The present research examines the role of music and dance in motivating Gaelic language learning on Cape Breton Island (Canada). The Gaelic language, once thriving in this context, has declined in use but flourishes in both music and dance. This article presents the results of in-depth interviews (60-90 minutes) with 10 accomplished adult musicians and dancers who described in rich detail connections between traditional music and the Gaelic language. The interview texts were analyzed using Leximancer 4.0, text-mining software that performs an automatic analysis by deriving, in a grounded fashion, the key concepts in a text. Semantic and relational co-occurrence information was extracted using artificial intelligence, producing a map of interrelations among concepts. Three interrelated concepts are introduced to describe community-level motivational processes evident in the interviews: Rooted second language (L2) self, heritage passions, and heritage convictions. The rooted L2 self is defined by connections to place and speakers of the language; heritage passions reflect the development of emotional bonds, core values, and strengths; and heritage convictions capture deep-seated beliefs, attitudes, and mindsets. Elements of both Gardner's notion of integrative motivation and Dörnyei's L2 self system are evident and are considered within Ushioda's (2009) person-in-context relational model, emphasizing the connections among learners and contexts.ENGAGING WITH RELATIVELY UNEXPLOred motives in relatively unexplored contexts affords us an opportunity to offer new theorizing for language learning motivation in second language acquisition (SLA). The present study aims to address the first question underlying this special issue: Can mainstream perspectives sufficiently explain motivation for learning languages other than English? In this study, we examine the motivation to learn a heritage language, specifically the role of music and dance in the preservation of Scottish Gaelic on Cape Breton Island. The Gaelic language, once thriving in this local context, is seldom spoken anymore but both traditional music and dance flourish. The present project reflects a highly contextualized combination of psychological and ethnomusicological perspectives on language learning motivation for a language with relatively few speakers. We are asking in what sense music and dance contribute meaning to the learning of Gaelic and, by extension, for the future of the Gaelic language and its local traditions.

This brief report examines correlations between intense, highly motivating flow experiences, perceptions of competence, and willingness to communicate in both language and music, in the context of Scottish Gaelic and traditional music. The sample of 54 persons, mostly from Canada and Scotland, was contacted via Facebook groups. The frequency of flow experiences correlated highly between language and music contexts. Correlations for willingness to communicate/play and perceived competence with language and music also are reported. Results are interpreted as reflecting a combination of social (e.g., identity) and personality-based (e.g., autotelic) processes.

It is urgent that we learn how to motivate learners of threatened heritage languages. Motivational theories, however, are weakened when they consider heritage languages in isolation from the rest of the culture in which they are enmeshed. By drawing on psycholinguist Zoltán Dörnyei's L2 Motivational Self System to analyze interviews with ten traditional musicians from Nova Scotia with varying degrees of Gaelic fluency, we find that musical knowledge inspires and enriches their language learning and vice versa. It is the interviewees’ holistic understanding of Gaelic culture, as well as the culture's links to community and heritage, that motivates them.

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The first Science Meets Parliament event in Canada was held in November 2018 in Ottawa, where twenty-eight Tier II Canada Research Chairs (a specific class of Canadian university professor acknowledged by their peers as having the potential to lead in their field) from diverse disciplines met with forty-three Members of Canadian Parliament and Senators. The main goal of this event was to facilitate communication between these two key pillars of the society, to promote mutual understanding of the nature of their respective work, roles, and responsibilities, and to build long-term relationships. Here, we, representatives of the first cohort of scientists to participate in the program, summarize our experiences and lessons learned from this event, as well as our assessment of the benefits of attending this event for scientists, policy decision-makers, and institutions. Furthermore, we provide suggestions for similar future events in Canada and elsewhere.