Abstract
The Central Asian republics represent an interesting yet little-studied space for researching the interplay between language learning motivation (LLM), multiculturalism, and multilingualism given their cultural and linguistic diversity and official promotion of multilingualism and positive multicultural attitudes through language learning initiatives in schools and universities. This article reports on a questionnaire study that investigated the LLM of 235 university students in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, including their integrativeness and international posture. The students were learning Arabic, Chinese, English, French, German, Japanese, Russian, Spanish, and Turkish, with a majority of them learning two or more languages concurrently. The study also explored their views regarding the benefits of being multilingual and the extent to which their level of multilingualism, both formally and natively acquired, affected their multicultural attitudes and levels of prejudice towards outgroups. The findings revealed statistically significant gender differences in how the participants viewed the benefits of being multilingual, as well as statistically significant relationships between their levels of natively acquired multilingualism and their multicultural attitudes and levels of prejudice towards outgroups. International posture and integrativeness, meanwhile, were found to be distinct concepts with little overlap.
Highlights
A growing number of countries around the world, including in Europe (Calafato, 2020a; Minobr, 2021; Raud & Orehhova, 2020) and Asia (Calafato & Tang, 2019a; Gao & Zheng, 2019; Liddicoat, 2019; Syzdykbayeva, 2016), have implemented language learning initiatives in schools and universities to promote multilingualism and positive multicultural attitudes among younger generations
Concepts and frameworks: Domains, integrativeness, and international posture This study investigated the relationships between multilingualism, positive multicultural attitudes, and prejudice among university students in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, as well as their motivations to learn languages and their views concerning the benefits of being multilingual
This study investigated the language learning motivation (LLM) of university students in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan who were studying diverse languages, including their integrativeness and international posture per language studied, as well as their views about the benefits of being multilingual and the extent to which their multicultural attitudes and prejudice towards outgroups were affected by their multilin gualism
Summary
A growing number of countries around the world, including in Europe (Calafato, 2020a; Minobr, 2021; Raud & Orehhova, 2020) and Asia (Calafato & Tang, 2019a; Gao & Zheng, 2019; Liddicoat, 2019; Syzdykbayeva, 2016), have implemented language learning initiatives in schools and universities to promote multilingualism and positive multicultural attitudes among younger generations. A multilingual population can burnish its reputation internationally, helping it forge multi-faceted partnerships with other countries and boosting its competitiveness in global trade. In the United Arab Emirates, the government, aiming to meet the growing demand for multilingual individuals in a globalized world, has imple mented dual medium of instruction in Arabic and English in some public schools while students have the opportunity to study multiple (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
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