Gender dissonance in language attitudes: a case of Hong Kong

Abstract

This study examines gender effects in attitudes towards the three major languages of English, Cantonese, and Putonghua in the multilingual society of Hong Kong. It focuses on analyzing gender effects in individual components and factored dimensions of language attitudes. 635 secondary students from 17 schools across Hong Kong were randomly selected to participate in the study. They were administered a written questionnaire and a listening Matched-Guise Test. The findings indicate significant gender effects in the attitudes held by the students towards the different languages in different components and dimensions of attitude. The results show that significant and rather complex gender effects exist in attitudes towards the language varieties used in the multilingual society of Hong Kong, and points to many possible implications and interpretations. For example, it was found that students of both genders affectively preferred male speakers in Cantonese and female speakers in English and Putonghua. In addition, it was found that cognitively, female students were overall more favourable to the foreign languages of English and Putonghua as compared to male students, but these differences in gender preferences did not show up affectively.