communication among the Macao people.

6.4 Social Factors and Language Attitudes Statistical analysis of the questionnaire survey results found some statistically significant correlations between students’ social factors (i.e., sex and social class) and their language attitudes (see Sect. 5.4). Some interview questions were designed with reference to previous studies (e.g., Lai, 2002, 2010; Lung, 1997) to seek possible explanations for correlations between students’ social factors and their language attitudes. Before the interview, each interviewee was asked to fill a linguistic insecurity perception questionnaire (see Appendix 4). Linguistic insecurity refers to “a set of language attitudes in which speakers have negative feelings about their native variety, or certain aspects of it, and feel insecure about its value or ‘correctness’”

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(Trudgill, 2003, p. 81). Previous sociolinguistic studies have examined the relations between social factors and linguistic insecurity. For example, in his sociolinguistic study of Lower East Side of New York, Labov (1966) finds that in terms of sex, females use more prestige linguistic variants than males, which may have to do with females’ much greater linguistic insecurity than males. In terms of social class, Labov finds that LMC people use more prestigious language forms in formal speeches than people of other classes, and they also give the most negative responses to their own language variety in subjective reaction tests. Labov attributes such hypercorrection in LMC members’ language behavior and hypersensitivity in their subjective reactions to LMC’s linguistic insecurity. Taking into consideration the relations between social factors and linguistic insecurity, it is necessary to examine students’ linguistic insecurity for possible explanations of their language attitude differences in terms of sex and social class. Because previous linguistic insecurity research focuses mainly on contexts of intralinguistic variation (e.g., Labov, 1966; Macaulay, 1975; Owens & Baker, 1984; Trudgill, 1974), Escandell (2011)’s linguistic insecurity perception questionnaire designed for multilingual contexts was adopted for this study. With reference to Escandell (2011), 78 items (see Appendix 4) were designed to examine the interviewees’ formal insecurity, statutory insecurity, and identity insecurity. Formal insecurity results from speakers’ perception of the distance between their actual language use and the standard, prescribed, and educated language variety. Statutory insecurity focuses on speakers’ negative evaluation of the status of the language. Identity insecurity concerns speakers’ evaluation of the identity value of the language for the community. This section reports the findings.

6.4.1 Sex and Language Attitudes Statistical analysis found that females gave significantly higher evaluations of English and Putonghua along the instrumental dimension (see Sect. 5.4.1). Table 6.2 presents the survey results of interviewees’ linguistic insecurity perception. As can be seen from the table, female interviewees score lower than males in terms of their formal insecurity in English, but higher in terms of their formal insecurity in Putonghua and their statutory and identity insecurity in English and Putonghua. Female interviewees’ linguistic insecurity perception scores suggest that they are more aware of the status of English and Putonghua in Macao and the identity value of the two languages for Macao. In addition, the scores also suggest that they feel less secure with the use of English and more secure with that of Putonghua. In the interviews, when asked to name two languages most useful for themselves and Macao, most of the female interviewees chose English and Putonghua. For example, S9, S14, and S17 chose English and Putonghua, and associated English with the international society and Putonghua with China. Most of the males chose Cantonese and English. For example, S1, S7, and S11 chose English and Cantonese, and emphasized the function of English for international communication and Cantonese for local communication.

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Table 6.2 Linguistic insecurity perception of female and male students English

Putonghua

Formal insecurity

Statutory insecurity

Identity insecurity

Formal insecurity

Statutory insecurity

Identity insecurity

Female

6.1080

8.2273

8.2727

7.9716

8.2727

8.4545

Male

6.6563

7.1250

6.6667

7.1667

6.5833

6.3333

我覺得是普通話跟英語。就是普通話就是中國嘛, 英語就是國際性的嘛。(S9, Line 139) I think (the most useful languages) are Putonghua and English. Putonghua represents China, English is international. 我覺得英語跟普通話最重要。因為英語是大部分的國家都在用。然後普通話就是因為 澳門是中國的一個部分, 然後我覺得普通話也是很重要的。(S14, Lines 80-81) I think English and Putonghua are the most useful languages. Because English is being used by most countries. Because Macao is a part of China, I think Putonghua is also very important. 對於澳門來說就是英語跟普通話, 就是因為普通話就是對中國尊重吧, 就是我們也是 用, 澳門也要尊重中國, 就是用他們的官方語言。英語的話就是跟國際溝通, 也是澳門 跟國際的關系, 就是像一些問題上也是用英文。(S17, Lines 102-104) (The most useful languages) for Macao are English and Putonghua, because Putonghua means respect to China, we also use (Putonghua), Macao also needs to respect China and use their official language. English is for international communication, the relations between Macao and the international society, English is also used on some issues. 英语就比较国际性一点。广东话, 我是土生的人, 所以本地语言很重要。(S1, Line 96) English is more international. For Cantonese, I was born in Macao, so the local language is very important. 我認為是廣東話和英語, 因為廣東話是母語, 還有英語是國際語言, 可以和更多的人溝 通。(S7, Lines 117–118) I think (the most important languages) are Cantonese and English, because Cantonese is my mother tongue and English is an international language which enables me to communicate with more people. For me, the most important language should always be Cantonese of course, and I think English is also important. So I think both Cantonese and English are the most important for me. It is because first of all, English will help me in terms of the prospect. On the other hand, Cantonese is the main language that I use in my daily life. (S11, English in original, Lines 232–236)

Few differences were found between female and male interviewees on other aspects. For example, in terms of students’ favorite language subjects, female students liked English, Portuguese, Japanese, Chinese, etc., and males liked English, Portuguese, Japanese, Korean, etc. In terms of the destination choice of their study abroad plan, some female students planned to go to Portugal for further studies, and some chose Anglophone countries such as Britain and Canada. Similarly, some male students also named Portugal and Anglophone countries as their destinations of further studies. In addition, when it came to the issue of gender equality in Macao, most interviewees believed that males and females are equal in Macao. For example,

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both male (S11) and female (S17) interviewees thought that males and females are equal in Macao. Generally speaking, I think that they are equal. It is because […] all of the careers in Macao, both males as well as females can engage in, as long as they have certain kinds of abilities, so I think that there will not be any kind of discrimination against females particularly or some case like that. (S11, English in original, Lines 247–250) 平等。以前可能沒那麽平等, 但是現在就是可能女方還比較有利了, 我會覺得。(S17, Lines 118–119) (Males and females are) equal. Females and males may be not so equal in the past, but now I feel perhaps it is more advantageous to females.

6.4.2 Social Class and Language Attitudes Statistical analysis found that LMC students displayed significantly higher integrative feelings towards Putonghua and Portuguese than UC students (see Sect. 5.4.2). Table 6.3 presents the survey results of UC and LMC students’ linguistic insecurity perception. As can be seen from the table, LMC interviewees score lower than UC interviewees in terms of their identity insecurity in Putonghua, but higher in terms of their identity insecurity in Portuguese and their formal and statutory insecurity in Putonghua and Portuguese. LMC interviewees’ linguistic insecurity perception scores suggest that they feel more secure with the use of Putonghua and Portuguese and are more aware of the status of the two languages in Macao. In addition, the scores also suggest that they are more aware of the identity value of Portuguese for Macao and less aware of that of Putonghua for Macao. With reference to previous studies of the correlations between social class and language attitudes (e.g., Lai, 2002, 2010), some interview questions were designed to investigate whether LMC students’ more positive integrative feelings towards Putonghua and Portuguese may have to do with such factors as parental support in language learning, parental belief in language importance, family language use, and language learning history. However, few differences were found from the interviews with LMC and UC students. For example, for both groups, except two students (S4 and S15) whose parents considere Portuguese the most important language for them, the rest chose English. Except two students (S3 and S17) who speak some Putonghua at home with their family members, the rest do not speak Putonghua or Portuguese at Table 6.3 Linguistic insecurity perception of LMC and UC students Putonghua

Portuguese

Formal insecurity

Statutory insecurity

Identity insecurity

Formal insecurity

Statutory insecurity

Identity insecurity

LMC

7.7500

8.2500

7.3750

2.5781

5.0313

7.2500

UC

7.4688

8.0000

9.2500

2.4219

4.8438

6.0000

6.5 Summary

77

home. In addition, students of both groups learn Putonghua and Portuguese in some ways and with varying degrees of proficiency. Despite these similarities between LWC and UC students, differences were found between the two groups concerning the patterns of their ideal careers and their parental support in language learning. In terms of their ideal careers, most LMC interviewees chose language-related jobs (e.g., translators, Portuguese teachers), whereas most UC interviewees preferred careers relating to their majors such as finance, law, and education. In terms of their parental support in language learning, LWC students reported no parental support in their language learning, whereas UC students pointed out that they received much support from their parents in language learning. For example, S15 pointed out that her parents provided financial assistance for her to learn Portuguese. S16 mentioned that her parents encourage her to learn various languages. 有, 最主要我覺得是金錢方面的, 因為我有去學葡語, 他們給我錢去學。(S15, Line 142) Yes, I think the most important is the financial support, because they gave me money to learn Portuguese. 有, 他們非常鼓勵我學習更多的語言。至今為止的話, 英語, 日語, 法語, 葡萄牙語, 也有 非常大的鼓勵。(S16, Lines 184–186) Yes, they encourage me to learn more languages. So far, they give me much encouragement on learning English, Japanese, French, and Portuguese.

