English Linguistics Master (2008 2009) Master dissertation
Transcript of English Linguistics Master (2008 2009) Master dissertation
English Linguistics
Master (20082009)
Master dissertation
Ideologies of language learning: a comparison between
learning English and Spanish in Flemish and Walloon
secondary schools
iselotte David Supervisor: Stef Slembrouck L
0 . Index
1. Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………………………….1
2. Literature review…………………………………………………………………………………………………..3
2.1 Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………………………..3
2.2 Language ideologies……………………………………………………………………………………….4
2.3 Language attitudes……………………………………………………………………………………….11
2.4 Motivation…………………………………………………………………………………………………...18
2.5 Language aptitude………………………………………………………………………………………..25
2.6 Personality…………………………………………………………………………………………………..25
2.7 Foreign language anxiety……………………………………………………………………………...26
2.8 Age, gender and school……………………………………………………………………………..….28
2.9 Previous studies…………………………………………………………………………………………..29
2.10 Foreign language education in Flanders…………………………………………………..……30
2.11 Foreign language education in Wallonia………………………………………………………..33
2.12 Foreign language education in Brussels……………………………………………………...…34
3. Methodology……………………………………………………………………………………………………….38
4. Findings…………………………………………………………………………………………………………...…40
4.1 Findings of Flemish pupils……………………………………………………………………………40
4.2 Findings of Walloon pupils…………………………………...………………………………………54
4.3 Findings of Flemish teachers………………………………………………………………………...71
4.4 Findings of Walloon teachers…………………………………………………………………..……78
5. Discussion…………………………………………………………………………………………………….…….82
5.1 Difficulty…………………………………………………………………………………………….………..82
5.2 Competence and effort…………………………………………………………………………...…….83
5.3 Similarities with other languages………………………………………………………………….83
5.4 Foreign language anxiety……………………………………………………………………………...84
5.5 Motivation…………………………………………………………………………………………………...84
6. Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………………………………….86
7. Bibliography……………………………………………………………………………………………………….89
8. Annexes……………………………………………………………………………………………………………...94
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1. Introduction
There has been an increasing recognition that ideologies, attitudes and beliefs towards
language learning are important because they may have consequences for learner’s
ultimate language achievement. “Learner beliefs have the potential to influence both
their experiences and actions as language learners.” (Horwitz, 1999: 558). This suggests
that people with different beliefs towards language learning and the particular foreign
language may differ in how successful they are in learning that language. Nevertheless,
beliefs are not the only individual differences that are said to influence how successful
different people will be in studying a language. Motivation, language aptitude, language
anxiety and many more are also frequently cited in the second language acquisition
literature on language learning.
In my pilot study, I explored the ideologies of Flemish students at secondary school
towards English and Spanish. Now, I will compare Flemish and Walloon pupils’
ideologies towards English and Spanish. I will highlight the differences between learning
English and Spanish and between Flemish and Walloon pupils. I have also inquired into
some of the other individual differences such as language anxiety and language
motivation to complement the research.
The impetus of this study came from the fact that I study English and Spanish myself.
While attitudes and beliefs towards French, Dutch, English and German have received
considerable attention in the literature on Belgian pupils (e.g. Housen, Janssens &
Pierrard, 2003; Dewaele, 2005; Sercu, 2000), research on Spanish has not been done yet.
There have also been numerous investigations into language ideologies, but none, to my
knowledge, has examined the ideologies of language learning and has thoroughly
explained the difference between attitudes and ideologies.
For the purposes of this paper, qualitative as well as quantitative research have been
conducted. Three teachers were interviewed: two Flemish teachers – one who teaches
English and one who teaches Spanish – and one Walloon teacher who teaches both
English and Spanish. Flemish and Walloon pupils who follow both English and Spanish
courses were given a questionnaire. The results of both data are compared.
First, I will give an overview of relevant literature and previous studies done in this area.
Second, information on the data used and how they were collected and analyzed will be
presented. Third, the findings will be presented and commented on. Fourth, I will
iscuss all the results together. Finally, I will summarize the research. d
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2. Literature review
2.1 Introduction
This study is concerned with the different ideologies that Walloon and Flemish pupils
(might) have while learning English and Spanish. Research into the ideologies of
language learning has not yet been done, therefore I will also discuss studies concerning
attitudes and beliefs towards language learning. These concepts have mainly been
studied in the domains of second language acquisition (SLA) and social psychology. SLA
and attitudinal research have focused on individual differences such as motivation,
anxiety, aptitude, age, gender, etc. which can affect language achievement. There is no
consensus which factors play a role in the language learning process but I will discuss
the ones that are generally accepted.
First, I will discuss the notions “ideologies” and “attitudes” and explain the differences
between these terms. Second, I will comment on motivation and give an overview of the
most important research done in this area. Third, I will talk about language aptitude and
its importance for language achievement. Fourth, personality will be discussed.
Personality can have a lot of dimensions and different authors state various ones,
therefore I will again comment on the ones that are generally accepted. Fifth, factors
such as age, gender and school will be talked about. These last factors are only
mentioned briefly because less attention has been paid to those components in the
questionnaire. Sixth, I will talk about similar studies to mine. Finally, foreign language
ducation in three regions of Belgium will be discussed: Flanders, Wallonia and Brussels. e
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2.2 Language ideologies
Language ideologies are not a clear‐cut concept for three reasons. One, there is no unity
in its immense body of research. Two, there is no single core literature. Three, there is a
wide range of definitions, which focus on different aspects of the concept. (Kroskrity,
2004; Woolard & Schieffelin, 1994)
Definition
Kroskrity defined language ideologies as “thoughts about language by their speakers”
(2004: 496), which is a relatively broad description. Alan Rumsey (1990: 346, cited in
Kroskrity, 2004) described them as “shared bodies of commonsense notions about the
nature of language in the world”. This definition, however, does not imply any possibility
of variation of ideologies so it is not satisfactory. Most definitions seem to be more
complicated. Silverstein (1979, cited in Kroskrity, 2004) was one of the first linguists
who thought that language ideologies took up an important part of language study. He
defined it as “sets of beliefs about language articulated by users as a rationalization or
justification of perceived language structure and use” (1979: 193, cited in Kroskrity,
2004). In this definition, the user has a high degree of awareness of his language
ideology. This means that language ideologies are often explicitly articulated by
members and that they use ideologies to shape or influence some linguistic structures.
The following example will make this clearer. Before 1700, English had thee/thou as the
second singular and ye/you as the second plural. Thee/thou were also considered to be
the intimate form and ye/you the formal form. The Quakers, however, objected to these
linguistic structures and used thee/thou in all contexts. This is how a language ideology
developed: if you used thee/thou in any context, it made you sound like a Quaker.
Therefore, most people altered their way of speaking and writing and used ye/you in all
contexts (Wortham, 2001). This example proves that ideology plays an important role in
altering, regularizing and rationalizing linguistic change. However, not all users tend to
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be this aware of their ideologies and I will discuss this matter more thoroughly later. 2
A different definition is given by Irvine (1989, cited in Kroskrity, 2004) and shows a
more sociocultural point of view. She sees language ideologies as “the cultural system of
1 “Most definitions…linguistic structures.” is a part of my BA-paper. 2 “Before 1700… more thoroughly later.” is a part of my BA-paper.
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ideas about social and linguistic relationships, together with their loading of moral and
political interests” (1989: 255, cited in Kroskrity, 2004). Here, the social, moral and
political perspectives of the speakers influence “the cultural ideas about language.” An
example of this is the “Ebonics‐Debate” where some say that African American
Vernacular English is inferior to English and not a legitimate language.3 Therefore, it is
often argued that the use of African American Vernacular English is socially limited and
that incorporating it as a language of instruction in schools would only hinder the
academic progress of African American children (Wardhaugh, 2006).
In a similar vein as Irvine, Blommaert (1999: 1) refers to language ideologies as “the
socioculturally motivated ideas, perceptions and expectations of language, manifested in
all sorts of language use and in themselves objects of discursive elaboration in
metapragmatic discourse.” Again, this is a definition with a sociocultural point of view.
Based on these definitions, we might conclude that language ideologies are beliefs or
ideas about languages by their speakers. These ideologies can be explicit or tacit and are
integrated in society. 4
A definition given by Seargeant (2008) will allow us to focus more closely on the topic of
this paper. He defines language ideologies as “entrenched beliefs about the nature,
function, and symbolic value of language” (2008: 2). The three items will be discussed:
the perceived nature of two foreign languages, i.e. whether students think the language
is inherently difficult or easy; the functions pupils think English and Spanish have in
Flanders, for example whether knowing the language can be useful to get a job; and the
symbolic value of these languages, for instance whether English is still considered to be
the language of popular culture.5
Five levels of organization
Kroskrity (2004) designed five levels of organization of language ideologies that will
help to describe the concept. The first level is “group or individual interests”. This
level means that a culture or social group has its own perceptions about a language.
These perceptions are often tied to their social, economical and political situation. 6
3 “A different definition … legitimate language.” is a part of my BA-paper. 4 “Based on … integrated in society.” is a part of my BA-paper. 5 “A definition… popular culture.” is a part of my BA-paper. 6 “Kroskrity…situation.” is a part of my BA-paper.
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“English With an Accent: Language, Ideology and Discrimination” of Lippi‐Green (1997,
cited in Kroskrity, 2004) is a good illustration of this. She explains that dominant bloc
institutions valorise the standard language and depreciate everything that has to do
with the non‐standard. Consequently, a standard‐based prescriptivism originates which
rejects non‐standards forms, for example the double negative in English. When someone
uses a double negative, the meaning of the sentence is still clear so the superiority of the
standard form does not rest on the structural properties or the communicative
efficiency. Nevertheless, the person is automatically perceived as belonging to a lower
class of speakers. Thus, in this example, the upper and upper‐middle class who speak the
standard “benefit from a social stratification which consolidates and continues their
privileged position” (Kroskrity, 2004: 503).
Nevertheless, members of the same group may have different ideologies. This is what
Kroskrity refers to as “multiplicity of ideologies” or the second level. The reason why
societies differ in their language ideologies is due to the fact that they are different in
ss, gender, clan, elites, genersocial divisions (cla ations, etc.). 7
The third level is “the awareness of speakers”. Ideologies can be explicitly articulated
by the language users or they can be tacit. The last possibility implies that language
ideologies must then be derived from actual usage and are “relatively unchallenged,
highly naturalized, and definitely dominant ideologies” (Kroskrity, 2004).8 “Dominant
ideologies are often implicit and are perpetuated by the populations that most benefit
from them. These ideologies and their related practices are often socio‐political in
nature and are a result of the power relations in the society at large” (Hruska, 2000: 1).
Hruska goes on to assert that ideology is an “implicit philosophy which governs practice
and is often a taken for granted assumption linked to common sense. When ideology and
related practices are considered common sense they become legitimated as the accepted
way of conducting oneself and appear to lose their ideological character” (2000:2). So, it
is important to see that dominant attitudes are still ideologically loaded attitudes but
that those who hold them do not see it in that way (Milroy, 2001). An example of this is
the research that Philips (2000, cited in Kroskrity, 2004) did about Tongan lea kovi
(“bad language”). Lea kovi cannot be explicitly discussed in domestic use because it is a
7 “Nevertheless, members…(class, gender, clan, elites, generations, etc.).” is a part of my BA-paper. 8 “The third level…(Kroskrity,2004).” is a part of my BA-paper.
