Language attitudes of select university students in Jinan towards China English

Abstract

The research examines the perceptions of university students in Jinan, China, towards China English and how these perceptions determine the application of English by the students in various contexts. Since English remains a critical form of communication all over the world, China English has emerged as a local variety of the English language that reflects Chinese culture and identity. This study adopts a mixed design, where a questionnaire was applied to 169 students, and 15 students participated in focus group discussions. The study aims to investigate how students perceive China English and how their perceptions affect their use of China English in formal and informal settings. The results show that the participants are inclined to reserve the use of China English for casual and local conversation, despite considering China English a legitimate and culturally relevant form of English. However, the participants prefer to apply the standardized forms of English, such as American English or British English, in formal settings, including academic and professional situations. The disconnect between the recognition of China English at the ideological level and the reluctance to use it in formal settings suggests a border tension between accepting China English as a local variety of English and sticking with global norms. In terms of implications, these findings are significant to ongoing studies of World Englishes. They also suggest that English language teaching in China can benefit from adopting a more inclusive approach to embrace China English and help students balance their cultural identity with the demands of international communication.