6.5 Summary The interview findings have been presented in this chapter where students’ voices are given priority. In terms of students’ attitudes towards Cantonese, Putonghua, English, and Portuguese, the analysis shows that interviewees viewed Cantonese as Macao’s local language and Macao people’s mother tongue and expressed positive attitudes towards Cantonese and its speakers. They regarded Putonghua as an instrumental language for doing business with mainlanders, but expressed negative attitudes towards Putonghua speakers. They viewed English as an international language performing various roles in Macao, and displayed positive feelings towards English and its speakers. As for the Portuguese language, although most interviewees regarded it important for Macao, many students claimed that Portuguese is of little use and value for them. In addition, students’ feelings towards Portuguese and Portuguese speakers varied. Macao tertiary students’ attitudes towards LPLP in Macao reflected their practical attitudes, as reflected in their attitudes towards the choice of English or Portuguese as the first foreign language in Macao public schools. At the same time, their attitudes also reflected their strong local allegiances, as reflected in their views on the choice of Putonghua or Cantonese as the medium of instruction, and the maintenance of traditional Chinese characters, written Cantonese, and Cantonese Romanization System in Macao.

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In addition, the findings show that most female interviewees chose English and Putonghua as the most useful languages for Macao and themselves, whereas most of the males chose Cantonese and English. Female and male interviewees reported few differences in terms of their favorite language subjects and the destination choice of their study abroad plan, and most interviewees believed that males and females are equal in Macao. In addition, interviews with LMC and UC students show few differences in terms of their parental belief in language importance, family language use, and language learning history. However, in terms of the patterns of their ideal careers, more LMC interviewees chose language-related professions, whereas more UC interviewees preferred careers relating to their majors. In terms of parental support in language learning, LMC interviewees reported no parental support in their language learning, whereas UC students received various kinds of support from their parents in language learning.

References Escandell, J. M. B. (2011). Relations between formal linguistic insecurity and the perception of linguistic insecurity: A quantitative study in an educational environment at the Valencian Community (Spain). Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 32(4), 325–342. https://doi.org/10.1080/01434632.2011.579129 Labov, W. (1966). The social stratification of English in New York city. Center for Applied Linguistics. Lai, M. -L. (2002). Language attitudes of the first post-colonial generation in Hong Kong secondary schools: Issues in gender, medium of instruction, social class and cultural identity [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. University of Durham. Lai, M. -L. (2010). Social class and language attitudes in Hong Kong. International Multilingual Research Journal, 4(2), 83–106. https://doi.org/10.1080/19313150903500945 Lung, W. -C. (1997). Language attitudes and sex-based differences in attitudes in Hong Kong. Linguistische Berichte, 171, 396–414. Macaulay, R. K. S. (1975). Negative prestige, linguistic insecurity, and linguistic self-hatred. Lingua, 36(2–3), 147–161. https://doi.org/10.1016/0024-3841(75)90011-X Owens, T. W., & Baker, P. M. (1984). Linguistic insecurity in Winnipeg: Validation of a Canadian index of linguistic insecurity. Language in Society, 13(3), 337–350. https://doi.org/10.1017/S00 47404500010538 Trudgill, P. (1974). The social differentiation of English in Norwich. Cambridge University Press. Trudgill, P. (2003). A glossary of sociolinguistics. Oxford University Press.

Chapter 7

Discussion

Abstract In Macao, the complex and multifaceted interactions between local, national, and global forces exert competing influences on Macao people’s attitudes to main languages (i.e., Cantonese, Putonghua, English, and Portuguese) and various language issues (e.g., the choice of the medium of instruction and the first foreign language in Macao non-tertiary education). This chapter discusses the survey results of Macao tertiary students’ language attitudes by considering the dynamic interplay of decolonization, renationalization, and globalization. Keywords Macao · Language attitudes · Decolonization · Renationalization · Globalization

7.1 Discussion of Students’ Attitudes Towards Four Languages As can be seen from Chap. 5, in terms of students’ integrative orientation towards the four languages, Cantonese received the highest rating, followed by English and Putonghua. Portuguese came the last. In terms of students’ instrumental orientation towards the four languages, English received the highest rating, followed by Cantonese and Putonghua, with Portuguese ranked lowest. This section will discuss such attitudinal patterns.

7.1.1 Cantonese In this study, students’ integrative orientation towards Cantonese is the highest. In addition, Cantonese is ranked the second along the instrumental dimension. Such findings are in line with other studies such as Lai (2005, 2012) where Hong Kong secondary students hold the highest integrative inclination towards Cantonese and give the second highest rating to Cantonese in terms of its instrumental value. Such © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2023 X. Yan, A Study of Macao Tertiary Students’ Attitudes Towards Language After the Handover, SpringerBriefs in Education, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-6819-0_7

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findings are also consistent with language attitudes studies in other communities such as Catalonia where the local language receives more positive attitudes than the state language. For example, Woolard and Gahng (1990) employed MGT in 1980 and 1987 to investigate changes of students’ attitudes towards the local language (i.e., Catalan) and the state language (i.e., Castilian). Woolard and Gahng found that Catalan continued to carry a higher status than Castilian irrespective of the ethnic background of the speaker or listener. In terms of solidarity, students continued to hold more favorable attitudes towards members of their own ethnolinguistic group using the in-group language. In his questionnaire survey of language use and language attitudes among 309 university students at the Universities of Girona and Lleida, Huguet (2007) finds that in terms of students’ attitudes towards Catalan, Spanish, and English, the most favorable attitudes of the participants are towards Catalan. Cantonese is the mother tongue of most Macao Chinese and the primary language of communication among the Macao Chinese. After the handover, Cantonese is widely used in every domain of Macao society (Yan, 2017). It is the main medium of oral communication in the Macao SAR Government, and Cantonese proficiency is one of the basic requirements in many job advertisements of Macao local newspapers (Lam, 2007). In the field of education, it is still the main medium of instruction in most of Macao’s primary and secondary schools (Young, 2011). In the domain of the media, Macao people’s media preference is Cantonese TV programs from Hong Kong and radio programs from Macao (Yin, 2002; Yin et al., 1999). Students’ positive evaluation of Cantonese may be related with the strong vitality of Cantonese in Macao public and private domains.

7.1.2 English In this study, students give the highest rating to English along the instrumental dimension, and English receives the second highest evaluation from students along the integrative dimension. The findings are consistent with the results of Lai (2005, 2012) whose studies of Hong Kong secondary students’ attitudes towards English, Cantonese, and Putonghua show consistent results, i.e., English is ranked the first in terms of its instrumental value and the second along the integrative dimension. In Macao, people of different ethnicities employ English as a lingua franca for inter-ethnic communication (Young, 2011). At the same time, English (both its spoken and written forms) is frequently used for intra-ethnic communication among the Macao Chinese in both public and private domains (Lam, 2007; Moody, 2008). At present, English enjoys the status of de facto official language in Macao (Moody, 2008). It is a language subject in many schools and the medium of instruction for certain school subjects in some schools (Young, 2009, 2011). In Macao’s higher education, English test is one of the required admission tests and the dominant medium of instruction is English in universities such as UM. In addition, a high level of English proficiency becomes a prerequisite in many job advertisements of Macao local newspapers (Lam, 2007). Students’ high evaluation of English may

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have to do with its strong vitality in Macao, and their high evaluation of English also underscores the pervasive influence of English in Macao.

7.1.3 Putonghua Results of this study show that Putonghua comes third in both integrative and instrumental categories. Such findings are in line with the results of previous Macao language attitudes research (e.g., Mann & Wong, 1999; Young, 2009) where Putonghua is ranked the third. Such findings are also consistent with those of language attitudes studies on Hong Kong. For example, Lai’s (2005, 2012) surveys of Hong Kong secondary students’ attitudes towards English, Cantonese, and Putonghua find that Putonghua is rated the third along both integrative and instrumental dimensions. However, such findings are in marked contrast to some language attitudes studies on the Chinese mainland. For example, in Kalmar et al.’s (1987) matchedguise experiment of Guangzhou tertiary students’ attitudes towards Putonghua and accented Cantonese, the findings show that students recognize the social advantages of Putonghua and strongly associate Putonghua with social status. In Bai’s (1994) questionnaire survey of language attitudes of 55 students and visiting scholars from China, 94% of the subjects agree with the statement that Putonghua is superior to local dialects and 68% consider Putonghua as a marker of an educated person. At present, Putonghua is not the primary means of communication among the Macao people. It is mainly used in the Macao SAR Government for communication with Putonghua-speaking officials from the Chinese mainland. Putonghua courses are offered in most of Macao’s primary and secondary schools, but it is not the medium of instruction in most schools. In the economic field, Putonghua is mainly used for making transactions with tourists and businesspeople from the Chinese mainland and other areas. Students’ low evaluation of Putonghua may have to do with the limited utility of Putonghua in various domains of Macao society.

