Language Mixing in an English-Medium University Context: Language Ideologies of Cross-border Mainland Chinese Students in Hong Kong

Abstract

This paper reports on a study of cross-border mainland Chinese students’ ideologies with respect to language mixing in an English-medium university context in multilingual Hong Kong. The findings revealed that most participants held multiple and sometimes contradictory ideologies about language mixing in the university context, often wavering between different ideologies. While their monolingual ideologies privileged linguistic purism and characterized language mixing in deficit terms, their multilingual ideologies conceptualized language mixing as a relatively unmarked language practice, leading to positive evaluations of language mixing. The study also found that some participants moved beyond the dichotomy between monolingual and multilingual ideologies and espoused the ideology of sociolinguistic competence. With an emphasis on one’s ability to use language appropriately in context, the ideology of sociolinguistic competence prompted some participants to evaluate language mixing in terms of its social appropriateness in particular cultural contexts (Hong Kong versus mainland China) and/or particular communicative situations (in-class versus out-of-class situations). Overall, the findings suggest that the complex language ideologies held by the participants not only reflect their mixed attitudes towards multilingual language practices in the English-medium university context, but also reveal their concerns over academic studies, second language acquisition, cultural preservation, and communicative effectiveness.