The Doubters' Dilemma

A Q Methodology Study Into Vision of Italian L2 University Students: An Australian Perspective

“…Scholars have noted that in those same years, Italian underwent a shift of image, from being seen almost exclusively as a language of migrants, to being seen as a language of prestige (i.e., a language for cultural enrichment) as well as an economic resource for matters of trade and international business (Lo Bianco, 1989, 1994; Lo Bianco & Aliani, 2013). Yet Italian does not enjoy a healthy status given the very poor retention rate into upper secondary and tertiary levels (Absalom, 2011, 2020; Bettoni, 1992; Hajek, 2000; Martin, Jansen, & Beckmann 2016; Slaughter & Hajek, 2015).…”

University Students’ Demotivation in Learning Second Languages

“…Negative University Context was also identified as the main demotivational factor in responses provided by quitters to SQ3 and by discounting students when answering one multiple-choice question which asked them why they intended to discontinue learning an L2, i.e., lack of credit points to include an L2 in their study plan for a second or third semester. Data also reveal that a small portion of discontinuing students and quitters were obliged to stop studying an L2 due to personal circumstances; e.g., they finished their university career or they encountered personal problems which were not related to the three factors under analysis, which Martín et al (2016) identified as practical reasons.…”

“…Statistical tools confirm that the largest differences across the three categories were related to the PLL factor at the micro level. Indeed, qualitative data suggest that discontinuing students and quitters felt higher levels of frustration for their poor performances and more frequently experienced negative emotions, as identified by Martín et al (2016). In the case of quitters, a loss of interest prevented them from enrolling in a further semester of L2 studies, which would be devoted to subjects "more important than their [L2] studies" (Martín et al, 2016, p. 136).…”

“…Australian universities are witnessing a decrease in enrollments for second language (L2) courses (Martín et al, 2016). Beginner level L2 students, more than other groups of students, experience a drop in their motivation at a very early stage of their L2 learning process (Nettelbeck et al, 2007;Palmieri, 2019).…”

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Prior studies report a tendency of university students in Australia to quit their beginner level second language (L2) courses at an early stage (Martín et al, 2016;Nettelbeck et al, 2007). Demotivational patterns are meta-analyzed to understand what hampers the interest in learning French, German, Italian and Spanish of continuing students, discontinuing students, and quitters over one year of studies at Australian universities.

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