7.1.4 Portuguese Portuguese, the ex-colonial language of Macao, receives the lowest ranking in both integrative and instrumental categories. Such findings are consistent with the results of previous language attitudes studies on Macao (e.g., Mann & Wong, 1999; Young, 2009) where the Portuguese language is ranked the lowest. However, such findings are in sharp contrast to those of Hong Kong language attitudes studies (e.g., Lai, 2005, 2012) where English, the ex-colonial language of Hong Kong, receives high evaluations from Hong Kong students. Such findings are also in marked contrast to those of language attitudes studies conducted in other Lusophone societies. For example, in Henriksen’s (2010) investigation of language attitudes of primary students in Mozambique, most participants prefer to learn the Portuguese language, attach great

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importance to Portuguese learning, and regard Portuguese as a beautiful language. In contrast, the local languages are ranked low in status and are viewed as not beautiful. In Macao, Portuguese is not a frequently used language in Macao Chinese people’s domestic life and their Portuguese proficiency is quite low. After the handover, Portuguese is restricted to the judicial domain (Yan, 2017). Portuguese proficiency is not highly valued by Macao public and private employers (DSEJ, 2003) and is not a necessary requirement in most of Macao’s local job advertisements (Lam, 2007). Although Portuguese is the medium of instruction in some of Macao public schools, these schools are few in number. In marked contrast, Cantonese is the main working language of the Macao SAR Government and the dominant medium of instruction in Macao primary and secondary schools (Yan, 2017), and English is the main foreign language in Macao primary and secondary education and the main medium of instruction in Macao higher education (e.g., UM) (Young, 2011). Students’ lowest attitudes towards the Portuguese language may be related with its limited utility in Macao.

7.2 Discussion of Students’ Attitudes Towards LPLP in Macao Students express disagreement on not keeping the official status of the Portuguese language in the future Macao SAR, although the Portuguese language is of limited use in the Macao SAR (Yan, 2017) and receives the lowest rating from the students (see Sect. 5.2). Interview findings (see Sect. 6.3) show that the Portuguese language still plays certain roles in the Macao SAR. First, because the Basic Law stipulates that Macao’s way of life shall remain unchanged for 50 years and the Portuguese language is indispensable for the preservation of the Portuguese political and legal culture in Macao (Ngai, 1999), the maintenance of the official status of the Portuguese language in the Macao SAR is a concrete implementation of the principle of “One Country, Two Systems” to preserve Macao’s way of life unchanged and different from the Chinese mainland. Second, Portuguese is still a language of power in the Macao SAR Government (Bodomo, 2012; Bodomo & Teixeira-E-Silva, 2012) and provides opportunities of social upward mobility for Macao people. Powell (2009) argues that Portuguese is used “unofficially as a gatekeeper against changes to bureaucratic culture in the face of an influx of jobseekers from the Mainland” (p. 170). After the handover, a high level of Portuguese proficiency brings opportunities of upward mobility, because Macao’s administrative and legal systems still function largely in the Portuguese language and bilingual talents proficient in both Chinese and Portuguese will be given priority of admission in the civil service recruitment. Third, the maintenance of the official status of the Portuguese language can help create a different and extraordinary Macao from other places such as the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong. As an integral part of the Portuguese legacies in Macao, the Portuguese language serves as an important symbol of difference and distinction to help Macao maintain its unique identity of a mixture of Chinese and Portuguese

7.2 Discussion of Students’ Attitudes Towards LPLP in Macao

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heritages. Such uniqueness can become Macao’s comparative advantage over other Asian cities and a selling point to attract tourists all over the world (Yan, 2019). Fourth, the maintenance of the official status of the Portuguese language in the Macao SAR can help connect Macao with the Lusophone world and give full play to Macao’s intermediary role between China and other Lusophone countries in Asia, Africa, Europe, and Latin America (Chau, 1999). The Portuguese language gives Macao an advantage over other cities such as Hong Kong and helps Macao become an economic and cultural exchange platform between China and the Lusophone world. Students’ disagreement with the statement that it is not necessary to keep Portuguese as an official language of the Macao SAR suggests that they are aware of the positive roles the Portuguese language plays in the Macao SAR. Before the founding of the PRC in 1949, traditional Chinese characters were the dominant script in Chinese literature (especially classical canons), government documents, and imperial examinations. In addition to its role as a means of written communication, traditional Chinese characters are also a traditional art form closely associated with Chinese calligraphy and highly valued (Zhao & Baldauf, 2008). As a matter of fact, traditional Chinese characters have been regarded as a holy and pure language associated with ancestral roots, cultural heritage, and nationhood (Zhao & Baldauf, 2008, p. 32). Therefore, traditional Chinese characters are often viewed as the essence and carrier of traditional Chinese culture. They represent cultural continuity, purity, and authenticity. After 1949, simplified Chinese characters were widely promoted in the PRC and gradually replaced traditional Chinese characters, but traditional Chinese characters are still held in high esteem and widely used in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macao. Traditional Chinese characters play an important role in establishing an image of Macao as a carrier and guardian of traditional Chinese culture (Yan, 2016). The formula of “One Country, Two Systems” grants Macao a certain degree of autonomy and makes it possible for traditional Chinese characters to exist in Macao after the handover. At present, most of Macao’s Chinese publications (e.g., government documents, books, magazines, and newspapers), shop names, and street names are written in traditional Chinese characters. This script has been closely associated with Macao’s local cultural traditions even though there are no explicit rules and regulations in the Macao SAR governing the use of traditional Chinese characters. Students’ disagreement with the use of simplified Chinese characters and the replacement of traditional Chinese characters by simplified Chinese characters in Macao indicates that they hold positive attitudes towards traditional Chinese characters and view this script as an important identity marker of Macao. Students in the survey express disagreement with the statement that Hanyu Pinyin should replace Cantonese Romanization System in Macao. The Cantonese Romanization System in Macao was stipulated in Decreto-Lei No. 88/85/M (Macao Government, 1985) as the dominant transcription system in Macao and has been used for a long period of time. As can be seen from the interview results (see Sect. 6.3), many students associate Macao’s Cantonese Romanization System with Macao’s local cultural traditions and view it as an important identity marker of Macao. When it comes to the statement that written Cantonese should be discouraged in Macao, students express disagreement. Snow (2004) emphasizes the importance of

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written Cantonese for maintaining Hong Kong’s local identity. Written Cantonese also plays an important role in the representation and construction of Macao local identity, which may have to do with the strong vitality of written Cantonese in Hong Kong, Macao, and Guangdong Province, where this script has a long history and is commonly found in Cantonese opera scripts, pop song lyrics, comic books, advertisement captions, and popular newspapers (Snow, 2004). In Macao, written Cantonese often appears in entertainment news and advertisement captions of local newspapers. With the popularity of computers, mobile phones, and other high technologies, written Cantonese is often mixed with other scripts in Macao people’s virtual space. In addition, Macao people have easy access to Hong Kong newspapers, magazines, comic books, Cantonese operas, and pop songs where written Cantonese is frequently used. As can be seen from the interview results (see Sect. 6.3), many students view this script as an important aspect of Macao local identity. Students’ disagreement may have to do with the strong vitality of written Cantonese in Macao and its role as an identity marker of Macao. In terms of the choice of the medium of instruction in Macao public schools at the primary and secondary levels where Chinese is the language of instruction, students prefer Cantonese to Putonghua. Such preference is in line with their attitudes towards Cantonese and Putonghua (see Sects. 5.2 and 6.2) and may be related with the stronger vitality of Cantonese in Macao’s private and public domains. In terms of the choice of the first foreign language, students express disagreement with the statement of making Portuguese the first foreign language in Macao public schools where Portuguese is not the language of instruction, and agree with the statement of making English the first foreign language in Macao public schools where English is not the language of instruction. In addition, they also agree with the statement of offering Portuguese as an elective course in Macao schools where Portuguese is not the medium of instruction. Such attitudes are in line with their attitudes towards English and Portuguese (see Sects. 5.2 and 6.2) and may have to do with the strong vitality of English and limited utility of Portuguese in Macao.

7.3 Discussion of the Correlations Between Social Factors and Language Attitudes Statistical analysis finds some statistically significant correlations between students’ social factors and their language attitudes. This section is structured in two parts to discuss the correlations between students’ social factors and their language attitudes.

