Motivation, Language Attitudes, and Globalisation: A Hungarian Perspective

Abstract

The volume, Motivation, Language Attitudes and Globalisation: A Hungarian Perspective, written by Dornyei, Csizer, and Nemeth, presents the results of a large survey on motivation in second language learning from over 13,000 Hungarian foreign language learners collected in three successive stages during 1993, 1999, and 2004. The objectives of this book were to provide a quantitative statistical analysis on the significance of the relationship between the socio-political changes in Hungary and the variety of interests among Hungarians in learning five foreign languages: English, German, French, Italian, and Russian. The informants were young teenagers selected nationwide and surveyed during an eventful, historical time in the country, that is, the 12-year transitional period when the nation went from restrained communism to an open, Western-style democracy. The fact that Hungary faced many difficult obstacles in a plethora of areas in its drive towards European Union membership makes this study particularly interesting. The various national, political, social, and personal motives of the Hungarians to choose and learn particular foreign languages are analyzed in this volume.