Is English the Culprit? Longitudinal Associations Between Students’ Value Beliefs in English, German, and French in Multilingual Switzerland

Abstract

Motivational interactions during multiple language learning have been largely neglected in language motivation research. To fill this gap, we investigate longitudinal relations between Swiss German students' value beliefs in English, French, and German in upper secondary schools and whether there are differences in motivational development between multilingual and monolingual students. Multivariate latent growth modeling was used to analyze data from 850 students (M age = 15.61 years, SD = .62; 54% female) gathered yearly from Grades 9 to 11. Results suggest an interference between students' value beliefs in English and the other 2 languages. Students who reported higher value beliefs in English in Grade 9 showed steeper decreases in their value beliefs for French and German from Grades 9 to 11. However, stronger increases in English value beliefs over time were associated with stronger increases in French and German value beliefs. Moreover, while multilingual students reported higher initial value beliefs in French and English, they also showed steeper decreases in French and English value beliefs over time compared to their monolingual peers. Findings are discussed in relation to their implications for teaching practice and future research directions.

Heritage identity and Indigenous language learning motivation: A case of Indigenous Taiwanese high school students

“…Raising concerns about the overreliance on global English in theoretical conceptualizations of L2 motivation, a special issue of The Modern Language Journal (Ushioda & Dörnyei, 2017) has brought more attention to LOTE motivation. Since its publication in 2017, an increasing number of studies have discussed the competing effects that global English may have on conceptualizations of LOTE motivation (Costache et al., 2022; Fukui & Yashima, 2021; see also Mendoza & Phung, 2019, for a meta‐synthesis). Moreover, a variety of antecedents and contextual variables have been examined, including integrative reasons (e.g., Huang & Feng, 2019), international posture (e.g., Zheng et al., 2019), local sociocultural contexts (e.g., Nomura et al., 2019; Teo et al., 2019), situated communication needs (e.g., Nakamura, 2019), and attitudes about multilinguals in globalized worlds (Siridetkoon & Dewaele, 2017).…”

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“…Nowadays, the experiments are getting much more sophistication in the design. The statistical methods used by these experiments are more advanced to make accurate interpretations (e. g., Costache et al, 2022;Kormos & Csizér, 2014;Liu, 2021). Other advanced methods are also adopted in discovering the intricate development of language learning process for either normal or abnormal children (e.g., Zhou et al, 2019;Zhou et al, 2020).…”