7.3 Discussion of the Correlations Between Social Factors and Language …

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7.3.1 Sex and Language Attitudes The relationship between language and sex has aroused much attention in the past decades, and previous research on language and sex is characterized by differing approaches, i.e., the deficit approach, the dominance approach, the difference approach, and the social constructionist approach (see Schilling, 2011 for a good summary). At the same time, various reasons have been proposed to explain the sex difference (see Tagliamonte, 2012, pp. 32–34). Previous studies (e.g., Labov, 1966; Trudgill, 1974) have found that women use more prestige linguistic variants than men. Recent research on Macao (e.g., Botha, 2011) echoes these studies and finds that Macao females use more standard Cantonese pronunciation than males. In terms of the correlations between sex and language attitudes, Lung’s (1996) study shows that Hong Kong females display greater integrative feelings towards Putonghua than Hong Kong males. Results from Lai’s (2002) questionnaire survey support her hypothesis that girls hold more positive attitudes towards English and Putonghua, whereas boys are inclined more positively to Cantonese. Findings of this study are in line with those of Lai’s (2002) study, although statistically significant differences are only found between female and male students in terms of their evaluations of the instrumental value of Putonghua and English. English is widely used in various domains of Macao (Moody, 2008; Yan, 2017; Young, 2011), enjoying the status of de facto official language in Macao (Moody, 2008). It is “a subject from kindergarten to senior secondary school” (Young, 2009, p. 418) and serves as the medium of instruction for certain school subjects in some schools (Young, 2011). It is one of the required subjects in college entrance examinations and the main medium of instruction in higher education institutions of Macao (e.g., UM). Every year, many students go to Anglophone countries such as Britain, America, Australia, and other countries to pursue further studies, and a high level of English proficiency becomes a prerequisite. In addition, a high level of English proficiency is valued by Macao public and private employers (DSEJ, 2003) and is one of the basic requirements in Macao local job advertisements (Lam, 2007). Putonghua is frequently used in Macao economy, especially tourism to receive Putonghua-speaking tourists from the Chinese mainland, Taiwan, and other places. Putonghua proficiency is considered necessary by Macao public and private employers (DSEJ, 2003) and is a basic requirement in many local job advertisements (Lam, 2007). In addition, Putonghua is also the main medium of instruction in many higher education institutions in the Chinese mainland and Taiwan, and a high level of Putonghua proficiency is an advantage for those who want to pursue further studies in the two places. Female students of this study make a statistically significantly higher evaluation of the instrumental value of Putonghua and English, suggesting that they are more sensitive to the social significance of the two languages for their social advancement. The results of the linguistic insecurity perception survey show that female interviewees are more aware of the status of English and Putonghua in Macao than males (see Sect. 6.4.1). The results of this study are consistent with those of other

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studies around the world which have found that female subjects are more statusand prestige-conscious and express more positive attitudes to prestige languages or linguistic variants (e.g., Bilaniuk, 2003; Labov, 1966; Trudgill, 1974; Wang & Ladegaard, 2008).

7.3.2 Social Class and Language Attitudes Results from previous studies have shown the correlations between social class and people’s attitudes towards certain languages or language forms. For example, in their language attitudes study of bilingual youth in Singapore, Bokhorst-Heng and Caleon (2009) find that students of low socio-economic status express more positive attitudes to their mother tongues, English, and codeswitching than those of middle and upper socio-economic status. Lai (2010) divides social class of Hong Kong secondary students into three groups: middle, lower-middle, and working class. Her study of students’ attitudes towards Cantonese, English, and Putonghua shows statistically significant differences between the middle class and the working class in terms of their integrative and instrumental orientations towards English, and Lai attributes this to the effects of closer social distance between middle-class students and English (e.g., stronger parental influence and support in English learning, more use of English in their daily life, higher self-perception and better life opportunities). In this study, the integrative inclination of LMC students towards Putonghua and Portuguese is statistically significantly higher than that of UC students. Such findings may have to do with LMC students’ linguistic insecurity. According to McMahon (1994), LMC’s linguistic insecurity may have to do with “their position between the norm-setting upper middle class, to which they aspire, and the working class, from which they may wish to distance themselves” (p. 244). The notion of linguistic insecurity has been widely applied in contexts of intralinguistic variation in previous research (e.g., Labov, 1966; Macaulay, 1975; Owens & Baker, 1984; Trudgill, 1974). As a matter of fact, linguistic insecurity can also result from relations between different languages in a multilingual context (e.g., Calvet, 2006; Escandell, 2011; Xu et al., 1998). In contrast to previous studies of linguistic insecurity in contexts of intralinguistic variation, the notion of linguistic insecurity will be adopted in this section to discuss the correlations between Macao students’ social class (i.e., LMC) and their attitudes towards different languages (i.e., Putonghua and Portuguese). Although Putonghua is of limited utility in Macao compared with Cantonese (Yan, 2017), the increasing importance of Putonghua in Macao is noticeable. After the handover, Putonghua is frequently used for meeting officials from the Chinese mainland. It is also widely used for making transactions with Putonghua-speaking tourists and businesspeople from the Chinese mainland and other areas (Yan, 2017). A high level of proficiency in Putonghua is valued by Macao public and private employers (DSEJ, 2003) and is a basic requirement in many local job advertisements (Lam, 2007).

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Despite the fact that the Portuguese language is not the primary means of communication among the Macao people and the vitality of Portuguese in Macao is weak compared with Cantonese and English (Yan, 2017), the Portuguese language is still a language of power in the Macao SAR because “it is still spoken by power brokers in the civil service and it is still a requirement to have qualifications in Portuguese to be able to work efficiently in the Macau civil service” (Bodomo & Teixeira-E-Silva, 2012, p. 72). Since Macao’s administrative and legal systems still function largely in Portuguese (Powell, 2009), the knowledge of Portuguese is an advantage for those who want to seek employment in high-pay government positions. At the same time, the Portuguese language is indispensable for the preservation of the Portuguese political and legal culture in Macao (Ngai, 1999). This language also helps highlight Macao’s unique historical and cultural aspects, thus contributing to its unique identity of a mixture of Chinese and Portuguese heritages and distinguishing Macao from other Asian cities (Ngai, 1999; Yan, 2019). In addition, the Portuguese language also plays an important role in connecting Macao with the Lusophone world (Chau, 1999). In the questionnaire survey, LMC students register a statistically significantly higher evaluation of Putonghua and Portuguese along the integrative dimension. In the interviews, although LMC interviewees report no parental support in their language learning, most of them name language-related professions (e.g., translators, Portuguese teachers) as their ideal careers. The results of the linguistic insecurity perception survey show that LMC interviewees are more aware of the status of Putonghua and Portuguese in Macao than UC interviewees (see Sect. 6.4.2). It is speculated that LMC students may be more easily subject to statutory insecurity. In other words, they may feel more insecure in the face of Macao’s changing sociolinguistic configurations and are hedging between the old norms (with Portuguese, the language of the ruling class during the colonial period, still acting as a language of power after the handover) and the new norms (with Putonghua, the official language of the PRC, emerging as a prestige language after the handover).

7.4 Summary This chapter discussed the results of this study with reference to the dynamic interplay of the local, national, and global forces in Macao. In terms of students’ evaluation of Cantonese, Putonghua, English, and Portuguese, it is speculated that students’ high evaluation of English and Cantonese may be related with the strong vitality of the two languages in Macao, whereas their low evaluation of Putonghua and Portuguese may have to do with the limited utility of the two languages in Macao. In terms of students’ attitudes towards various issues in LPLP, students’ disagreement with the statement of not keeping Portuguese as an official language in the future Macao SAR may have to do with the value of Portuguese to preserve Macao’s way of life, to offer Macao people opportunities of upward mobility, to distinguish Macao from other Asian cities, and to connect Macao with the Lusophone world.

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Their disagreement with the use of simplified Chinese characters, the replacement of traditional Chinese characters by simplified Chinese characters, the discouragement of written Cantonese, and the replacement of Cantonese Romanization System by Hanyu Pinyin suggests students’ association of traditional Chinese characters, written Cantonese, and Cantonese Romanization System with Macao’s local cultural traditions. Their attitudes towards the choice of the medium of instruction and the first foreign language in Macao non-tertiary education reflect their orientations in the face of the local-national-global tensions and may have to do with the vitality of Cantonese, Putonghua, English, and Portuguese in Macao. In terms of the correlations between students’ social factors (i.e., sex and social class) and their language attitudes, it is speculated that female students are more status- and prestige-conscious, and they are more aware of the instrumental value of Putonghua and English for their outward and upward mobility. LMC students’ statistically significantly higher integrative inclination to Putonghua and Portuguese than UC students may have to do with LMC students’ linguistic insecurity in the face of Macao’s changing sociolinguistic configurations.