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profaning topic. Members of the Tongan community adhere to proscriptions on
discourse and one of them is against “bad language”. So, normally, this ideology remains
tacit but in a legal setting these proscriptions can be verbally discussed as part of a
rationalization.
The fourth level is that of “the mediating functions of ideologies”. This is defined as
“language users’ ideologies [that] bridge their sociocultural experience and their
linguistic and discursive resources.” Social experiences give rise to ideas about language.
These ideas determine what linguistic and discursive forms are acceptable to use in that
society.9 When Joel Kuipers (1998, cited in Kroskrity, 2004) researched Weyewa ritual
speech on the Indonesian island of Sumba he found that many genres of this ritual
speech, “which once included the ‘angry’ character of the speech of charismatic leaders”,
had disappeared. The Indonesian state only allowed laments to be incorporated in the
teaching of Weyewa in Sumba‐based schools. By doing this, they eliminated
authoritative and prestigious forms of discourse of the indigenous people. “This
‘erasure’ of specific ritual speech forms (and their connection to an indigenous
authority) demonstrates both the way language ideologies guide local understandings of
discursive forms as well as the embeddedness of language‐ideological processes in the
political economic incorporation of Sumba by the Indonesian state” (Kroskrity, 2004:
508). As Woolard and Schieffelin (1994: 55) aptly summed up: “language ideologies are
forms of talk.” a mediating link between social structures and
The role that language ideologies play in identity construction is the last level.
Membership of the same nation or race, and the setting of boundaries between different
groups, has been helped by language ideologies.10 The standardization of a language can
help to construct a national or ethnic identity but fluency in two languages can also
achieve the same goal, e.g. the code‐switching which is typical of people from Puerto
Rico (Zentella, 1997, cited in Kroskrity, 2004).
Research
We may conclude that studies into language ideologies have often been mainly
concerned with beliefs that people have about their own native language or second or
9 “The fourth level…that society.” is a part of my BA-paper. 10 “The role that… language ideologies.” is a part of my BA-paper.
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third languages if the users are multilingual. The most common topics of language
ideological research are the (im)purity of a language, the social ‘value’ of some language
as opposed to (an)other(s), the socio‐political desirability of the use of one language or
language variety over another, the symbolic ‘quality’ of languages and varieties as
emblems of nationhood, cultural authenticity, progress, modernity, democracy, self‐
respect, freedom, socialism, equality and many more ‘values’ (Blommaert, 1999). There
has also been a small amount of research about ideologies towards foreign languages,
e.g. Hill’s research (1993, cited in Woolard & Schieffelin, 1994) on linguistic borrowings
from foreign languages that display ideologies towards these languages. The present
study, however, is concerned with the ideologies that students have towards the foreign
languages that they are studying. Nevertheless, some levels of organization given by
Kroskrity could also be useful in this study.
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Influence o language deologiesf i
Blommaert (1999: 1) said that “language ideologies are crucial in assessing the
relationships between language and power/social structure and assessing the motives
and causes for certain types of language change.” This means that language ideologies
can change the structure of a language or the use of a linguistic feature, e.g. gendered
pronouns and pronominal alternation (cf. supra) (Silverstein, 1979, cited in Kroskrity,
2004), but also social institutions such as the nation‐state, schooling, gender, dispute
settlement and law can depend on the ideologization of language use (Woolard and
Schieffelin, 1994). “Language ideologies envision and enact links of language to group
and personal ideologies, to aesthetics, to morality, and to epistemology. Through such
linkages, they often underpin fundamental social institutions” (Woolard and Schieffelin,
1994: 55‐56). Here, language ideology mediates between linguistic and social theory
“because it relates the micro‐culture of communicative action to political economic
considerations of power and social inequality confronting macrosocial constraints on
language behavior” (Woolard and Schieffeling, 1994: 72).
11 “We may conclude…multilingual.” is a part of my BA-paper. 12 “There has also … in this study.” has been formulated in slightly other words in my BA-paper.
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Belgian example
We can also find language ideologies in Belgium. Members of the Flemish Movement
violently opposed individual plurilingualism, i.e. knowledge of multiple languages, in
Flanders and in Brussels in the 19th and 20th century. They feared that individual
plurilingualism and frenchification were identical and that it was a threat to the
existence of the Dutch language. This language ideology led to changes in Flanders’
language policies and a heavy body of language legislation in 1962 and 1963 which still
affects attitudes and thinking (Van de Craen, 2001). Housen, Janssens and Pierrard
(2001) stated that there is a shortage of empirical research on foreign language
education in Belgium and that because of this “educational policy making and language
teaching practice are inspired by impressionistic views, fragmented observations, and a
set of widely accepted yet empirically unfounded assumptions” (2001: 47). These folk
assumptions suggest that pupils would find it easier to learn English than the language
of the other community, that English is intrinsically easier to learn than French/Dutch
and that at the end of secondary education they would have a better proficiency of
English than French/Dutch.
Difference with other c nceptso
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Even though Kroskrity (2004: 498) summarizes language ideologies as “beliefs, or
feelings, about languages as used in their social worlds”, they cannot be classified as
mere beliefs. Hruska (2000) said that “individual ideologies are not simply the result of
personal beliefs, but are a reflection of how individuals are positioned in specific
circumstances. Everybody holds beliefs that are shaped by historical circumstances,
their implicit power relations, educational training, and personal experience.”
Blommaert believes that the outcome of language ideological debates “directly or
indirectly involves forms of conflict and inequality among groups of speakers:
restrictions on the use of certain languages/varieties, the loss of social opportunities
when these restrictions are not observed by speakers, the negative stigmatization of
certain languages/varieties, associative labels attached to languages/varieties” (1999:
2). From this we can derive that language ideologies are associated with power and
identity and may have an influence on language behaviour. This also indicates the main
difference with language attitudes which are normally not linked to identity and power
relations. However, Woolard and Schieffelin (1994) did mention that “beyond research
that explicitly invokes the term ideology are numerous studies that address cultural
conceptions of language in the guise of […] [e.g.] attitudes […].” I will also describe
research about language attitudes for this reason.
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2.3 Language attitudes
Interest in language attitudes started in the 1920s. It is a research domain of social
psychology. Studies into the attitudes of a particular community might indicate what the
current thoughts, beliefs, preferences and desires of that community are (Baker, 1992).
Definition
I will first comment on a few definitions to delineate the subject. One of the first
influential definitions of attitudes is the one of Allport (1935, cited in Gardner, 1985). He
defined attitudes as “a mental and neural state of readiness, organized through
experience, exerting a directive or dynamic influence upon the individual’s response to
all objects and situations with which it is related” (p.784). It can be argued that this
definition is too general. Krech and Crutchfield (1948: 173) indicated that an attitude
was “an enduring organization of motivational, emotional, perceptual, and cognitive
processes with respect to some aspect of the individual’s world.” Both these definitions
do not mention the evaluative character of attitudes. This changes in the 1960s. Katz
(1960: 168) said that “an attitude is the predisposition of the individual to evaluate
some symbol or object or aspect of his world in a favorable or unfavorable manner.” A
similar definition was given by Anderson (1981: 33, cited in Sercu, 2000): “Attitudes are
feelings that generally have a moderate level of intensity, can be either favorable or
unfavorable in direction, and are typically directed toward some object (that is, target).”
This definition focuses more on the affective component of attitudes but they can also
have a behavioural and cognitive constituent (cf. Infra). One of the most recent
definitions mentions these three components. According to Bohner and Wänke (2002:
16), “[a]n attitude represents a summary evaluation of an attitude object. Components of
this summary evaluation may be affective, behavioural, and cognitive, and may
encompass any type of information, which holds evaluative implication.” We can
observe that definitions of attitudes disagree semantically and differ in generality and
specificity of the term (Baker, 1992).
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Components
Katz (1960, cited in Van der Pligt & De Vries, 1995) said that an attitude has a cognitive
and affective aspect. Rosenberg and Hovland (1960, cited in Van der Pligt & De Vries,
1995) added one: the behavioural component. The cognitive component is made up of
opinions and beliefs, e.g. Spanish is a world language and will become even more
important in the future. The affective component consists of evaluative feelings and
preferences and the reactions that a person has towards some object or situation, e.g.
having good memories about your vacation in Spain and the Spanish friends you met
there. The behavioural component refers to the actions that a person undertakes
under the influence of the two other components, e.g. following Spanish courses. All
three constituents can help to compose the attitude or only one or two components can
contribute to it. Generally, the behavioural component is seen as a result of cognitive
beliefs and/or affective reactions, but behaviour can also influence the cognitive and
affective responses towards an attitude‐object (Van der Pligt & De Vries, 1995).
Attitudes and behaviour
The relationship between attitudes and behaviour is not a straightforward one (Baker,
1992). In the 1960s, the first criticisms arose. Researchers (e.g. Wicker, 1969; McGuire,
1969, cited in Van der Pligt & De Vries, 1995) said that attitudes could not be used to
predict and explain behaviour because for instance one moment a person can be polite
and the next moment he can be rude (Baker, 1992). “Some authors have argued that the
concept of attitude is of limited value since individual differences in attitudes do not
correlate that highly with behaviour (see Wicker, 1969), but it should be emphasized
that they do not state that it does not correlate with behaviour” (Gardner, 1985: 9, my
own emphasis). A reason why attitudes and external behaviour do not always correlate
might be that behaviour is sometimes a disguise to hide the true attitudes (Baker, 1992).
For instance, a Flemish person can act friendly towards Walloon people but secretly
have negative attitudes towards them. Currently, observation of behaviour and self
reports are regarded as more accurate ways of predicting latent attitudes. Moreover,
attitudes are also said to be predictors of future behaviour and not of current behaviour
(Baker, 1992). Nevertheless, several studies have shown that attitudes are indeed
related to language behaviour but not necessarily directly (Gardner: 1985) and in the
1990s, attitudes have been re‐established as an important factor to human
understanding (Baker, 1992).
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Functions
Katz (1960, cited in Van der Pligt & De Vries, 1995) also distinguished different
functions that attitudes might have. The first one is the knowledge function which
structures and mediates the information that can then be better integrated and
understood. It organizes and categorizes the complex environment. Attitudes also have
an instrumental function which questions whether attitudes are utilitarian or not, for
instance people will have positive attitudes towards an object that offers profit or
rewards and negative attitudes towards an object that brings about punishment or costs
(Bohner & Wänke, 2003: 16‐17, cited in Mettewie, 2004). The egodefensive function
indicates that attitudes can contribute to a positive self‐image. Prejudice and negative
stereotypes of other people for instance can confirm the own superiority. Attitudes can
also contain a valueexpressive function. The individual can show who he/she is by
expressing his/her attitudes. “Attitudes are expressed and activated when they are
congruent with personal values and the self concept” (Baker, 1992: 101). This means
that a person acquires an identity by having certain attitudes. For example, people who
regard themselves more as Flemish than as Belgian may express more positive attitudes
towards Flemish culture and the Flemish identity. Smith, Bruner and White (1969, cited
in Van der Pligt & De Vries, 1995) added a fifth function: the social adjustment
function. This function is related to the previous function but primarily stresses the
initiating and regulating of interpersonal relationships by expressing one’s attitudes
(Van der Pligt & De Vries, 1995).
We do have to keep in mind that attitudes are multifunctional. “The same attitude may
serve different functions for different people. The same attitude may serve different
functions for the same person at different times. And, of course, the same person may
hold different attitudes pertaining to different functions at different times. Most
attitudes serve multiple functions” (Bohner & Wänke, 2002: 17).
