Speak English in the department or perish? A multimethod study on online public responses to an English-only incident at a U.S. university
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2-20-2024
Abstract
This study investigated more than 3600 online comments responding to an incident in 2019 where a controversial memo was sent to instruct Chinese graduate students at a US university not to speak Chinese in the department. A text analysis based on Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count software showed that these comments included more negative-emotion words compared with positive-emotion words. In addition, an inductive thematic analysis identified themes supporting monolingual language ideology and other themes supporting language freedom in the United States and questioning the context of this English-only incident. 本研究调查了3600多条针对2019年美国某大学一封建议中国研究生在系里不要说中文的争议性邮件事件的网上评论。通过使用Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count软件，文本分析显示评论中的消极情绪词汇多于积极情绪词汇。另外，归纳式主题分析发现了支持单语意识形态的主题，以及另外支持美国的语言自由和质疑“只能说英语”事件的情境背景的主题。
Published In
Zhu, Y., Bresnahan, M. J., Wang, Y., Yan, X., & Hussain, S. A. (2024). Speak English in the department or perish? A multimethod study on online public responses to an English-only incident at a U.S. university. Language and Intercultural Communication, Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/14708477.2024.2307591
Publication Title
Language and Intercultural Communication
DOI
10.1080/14708477.2024.2307591