Being a 'purist' in Hong Kong: To use or not to use mixed code

Being a 'purist' in Hong Kong: To use or not to use mixed code

• Sung, Matthew Chit Cheung Dept of Linguistics and English Language, Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK

Changing English: Studies in Culture & Education, 17(4), 411-419, 2010

Routledge

2010

• F Learning & Teaching
  • FE Medium of Instruction, Language of Teaching, Bi-& Multilingual Education, Problems of Bilingualism, Code-mixing & Code-switching

Code Switching (Language) English (Second Language) Second Language Instruction

• Hong Kong

• 1997.7 onwards

• Primary Education

This paper reports on my first-hand experiences of being a 'purist' in Hong Kong, during which time I was not allowed to use mixed code, a common discursive practice among Hongkongers in Hong Kong. I shall discuss the difficulties in using 'pure' English and 'pure' Chinese in my daily life, as well as exploring the problems I encountered when I used 'pure' English in teaching English to a small group of ESL students at a primary school in Hong Kong. I argue that mixed code is very much characteristic of everyday language use by most Hongkongers and represents an important marker of their ethno-linguistic identity. In relation to language teaching, I suggest that mixed code may be usefully adopted in teaching English in Hong Kong, rather than being shunned at all costs.
[Copyright of Changing English: Studies in Culture & Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1358684X.2010.528875]

• English

Journal Articles

• 1358684X

• 10.1080/1358684X.2010.528875

https://bibliography.lib.eduhk.hk/bibs/77cfe3a8

2011-03-01