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Attitudes as input and output
Baker (1992) made another distinction of the functions of attitudes. He differentiated
input and output. For instance, favourable attitudes towards language learning can be an
input factor in ultimate language achievement. Then, an “attitude is a predisposing
factor, affecting the outcomes of education” (Baker, 1992: 12). Attitudes may also be
seen as output, for instance when a teacher has given a language course, positive
attitudes towards this language might be born. We can also find this double function in
Gardner’s socio‐educational model (1979, cited in Gardner, 1985). There, the
ingredients for bilingual proficiency were intelligence, aptitude, anxiety and attitudes.
Thus, attitude was seen as an input factor. But Gardner also thought that attitudes could
serve as an output factor in the non‐linguistic outcomes (cf. infra).
Measuring of attitudes
Attitudes are usually measured by looking at a person’s reactions to evaluatively‐
worded belief statements on a scale, e.g. the Likert‐scale. But other methods such as
document analysis, content analysis, interviews, case studies, autobiographies and the
matched guise technique can be also be used.
Nevertheless, attitudes can never be perfectly measured. There are three major reasons
for isth (Baker, 1992):
1. People may try to answer the attitude test in a way that will make them look
good.
2. People may try to answer the attitude test in a way that corresponds to the
research purpose. The characteristics of the researcher and the context or
environment of testing might also affect the answer of the test.
3. First, the researcher needs to make a broad initial item pool that encompasses
the fullest range of possible attitudes and then he needs to let a representative
sample of people take the initial attitude test and later modify it if necessary.
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What is not an attitude?
To further delineate what an attitude exactly is, I will now discuss some concepts that
are related to attitudes but that are not quite the same. An attitude is not an opinion
(Mettewie, 2004). An opinion is a value judgement that relies on a cognitive evaluation
without an affective reaction and can easily be verbalized (overtness). An attitude, on
the other hand, is latent and mainly unexpressed (covertness) (Oskamp, 1991, cited in
Mettewie: 2004). An opinion can be measured through only one or a few questions,
while attitude measurement requires multiple items and questions (Van der Pligt & De
Vries, 1995). An attitude is also not a value because values tend to refer to abstract
concepts and/or philosophical questions or principles like freedom, peace, etc. that one
hopes to attain. Moreover, values tend to be more stable than attitudes. Values can play
an important role in the system of attitudes and opinions and even influence them (Van
der Pligt & De Vries, 1995). We should also not confuse attitudes with motivation. A
motivation is directed towards a goal, an attitude towards an object. You can have a
motivation to learn a certain language but an attitude towards that language or its
speakers.
Language attitudes
Most of the things explained above are about attitudes in general and not about language
attitudes specifically. Dewaele (2005: 118) said that “attitudes are one of the central
affective variables of language learning, together with personality and motivation.”
Gardner’s premise that attitudes influence the success with which a foreign language is
learned is not supported by all authors. Macnamara (1973, cited in Gardner, 1985) said
that “the main thrust in language learning comes from the child’s need to understand
and to express himself” (1973: 251). Gardner (1985) answered this by saying that
attention must be paid to the different contexts in which children learn a foreign
language. A child that has moved from Toronto to Berlin will learn German very quickly
because his own mother tongue is not spoken there and the way he thinks about
Germans does not really matter in this context. Nevertheless, foreign language learning
can also happen in a formal school context and there, attitudes and motivation could
play a more important role in the language acquisition process. “The words, sounds,
grammatical principles and the like that the language teacher tries to present are more
than aspects of some linguistic code; they are integral parts of another culture”
(Gardner, 1985: 6). Consequently, the attitudes that pupils have towards a certain
language or a language community are bound to influence how successful they will be in
learning that language.
Gardner (1985) stated that language classes were different from any other subject
taught in school because “they involve the acquisition of skills or behaviour patterns
which are characteristic of another cultural community” (p.146). Therefore, language
achievement will partly be influenced by the attitudes that one has towards the other
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community or to other communities in general.
Attitudes towards the course and the teacher may also be highly influential. Sometimes,
the language classroom is the only place where pupils are in contact with the language
and therefore, the course and the teacher can become closely associated with the
language and become important factors in the construction of their attitudes (Gardner,
1985).
Most of the language attitudes are probably shaped by an individual’s home
environment, the beliefs of the general community and the individual’s peers.
Nevertheless, many of these attitudes may become prominent for the first time in the
classroom context. Then, the teachers and the methodology can influence the attitudes,
provided they are not already fixed (Gardner, 1985).
“In the language learning situation, if the students’ attitudes are favourable, it is
reasonable to predict, other things being equal, that the experience with the language
will be pleasant, and the students will be encouraged to continue” (Gardner, 1985: 8). On
the other hand, experience with the language will be perceived unfavourably if attitudes
are negative. Nevertheless, the teachers and the methodology might influence these
attitudes. If the teachers are good at the language and are sensitive to the reactions of
their pupils, and if the methodology employed is informative and interesting, this may
have a positive impact on the pupils’ attitudes (Gardner: 1985).
Language ideologies versus language attitudes
Language ideologies and language attitudes are concepts that originated in two different
traditions. Language ideologies are studied in linguistic anthropology while the study of
language attitudes is practised in social psychology. Linguistic anthropology is a domain
“dedicated to the study of language as a cultural resource and speaking as a cultural
practice” (Duranti, 2001: 8899). It is an interdisciplinary field because it often draws
from other domains. Sometimes linguistic anthropology is confused with
ethnolinguistics and sociolinguistics which are quite similar in some aspects but no
synonyms. In the beginning, linguistic anthropological research was mainly concerned
with the grammars of aboriginal languages but later its topic field widened and linguistic
anthropologists started to analyse the uses of discourse in everyday interaction
(Duranti, 2001: 8899). Social psychology looks at an individual’s behaviour in a social
context which is often manifested linguistically and mediated by cognitive processes
(Howard Giles, cited in Gardner, 1985). Sociolinguistics also studies the relationships
16
between language and society but misses the coherent social psychological approach.
The examples of studies into language ideologies indicate that ideologies are almost
always associated with power relations and/or identity‐construction, whereas research
into language attitudes puts more emphasis on the positive or negative evaluation that a
person has towards an attitude object (in this case the language or the people who speak
the language). The examples of studies into language ideologies have also shown that
often a direct link between language ideologies and language behaviour can be found
(e.g. the English‐only movement in the United States, elimination of thee/thou in
English,...). The influence of language attitudes on language behaviour, on the other
hand, has been contested more often (e.g. Wicker, 1969, cited in Gardner, 1985).
17
2.4 Language motivation
The literature about second language acquisition has also paid attention to the
attitudinal aspects of language learning, such as motivation. A few items in my
questionnaire are about motivation, so I thought that it was important to elaborate on
this subject. In one of the most extensive studies about second language acquisition, Ellis
(1994) acknowledged that language motivation is a “key factor in second language
learning” (1994: 508). Even though this research paper is not about second language
learning but about learning foreign languages in general, motivation is still considered to
be of great significance. However, language motivation is still not very well integrated
into the corpus of research of second language acquisition. The research focuses more
on “the development of language knowledge and skills and therefore analyzes various
language processes from a micro perspective” (Dörnyei, 2003: 21). I will later explain
that traditional motivation research has adopted a macro perspective (cf. infra).
Definition
According to Gardner (1985:10), “[m]otivation in the present context refers to the
combination of effort plus desire to achieve the goal of learning the language plus
favourable attitudes toward learning the language. That is, motivation to learn a second
language is seen as referring to the extent to which the individual works or strives to
learn the language because of a desire to do so and the satisfaction experienced in this
activity.” This definition implies that motivation consists of three aspects: effort
18
(motivational intensity), cognitions (desire) and affect (attitudes).
Dörnyei (2001, cited in Dörnyei, 2003), however, distinguished three other components:
choice to proceed to action, persistence and effort to realize the action. Dörnyei and
Clément (2001, cited in Dörnyei, 2003) signalled seven factors which may influence the
motivation to learn a second – or in this case, foreign ‐ language. The first one is the
integrative or affective dimension which depends on the attitudes, opinions and
values that are connected to the motivational process and its affective and emotional
outcomes like integrativeness with the speakers of the second language, interest in the
language learning process, etc. (Mettewie, 2004). The instrumental or pragmatic
dimension refers to utilitarian aspects, for instance finances or job opportunities. Socio‐
cultural factors like intergroup and ethnic or multicultural relations refer to the macro
context dimension. The selfconcept dimension is made up by learner‐specific
elements such as confidence and foreign language anxiety, which will be discussed more
thoroughly later (cf. infra). The fifth dimension refers to the goals that the learner hopes
to achieve by learning the language. The amount of encouragements from the school
environment is also considered to be an important factor. Finally, Dörnyei mentions a
significant othersrelated dimension which concerns the environment and the
persons that might have an effect on the motivational process of the language learner.
Orientation versus motivation
Gardner (1985) also distinguished two different orientations of motivation, but I will
first explain the difference between orientation and motivation. Motivation refers to the
global process that incites certain behaviour. Orientations, on the contrary, refer to the
goals of the action. We can differentiate instrumental (practical) orientation and
integrative (affective) orientation. Learners who show an integrative orientation want
to learn the target language to interact with native speakers and to try to become
members themselves of that group. Learners with instrumental orientation have more
practical reasons to learn the language, for instance to get a better job. “Much of the
research conducted by Gardner and his co‐researchers suggested that integratively
motivated students are more successful language learners than those who are
instrumentally motivated” (Ehrman, Leaver & Oxford; 2003: 319). We do have to keep
in mind that Gardner’s research deals with second language acquisition and that in
foreign language settings where integration is almost impossible, the integrative
orientation is not as crucial (Ehrman et al., 2003).
13
Research
There have been three different approaches to study language motivation: the social
psychological approach, the situated approach and the process‐oriented approach.
Social and cognitive psychological approaches
The first and most traditional approach adopts a macro perspective. This means that the
motivation to learn a foreign language is a “primary force responsible for enhancing or
hindering intercultural communication and affiliation” (Dörnyei, 2003: 5). This social
13 “Learners who show... a better job.” is a part of my BA-paper.
19
dimension also explains the roots of language motivation. While most linguists have
studied the mainstream directions of foreign language acquisition research, social
psychologists initiated second language motivation research (Dörnyei, 2003).
Gardner (1985, Gardner & Lambert, 1972; 2001; cited in Dörnyei, 2003) was one of the
first to research this domain. He first started doing research about the relationship
between linguistic (command of the language and language aptitude) and social
psychological components (attitudes and motivation) during the acquisition of French as
a second language by English pupils in Canada (Gardner & Lambert, 1959; cited in
Gardner, 1985). After several other studies (e.g. Gardner & Lambert, 1972; Gardner &
Smythe, 1975; Gardner, 1979; cited in Gardner, 1985), Gardner developed the socio
educational model (1985).
Figure 1. The socioeducational model of Gardner (1985)
20
The model consists of four components. The first one is the social milieu of the language
learner and the cultural beliefs of the intergroup relations between the own community
and the community of speakers of the foreign language. The second component involves
the individual differences of language learners: language aptitude, attitudes and
motivation. The last two form the integrative motive that I will discuss later. The third
component consists of the language acquisition contexts in which foreign language
acquisition takes place and which can be formal (language instruction) and informal
(exposure to the language, e.g. listening to the radio or watching TV). Finally, the
outcomes are considered to be the last component. They can be linguistic (vocabulary
y, etc.) or not (attituknowledge, grammar, pronunciation, fluenc des, values, etc.).
