Uses an attitude/motivation battery and matched-guise procedure to examine Kazak, Uygur, and Yi subject's ratings of Putonghua (PTH) and Chinese ethnic minority nationality (EMN) languages and 12 variables in PTH learning. Shows among other things that integrative orientation of Beijing people are the best predictors of EMN's instrumental…

Introduction: Foreign language learners also often hold different beliefs or notions about language learning (Horwitz 1987), and existing research suggests that learner beliefs have the potential to influence both their experiences and actions as language learners. Method: This paper reports on a study which investigated the language learning…

This study reports on collaboration between second language (L2) instructors of English and Japanese. Learners and speakers of each language were brought together on a regular basis to serve as models, partners, group members, and supportive peers to assist each other's language learning efforts. ANOVA analyses were used to contrast students in…

Language learning motivation plays an important role in both research and teaching, yet language learners are still largely understood in terms of North American and European cultural values. This research explored language learning motivation constructs in a Chinese cultural setting, where large numbers of students are required to study English.…

The discussion of bilingualism and bilingual education focuses on three common concerns: (1) whether children will suffer if they become bilingual; (2) whether they will suffer from education using two languages; and (3) whether bilingualism and bilingual education are more successful when chosen or when imposed on a population. The three…

A study investigated Finnish high school students' second language learning motivation, attitudes, self-concepts, inhibitions, and selected personality traits. The study attempted to learn more about the nature, content, and functions of the "affective filter" in foreign language learning. A variety of relationships between these factors…

The author reviews some of the research which he has conducted on the role of the parent in the language-learning situation. While most of this research has not dealt with English as a second language, it is suggested that the observed phenomenon is as relevant to the ESL program as to any other second-language situation. The author summarizes his…

Montreal high school students studying French as a second language completed a battery of tests including measures of linguistic aptitude, verbal intelligence, and various attitudinal and motivational characteristics. Analysis of the intercorrelations of these tests yielded two orthogonal factors equally related to ratings of achievement in…

Becoming bilingual as defined in this book is a process by which an adult acquires an additional language in the environment in which it is spoken, surrounded by the culture in which it is used. The book seeks to present the learner with an integrated and systematic treatment of his task--linguistic, cultural, and practical--in learning a new…

Recent research on effective teaching and the literature on the motivation of learning provide the second-language teacher with specific strategies to help reduce negative student attitudes toward the language course. These strategies are presented and discussed. (42 references) (Author/MSE)

Carr (2002), in her investigation of boys' alienation from languages and language learning, addressed the question of an "appropriate curriculum" for boys and boys' understanding of masculinity. Boys reported in that research that they preferred physical activities so found the written text orientation of language learning to be "hard" and…

This article reports on research into the motivation of Indonesian children aged 11-12 years old, as they begin formal study of English in an urban junior high school. The research used closed and open questionnaire items, backed up by class observations and interviews with a selected group of learners. Very high levels of motivation to learn the…

The 2008 Central States Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, a joint conference with the Michigan World Language Association, focused on learning about the diverse backgrounds and needs of today's students and discovering new ways to help them succeed in reaching the goal of language proficiency. A wide variety of workshops and…

This annotated bibliography contains 33 references related to the topic of individual difference correlates of second-language achievement found in 26 journals available in the University of Western Ontario, and follows up a 1988 bibliography covering the years 1984-1987. Bibliographic information provided includes author, title, source, abstracts…

This practical guide on foreign language learning presents concrete suggestions on how to become a more effective and successful language learner. Suitable for use by both students and teachers, the book, divided into three parts, discusses language and language learning, learning strategies, and learner aids. Part 1 discusses the language learner…