Abstract
Language attitudes and motivations are among the most important factors in language acquisition that condition the language learning outcomes. College students enrolled in first-semester and second-semester courses of Chinese, Japanese, and Spanish at a Midwest American university completed a survey eliciting instrumental motivations, integrative motivations, and language attitudes. The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions the learners of that language(s) held and how their language attitudes and motivations correlate with specific world languages. There was strong interest in using Chinese and Spanish for careers, while participants in Japanese were more interested in using the language for personal enjoyment. American-raised participants take Spanish and Asian-raised students take Chinese and Japanese for much the same reasons, in that they perceive the languages to be easy. Implications for world language programs recruitment are discussed, along with what world language educators can do to take advantage of these pre-existing attitudes and motivations to deliver high quality instruction beyond simply grammar.
Highlights
Language attitudes and motivations are important to study because the decisions to study a world language in college may be affected by students’ perceptions of the languages and cultures they represent
The following research questions guided the study: (1) What attitudes do college students have towards the language they are currently studying? and (2) What motivates college students to learn the language they are currently studying? This study focused on the language attitudes and motivations of college students enrolled in first-year language courses at a Midwest university in the U.S Results from this study may inform recruitment practices of world language programs at colleges and universities, and the program decisions of K-12 schools that offer world languages
This study investigates the language attitudes of undergraduates enrolled in beginning-level Chinese, Japanese, and Spanish courses and their motivations to study those languages
Summary
Language attitudes and motivations are important to study because the decisions to study a world language in college may be affected by students’ perceptions of the languages and cultures they represent. Instrumental motivation was used to refer to “the practical value and advantages of learning a new language” (Lambert 1974: 98) while integrative motivation was defined as “the willingness to be like valued members of the language community” (Gardner & Lambert 1959: 271). This framework has been broadened and modified over the years (e.g., McGroarty 2001, Noels 2001, Dörnyei & Ushioda 2013, Dörnyei, MacIntyre & Henry 2015)
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