The role of language attitudes and ideologies in minority language learning motivation

Abstract

The present article examines the importance of language attitudes and ideologies for studying motivation to learn minority languages by adults. In the contemporary globalised world, proficiency not only in English, but also in other languages, is necessary in order to communicate internationally and find employment. These may be other ‘major’ state languages, such as French or Spanish. However, in many linguistically diverse or multilingual regions, the local languages are important for increasing one’s own social and cultural capital, social cohesion and occasionally also for their economic values. Hence, it is important to study what motivates people to learn minority and minoritised languages. The L2 Motivational Self System has been developed and used for explaining the motivation to learn English in homogenous educational settings. However, this is only one context in which languages are learned. Drawing on qualitative data obtained among Polish post-2004 adult migrants in Wales, this article discusses the relevance of Dörnyei’s L2 Motivational Self System and integrativeness (Gardner & Lambert 1972) in learning minority languages and the role of more subtle, social aspects of (minority) language learning such as language ideologies. It is proposed that integrativeness and language ideologies are vital in the motivation to learn minority languages.

Who are the language tourists? A factor‐cluster analysis based on language‐related attitudes, beliefs, and travel outcomes

“…The first part of the study comprised an exploratory qualitative study with a heterogeneous sample of 22 language travelers. The purpose of the exploratory study was to select information-rich cases and to capture major variations in the population (Carvalho, 2021a(Carvalho, , 2021bCarvalho & Sheppard, 2021a, 2022. While the qualitative approach contributed to a deeper understanding of research participants' experiences, it raised several questions that are best answered through a quantitative approach, which can provide a bigger picture of the behavior and experiences of language travelers.…”

“…The first scale concerned beliefs, and attitudes toward languages in the travel context, and the second one concerned travel outcomes in one's most significant language travel experience. The items on the scales had a five-point Likert-type response format, and they derived from the qualitative part of the study (Carvalho, 2021a(Carvalho, , 2021bCarvalho & Sheppard, 2021a, 2022. Second, k-means clustering was conducted to identify homogeneous groups of language travelers based on the obtained dimensions.…”

“…Three broad motivational dimensions can be distinguished in the literature on LT: (a) motivations for language choice; (b) motivations for language travel; and (c) motivations for destination choice (Carvalho & Sheppard, 2021a). In order to characterize motivations for language choice, some studies used Gardner and Lambert's (1972) distinction between an integrative and an instrumental orientation to language learning (e.g., Rosiak, 2022; Spolsky, 2000). An integrative orientation is associated with a sincere interest in the language of a people and or culture, and a desire to integrate in the target language community, while an instrumental orientation is associated with learning a language to achieve other goals (e.g., academic, or work‐related goals).…”

Introductory Chapter: Minorities - New Studies and Perspectives

“…Globally, minorities do not receive equal health care or outcomes than their majority counterparts [4]. Linguistic minority students in primary, secondary, and post-secondary schools face formidable discrimination-both explicitly and implicitly [5]. And, religious and ethnic minorities experienced genocide based on minority status and as a scapegoat to the country's larger problems (e.g., WWII between 1941 and1945 and Rwanda in the 1990s).…”