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Chapter 8

Conclusions

Abstract In the process of decolonization and renationalization after China’s resumption of Macao’s sovereignty, Macao is also embracing globalization and the effects of globalization are being felt in every domain of Macao’s society. At a confluence of decolonization, renationalization, and globalization, Macao provides fertile ground for us to explore the push and pull between local, national, and global forces in modern societies. This concluding chapter first summarizes the findings of this study, and then discusses the significance of this study and its implications. It also points out several limitations of this study and makes suggestions for further studies. Keywords Macao · Decolonization · Renationalization · Globalization · Significance · Implications · Limitations

8.1 Summary of the Findings Conflicting socio-economic, political, and cultural forces at the local, national, and global levels have interacted with various languages and scripts to construct Macao’s sociolinguistic landscape and direct the development of Macao’s identity. On the one hand, renationalization may entail Macao’s convergence and identification with the Chinese mainland, indexed by the use and learning of Putonghua, simplified Chinese characters, and Hanyu Pinyin. On the other hand, decolonization may promote the establishment of a distinct Macao local identity, indexed by Cantonese, traditional Chinese characters, and Cantonese Romanization System. Adding to this complexity, Macao is under pressure to meet the realities of today’s rapidly globalizing world and globalization “has made the borders of the nation-state porous and reinserted the importance of the English language for all communities” (Canagarajah, 2005, p. 419). The push and pull between decolonization, renationalization, and globalization are discernible in people’s language attitudes. With UM freshmen as the subjects, this study employed a questionnaire survey and semi-structured interviews to investigate their attitudes towards Cantonese, Putonghua, English, and Portuguese, as well as various issues in Macao LPLP. Results © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2023 X. Yan, A Study of Macao Tertiary Students’ Attitudes Towards Language After the Handover, SpringerBriefs in Education, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-6819-0_8

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from the questionnaire survey show that, in terms of students’ integrative orientation towards the four languages, Cantonese received the highest rating, followed by English and Putonghua, and Portuguese was ranked the last. In terms of their instrumental evaluation of the four languages, English was at the top, followed by Cantonese and Putonghua, and Portuguese remained the last. Statistically significant differences were found among students’ attitudes towards the four languages along both integrative and instrumental dimensions. In terms of students’ attitudes towards various issues in Macao LPLP, they slightly disagreed with the statement of not keeping Portuguese as an official language in the Macao SAR. In terms of different scripts in Macao, they expressed slight disagreement with the use of simplified Chinese characters and the replacement of traditional Chinese characters by simplified Chinese characters in Macao. They also expressed disagreement with the discouragement of written Cantonese and the replacement of Cantonese Romanization System by Hanyu Pinyin in Macao. In terms of the choice of the medium of instruction in Macao public schools where Chinese is the language of instruction, they agreed with the statement of making Cantonese the medium of instruction in these schools, and slightly agreed with the statement of making Putonghua the medium of instruction in these schools. As for the choice of the first foreign language in Macao non-tertiary education, students expressed negative attitudes towards the choice of Portuguese as the first foreign language in Macao public schools where Portuguese is not the language of instruction and agreed with the statement of making English the first foreign language in Macao public schools where English is not the language of instruction. They also agreed with the provision of Portuguese as an elective course in Macao schools where Chinese or English is the language of instruction. The data analysis also reveals that Putonghua and English were rated statistically significantly higher by females than by males along the instrumental dimension. The integrative inclination of LMC students towards Putonghua and Portuguese was statistically significantly higher than that of UC students. The interview results show that, in terms of students’ attitudes towards the four languages, they regarded Cantonese as Macao’s local language and Macao people’s mother tongue, and expressed positive attitudes towards Cantonese and its speakers. They viewed Putonghua as the language of Chinese mainland. On the one hand, they attached great importance to the instrumental value of Putonghua for receiving tourists from the Chinese mainland. On the other hand, they held negative stereotypes of Putonghua speakers. They considered English as an international language of wider communication and greater power, and displayed positive attitudes towards English and its speakers. Although students viewed Portuguese as a multifunctional language in Macao’s various public domains, most of them thought it is of little use and value for themselves. In terms of students’ attitudes towards various issues in Macao LPLP, the interview results show that students displayed strong local allegiances, as reflected in their attitudes towards the choice of Putonghua or Cantonese as the medium of instruction, the maintenance of traditional Chinese characters, Cantonese Romanization System, and written Cantonese. At the same time, students held practical attitudes towards

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language issues such as the choice of English or Portuguese as the first foreign language. The interview results also show that most female interviewees chose English and Putonghua as the most useful languages for Macao and themselves, whereas most of the males chose Cantonese and English. In addition, interviews with LMC and UC students show differences in terms of the patterns of their ideal careers and parental support in language learning.

8.2 Significance of the Findings This study is significant in the following two aspects. First, this study highlights the local-national-global tensions in modern societies and contributes to the understanding of language attitudes in modern societies. The language situation in modern societies is the product of the local versus national versus global tensions, and Macao is without exception. Like other areas such as Hong Kong which fail to gain independence at decolonization, the push and pull between local and national forces exert a great impact on local people’s language attitudes. In this study, students’ more positive attitudes towards Cantonese than towards Putonghua and their preference for Cantonese as the medium of instruction in Macao public schools where Chinese is the medium of instruction suggest students’ strong local allegiances. Like other former non-Anglophone colonies such as Morocco and Mozambique which struggle between internationalization through the medium of their ex-colonial languages and globalization through the medium of English (Kamwangamalu, 2010), Macao also needs to deal with the colonial and global forces and is navigating between internationalization through the medium of Portuguese and globalization through the medium of English. On the one hand, students’ disagreement with the statement of not keeping Portuguese as an official language of the Macao SAR suggests that they are fully aware of the importance of the Portuguese language in the Macao SAR. On the other hand, students expressed more positive attitudes towards English than Portuguese, and preferred English as the first foreign language in Macao non-tertiary education. Such positive attitudes towards English underscore the pervasive influence of English in Macao and suggest that students are more global in their orientation. Sandwiched between decolonization, renationalization, and globalization, the case of Macao highlights the complex and multifaceted interactions between local, national, and global forces in modern societies and has relevance beyond Macao. The local-national-global tensions prevail across every domain of modern societies where competition obtains between various languages and scripts, and understanding the sociolinguistic profile of a modern society and its people’s language attitudes requires considering seriously the complex and contradictory push and pull between local, national, and global forces. Secondly, this study highlights the multiple and dynamic relationship between language and identity and seeks to contribute to the understanding of language and identity. In modern societies, sets of languages, rather than single languages,

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perform the essential functions of communication and identity for individuals and communities (Aronin & Singleton, 2008). The complex and multifaceted interactions between local, national, and global forces may take different shapes in modern societies, and language becomes one object upon which the local-national-global tensions are played out. At the same time, identity repertoires (Blommaert, 2005) or options (Omoniyi, 2006) are hierarchized with great dynamism. Taking these into consideration, this study tries to avoid the one-to-one correlation between language and identity and highlight the multilayered and multifaceted nature of the Macao identity by considering the dynamics at the local, national, and global levels. Findings of this study show that languages are evaluated in a form of scales (i.e., local, national, and global) with differential weightings and various Macao identity options are hierarchized. In the hierarchy of identities, Macao’s local and global identities are often placed at the top of the hierarchy while national identity is often rated lower in the hierarchy. In terms of Macao local identity, Cantonese plays an important role. At the same time, traditional Chinese characters, written Cantonese, and Cantonese Romanization System, with strong associations with Macao’s local cultures and traditions, also act as markers of Macao’s local identity. The continued use of Cantonese (both its spoken and written forms), traditional Chinese characters, and Cantonese Romanization System helps Macao retain its local identity distinct from the Chinese mainland. Students’ positive attitudes towards Cantonese, traditional Chinese characters, and Cantonese Romanization System suggest their local allegiances and preservation of a local identity in the face of renationalization which might obliterate and displace their local identity. Putonghua, simplified Chinese characters, and Hanyu Pinyin act as markers of Macao’s national identity. As for Macao’s global identity, English is the major component and plays the dominant role. In addition, the Portuguese language also plays certain roles in Macao’s identity construction. It helps highlight the unique historical and cultural aspects of Macao and connect Macao with the Lusophone world.

8.3 Implications of This Study This study has the following two implications. First, the socio-historical ecology of different languages and scripts in Macao plus people’s attitudes towards them make it rather difficult for the Macao SAR Government to keep a delicate balance between these languages and scripts in its LPLP, although some scholars (e.g., Lam, 2008) believe that it is relatively easier to manage language education problems in Macao than in other territories such as Taiwan and Hong Kong. Under the dynamic interplay of local, national, and global forces, it seems not easy for the Macao SAR Government to take a rational action in LPLP, and Macao people must make decisions on their own and take the responsibility for their decisions. Surrounded with so many languages and scripts, it is difficult for Macao students to decide which language may have a direct bearing on their further studies and career development. During the interview, two interviewees mentioned that they had changed their majors to