The key element of Gardner’s model is the integrative motive. Gardner defined it as “a
motivation to learn a second language because of positive feelings towards the
community that speaks that language” (1985: 82‐83). We can divide the integrative
motive into 3 components: integrativeness, attitudes and motivation. Integrativeness is
the interest to learn a foreign language in order to get closer to the other community.
This may lead to an openness to, and respect for, the target community but in extreme
cases it might also involve complete identification with the other community and
possibly even withdrawal from the own group (Dörnyei, 2003). Signs of integrativeness
are integrative orientation to learn the language, positive attitudes towards the language
community and a general openness towards other groups, cultures and languages. The
second component of the integrative motive, attitudes toward the acquisition situation,
helps to evaluate the teacher and the lessons. Finally, motivation is influenced by the
other two components and as I mentioned before consists of three parts: desire, effort
and positive affect or attitudes towards learning the foreign language. In sum, Gardner
has designed a schema in which the social milieu of the learners influences their
attitudes. Those attitudes have an impact on the motivation, which has an influence on
the outcomes (Gardner, 2001: 4, cited in Mettewie, 2004). These outcomes can either be
linguistic or social psychological. Many researchers have applied this model (e.g.
Masgoret & Gardner, 2003) or have made a few adjustments (Tremblay & Gardner,
1995; cited in Dörnyei, 2003).
The social psychological theory of Gardner is the most influential psychological theory
but not the only one. As a consequence of the cognitive revolution in psychological
research in recent decades, several cognitive motivational theories have been proposed
(Dörnyei, 2003). The three most influential ones are the self‐determination theory, the
attribution theory and goal theories. However, in the 1990’s, neurobiological research
became more important in cognitive psychology. Schumann applied this to the study of
second language acquisition and, more specifically, to second language motivation. I will
briefly discuss this theory.
21
also
The selfdetermination theory of Deci and Ryan (1985, 2002; Ryan & Deci, 2000; cited
in Dörnyei, 2003) has mainly been applied by Noels (2001; Noels, Pelletier, Clément &
Vallerand, 2000; cited in Dörnyei, 2003). She studied the motivation of second language
learners in terms of intrinsic and extrinsic orientation but also in terms of amotivation
(the lack of motivation). Noels tried to link those concepts to the traditional concepts of
integrative and instrumental orientation of Gardner and to find valid and reliable
measuring instruments for these concepts. This alternative motivational model was not
meant to replace the integrative‐instrumental dichotomy, but rather to complement it
(Noels et al., 2000). Intrinsic motivation refers to “the motivation to engage in an activity
because that activity is enjoyable and satisfying to do” (Noels et al., 2000: 61). There are
three types of intrinsic motivation: knowledge (“motivation for doing an activity for the
feelings associated with exploring new ideas and developing knowledge”),
accomplishment (“sensations related to attempting to master a task or achieve a goal”)
and stimulation (“sensations stimulated by performing the task, such as aesthetic
appreciation or fun and excitement”) (Noels et al., 2000: 61). Extrinsic motivation refers
to instrumental ends, such as rewards or avoidance of punishment. The three levels of
extrinsic motivation are external regulation (“activities that are determined by sources
external to the person, such as benefits or costs”), introjected regulation (“reasons that
pertain to performing an activity due to some type of pressure that individuals have
incorporated into the self, such that they compel themselves to carry out that activity”)
and identified regulation (“personally relevant reasons why they chose to do an
activity”) (Noels et al., 2000: 61‐62). “A number of researchers and theorists (e.g.,
Walqui, 2000) have contended that intrinsic motivation correlates more closely with
language learning success than extrinsic motivation, but a student’s total motivation is
most frequently a combination of extrinsic and intrinsic motivation. External rewards
can either increase or decrease intrinsic motivation, depending on how they affect self‐
cy” (Ehrman et al., 2effica 003: 320).
The attribution theory of Weiner (1992; cited in Dörnyei, 2003) manages to connect
people’s past experiences (such as failures) to their future achievement efforts. Weiner
argued that “the subjective reasons to which we attribute our past successes and failures
l s r otivational dispo o 2considerab y hape ou m siti n” (Dörnyei, 003: 8‐9).
There are a number of goal theories e.g. Belmechri & Hummel, 1998; Clément &
Kruidenier, 1983; McClelland, 2000 (cited in Dörnyei, 2003). The goal theory of Clément
and Kruidenier (1983, cited in Dörnyei, 2003), for instance, was used to reveal the goals
22
of learners during the acquisition of a foreign language. In general, goals have been
red to as orientations (Dörnrefer yei, 2003).
The neurobiological approach of Schumann (1998, 1999; cited in Dörnyei, 2003) uses
brain scanning and neuroimaging for psychological investigation. According to his
theory, stimulus appraisal occurs in the brain along five dimensions: novelty,
pleasantness, goal/need significance, coping potential and self‐ and social image.
Situated pproach
Whereas “Gardner’s (1985) approach offered a macro perspective that allowed
researchers to characterize and compare the motivational pattern of whole learning
communities and then to draw inferences about intercultural communication and
affiliation” (Dörnyei, 2003:11), the situated approach is characterized by a micro
perspective. The researchers of this approach thought that the classroom environment
was much more important than the community. Therefore they started to examine
aspects like “course‐specific motivational components (e.g. relevance of the teaching
materials, interest in the tasks, appropriateness of the teaching method), teacher‐
specific motivational components (e.g. the motivational impact of the teacher’s
personality, behaviour, and teaching style/practice), and group‐specific motivational
components (e.g. various characteristics of the learner group such as cohesiveness, goal‐
orientedness, and group norms)” (Dörnyei, 2003: 11). Recent research directions that
employ this approach are the study of the willingness to communicate, the study of task
motivation and research about the relationship between motivation and the use of
language learning strategies.
a
23
Processoriented approach
The process‐oriented approach draws attention to the dynamic character and temporal
variation of language motivation. Dörnyei (2003, 18) summarizes it as “a process model
of L2 motivation [that] breaks down the overall motivational process into several
discrete temporal segments organized along the progression that describes how initial
wishes and desires are first transformed into goals and then into operationalized
intentions, and how these intentions are enacted, leading (hopefully) to the
accomplishment of the goal and concluded by the final evaluation of the process.” We
can distinguish 3 stages in this process:
1. preactional stage: The motivation is generated and the goal or task is selected.
The motivational dimension is called choice motivation.
2. actional stage: The generated motivation is maintained and protected while an
action goes on. The motivational dimension related to this stage can be referred
to as executive motivation.
3. postactional stage: The action is completed and the individual looks back and
evaluates how things went. This dimension is termed motivational
retrospection.
Researchers who have applied this particular approach are Heckhausen and Kuhl (1985;
Heckhausen, 1991; Kuhl & Beckmann, 1994; cited in Dörnyei, 2003), Dörnyei (2000,
2001; cited in Dörnyei, 2003) and Ottó (Dörnyei & Ottó, 1998; cited in Dörnyei, 2003).
24
25
2.5 Language aptitude
Language aptitude is the inherent ability to learn a language. It is “a series of verbal and
cognitive abilities [...] that would play a role in language learning in that individuals with
high levels of ability would be able to generalize these abilities to the new language”
(Gardner, 1985: 147). Ellis (1994: 498) stated that “[d]espite […] limitations, the early
research provided convincing evidence that classroom learners’ language aptitude has a
major effect on their success in learning an L2.” I asked the pupils if they thought they
easily learned languages in general in order to find out if they thought that they had
language aptitude.
2.6 Personality
Achievement in a foreign language might also be related to personality variables such as
field dependence/independence, sociability, empathy, extroversion/introversion, risk‐
taking, self‐esteem, anxiety. Many other personality variables have been mentioned in
tudies but I have only mentioneds the ones that are generally accepted.
“Field dependence/independence refers to the way individuals perceive and organize
their world. Field dependent individuals tend to view their world as a total configuration
and tend to be influenced by the whole field, while field independent individuals can
separate parts of their environment from the total field” (Gardner, 1985: 29). According
to Gardner (1985), most studies showed a favourable connection between field
independence and second language achievement.
We might suspect that pupils who are sociable and willing to interact with other people
would be more successful at learning a foreign language than more reserved pupils but
research done in this area (Vallette, 1964; Dunkel, 1947; Kawczynski, 1951, cited in
Gardner, 1985) does not confirm this. In other words, it has not (yet) been proven that
tor that csociability is a fac an be positively linked with language achievement.
The third factor, empathy, can be defined as “the ability to put oneself in the position of
another person in order to understand him/her better” (Ellis, 1994: 518). As with the
results for sociability, however, the findings for the role of empathy in second language
acquisition are too inconsistent (Gardner, 1985).
The distinction extroversion/introversion is generally accepted in the psychological
community (Dewaele, 2005). Extroverts tend to be sociable, risk‐taking, lively and
active, while introverts seem to be more quiet, reserved and unassertive (Ellis, 1994;
Dewaele, 2005). Most studies (but not all, e.g. Busch, 1982; cited in Ellis, 1994) found
that extrovert pupils learned a language faster (e.g. Strong, 1983; cited in Ellis, 1994) or
that pupils were less anxious to communicate in the foreign language (e.g. MacIntyre &
Charos, 1996; cited in Dewaele, 2005). Extroversion can be linked with risktaking
because extrovert language learners take more risks than introvert learners. “Risk‐
takers show less hesitancy, are more willing to use complex language, and are more
tolerant of errors. They are less likely to rehearse before speaking” (Ellis, 1994: 518).
Selfesteem is “the degree to which individuals feel confident and believe themselves to
be significant people” (Ellis, 1994: 518). Heyde (1979, cited in Ellis, 1994) found that
there was a relationship between self‐esteem and oral production but Gardner and
Lambert (1972, cited in Ellis, 1994) did not find the same results.
The last factor, anxiety, has been given a prominent place in the study of foreign
language learning in recent years. Situational anxiety used to be viewed as one of the
individual differences that played an important role in influencing achievement directly
(Gardner, 1979, cited in Gardner, 1985) but it was later omitted because Gardner
thought it operated through motivation (Gardner, 1985). I will discuss this factor more
thoroughly in the next section.
2.7 Foreign language anxiety
Foreign language anxiety can be defined as “the feeling of tension and apprehension
specifically associated with second language contexts, including speaking, listening, and
learning” (MacIntyre & Gardner, 1994: 284, cited in Dewaele, 2002). E.K. Horwitz, M.B.
Horwitz and Cope (1991: 31, cited in Aida, 1994) described it as “a distinct complex of
self‐perceptions, beliefs, feelings, and behaviors related to classroom language learning
14
arising from the uniqueness of the language learning processes.”
Foreign language anxiety can be seen as a positive or a negative factor. Facilitating
anxiety (i.e. anxiety viewed as a positive factor) could motivate learners to put more
14 “Foreign language anxiety… (MacIntyre & Gardner, 1994: 284, cited in Dewaele,2002).” is a part of my BA-paper.
26
effort into their language learning (Alpert & Haber, 1960, cited in Aida, 1994; Sutarso,
1996). Nevertheless, most researchers reckon that anxiety prevents learners from
attaining a high level of proficiency in a foreign language (Sutarso, 1996) and can cause
negative attitudes towards their language study in general (Philipps, 1991, cited in
Dewaele, 2002).15 This type of anxiety is called debilitating anxiety (Gardner, 1985).
