ERIC Number: EJ769706
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2006
Pages: 12
Abstractor: Author
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0883-2919
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Macao Students' Attitudes toward English: A Post-1999 Survey
Young, Ming Yee Carissa
World Englishes, v25 n3-4 p479-490 Aug-Nov 2006
This paper describes a survey that assessed the attitudes toward English among university students in Macao five years after it reunited with the People's Republic of China and ceased to be a Portuguese colony. A group of 144 Macao-born and 197 Mainland-born Chinese students studying in a university in Macao were surveyed using a 22-item questionnaire. The results reveal students' strong motivation to learn English and readiness to use English as a medium of instruction. Mean comparisons using "t-tests" indicate that the Macao-born students are, compared to their Mainland-born counterparts, less comfortable in speaking English and less certain of whether or not Portuguese is superior to English. These differences might lie partly in the remaining influence of Portuguese as the sole official language of Macao over the past four centuries and partly in the lack of long-term language policy and English learning campaigns in Macao.
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Student Attitudes, Learning Motivation, Language Planning, Official Languages, English (Second Language), Surveys, College Students, Language Attitudes, Questionnaires, Language of Instruction, Second Language Learning, Portuguese
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: Higher Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: China; Macau
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A