Attitudes Towards English and Cantonese among Hong Kong Chinese University Lecturers

This article describes a study that used primarily in-depth interviews to investigate the attitudes of 20 lecturers towards the English medium of instruction policy at a Hong Kong university at the moment of the former British colony's transition to Chinese sovereignty. The results of the study document the overall attitudes of the lecturers towards the policy, their reasons for supporting it, their problems in applying it, and their reported use of Cantonese to overcome their problems in applying it. The rather ambivalent attitude towards English that the study reveals is seen as indicative of the sociolinguistic tensions within the society at large. The article concludes with a discussion of ways to tackle the perceived problems.