E.K.Horwitz (1983, cited in Aida, 1994: 156) developed The Foreign Language
Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) “in order to capture this specific anxiety reaction of a
learner to a foreign language learning setting.” E.K.Horwitz et al. (1991, cited in Aida,
1994) examined three areas of language learning where students expressed anxiety: 1)
communication apprehension; 2) test anxiety; and 3) fear of negative evaluation.16
According to McCroskey (1978, cited in Aida, 1994: 156), communication apprehension
is “a person’s level of fear or anxiety associated with either real or anticipated
communication with another person or persons.” As a result, the typical behaviour
patterns are either communication avoidance or communication withdrawal. People
who are communicatively apprehensive tend to stay out of conversations with others
and do not seek social interactions. Sarason (1984, cited in Aida, 1994: 157) states that
test anxiety is “the tendency to view with alarm the consequences of inadequate
performance in an evaluative situation.” Lastly, one considers fear of negative evaluation
as the “apprehension about others’ evaluations, distress over their negative evaluations,
and the expectation that others would evaluate oneself negatively” (Watson & Friend,
1969: 499, cited in Aida, 1994). MacIntyre and Gardner (1989, cited in Aida, 1994),
however, found that students also experience test anxiety in other courses and is thus
not relevant for foreign language learning specifically. Hence, they distinguished
n x x y between “Ge eral An iety” and “Communicative An iet ”. 17
E.K.Horwitz (1995: 575) concluded that “much of the anxiety is associated with
understanding and speaking the foreign language.”18 The results in my pilot study partly
confirmed this. For Spanish, the Flemish pupils indeed considered speaking and
listening to be the hardest skills. For English, however, listening and writing were
regarded as most difficult. The results also showed that pupils encountered more
15 “Foreign language anxiety…(Philipps, 1991, cited in Dewaele, 2002).” is a part of my BA-paper. 16 “E.K. Horwitz… fear of negative evaluation.” is a part of my BA-paper. 17 “MacIntyre and Gardner… “communicative anxiety”.” is a part of my BA-paper. 18 “E.K. Horwitz… the foreign language.” is a part of my BA-paper.
27
foreign language anxiety when they had to speak Spanish in different situations than
when they used English.
MacIntyre (1999, cited in Dewaele, 2002) stated that language anxiety does not
necessarily diminish as the learner further develops his/her language skills.19 The
Flemish teacher of English confirmed this because the level of English goes up and
estudents have to learn a lot more in the last two years of secondary ducation.
It has also been argued (Dresser, 1990; Defoe, 1986, cited in Sutarso, 1996) that
teachers can reduce or create more foreign language anxiety. When a teacher
encourages pupils to interact in class and reminds them that they will not be evaluated if
they make a mistake, it may help to lower the pressure. Nevertheless, a non‐threatening,
positive learning environment, a supportive teacher and classes which concentrate more
on communicative learning do not always eliminate foreign language anxiety. Comeau
(1992, cited in Aida, 1994) observed classes that had adopted the Natural Approach,
which is designed to lessen anxiety in the classroom, and discovered that the approach
had not been successful. Students were just as anxious to speak in a foreign language as
other students who did not follow the Natural Approach. She thinks that anxiety
depends on the student’s expectation of grades and his/her own perception of language
ability rather than on methodology.
2.8 Age, gender, school
Children are generally better at learning languages than adults, but only when they hear
the language very frequently (Ellis, 1994). Especially the pronunciation of a language
different than the native one seems to be easier for kids. Nevertheless, adults will learn a
language faster in the short term (Ellis, 1994).
Female pupils tend to obtain higher results for their language courses than their male
counterparts (Aida, 1994). “Men would concentrate more on the communicative aspect
of communication while women also include a metacommunicative, interpersonal and
affective aspect” (Dewaele, 2005: 124). Nevertheless, there is very little gender‐specific
research, therefore we cannot generalize too much.
The type of school can also have an influence on the attitudes or achievement of the
pupils. Francophone pupils who go to Dutch‐medium schools in Brussels for example
19 “MacIntyre…language skills.” is a part of my BA-paper.
28
are generally better at Dutch than Francophone pupils who go to French‐medium
schools in Wallonia. I will discuss this more thoroughly in the part about foreign
language education in Brussels.
2.9 Previous studies
Studies similar to the present one do not mention language ideologies but do focus on
beliefs about language learning. Like language ideologies this field has only recently
been given attention. Currently, language teachers and researchers put more emphasis
on attitudes, motivation, foreign language anxiety, etc.
E. K. Horwitz was one of the first to investigate into the beliefs about language learning.
In 1983, she developed the Beliefs About Language Learning Inventory (BALLI) to
understand learner approaches to and satisfaction with language instruction. This
inventory assesses students’ opinions on thirty‐four items related to language learning.
The items are categorized into five major areas: 1) difficulty of language learning; 2)
foreign language aptitude; 3) the nature of language learning; 4) learning and
communication strategies; and 5) motivations and expectations. Horwitz then explored
to what extent beliefs are found among students and how these beliefs may influence
their language learning.
Many researchers have followed her footsteps and applied the Beliefs About Language
Learning Inventory to their own study, for example Kuntz (1997) and R.L. Diab (2006)
who was the first to research learner beliefs about different target languages. Some
items of the inventory were also used in the questionnaire.20
Studies into attitudes, beliefs, etc. of Belgian students have also been done and will be
discussed into the following chapters of foreign language education in Flanders,
Wallonia and Brussels.
20 “Currently… questionnaire.” is a part of my BA-paper.
29
2.10 Foreign language education in Flanders
A few studies have focused on the attitudes and motivations of Flemish students
towards foreign languages, but before we get to this, it may be useful to sketch the
situation of foreign language education in Flanders.21
Since Dutch has limited international importance (Sercu, 2000) and import and export
are very important for Flanders, learning foreign languages is vital. Especially French is
considered to be an important language to know when one is applying for a job in a
small to medium‐sized enterprise (Clijsters, 2002, cited in De Cock, 2006). In 1998,
VDAB inquired into the use of foreign languages of reception and secretariat employees.
Of the respondents, 57,4% said that they occasionally used French and 61,1% said the
same for English. However, for the frequency of use the numbers were different. Then,
French accounted for 33,4% and English only for 15,4%. German was considered to be
the third language of business and results for Italian and Spanish were negligible (De
Cock, 2006).
French is considered the first foreign language to be taught in school, English the second
and normally German the third. However, nowadays, some schools also offer Spanish
instead of German.
Many Flemings are still hostile towards French (Dewaele, 2005); even though French no
longer forms a threat to Dutch like it did in the nineteenth century (Goethals, 1997). To
this day, French is still perceived as the language of the elite (Dewaele, 2005). In
addition, Flemish pupils tend to find French ‘difficult’ (Goethals, 1997). By contrast,
studies show that such hostile feelings towards English are not found (Dewaele, 2005)
and most students find English easier to learn (Housen, Janssens & Pierrard, 2003).
Courses of French normally start around age 10 in primary school and courses of
English around age 12 in secondary school. Courses for the third foreign language
normally start in the fourth or fifth year of secondary school around age 15. In most
schools, this language is German, which has the bad reputation of being difficult (Sercu,
2000). In other schools, Spanish is offered. 22In the school year 2003‐2004, 2856 pupils
took Spanish classes in secondary education, while 83135 students took German classes
21 “A few studies…in Flanders.” is a part of my BA-paper. 22 “French is considered…Spanish is offered.” is a part of my BA-paper.
30
in Flanders (Kenniscentrum Statistiek 2004, cited in De Cock, 2006). This study will try
to find out whether Spanish has a similar reputation as German.
I shall now discuss the most important studies concerning language attitudes done in
this region.
Housen, Janssens & Pierrard (2003) pointed out the differences between French and
English as foreign languages in Flemish schools. In their annual report to the Flemish
Minister of Education (Verslag, 1995), the general inspection of education stated that the
pupils had better results for English. At first sight, this may seem odd since much more
time has been spent teaching French. The study also suggests that Flemish students have
a very positive attitude towards learning a foreign language in general and also towards
contact with foreign cultures. Attitudes towards English are clearly more positive than
those towards French but attitudes towards French are not negative. According to the
study, English is considered “cooler” and “in” while French is classified as a difficult
language. The study also noted that pupils are a little bit more motivated to learn English
than French. However, when instrumental motivation was discussed, pupils thought it
was important to learn both French and English to live and work in Belgium but they
showed more instrumental orientations towards French. The integrative motivation was
again more positive for English.
Pupils generally tend to think they are better in English than French, and particularly in
understanding and speaking English. The authors stated that better performances in
English are due to the omnipresence of English in the Flemish media and the Internet
and also because of the typological similarities between Dutch and English.
Dewaele (2005) researched the effects of social and individual factors on attitudes
towards French and English. The study reveals that students’ attitudes towards French
are linked to their politicocultural identity, “which has been shaped by a long history of
tense socio‐political relations between Dutch and French in Flanders” (p.133). However,
we should take into account that French also lost a great deal of power as a lingua franca
after the Second World War. This was also accompanied by the loss of many colonies in
the sixties, for instance Belgian Congo achieved independence in 1960. Among the
individual factors influencing students’ attitudes, self‐perceived competence,
communicative anxiety and frequency of use of the target language are significant.
Generally, the attitudes towards English are more positive.
31
A study conducted by Sercu (2000) noted that English and French are generally liked by
pupils but the majority of pupils do not like learning German. Her research also
observed that motivation to learn German is generally lower than motivation to learn
English or French. Similarly, pupils tend to feel less successful at learning German than
at learning either French or English. Sercu also examined the use of foreign languages by
students while they are abroad and concluded that most pupils use ‘quite a bit’ of
English and ‘some’ French, while German is only used on a school trip but not at all on a
family trip. 23
In another research of Sercu (2005), she examined “how the current professional self‐
concepts of Flemish teachers of English, French and German relate to the envisaged
profile of the intercultural foreign language teacher and […] the extent to which their
teaching practice can be characterized as directed towards the attainment of
intercultural communicative competence instead of towards communicative
competence” (2005: 87). While investigating this, she also asked teachers about the
attitudes their pupils had towards these foreign languages. She observed that teachers
thought that their pupils’ attitudes towards Germans were less favourable than those
towards Americans, Brits and Frenchmen. Sercu also asked about things that pupils
associated with the foreign languages. The teachers generally thought that most pupils
had stereotypical ideas, e.g. “Germany=sauerkraut & sausages”. The English teachers
also said that most pupils get these ideas from television series, music and movies and
less from actually travelling to the country.
I also found one study regarding Spanish education in Belgium. La Consejería de
Educación y Ciencia found that there was a high interest for Spanish evening classes or
Spanish as an optional course in higher education and that approximately half of the
students of Spanish in Belgium learn the language in non‐compulsory education
(Consejería de Educación y Ciencia en Bélgica, 2002). This might indicate that learning
Spanish is becoming very popular. This has already been proven by the number of
students who learn Spanish. From 1997 to 1999, 34225 Belgian people studied Spanish
(at secondary school, university, school of higher education or in evening classes). From
2001 to 2002, the number had already increased to 45755 (Consejería de Educación y
Ciencia en Bélgica, 2002).
23 “This study will…family trip.” are a part of my BA-paper.
