‘People can be smarter with two languages’: changing anglophone students' attitudes to language learning through teaching linguistics

TY - JOUR

T1 - ‘People can be smarter with two languages’

T2 - changing anglophone students' attitudes to language learning through teaching linguistics

AU - Lanvers, Ursula

AU - Hultgren, Kristina

AU - Gayton, Angela

N1 - © 2016 Association for Language Learning. This is an author-produced version of the published paper. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher’s self-archiving policy. Further copying may not be permitted; contact the publisher for details

PY - 2016/7/25

Y1 - 2016/7/25

N2 - With English as an undisputed global lingua franca, there is long-standing concern in anglophone countries over the lack of interest in language learning. In the UK, significant changes in language education policy, a mentality of insularity and the global spread of English have all contributed to a drop in language learning uptake beyond the compulsory stage. While the UK has seen many initiatives aiming to foster language learning, no interventions so far have aimed to change learner attitudes by raising students’ language awareness of (a) the spread of English globally, and (b) cognitive benefits of mulitilingualism, and the ubiquity of multilingualism, globally and in the UK. A teaching intervention designed for this purpose was delivered to 97 students aged 12–13 in three different state schools in England and Scotland. The effect of the intervention was measured by a pre- and post- questionnaire, with questions closely tailored to the content of the intervention. In addition, qualitative student feedback was gathered after the intervention. Results show significant changes, across the cohort, in two out of three constructs studied, and effects on students’ attitude towards language learning. Thus, we conclude that raising anglophone students’ awareness of language through raising awareness of cognitive benefits of multilingualism, and the spread of English globally, has the potential to change the attitudes of learners otherwise not interested in language learning.

AB - With English as an undisputed global lingua franca, there is long-standing concern in anglophone countries over the lack of interest in language learning. In the UK, significant changes in language education policy, a mentality of insularity and the global spread of English have all contributed to a drop in language learning uptake beyond the compulsory stage. While the UK has seen many initiatives aiming to foster language learning, no interventions so far have aimed to change learner attitudes by raising students’ language awareness of (a) the spread of English globally, and (b) cognitive benefits of mulitilingualism, and the ubiquity of multilingualism, globally and in the UK. A teaching intervention designed for this purpose was delivered to 97 students aged 12–13 in three different state schools in England and Scotland. The effect of the intervention was measured by a pre- and post- questionnaire, with questions closely tailored to the content of the intervention. In addition, qualitative student feedback was gathered after the intervention. Results show significant changes, across the cohort, in two out of three constructs studied, and effects on students’ attitude towards language learning. Thus, we conclude that raising anglophone students’ awareness of language through raising awareness of cognitive benefits of multilingualism, and the spread of English globally, has the potential to change the attitudes of learners otherwise not interested in language learning.

U2 - 10.1080/09571736.2016.1196384

DO - 10.1080/09571736.2016.1196384

M3 - Article

SP - 1

EP - 17

JO - Language Learning Journal

JF - Language Learning Journal

ER -