English and Chinese language ideologies among Vietnamese students in Taiwan: the construction of an ideal neoliberal self

ABSTRACT

This article examines English and Chinese language ideologies among Vietnamese students in Taiwan, focusing on their beliefs about the value or benefits of the languages and their self-construction as reflected in these beliefs. Data were obtained from semi-structured interviews with students of English-medium programs in Taiwanese universities. The students suggested a number of benefits of English and Mandarin Chinese, thereby associating the languages with human capital and/or marketable commodities. In that process, they may be relating their personhood to an ideal neoliberal self – the person who possesses the capital and commodities valued by the market. The ideal neoliberal self as imagined by the students, however, is not necessarily a comprehensive image for them to construct and not necessarily connected with their future actual self. It is also suggested that in addition to English, competence in another powerful language such as Chinese is a strong plus for individuals to be more employable and competitive.

Acknowledgments

I sincerely thank the reviewers for their valuable comments and feedback on the earlier versions of this article. I would also like to acknowledge Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs for their financial sponsorship under the Taiwan Fellowship program, which is an important support for the research project on which this article is based.

Data availability statement:

The data that support the findings of this study are not publicly available due to ethical restrictions, e.g., their containing information that could compromise the privacy of research participants.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs under the Taiwan Fellowship program.