32
In Klasse voor Leerkrachten (2004), Verboven has found that many Flemish pupils
prefer to learn a “sexy” language like Spanish or Italian instead of French or German,
even though Spanish or Italian are less useful from a pragmatic point of view.
2.11 Foreign language education in Wallonia
In Wallonia the second language can either be Dutch, English or German depending on
the school. Therefore, English can be taught as a second or as a third language. In the
parts of Wallonia where German is spoken, the second language is French in German‐
medium schools and German in French‐medium schools. The second language is taught
from the fifth year of primary education onwards and the third language is taught in
secondary education. The learning of a fourth language depends on the subject that the
pupils have chosen. Sometimes learning a fourth language is compulsory, for instance
for the option Modern Languages. Sometimes pupils can choose a fourth language as an
optional subject. In Wallonia, the fourth language can be German, Spanish or Italian and
is taught from the fourth or the fifth year of secondary education onwards.
In 1998 (cited in Mettewie, 2004), Mettewie researched the attitudes of Francophone
pupils towards Dutch, English and French and found that only 4% chose a positive
adjective to describe Dutch while 96% chose a positive adjective to describe English and
91% to describe French.
Laine, Van Leeuwen and Spoelders (1994, cited in Mettewie, 2004) studied the different
aspects of attitudes and motivation of Flemish and Walloon pupils in secondary school
towards the second language. They found that pupils of both communities have
pragmatic reasons to learn the other one’s language. A few pupils even mentioned that
they were only willing to learn the other language if the other community was willing to
do the same. This attitude expresses the latent tensions between both language
communities. Some pupils were also not pleased about the way that their second
language was taught. They also had to rank French, English and Dutch according to
status. Both communities ranked their own language first, English second and the
second language third. The study, however, did also show a significant difference
between Flemings and Walloons. Flemish people are more tied to their community and
language than Walloon people. A final interesting result of the research showed that the
estimated self‐competence in the second language was low.
33
Mettewie (2004) did a study into the attitudes, motivation and language skills of Dutch‐
speaking, Francophone and bilingual language learners in secondary schools in Belgium.
According to her research, Francophones think that their language is more attractive
and useful than Dutch and Dutch‐speaking pupils evaluate their community and
integrativeness with Flemish culture a lot more positive than the other community and
culture. This is called in‐group favouritism. Bilingual pupils, on the other hand, think
French is more attractive and useful than Dutch but value both communities equally. In
general, there was a positive motivation to learn the first, second and foreign languages
and there were also positive attitudes towards bilingualism and foreign languages.
Nevertheless, Francophone pupils have quite negative attitudes towards Dutch because
they believe it to be unattractive and difficult. However, results showed that they do
think it was a quite useful language in Belgium. Dutch‐speaking pupils also found French
difficult and thought negatively of French language classes but their attitudes towards
the French language itself were generally neutral.
2.12 Foreign language education in Brussels
The situation of foreign language learning in Brussels is not relevant for this study but is
included to have a complete picture of the state of affairs in Belgium in this subject area.
In Brussels, we can find Dutch‐medium schools which are organised by the Flemish
Community and similar to the schools in Flanders and French‐medium schools which
are organised by the French Community and similar to the schools in the part of
Wallonia where French is the official language. The Flemish Community offers the
possibility, even in kindergarten and the first year of primary education, to include
French as a course in all classes. For the Francophone Community, Dutch is the second
language in Brussels and taught from the third year of primary school onwards. Parents
in Brussels are free to choose the educational system they send their children to.
Consequently, many Francophone pupils attend the Dutch‐medium schools. A third
language is taught in secondary school and is usually English. The fourth language is
taught from the fifth year onwards and can be German, Spanish or Italian.
There is a huge amount of research dedicated to the quality of the Dutch‐medium
34
schools in Brussels (called NoB). I will briefly discuss the most important studies.
Of all the pupils that attended Dutch‐medium elementary schools in Brussels in
September 1980, 8,02% was Francophone and 4,35% was of foreign origin. Deprez et al.
(1982, cited in Rapport Beleidsgerichtonderzoek PBO 98/2/36) interviewed a few
parents of these pupils and concluded that the main motivation why they sent their
children to Dutch‐medium schools was instrumental. The parents were convinced that a
good knowledge of Dutch would improve their children’s chances of finding a good job
in Brussels.
Gielen and Louckx (1984, cited in Rapport Beleidsgerichtonderzoek PBO 98/2/36)
offered alternative reasons for the choice of parents to send their children to a school
where the language employed is not the children’s native language. He said that distance
to the school, the language of instruction (Dutch) and the reputation and the quality of
Dutch‐medium education were important factors.
Braun (1991, 1992; cited in Rapport Beleidsgerichtonderzoek PBO 98/2/36) found that
most parents of Francophone children in Dutch‐medium schools in Brussels are young
(between 28 and 34) and have a diploma of higher education. They often occupy a ‘white
collar’ profession that requires knowledge of Dutch. Therefore, they also want their
children to learn Dutch. The parents have very positive attitudes towards this situation
of immersion but the pupils themselves seem to be less enthusiastic. Braun also said that
the pupils expressed difficulties when they had to read and write in French. Braun
investigated this and found that Francophone pupils in Dutch‐medium schools were less
proficient in their mother tongue than their counterparts in Wallonia. Dewaele (1995,
cited in Rapport Beleidsgerichtonderzoek PBO 98/2/36), however, pointed out some
important restrictions of Braun’s study and therefore found that the study had only a
suggestive value.
De Belder and Huyge (1998; cited in Rapport Beleidsgerichtonderzoek PBO 98/2/36)
divided their research into two parts: they distributed questionnaires to parents of
pupils who did not have Dutch as their mother tongue and they observed the pupils and
gave a questionnaire to the teachers. They found that the parents valued the Dutch‐
medium schools in Brussels more because the groups are smaller and because there are
less “aliens”24 in these schools than in the French‐medium schools. They also observed
that pupils did not get enough opportunities to use their second language (Dutch),
because the teacher talks most of the time. This made progress in their proficiency of
24 Alien is the general term to refer to a person who comes from a foreign country; someone who does not owe allegiance to your country.
35
Dutch more difficult. Van de Craen and Huyge (1998, cited in Rapport
Beleidsgerichtonderzoek PBO 98/2/36) noticed that the Francophone pupils had a
willingness to communicate in Dutch and that communicative ability was found later on
in most cases. In other cases, forms of interference from the first language were found.
Deckers (1999, cited in Rapport Beleidsgerichtonderzoek PBO 98/2/36) adressed the
negative aspects of Dutch‐medium schools in Brussels that are often presented in the
media. She said that Francophone and foreign parents consciously sent their children to
Dutch‐medium schools in Brussels because of the many advantages such as bilingualism,
the growing socio‐economic importance of Dutch in Brussels, the quality of the
education, etc. The Dutch‐speaking parents, on the other hand, thought that their
children’s Dutch language skills suffered because of the special situation and that
because of this their children would have a permanent lower achievement in Dutch.
In 2002 (Rapport beleidsgerichtonderzoek PBO 98/2/36) a large study was made to
find out whether the increase of Francophone and foreign pupils in Dutch‐medium
schools in Brussels actually had a negative effect on their language skills of French or
mother tongue and whether the command of Dutch of Dutch‐speaking pupils in Brussels
was less thorough than that of their Flemish counterparts. They looked at pupils in
Dutch‐medium general secondary education in Brussels who spoke exclusively Dutch or
French at home and who had followed Dutch‐medium education since the first year of
primary school. They chose pupils from the first, third and sixth year of secondary
education and compared them to pupils in Flanders and Wallonia. Some interesting
discoveries were made. The special situation that is created by putting Dutch‐speaking
and French‐speaking pupils together has a positive influence on their attitudes and
motivations towards the language of the other community, the community itself and
bilingualism in general. The attitudes and motivations of these pupils were overall more
positive than those of the pupils of Flanders and Wallonia. The research also showed
that the special situation did not have a negative influence on the motivations of
students to learn their own language. Pupils of Flanders, Wallonia and Brussels (of the
Dutch‐medium schools) all had the same attitudes towards their own mother tongue
and community. The study concludes that the situation of language contact has a
positive impact on both Dutch‐speaking and French‐speaking pupils. The pupils of
Dutch‐medium schools in Brussels show an attitude of more openness towards the other
36
language and language community than the pupils of a monolingual educational
situation in Flanders and Wallonia.
They also researched how good the command of the two languages of pupils was and if
it was weaker than that of pupils in Flanders and Wallonia. The situation in Dutch‐
medium schools in Brussels has either no or either a positive influence on the command
of Dutch of Dutch‐speaking pupils in comparison to the pupils in Flanders. The same
holds true for their Francophone colleagues which have a better command of Dutch than
their counterparts in Wallonia. Nevertheless, the knowledge of Dutch of the
Francophone pupils in Dutch‐medium schools is not as good as the knowledge that the
Dutch‐speaking pupils have. In some areas Dutch‐speaking pupils in Dutch‐medium
schools in Brussels have a better command of French than their Flemish colleagues.
Most of the times, however, Dutch‐speaking pupils do not attain the same level of
command of French as the Francophone pupils. The report also mentioned that
Francophone pupils in Dutch‐medium schools and those in Walloon schools differ in
their command of French. Walloon students score higher for metalinguistic, reading and
listening skills.
37
3. Methodology
The Flemish participants include 41 pupils in their last year of secondary education at
Instituut Onze Lieve Vrouw Onbevlekt Ontvangen (also called “De Broederschool”) in
Sint‐Niklaas, Belgium. One bilingual pupil who lives in Antwerp but speaks French at
home also answered the questionnaire. All the pupils had had formal instruction in
Dutch, French and English. They had chosen Spanish as their fourth language instead of
German. In addition, their teacher of Spanish and another teacher of English ‐who had
also taken Spanish evening classes for four years ‐ were interviewed. In my pilot study of
last year, 36 different Flemish pupils answered the questionnaire. I will briefly mention
their results as well.
The Walloon participants include 14 pupils in the sixth year of secondary school and 13
in the fifth year at Collège Saint‐Julien in Ath, Belgium. I also conducted an interview
with the teacher of these students. She gives both English and Spanish lessons. Fourteen
students of Athénée Royal Bara in Tournai also filled in the questionnaire on the
internet. In total, 119 Belgian pupils filled in the questionnaire.
The pupils were asked to fill in a questionnaire consisting of 19 (Walloon pupils) or 20
(Flemish pupils) items. The Flemish pupils answered an additional question about the
similarities between English and Dutch. Most of the items were based on the Beliefs
About Language Learning Inventory of Horwitz (1983). The items are categorized into
five parts: 1) difficulty, 2) competence and effort, 3) similarities with other languages, 4)
foreign language anxiety and 5) motivation. The data derived from the interviews with
the two teachers were also categorized in this way.
The l fo lowing research questions are of interest for this study:
arn? 1. Do pupils think English and Spanish are difficult to le
2. Do pupils think they are competent in the language?
3. Do students have to make a lot of efforts for their courses?
4. Do pupils think that English and Spanish are similar to languages they already
know and therefore find it easier to learn these languages?
5. Are pupils anxious when they have to communicate in the language?
38
6. Do pupils have practical or affective reasons to learn these languages?
The questions asked to the teachers were all open questions and they could elaborate
fully on the topics. The interviews were conducted in order to gauge if the teachers
observed the same beliefs and behaviour as students indicated in their questionnaires.
