Diglossia in Cyprus: Constructing A Questionnaire to Measure Russian-Speaking Immigrants’ Attitudes towards Learning Common Greek as L2 and Perceived Level of Exposure and Attitudes towards Cypriot Greek

Abstract

Cyprus is an island country where diglossia exists, potentially creating certain communicational issues for Cyprus's many immigrants. Second Language Acquisition (SLA) research has shown that attitudes towards L2 and towards SLA significantly affect L2 acquisition. This study describes the design, development, and validation of the Second Language Acquisition in Diglossia Questionnaire (SLA-Dig), which was administered to the largest immigrant minority on the island. Initially the SLA-Dig consisted of 41 Likert type items designed to measure four factors. The SLA-Dig was translated into immigrants' L1 and was originally administered to 105 individuals. Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) led to subsequent adaptation. The final version, consisting of 22 questions, was administered to another sample of 182 immigrants. EFA results were in accordance with the original analysis. Reliability analysis resulted in satisfactory Cronbach's α coefficients, consistent with a valid and reliable research tool for conducting research on factors affecting SLA in diglossia situations.