Search

This article explores adolescent students' attitudes toward learning English and other European languages studied at secondary school. The study is based on 2255 qualitative responses to a survey conducted in Bulgaria, Germany, the Netherlands, and Spain. The data reveal that, although differences between countries shape the experience of foreign language learning in different ways, students in all four countries are highly aware of the global status of English. This can be a positive stimulus for students' attitudes toward English but it can also negatively affect their attitudes toward learning other languages, as these can be perceived as less valuable. While perceived societal importance can differ from personal relevance and while identity issues, ability beliefs, contextual factors on the school and classroom level, as well as social-relational contexts (especially the relationship to the teacher) also play a role in shaping students' attitudes, the data demonstrate that macro-contextual factors exert considerable influence. They also suggest that more attention must be paid to stimulating positive attitudes toward language diversity and to fostering plurilingual aspirations in young Europeans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study focuses on the role of different theories when considered together in a foreign language other than English (LOTE) context. Specifically, the study examines (a) to what extent influential second language (L2) motivational theories, when integrated, explain motivation to learn LOTEs, and (b) how the powerful status of English in Japan affects learners' self- and identity-related motivation to learn LOTEs. Survey responses of 250 Japanese learners, who simultaneously learned a foreign LOTE and English as a required language, were analyzed using a structural equation modeling (SEM) approach. The results offer insight into how various coexisting social factors are connected to learners' multiple self- and identity-related orientations, which in turn predict several varied academic consequences (e.g., effort, attitude, and L2 ability). We also confirmed positive and negative interplay of English- and LOTE-related orientations such that the self- and identity-related orientations of the languages will play a competing role (e.g., Csizér & Lukács, 2010). This finding highlights the importance of taking sociopolitical perspectives into consideration in a context where learners learn two languages and one has a specific political presence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The theoretical paradigms of second language (L2) learning motivation developed over the past 25 years have been largely based on the study of English as a target language, which raises the question as to whether they are equally applicable to the understanding of the motivation to learn languages other than English (LOTEs). It is suggested in this article that current conceptualizations of L2 motivation display certain subtle characteristics that may not do full justice to the understanding of the motivation underlying LOTEs, either by downplaying certain important features or by providing an insufficiently nuanced representation of areas where the motivation to learn English and LOTEs diverges. The discussion addresses five such aspects: (a) the confounding interaction of English- and LOTE-related self-images, (b) the individualistic focus of the ideal L2 self, (c) the different nature/role of the ought-to self associated with languages with substantial versus marginal social support, (d) the different nature of goals in the learning of English and LOTEs, and (e) the differing role of unconscious motives in the study of English and LOTEs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the relative effects of two treatments-goal setting and visualization-on enhancing Willingness to Communicate (WTC) among a group of 373 Japanese university EFL learners. Although longitudinal studies in both EFL and ESL settings have been conducted to examine the developmental aspect of WTC, no solid results of enhancing WTC through instruction have been found in EFL settings. Based on Dörnyei's (2005) concept of the Ideal L2 Self, lessons were designed for the two treatment groups so learners could visualize themselves as future specialists in their field, discussing global issues and presenting their creative ideas for solving these global problems. For the second treatment group, a goal setting activity was introduced in which students articulated their speaking goals in each class. The nontreatment group, the visualization group, and the visualization plus goal setting group had approximately the same amount of communicative activities. The ANCOVA results suggest that the visualization treatment alone was not effective in enhancing learners' L2 WTC over the nontreatment group. However, when visualization was combined with goal setting, the increase in learners' L2 WTC was significantly larger compared to the visualization group, and by implication, significantly larger compared to the nontreatment group. Additionally, the impact of visualization and goal setting on learners' WTC was qualitatively explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]