Attitudes towards Preserving Children’s Linguistic Identity in the UK among Parents from Mainland China

This paper reports the result of a research carried out in the summer of 2001 among parents from Mainland China, who have been living and working in the UK for the minimum length of three years. An experimental attempt was made to investigate these parents’ attitude towards preserving their children’s native language in an English context and to illuminate the link between language and identity among this group. The technique of interviews and questionnaires as well as follow-up observation is employed. The questionnaire developed by Gardner and Lambert (19720) using integrative and instrumental ratings of language preserving motivation has been adapted for this research. The results obtained show that Mainland Chinese in the UK have the tendency to assimilate to the major society but at the same time keep their national identity through linguistic identity. Most parents hope that their children learn and/or maintain their mother tongue, although their primary concern is with the majority language – English. The survey shows that a large proportion of people investigated claim to speak Chinese at home in order to provide a Chinese language environment for their children. It also shows that the greater the level of the reported agreement with the statement that it is important to know the language to be a Chinese, the stronger the efforts on part of the parents to make their children keep their Chinese linguistic identity. This paper also argues that whether a child is learning Chinese or not is actually an index of their parents’ status in the UK. An attempt is made to explain these results within the context of changing socio-economic and political situations. The paper concludes with implications of the findings.