In the next section, the findings of pupils and teachers will be presented separately and
subdivided according to the region. I will then compare the results in the discussion and
omment on trends and regularities. c
39
4. Findings
4.1 Findings of Flemish pupils
Forty‐two Flemish pupils filled in the questionnaire this year and thirty‐six (different)
pupils last year. Some questions from last year’s questionnaire were modified and a few
questions were added this year. I will briefly mention what last year’s pupils answered
ach time. e
Difficulty
Item 1: Do you think that some languages are more difficult to n o se of learn tha
r
thers becau
ntage Numbe Perce
a) the pronunciation 13/42 31%
b) the conjugations and declensions of words 36/42 86%
c) the degree in which the L is used in the media 14/42 36%
d) the fact that you cannot practise some L in everyday life 20/42 48%
Table 1: Difficulty of languages: general
This item was subdivided into four related yes/no questions where participants had to
check off the parameters that they thought were correct. These examined whether
pupils thought that the difficulty of learning particular languages could be influenced by
pronunciation, morphology, amount of use in the media and the lack of practice in
everyday life.25 Only the parameter about morphology scored high (86%). This could
imply that pupils think that the conjugations and declensions of words in some
languages are more complex than in others. The Spanish and French conjugational
systems – which are quite similar to each other ‐ are more elaborate than the English
one for example. All the other parameters stayed under 50 per cent which is slightly odd
since in my pilot study all of the parameters scored high with Flemish pupils.
Pupils were also asked if they could find any other reasons for a higher degree of
difficulty of some languages. One given reason was that languages with a different
writing system than the mother tongue could increase the difficulty of learning that
25 “These examined …everyday life” is a section from my BA-paper.
40
language. Another pupil suggested that the teacher could also facilitate the language
learning process. The interest the student has in learning a particular language may also
contribute to this process. Finally, the time that is spent on teaching a language is also
important. Language courses of only one or two hours a week might implicate easier
material to learn but the competence in the language will be a lot lower than with
anguage courses of four or five hours a week . l
Item 2: Do you think that Spanish is (very difficult/difficult/average/easy/very easy) to
learn?
ifficult Very d Difficult Average Easy Very easy
1/42 2/42 21/42 17/42 1/42
2% 5% 50% 41% 2%
Table 2: Difficulty of Spanish
Ninety‐one per cent of the pupils thought that Spanish was average or easy to learn. This
is quite similar to my pilot study where 86% found Spanish easy (39%) or between easy
and difficult (47%) to learn. This is only the second year that they learn Spanish, so it
should be noted that only the basic vocabulary and grammar are being taught in those
two years. If they would go on to study Spanish at a higher educational level, there is no
oubt that the language would become more complex to them.d
26
Item 3: Do you think that English is (very difficult/difficult/average/easy/very easy) to
learn?
ifficult Very d Difficult Average Easy Very easy
1/42 5/42 17/42 9/42 10/42
2% 12% 41% 21% 24%
T
able 3: Difficulty of English
26 “This is…to them.” is a section from my BA-paper.
41
Pupils seem to be more divided concerning the difficulty of English. Forty‐one per cent
of the pupils categorize English as average and forty‐five per cent think of English as
easy or very easy. A minority considers English as being difficult or very difficult. These
results also correspond to the pilot study. The omnipresence of English in everyday life
might facilitate the language learning process, so pupils who do not access media too
much could find English difficult, especially since English is taught at a rather high level
n Flanders.i
27
Item 4: D hin hat Spanish is more difficult to learn than English? Why (not)? o you t
k t
Yes Equal No
22/42
52% 12% 36%
5/42 15/42
Table 4: Spanish versus English
Half of the pupils think that Spanish is more difficult to learn than English, twelve per
cent think that both languages are equally difficult and thirty‐six per cent think that
Spanish is not more difficult to learn than English. In my pilot study, 47,2% thought that
Spanish was more difficult and 52,8% thought that this was not the case.
The fifty‐two per cent of pupils who answered that Spanish was more difficult to learn
than English gave various reasons for this. The first and most common reason was that
English is used more on television, radio and the internet. We hear English everyday
while Spanish is only used in the classroom. Flemish pupils also only have one hour of
Spanish per week while English is being taught three hours per week. Some pupils also
said that they thought that English was the most important language in the world and
therefore they were more motivated to learn this language. Many students also stated
that they could already speak English when they were quite young. Reasons that were
more related to the structure of the language itself were the fact that English is more
similar to Dutch than Spanish, that Spanish is a Romance language and therefore it is
harder to teach this language to Dutch‐speaking pupils and that the structure of the
Spanish language is more complicated than the structure of English.
27 “The omnipresence…more reliable.” is a section from my BA-paper.
42
The five pupils who said that both languages were equally difficult or easy to learn did
not state any arguments for their belief.
Finally, the reasons why thirty‐six per cent of the pupils thought that Spanish was not
more difficult to learn than English were also multiple. Two pupils said that writing
Spanish was much easier than writing English because in Spanish you write everything
like you hear it. Some pupils also stated that the Spanish grammar was much easier than
the English one. Others said that there are fewer exceptions in Spanish than in English.
Reasons specifically related to Spanish classes were the fact that the level of Spanish
classes is lower than that of English classes and pupils have to learn a lot less for the
Spanish course in comparison to English. One pupil also stated that it was easier to learn
Spanish because it was something new and therefore more interesting. Another pupil
said that Spanish is similar to French and that he/she was good at French and therefore
also good at Spanish. Another pupil stated a very similar reason to the previous one and
said that he was simply better at learning Romance languages than Germanic ones. A
final reason that was given was: “There is only one language that I find hard to learn and
hat language is English.” t
Competence and effort
Item 5: D u think that you easily learn languages in general? o yo
Yes No
35/42
83% 17%
7/42
Table 5: Language aptitude
The majority of pupils think that they are good at learning languages in general. This
might be related to their inherent ability to learn languages, or in other words, language
ptitude. a
43
Item 6: I t k I have a thorough command of Spanish. hin
Yes No
15/42
36% 64%
27/42
Table 6: Command of Spanish
Sixty‐four per cent thought that they did not have a thorough command of Spanish. This
is quite normal since this has only been their second year of Spanish instruction and
only the basic knowledge is being taught. It is actually quite surprising that 36% of the
upils consider their knowledge of Spanish to be that good. p
Item 7: I t k I have a thorough command of English. hin
Yes No
33/42
79% 21%
9/42
Table 7: Command of English
The comparison of Tables 6 and 7 indicates that pupils have a lot more confidence in
their command of English. Only nine of the 42 pupils think that their command of
nglish is not that thorough. E
Item 8: What a
es
re est at in Spanish? you b
e Competenc Scor
1. Reading 146
2.Listening 93
3.Writing 91
4.Speaking 90
T
able 8: Skills of Spanish
44
Each pupil was asked to rate the four language skills according to his/her self‐perceived
ability. The skill the students were best at received four points, the second best skill
three points, etc. The total number of points for each skill was calculated and is
displayed in the table.28 Reading scored highest and this was also the case in the pilot
study. Listening, writing and speaking followed consecutively. Remarkably, these three
skills did not vary too much in points. This might indicate that students agreed that
reading was the easiest skill but that they had different opinions on what the second
easiest, third easiest and most difficult skill should be. In the pilot study there was a
clear consensus that writing was the second easiest skill and speaking and listening the
most difficult ones respectively. When students are reading they only have to
understand the text and not produce any sentences like in writing or speaking. It is also
easier than listening because when you are reading a text, you can always go back and
eread a part that you did not fully understand previously. r
Item 9: What a
es
re est at in English? you b
e Competenc Scor
1. Reading 130
2.Speaking 113
3.Listening 97
4.Writing 85
Table 9: Skills of English
A more marked distinction is found in the results for skills in English. Reading is also
considered to be the skill students are best at. Speaking and listening follow and writing
is classified as the skill that students are worst at. This order was also found in the pilot
study. The higher ranging of speaking in English in comparison to Spanish might be
explained by the fact that students hear English everyday and therefore find it easier to
speak in that language themselves. Since the level of English is a lot higher than the
Spanish level and that English sounds and orthography do no correspond as well as in
Spanish, writing received the lowest points.
28 “Each pupil…in the table.” is a section from my BA-paper.
45
I
tem 10: Do you have to make a lot of efforts for Spanish?
I
agree
I
e disagre
a) I have to make a lot of efforts to learn this L well. 12/42
29%
30/42
71%
b) I regularly study this L, even when we do not have a specific
assignment or test.
8/42
19%
34/42
81%
c) I dare to ask the teacher questions in Spanish when I do not 22/4
52%
2 20/42
48%
understand something.
Table 10: Efforts for Spanish
Less than one third of the students have to make a lot of efforts to learn Spanish well and
only about 20 per cent studies this language spontaneously. Thus, we might assume that
Spanish is a relatively easy course to learn. Last year, also about one third answered that
they had to make a lot efforts for the course but only 8 per cent said that they regularly
studied this language without there being a specific task or test. We notice that there is
an increase here. Half of the pupils were not afraid to ask the teacher questions in
Spanish. In the pilot study, 97% answered that they dared to ask the teacher questions
but the question did not say that they had to speak Spanish to do this. Thus, we can
derive from this that practically all the pupils would ask the teacher a question when
something is not clear if they can do it in Dutch but when they have to do it in Spanish
half of them passes. A few of those pupils also wrote beneath the question that they were
not specifically afraid to ask questions in Spanish but that often they could not formulate
their question. Aida (1994: 164) pointed out that “[s]ome students may need assistance
from the instructor but do not ask for help because they might view help‐seeking as a
anifestation of weakness, immaturity, or even incompetence.” m
46
I
tem 11: Do you have to make a lot of efforts for English?
I
agree
I
e disagre
a) I have to make a lot of efforts to learn this L well. 13/42
31%
29/42
69%
b) I regularly study this L, even when we do not have a specific
assignment or test.
15/42
36%
27/42
64%
c) I dare to ask the teacher questions in English when I do not 39/4
93%
2 3/4
7%
2
understand something.
Table 11: Efforts for English
Quite similar to the results for Spanish, also around one third of the pupils think that
they have to work hard to learn English well. There are, however, more pupils who
study English spontaneously. This is also quite different from last year when only 17%
mentioned that they did this. Ninety‐three per cent said that they dared to ask questions
in English. This is a big difference with the results for Spanish. This could indicate that
upils think their knowledge of English is better than their knowledge of Spanish. p
Similarities with other languages
Item 12: Do you think that you can derive a lot of words and grammatical structures from
ch w you learn Spanish? Fren hen
Yes No
37/42
88% 12%
5/42
Table 12: Similarity between French and Spanish
47
The majority of the Flemish pupils think that Spanish and French share a lot of
vocabulary and grammatical structures. This might indicate that they think of French
and Spanish as quite similar languages. Hence, their achievement in French could have
an influence on their achievement in Spanish. If they have a good knowledge of French,
Spanish could be easier.
