Language as a means of expression rather than purpose: Chinese postgraduate students’ translingual ideologies in English academic writing

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study employs a mixed-methods design to explore the attitudes and expressed beliefs of Chinese postgraduate students regarding the strategic use of their entire range of languages in English academic writing (EAW). The survey findings suggest that while students generally accept the idea of mixing languages during the writing process, they have reservations about incorporating such practices into their written products. Qualitative analysis expands the quantitative dataset by elucidating the diverse stances of students—be they resistant, pragmatic, or transformative—towards translingual practices in EAW within institutional settings. The results indicate the coexistence of hegemonic ideologies that promote English dominance and counterhegemonic ideologies that advocate the reclamation of indigenous linguistic and cultural practices. Morever, students' nuanced and complex translingual orientations are both reflective and transgressive of the established monolingual norms. The article concludes by proposing implications for integrating translingual writing to reject deficit language ideologies and amplify multilingual voices in non-Anglophone higher education contexts.