Language anxiety in Chinese dialects and Putonghua among college students in mainland China: the effects of sociobiographical and linguistic variables

Abstract

This paper examined language anxiety (LA) in Chinese dialects and Putonghua among college students in mainland China and explored the links between their LA in the first language and a range of sociobiographical variables (i.e. gender and geographical background) as well as linguistic variables (i.e. mother tongue, age of onset of acquisition, context of learning, self-perceived oral proficiency, and frequency of use). Participants were 778 Beijing university students who speak Chinese dialects and Putonghua. Statistical analyses revealed that participants reported significantly higher levels of LA in dialects than in Putonghua across a variety of situations. Geographical background and gender had scattered effects on LA in Putonghua and in dialects. Early bilinguals whose mother tongue were both a dialect and Putonghua reported the least LA in both. Later age of onset and acquisition of Putonghua in an instructed context were linked to increased LA in Putonghua. The negative relationships between self-perceived oral proficiency, frequency of use and LA were stronger in Putonghua than in dialects. The higher levels of LA in dialects combined with their language practices in dialects suggest a relatively lower confidence in the use of dialects among in this group of highly educated young Chinese adults.

The predictive power of sociobiographical and language variables on foreign language anxiety of Chinese university students

“…However, Yan and Horwitz's results were based on qualitative analysis and hence not generalizable. This finding again confirms that geographical background, a variable which can indicate participants' social economic status to some extent, and which might be linked to the likelihood of encountering English outside the classroom, is a significant variable explaining differences in FLA and (thereby) language learning situations and outcomes in China (Jiang & Dewaele, 2019b).…”

“…Yan and Horwitz (2008) found that students from rural backgrounds worried about their fluency in Mandarin and feared that they would be at a disadvantage in becoming fluent in English. Jiang and Dewaele (2019b) similarly found that geographical background influences Chinese university students' language anxiety in their first language. Participants from Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou suffered less from language anxiety in Putonghua, the official language in China, compared to participants originating from county-level and rural areas where local dialects are used.…”

A Multidimensional Perspective on Individual Differences in Multilingual Learners’ L2 Chinese Speech Production

“…To sum up, it was found that anxiety, such as fear-related and test anxiety, was closely related to the multilinguals' L2 Chinese speech production and performance. Despite the negative effects of anxiety on L2 speech production (Jiang and Dewaele, 2019b), it was also suggested that anxiety could positively contribute to learners' L2 speech performance and production ability development. This finding corroborates the literature that anxiety could be facilitating and debilitating (Zhang, 2000(Zhang, , 2001Dornyei, 2005;Zhang, 2018, 2019).…”

‘I feel a sense of solidarity when speaking Teochew’: unpacking family language planning and sustainable development of Teochew from a multilingual perspective

“…One potential reason is that the younger generation has more opportunities to engage with other languages (Liu and Li 2020). Furthermore, although the concept of multilingualism has been well known (May 2014), given the popularity and promotion of certain dominant languages, such as Putonghua and English, the use of Chinese dialects is implicitly restricted or replaced by more mainstream languages in some circumstances (Jiang and Dewaele 2019). With this background in mind, the current situation and sustainability of Teochew remain important not only within the Chaoshan area but in the context of providing a deeper understanding of the relationship between language and culture.…”