8.3 Implications of This Study

95

Portuguese. They made this decision out of several considerations. One reason is that bilingual talents proficient in both Chinese and Portuguese will be given priority of admission in the civil service recruitment. Their decision may be influenced by the Macao SAR Government’s LPLP in civil service recruitment. The Chinese Government and the Macao SAR Government should work together to handle language issues of the Macao SAR. If such issues are handled properly, it will add glory to China’s international reputation and promote Macao’s sustainable development. If not, it will invite criticism from the international society and do harm to Macao’s prosperity and social stability. A unified language policy seems not appropriate in the context of Macao, since it may include as well as exclude certain groups of people. Based on the language situation of Macao and its people’s language attitudes, it is necessary to implement multilingual and multicultural education according to specific communities. Multilingual and multicultural education policy can cater to the needs of different communities and contribute to the vitality of various languages, which may in turn contribute to the construction of the identity of different groups of people and bring them the material rewards. Secondly, more attention should be paid to students’ language attitudes in language teaching and learning. As can be seen from this study, students give the highest rating to English. However, they do not give a high report of their English proficiency level compared with Cantonese and Putonghua (see Sect. 5.1) even though students have relatively easy access to English learning resources in Macao. Language policy designers and language educators should make use of students’ positive attitudes towards English to help them make high English achievement. In addition, although students report a high level of proficiency in Putonghua (see Sect. 5.1), their low attitudes towards Putonghua may affect their use and learning of Putonghua. The close economic relations between Macao and the Chinese mainland show the increasing value of Putonghua for Macao; however, the increasing proportion of Chinese mainland immigrants, tourists, and migrant workers in Macao may easily cause negative reactions of Macao people towards the Chinese mainland, its people, and its national language (i.e., Putonghua). In their study of motivations and language attitudes of Hungarian language learners towards English, German, French, Italian, and Russian, Dörnyei et al. (2006) find in their 1999 dataset that the German-speaking visitors (the highest contact group) in the most frequented tourist localities only receive the lowest ratings in several attitudinal and motivational measures. In his study of language attitudes of three ethnic minority groups (Kazak, Uygur, and Yi) in China towards Putonghua and their ethnic languages, Zhou (1999) finds that although the Yi subjects have the most contact with the Han, they hold the most negative attitudes towards the Han and Putonghua. Just as Dörnyei and Csizer (2005) note, “if the contact exceeds a certain threshold level, it seems to ‘backfire’ and work against positive intercultural relations” (p. 352), it seems necessary for the Macao SAR Government to examine whether the number of immigrants, tourists, and migrant workers from the Chinese mainland have exceeded a certain threshold level and take some measures to limit the number. In this way, it is hoped that students’ attitudes towards Putonghua may change for the better.

96

8 Conclusions

Last but not the least, students report a low level of proficiency in Portuguese and low attitudes towards Portuguese. With the establishment of Macao’s role as an economic and cultural exchange platform between China and the Lusophone world, the value of Portuguese in Macao is increasing. The Macao SAR Government should design a comprehensive policy and create a favorable environment for Portuguese learning in Macao. In this way, students can have more opportunities to learn and use Portuguese and hold more positive attitudes towards Portuguese.

8.4 Limitations of This Study No study is without limitations and this study is no exception. First, in order to give an adequate account of modern societies in their struggle to seek a balance between local, national, and global forces, it is necessary to consider specific economic, political, and historical factors in each society and make comparative and contrastive studies of language attitudes of different societies. Based on these studies, we can generalize, theorize, and establish universals concerning language attitudes of modern societies, and construct a clear and consistent model which ties all factors and relationships together in a single framework. Secondly, this study focuses on the attitudes of Macao tertiary students. It would be of interest to follow these subjects and administer the same instrument to determine whether their attitudes undergo any change as they age. In addition, given that Macao population is made up of people of different professions and age groups. It is necessary to expand the scope of subjects in the future studies. It is also necessary to examine language attitudes of different groups of people in Macao (e.g., Portuguese, Macanese, Filipinos) in order to present a more comprehensive picture of Macao language attitudes. To sum up, Macao makes a telling case for us to explore the local versus national versus global tensions, and Macao students’ language attitudes serve as an important barometer for us to examine Macao people’s orientations towards different languages and scripts under such tensions. The dynamic interplay of local, national, and global forces takes different routes in modern societies, and more needs to be done in order to further sociolinguistic studies on modern societies.

References Aronin, L., & Singleton, D. (2008). Multilingualism as a new linguistic dispensation. International Journal of Multilingualism, 5(1), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.2167/ijm072.0 Blommaert, J. (2005). Discourse: A critical introduction. Cambridge University Press. Canagarajah, A. S. (2005). Dilemmas in planning English/vernacular relations in post-colonial communities. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 9(3), 418–447. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1360-6441. 2005.00299.x

References

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Dörnyei, Z., & Csizer, K. (2005). The effects of intercultural contact and tourism on language attitudes and language learning motivation. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 24(4), 327–357. https://doi.org/10.1177/0261927X05281424 Dörnyei, Z., Csizer, K., & Nemeth, N. (2006). Motivation, language attitudes and globalization: A Hungarian perspective. Multilingual Matters. Kamwangamalu, N. M. (2010). Vernacularization, globalization, and language economics in nonEnglish-speaking countries in Africa. Language Problems and Language Planning, 34(1), 1–23. https://doi.org/10.1075/lplp.34.1.01kam Lam, A. S. L. (2008). Language education policy in Greater China. In S. May & N. H. Hornberger (Eds.), Encyclopedia of language and education (2nd ed., Vol. 1, pp. 405–417). Springer. Omoniyi, T. (2006). Hierarchy of identities. In T. Omoniyi & G. White (Eds.), The sociolinguistics of identity (pp. 11–31). Continuum. Zhou, M.-L. (1999). The official national language and language attitudes of three ethnic minority groups in China. Language Problems and Language Planning, 23(2), 157–174. https://doi.org/ 10.1075/lplp.23.2.03zho

Appendix A

Questionnaire on Macao Tertiary Students’ Language Attitudes

Dear Student, This questionnaire is designed to provide important information for research into students’ attitudes towards languages in Macao. We would like to ask you for your kind assistance by answering the following questions concerning your opinions towards Putonghua (i.e., Guoyu/Mandarin), Cantonese, Portuguese, and English in Macao as well as language planning and language policy. This questionnaire is not a test so there are no “right” or “wrong” answers and you are not required to write your name on it. You can withdraw at any time without any consequences or any explanation if you feel uncomfortable with the questions of this questionnaire, and we will not associate responses with individuals. Please be as honest as possible. Completion of the questionnaire indicates your willingness to participate in this study. I would like to thank you in advance for taking the trouble to complete this questionnaire.

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2023 X. Yan, A Study of Macao Tertiary Students’ Attitudes Towards Language After the Handover, SpringerBriefs in Education, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-6819-0

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100

Part 1

Appendix A: Questionnaire on Macao Tertiary Students’ Language …

Appendix A: Questionnaire on Macao Tertiary Students’ Language …

101

Part 2 Please circle the number which best indicates what you think about the following statements: Strongly agree

Agree

Slightly agree

Slightly disagree

Disagree

Strongly disagree

6

5

4

3

2

1

102

Appendix A: Questionnaire on Macao Tertiary Students’ Language …

E.g. I like Macao

➅ 5 4 3 2 1

1

A Macao person should be able to speak fluent Cantonese

6

5 4 3 2 1

2

A Macao person who speaks fluent English is usually intelligent

6

5 4 3 2 1

3

A Macao person who speaks fluent Putonghua (i.e., Guoyu/ Mandarin) is usually friendly

6

5 4 3 2 1

4

A Macao person who speaks fluent Portuguese is usually intelligent 6

5 4 3 2 1

5

Putonghua (i.e., Guoyu/Mandarin) is the most helpful language for 6 my career development in the twenty-first century

5 4 3 2 1

6

The Portuguese language is an important language of instruction in 6 Macao schools after the handover

5 4 3 2 1

7

English is very important for my further studies

6

5 4 3 2 1

8

A Macao person should be able to speak fluent Putonghua (i.e., Guoyu/Mandarin)

6

5 4 3 2 1

9

A Macao person who speaks fluent Portuguese is usually friendly

6

5 4 3 2 1

10

Cantonese is a very important language for my further studies

6

5 4 3 2 1

11

English is an important language of instruction in Macao schools after the handover

6

5 4 3 2 1

12

English is the most helpful language for my career development in 6 the twenty-first century

5 4 3 2 1

13

Putonghua (i.e., Guoyu/Mandarin) is regarded by Macao people as 6 highly important for Macao economic development

5 4 3 2 1

14

Portuguese is the most helpful language for my career development 6 in the twenty-first century

5 4 3 2 1

15

A Macao person who speaks fluent Cantonese is usually friendly

6

5 4 3 2 1

16

English is regarded by Macao people as highly important for Macao’s economic development

6

5 4 3 2 1

17

The Portuguese language is very important for my further studies

6

5 4 3 2 1

18

A Macao person should be able to speak fluent English

6

5 4 3 2 1

19

A Macao person who speaks fluent English is usually friendly

6

5 4 3 2 1

20

Putonghua (i.e., Guoyu/Mandarin) is an important language of instruction in Macao schools after handover

6

5 4 3 2 1

21

Cantonese is regarded by Macao people as highly important for Macao’s economic development

6

5 4 3 2 1

22

The Portuguese language is regarded by Macao people as highly important for Macao’s economic development

6

5 4 3 2 1

23

Cantonese is the most helpful language for my career development 6 in the twenty-first century

