Towards Putonghua-dominated multilingualism? Investigating students’ language attitudes, abilities, use, and preference in a Hokkien-speaking region

This study investigates the correlation between attitudes, abilities, use and preference of Hokkien, Putonghua and English among secondary school students in a Hokkien-speaking region of Mainland China. This research employs a mixed-methods design involving 586 students for questionnaires and 24 students for other semi-structured interviews. The quantitative results show students hold more positive attitudes towards Putonghua, which dominates in both proficiency and use. Attitudes towards Hokkien and English remain moderate, as both are primarily restricted to domestic interactions and classroom/examination contexts, respectively. Demographic factors show insignificant correlations with attitudes, abilities and use. Regression analysis indicates higher proficiency and greater use are significantly associated with more positive attitudes towards Hokkien and English, whereas attitudes towards Putonghua are shaped mainly by proficiency. Students maintain a strong Hokkien identity. Qualitative data confirm while family language policies support Hokkien as the preferred home language, institutional ‘Putonghua-only’ ideologies accelerate the decline of topolectal fluency and reinforce Putonghua as the preferred language in school and broader societal domains. English is perceived primarily as a school subject with limited functional utility. The findings suggest a tendency towards Putonghua-dominated multilingualism, accompanied by declining topolect proficiency and sustained but largely instrumental English proficiency. We close with implications and limitations.