5 4 3 2 1

24

A Macao person should be able to speak fluent Portuguese

6

5 4 3 2 1

25

A Macao person who speaks fluent Cantonese is usually intelligent 6

5 4 3 2 1

26

A Macao person who speaks fluent Putonghua (i.e., Guoyu/ Mandarin) is usually intelligent

6

5 4 3 2 1

27

Putonghua (i.e., Guoyu/Mandarin) is a very important language for 6 my further studies

5 4 3 2 1 (continued)

Appendix A: Questionnaire on Macao Tertiary Students’ Language …

103

(continued) E.g. I like Macao

➅ 5 4 3 2 1

28

6

Cantonese is not an important language of instruction in Macao schools after the handover

5 4 3 2 1

Part 3 Please circle the number which best indicates what you think about the following statements: Strongly agree

Agree

Slightly agree

Slightly disagree

Disagree

Strongly disagree

6

5

4

3

2

1

E.g I like Macao

➅ 5 4 3 2 1

1

It is not necessary to keep Portuguese as an official language of the Macao SAR

6

5 4 3 2 1

2

In Macao public schools at the primary and secondary levels where 6 Chinese is the language of instruction, Putonghua (i.e., Guoyu/ Mandarin) should be required by the Macao SAR Government to be the language of instruction in these schools

5 4 3 2 1

3

In Macao public schools at the primary and secondary levels where 6 Chinese is the language of instruction, Cantonese should be required by the Macao SAR Government to be the language of instruction in these schools

5 4 3 2 1

4

The Macao SAR Government should encourage Macao people to use simplified Chinese characters

6

5 4 3 2 1

5

Traditional Chinese characters should be replaced by simplified Chinese characters in Macao

6

5 4 3 2 1

6

Written Cantonese (粵語漢字) should be discouraged in Macao

6

5 4 3 2 1

7

Hanyu Pinyin (漢語拼音) should replace Cantonese Romanization System (粵語拼音) in Macao

6

5 4 3 2 1

8

In Macao public schools where Portuguese is not the language of 6 instruction, Portuguese should be taught as the first foreign language in these schools

5 4 3 2 1

9

In Macao public schools where English is not the language of instruction, English should be taught as the first foreign language in these schools

6

5 4 3 2 1

10

In Macao schools where Chinese or English is the language of instruction, Portuguese should be an elective course in these schools

6

5 4 3 2 1

Please add your contact information if you are willing to participate in our interviews in the future, email: _________________; or telephone number: __________ _______ Thank you for your cooperation!

Appendix B

Interview Informed Consent Form

Dear Students, The purpose of the study is to investigate students’ attitudes towards languages in Macao. All information obtained in this study will be kept strictly confidential and anonymous unless permission is given by the interviewee to the interviewer for a specific context. The results of this study will be presented collectively and no individual participants will be identified without their permissions.

Acknowledgement of Study, Consent, and Agreement to be Recorded: I have been informed of and understand the purpose and procedures of this study and the purpose and procedures of this interview/these interviews. I understand that I am free to withdraw my consent and discontinue my participation in this interview or study at any time. I understand that I can choose to answer only the questions that I wish to answer. I understand that the interview will be audiotaped or digitally recorded and then transcribed. I agree/wish not (circle one) to be videotaped. Permission to Quote: I may wish to quote your words directly in reports and publications resulting from this. With regards to being quoted, please check yes or no for each of the following statements:

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2023 X. Yan, A Study of Macao Tertiary Students’ Attitudes Towards Language After the Handover, SpringerBriefs in Education, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-6819-0

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106

Appendix B: Interview Informed Consent Form Yes

I wish to review the notes / recordings collected during my interview.

No I agree that researchers may publish documents that contain quotations by me under the following conditions (checking YES to any of the below means that you grant copyright permission to the researcher for the purpose of publication): I agree to be quoted directly (my name is used). Yes No Yes

I agree to be quoted directly if my name is not published (I remain anonymous).

Yes

I agree to be quoted directly if a made-up name (pseudonym) is used.

No No

By signing this consent form, you are indicating that you fully understand the above information and agree to participate in this study. Participant’s signature: ____________ Date: ____________ Researcher’s signature: ____________ Date: ____________

Appendix C

Interview Protocol

1. Overall questions (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10)

(11)

(12) (13) (14) (15)

Do you think Portuguese is important for Macao and you? Do you think English is important for Macao and you? Do you think Putonghua is important for Macao and you? Do you think Cantonese is important for Macao and you? How do you feel about Portuguese and Portuguese speakers? How do you feel about English and English speakers? How do you feel about Putonghua and Putonghua speakers? How do you feel about Cantonese and Cantonese speakers? Do you think it is not necessary to keep Portuguese as an official language of the Macao SAR? Why? Do you think in Macao public schools at the primary and secondary levels where Chinese is the language of instruction, Putonghua (i.e., Guoyu/ Mandarin) should be required by the Macao SAR Government to be the language of instruction in these schools? Why? Do you think in Macao public schools at the primary and secondary levels where Chinese is the language of instruction, Cantonese should be required by the Macao SAR Government to be the language of instruction in these schools? Why? Do you think the Macao SAR Government should encourage Macao people to use simplified Chinese characters? Why? Do you think traditional Chinese characters should be replaced by simplified Chinese characters in Macao? Why? Do you think written Cantonese should be discouraged in Macao? Why? Do you think Hanyu Pinyin should replace Cantonese Romanization System in Macao? Why?

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2023 X. Yan, A Study of Macao Tertiary Students’ Attitudes Towards Language After the Handover, SpringerBriefs in Education, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-6819-0

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108

Appendix C: Interview Protocol

(16) Do you think in Macao public schools where Portuguese is not the language of instruction, Portuguese should be taught as the first foreign language in these schools? Why? (17) Do you think in Macao public schools where English is not the language of instruction, English should be taught as the first foreign language in these schools? Why? (18) Do you think in Macao schools where Chinese or English is the language of instruction, Portuguese should be an elective course in these schools? Why? (19) Please rank Cantonese, Putonghua, English, and Portuguese in terms of your feelings towards the four languages. (20) Please rank Cantonese, Putonghua, English, and Portuguese in terms of the importance of the four languages for Macao and themselves. 2. Sex (1) (2) (3) (4) (5)

Which two language(s) do you think most useful for you? Why? Which two language(s) do you think most useful for Macao? Why? Which language subjects do you like best? Why? Do you plan to study abroad? Where? Why? Do you think males and females are equal in Macao?

3. Social class (1) (2) (3) (4) (5)

Do your parents offer you help in learning languages? Which language(s) do your parents think is/are the most important? Do you speak Putonghua or Portuguese at home? Do you spend time on learning Putonghua or Portuguese? What’s your ideal career? What occupation do you think you will take up in the future?

Appendix D

Linguistic Insecurity Perception Questionnaire

Dear Student, This questionnaire is designed to provide important information for research into students’ linguistic insecurity in Macao. We would like to ask you for your kind assistance by answering the following questions. This questionnaire is not a test so there are no “right” or “wrong” answers and you are not required to write your name on it. You can withdraw at any time without any consequences or any explanation if you feel uncomfortable with the questions of this questionnaire, and we will not associate responses with individuals. Please be as honest as possible. Completion of the questionnaire indicates your willingness to participate in this study. I would like to thank you in advance for taking the trouble to complete this questionnaire.

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2023 X. Yan, A Study of Macao Tertiary Students’ Attitudes Towards Language After the Handover, SpringerBriefs in Education, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-6819-0

109

110

Appendix D: Linguistic Insecurity Perception Questionnaire

For question 1, please indicate with a √ in the appropriate box. 1. Sex: (1) Male (2) Female For questions 2-27, please give your opinion on each of the questions below. After each question, there is a line. The left end is marked as “Very difficult” or something similar. The middle end is marked as “Average difficulty” or a similar expression. The right end says “Very easy” or something similar. You are kindly requested to circle the number that best expresses your opinion. For example, if it is very easy for you to speak English in public, you will circle the number 10. E.g. How difficult is it for me to speak English in public? Very difficult 0 1

2

3

Average difficulty 4 5 6

Very easy 7

8

9

2. How difficult is it for me to speak…? English: Very difficult 0 1

2

3

Average difficulty 4 5 6

7

8

9

Very easy 10

2

3

Average difficulty 4 5 6

7

8

9

Very easy 10

2

3

Average difficulty 4 5 6

7

8

9

Very easy 10

Putonghua: Very difficult 0 1 Portuguese: Very difficult 0 1

3. How comfortable or uncomfortable do I feel when I speak…? English: Very uncomfortable 0 1

2

3

4

Average comfort 5 6

7

8

Very comfortable 9 10

2

3

4

Average comfort 5 6

7

8

Very comfortable 9 10

2

3

4

Average comfort 5 6

7

8

Very comfortable 9 10

Putonghua: Very uncomfortable 0 1 Portuguese: Very uncomfortable 0 1

4. In Macao, the quality of the spoken language is …:

Appendix D: Linguistic Insecurity Perception Questionnaire

111

English: Very low 0

1

2

3

4

Average quality 5 6

7

8

9

Very high 10

1

2

3

4

Average quality 5 6

7

8

9

Very high 10

1

2

3

4

Average quality 5 6

7

8

9

Very high 10

Putonghua: Very low 0 Portuguese: Very low 0

5. When I have to speak in class in order to make a presentation, I feel…: English: Very insecure 0 1

2

3

4

Average security 5 6

7

8

9

Very secure 10

2

3

4

Average security 5 6

7

8

9

Very secure 10

2

3

4

Average security 5 6

7

8

9

Very secure 10

Putonghua: Very insecure 0 1 Portuguese: Very insecure 0 1

6. When I speak to a person of my age that I do not know, I feel…: English: Very insecure 0 1

2

3

4

Average security 5 6

7

8

9

Very secure 10

2

3

4

Average security 5 6

7

8

9

Very secure 10

2

3

4

Average security 5 6

7

8

9

Very secure 10

Putonghua: Very insecure 0 1 Portuguese: Very insecure 0 1

7. When I speak to my classmates in class, I feel…: English: Very insecure 0 1

2

3

4

Average security 5 6

7

8

9

Very secure 10

2

3

4

Average security 5 6

7

8

9

Very secure 10

2

3

4

Average security 5 6

7

8

9

Very secure 10

Putonghua: Very insecure 0 1 Portuguese: Very insecure 0 1

112

Appendix D: Linguistic Insecurity Perception Questionnaire 8. When I speak to the teachers in class, I feel…: English: Very insecure 0 1

2

3

4

Average security 5 6

7

8

9

Very secure 10

2

3

4

Average security 5 6

7

8

9

Very secure 10

2

3

4

Average security 5 6

7

8

9

Ver y secure 10

Putonghua: Very insecure 0 1 Portuguese: Very insecure 0 1

9. When I speak my friends outside the classroom, I feel…: English: Very insecure 0 1

2

3

4

Average security 5 6

7

8

9

Very secure 10

2

3

4

Average security 5 6

7

8

9

Very secure 10

2

3

4

Average security 5 6

7

8

9

Very secure 10

Putonghua: Very insecure 0 1 Portuguese: Very insecure 0 1

10. When I speak to my family, I feel…: English: Very insecure 0 1

2

3

4

Average security 5 6

7

8

9

Very secure 10

2

3

4

Average security 5 6

7

8

9

Very secure 10

2

3

4

Average security 5 6

7

8

9

Very secure 10

Putonghua: Very insecure 0 1 Portuguese: Very insecure 0 1

11. The quality of my pronunciation is: English: Very low 0

1

2

3

Average quality 4 5 6

7

8

9

Very high 10

1

2

3

Average quality 4 5 6

7

8

9

Very high 10

Putonghua: Very low 0

Appendix D: Linguistic Insecurity Perception Questionnaire

113

Portuguese: Very low 0

1

2

3

Average quality 4 5 6

7

8

9

Very high 10

12. The quality of my grammar is: English: Very low 0

1

2

3

Average quality 4 5 6

7

8

9

Very high 10

1

2

3

Average quality 4 5 6

7

8

9

Very high 10

1

2

3

Average quality 4 5 6

7

8

9

Very high 10

Putonghua: Very low 0 Portuguese: Very low 0

13. My own lexical range, that is, the number of words I know, is: English: Very low 0

1

2

3

Average quality 4 5 6

7

8

9

Very high 10

1

2

3

Average quality 4 5 6

7

8

9

Very high 10

1

2

3

Average quality 4 5 6

7

8

9

Very high 10

Putonghua: Very low 0 Portuguese: Very low 0

14. I can use this language in any situation: English: Completely disagree 0 1

2

3

4

Average value 5 6

7

8

Completely agr ee 9 10

2

3

4

Average value 5 6

7

8

Completely agree 9 10

2

3

4

Average value 5 6

7

8

Completely agree 9 10

Putonghua: Completely disagree 0 1 Portuguese: Completely disagree 0 1

15. There are few/many differences between the way people speak the language every day and the way it is used at school: English: Few differences 0 1

2

3

4

Average value 5 6

7

8

Many differences 9 10

114

Appendix D: Linguistic Insecurity Perception Questionnaire Putonghua: Few differences 0 1

2

3

4

Average value 5 6

7

8

Many differences 9 10

2

3

4

Average value 5 6

7

8

Many differences 9 10

Portuguese: Few differences 0 1

16. Its social recognition, that is, the degree of importance it has for people, is: English: Of little importance 0 1

2

3

4

Average importance 5 6

7

8

9

Very important 10

2

3

4

Average importance 5 6

7

8

9

Very important 10

2

3

4

Average importance 5 6

7

8

9

Very important 10

Putonghua: Of little importance 0 1 Portuguese: Of little importance 0 1

17. It is a useful language: English: Of little use 0

1

2

3

Average usefulness 4 5 6

7

8

9

Very useful 10

1

2

3

Average usefulness 4 5 6

7

8

9

Very useful 10

1

2

3

Average usefulness 4 5 6

7

8

9

Very useful 10

Putonghua: Of little use 0 Portuguese: Of little use 0

18. It present usage in the media is: English: Little used 0

1

2

3

4

Average use 5

6

7

8

Ve ry much used 9 10

1

2

3

4

Average use 5

6

7

8

Ve ry much used 9 10

1

2

3

4

Average use 5

6

7

8

Ve ry much used 9 10

Putonghua: Little used 0 Portuguese: Little used 0

19. It present usage in the streets is: English:

Appendix D: Linguistic Insecurity Perception Questionnaire Little used 0

115

1

2

3

4

Average use 5

6

7

8

Ve ry much used 9 10

1

2

3

4

Average use 5

6

7

8

Very much used 9 10

1

2

3

4

Average use 5

6

7

8

Very much used 9 10

Putonghua: Little used 0 Portuguese: Little used 0

20. It present usage in schools is: English: Little used 0

1

2

3

4

Average use 5

6

7

8

Very much used 9 10

1

2

3

4

Average use 5

6

7

8

Very much used 9 10

1

2

3

4

Average use 5

6

7

8

Very much used 9 10

Putonghua: Little used 0 Portuguese: Little used 0

21. The level of usage in the media (at present or in the future) should be: English: Less used than now 0 1

2

3

Same usage as now 4 5 6

7

8

More used than now 9 10

2

3

Same usage as now 4 5 6

7

8

More used than now 9 10

2

3

Same usage as now 4 5 6

7

8

More used than now 9 10

Putonghua: Less used than now 0 1 Portuguese: Less used than now 0 1

22. The level of usage in the streets (at present or in the future) should be: English: Less used than now 0 1

2

3

Same usage as now 4 5 6

7

8

More used than now 9 10

2

3

Same usage as now 4 5 6

7

8

More used than now 9 10

2

3

Same usage as now 4 5 6

7

8

More used than now 9 10

Putonghua: Less used than now 0 1 Portuguese: Less used than now 0 1

116

Appendix D: Linguistic Insecurity Perception Questionnaire 23. The level of usage in the schools (at present or in the future) should be: English: Less used than now 0 1

2

3

Same usage as now 4 5 6

7

8

More used than now 9 10

2

3

Same usage as now 4 5 6

7

8

More used than now 9 10

2

3

Same usage as now 4 5 6

7

8

More used than now 9 10

Putonghua: Less used than now 0 1 Portuguese: Less used than now 0 1

24. I need to feel more secure when I speak: English: I feel little need 0 1

2

3

I do not feel anything special 4 5 6 7

8

I feel a great need 9 10

2

3

I do not feel anything special 4 5 6 7

8

I feel a great need 9 10

2

3

I do not feel anything special 4 5 6 7

8

I feel a great need 9 10

Putonghua: I feel little need 0 1 Portuguese: I feel little need 0 1

25. I think that, over the next years, when I speak I will feel: English: Very insecure 0 1

2

3

4

Average security 5 6

7

8

9

Very secure 10

2

3

4

Average security 5 6

7

8

9

Very secure 10

2

3

4

Average security 5 6

7

8

9

Very secure 10

Putonghua: Very insecure 0 1 Portuguese: Very insecure 0 1

26. To what extent do you believe that speaking the following languages constitutes AT PRESENT an important part of Macao identity? English: Of little importance 0 1

2

3

4

Average importance 5 6

7

8

9

Very important 10

2

3

4

Average importance 5 6

7

8

9

Very important 10

Putonghua: Of little importance 0 1

Appendix D: Linguistic Insecurity Perception Questionnaire

117

Portuguese: Of little importance 0 1

2

3

4

Average importance 5 6

7

8

9

Very importa nt 10

27. To what extent do you believe that speaking the following languages SHOULD BE an important part of Macao identity? English: Of little importance 0 1

2

3

4

Average importance 5 6

7

8

9

Very important 10

2

3

4

Average importance 5 6

7

8

9

Very important 10

2

3

4

Average importance 5 6

7

8

9

Very importa nt 10

Putonghua: Of little importance 0 1 Portuguese: Of little importance 0 1