Item 13: Do you think that you can derive a lot of words and grammatical structures from
h wh learn English? Dutc en you
Yes No
16/42
38% 62%
26/42
Table 13: Similarity between Dutch and English
Traditionally, we can divide the Germanic languages into three groups. The North
Germanic group consists of the Scandinavian languages, the West Germanic group of
(current) Dutch, German, English and Frisian, and the East Germanic group of Gothic and
a few other extinct languages. This indicates that Dutch and English belong to the same
Germanic subgroup. Nevertheless, only around one third of the pupils thought that they
could derive a lot from Dutch when they learned English. Dutch and English may be both
Germanic languages but apparently pupils think that they are not as similar to each
ther as French and Spanish are. o
Item 14: Do you think that you can derive a lot of words and grammatical structures from
ch when you learn English? Fren
Yes No
7/42
17% 83%
35/42
Table 14: Similarity between French and English
Van Parijs (2007: 7) said that “if there is one language in the world that can claim to lie
precisely midway between French and Dutch, it is English and only English, which is
after all but a dialect very similar to Frisian, which the Angles took with them when they
crossed the Channel in the fifth century and which was later made unrecognisable by
some Vikings who, after a few centuries of French lessons in Normandy, crossed the
Channel in turn to simplify its grammar and graft 10,000 French words onto it.”
48
Thus, even though English has borrowed a lot of words from French, most Flemish
pupils do not see a clear connection between the two languages. Nevertheless, this result
might also be affected by the fact that pupils know that French and English do not belong
to the same language family and therefore answer in this way.
Foreign language anxiety
Item 15: Do you feel comfortable when you h to speave ak Spanish
ntage Yes Perce
a) during a presentation? 7/42 17%
b) when you have to answer in class? 25/42 60%
c) on vacation? 22/42 52%
d) when a native speaker comes to visit? 10/42 24%
Table 15: Foreign language anxiety for Spanish
Pupils seem to be most anxious when they have to do a presentation and when they
have to talk to a native speaker. This was also the case in the pilot study, although the
two statements did receive different ratings (39% for presentation and 50% for talking
to a native speaker). The reason why students are generally not comfortable while doing
a presentation may not only involve “communicative anxiety”. Last year, one pupil
pointed out that he/she also felt anxious while doing a presentation in the native
language, mostly because then the pupil is aware that he/she is marked. So
consequently, “general anxiety” also plays a role here.29 It is rather strange that only
24% feel comfortable when a native speaker of Spanish comes to visit but that 52% are
comfortable when speaking Spanish on holiday because when people speak Spanish to
other people on vacation, those people will probably also be natives. Finally, 60% feel
comfortable when they have to answer in Spanish in class. Item 10 demonstrated that
52% were not afraid to ask something in Spanish so this number broadly corresponds to
hat. In the pilot study, the result was relatively the same (69%). t
29 “he/she…a role here.” is a section of my BA-paper.
49
Item 16: Do you feel comfortable when you h to speave ak English
ntage Yes Perce
a) during a presentation? 28/42 67%
b) when you have to answer in class? 31/42 74%
c) on vacation? 37/42 88%
d) when a native speaker comes to visit? 27/42 64%
Table 16: Foreign language anxiety for English
For English, all of the percentages are much higher than for Spanish. Here, speaking
English during a presentation and speaking English to a native speaker also score lowest
but still more than half of the pupils feel comfortable so this is a big difference with
Spanish. The percentage for speaking English on vacation is the highest. This might be
due to the fact that only some people that they meet on vacation are actually native
speakers of English. This may reduce the fear of making mistakes.30 Last year, the
results for questions b), c) and d) corresponded to these answers but more than half of
the pupils were anxious to speak English during a presentation while for this year the
esults are the other way around. r
Item 17: Why do you feel selfconscious/confident when you sp aneak Sp
ish?
ee I agree I disagr
a) I think I will never fully manage this L. 15/42
36%
27/42
64%
b) I was never good at learning L. 3/42
7%
39/42
93%
c) Schools do not make enough time to learn the L. 14/42
33%
28/42
67%
d) I am afraid that I will sound ridiculous if I speak this L. 16/42
38%
26/42
62%
Table 17: Reasons for anxiety in Spanish
30 “This may…making mistakes.” is a section of my BA-paper.
50
Thirty‐six per cent think that they will never fully know the language. This is a decrease
from last year when 61% thought that they would never fully manage Spanish. Only 7%
think that they were never good at learning languages, so we might assume that learning
languages is something that these students are good at. Thirty‐three per cent say that
not enough time is spent on learning Spanish. The result of the pilot study was again a
lot higher (53%). The results for the last statement were relatively equivalent in both
years. This year, 38% were afraid to sound ridiculous in Spanish while last year 31%
ere. w
Item 18: Why do you feel selfconscious/confident when you sp gleak En
e
ish?
ee I agre I disagr
a) I think I will never fully manage this L. 6/42
14%
36/42
86%
b) I was never good at learning L. 2/42
5%
40/42
95%
c) Schools do not make enough time to learn the L. 3/42
7%
39/42
93%
d) I am afraid that I will sound ridiculous if I speak this L. 11/42
26%
31/42
74%
Table 18: Reasons for anxiety in English
The answers for English were more positive this year in comparison to last year. Only
14% think that they will never fully manage English. This means that most pupils have
great confidence in their knowledge of English and their ability to learn it. Also
surprising was that only 7% thought that not enough time was being spent on teaching
English while last year 39% per cent answered positively to this question. Fewer
students were afraid to sound ridiculous while speaking English compared to Spanish.
51
Motivation
Item 19: Why do you want to learn Spanish?
Number Percentage
a) I know people who speak this L. 3/42 7%
b) It is handy to know this L if you are looking for work later. 23/42 55%
c) I am interested in the culture of the people who speak this L. 16/42 38%
d) I am interested in the politics and economy of the countries
where this L is spoken.
4/42 10%
e) It is obligatory to learn this L. 19/42 45%
f) I travel a lot to a country where this L is spoken. 8/42 19%
g) I think it is a beautiful L. 29/42 69%
Table 19: Motivations to learn Spanish
The motivations that scored highest for learning Spanish were instrumental (“It is handy
to know this L if you are looking for work later.”) and the fact that Spanish is considered
to be a beautiful language. Almost half of the pupils also indicated that they only learned
this language because it was obligatory. Last year, 66% of the pupils said that they were
interested in the culture of the Spanish‐speaking people, which would point towards a
more integrative motivation. Now, only 38% found this interesting. Other reasons for
wanting to learn Spanish were the fact that Spanish is a world language and that it is
fascinating to learn new languages. We can also make a distinction between intrinsic and
extrinsic motivation here. According to Noels et al. (2000), intrinsic motivation is “the
motivation to engage in an activity because that activity is enjoyable and satisfying to
do” (p.61). Learning Spanish because it is a beautiful language belongs to this category
because aesthetic appreciation is involved. Learning Spanish because you find it
fascinating to learn a new language is also an intrinsic motivation because you do this
activity for the feelings that are associated with exploring new ideas and developing
knowledge. “It is handy to know this language if you are looking for work later” and “it is
bligatory to learn this language” are obviously extrinsic motivations. o
52
Item 20: Why do you want to learn English?
Number Percentage
a) I know people who speak this L. 17/42 40%
b) It is handy to know this L if you are looking for work later. 40/42 95%
c) I am interested in the culture of the people who speak this L. 11/42 26%
d) I am interested in the politics and economy of the countries
where this L is spoken.
11/42 26%
e) It is obligatory to learn this L. 18/42 43%
f) I travel a lot to a country where this L is spoken. 13/42 31%
g) I think it is a beautiful L. 19/42 45%
Table 20: Motivations to learn English
The major reason why pupils want to learn English is because it is handy to know this
language when you are looking for a job. Last year, every pupil indicated this as a
motivational factor. All of the others factors scored a lot lower. Other reasons given by
the pupils were the fact that English is a world language, that it is handy to know English
when you have to work with a computer, that English is a course that you are good at
and finally, one pupil said that he/she wants to move to the USA. Most of these
otivational factors are pragmatic and point towards extrinsic motivation. m
53
4.2 Findings of Walloon pupils
I had 28 sixth year Walloon pupils who filled in the questionnaire in the beginning of the
first semester, but because I thought that this was a small number in comparison to the
Flemish pupils, I asked the Walloon teacher to also give the questionnaire to her fifth
year pupils in the second semester (so that they already had some knowledge of
Spanish). I discussed the results for fifth and sixth year Walloon pupils separately
ecause there were some significant differences between the two groups. b
Difficulty
Item 1: Do you think that some languages are more difficult to n o se of learn tha
r
thers becau
tage Numbe Percen
a) the pronunciation 28/28 100%
b) the conjugations and declensions of words 22/28 79%
c) the degree in which the L is used in the media 14/28 50%
d) the fact that you cannot practise some L in everyday life 19/28 68%
Table 21: Sixth year pupils: Difficulty of languages: general
Number Percentage
a) the pronunciation 11/13 85%
b) the conjugations and declensions of words 10/13 77%
c) the degree in which the L is used in the media 5/13 38%
d) the fact that you cannot practise some L in everyday life 11/13 85%
Table 22: Fifth year pupils: Difficulty of languages: general
Almost all of the Walloon pupils think that pronunciation is a factor that can make some
languages more difficult to learn than others. A lot of pupils wrote next to the question
that this was especially the case for English. The morphology of different languages also
seemed to be an important factor. Half of the students of the sixth year seemed to think
that a higher degree in which the language is used in the media also facilitated language
learning, while only 38% of the pupils of the fifth year felt the same way. The fact that
54
some languages cannot be practised in real life also seemed to make some languages
more difficult to learn than others.
Others reasons given were the time that is spent on that language, the motivation for
learning the language, the vocabulary of the language, the interest that a person has in
learning the language and, finally, whether you know any people who speak that
anguage and might help you learn it. l
Item 2: Do you think that Spanish is (very difficult/difficult/average/easy/very easy) to
learn?
ery difficult V Difficult Average Easy Very easy
1/28 17/28 8/28 2/28
4% 61% 28% 7%
Table 23: Sixth y
ery difficult
ea iffi anir pupils: D
lt
culty of Sp
e
sh
V Difficu Averag Easy Very easy
1/13 10/13 2/13
8% 77% 15%
Table 24: Fifth year pupils: Difficulty of Spanish
The bulk of Walloon pupils – both of the fifth and the sixth year – think that learning
Spanish is between easy and difficult. About 35% of the sixth year students even found it
an easy to very easy language. In both years, only one pupil thought Spanish was a
ifficult language to learn. d
Item 3: Do you think that English is (very difficult/difficult/average/easy/very easy) to
learn?
ery difficult V Difficult Average Easy Very easy
6/28 15/28 5/28 2/28
21% 54% 18% 7%
Table 25: Sixth year pupils: Difficulty of English
55
Very difficult Difficult Average Easy Very easy
3/13 6/13 3/13 1/13
23% 46% 23% 8%
Table 26: Fifth year pupils: Difficulty of English
For English, the results were rather different. Here, only around half of the pupils
considered English to be between easy and difficult. Eleven pupils thought it was an easy
or very easy language to learn but nine pupils in total thought it was a difficult language.
his is a significantly larger number than for Spanish. T
Item 4: D th that Spanish is more difficult to learn than English? Why (not)? o you
ink
Yes Equal No
9/28
32% 11% 57%
3/28 16/28
Table 27: ar pupils: Spanish versus English Sixth ye
Yes Equal No
8/13
62% 8% 30%
1/13 4/13
Table 28: Fifth year pupils: Spanish versus English
The results of the fifth year and sixth year students differ enormously. Sixty‐two per cent
of the fifth year pupils think that Spanish is more difficult to learn than English while
only 32% of the sixth year pupils seem to feel the same way.
Pupils who thought that Spanish was more difficult to learn than English offered various
reasons for this. The most stated reason was that they heard English everyday in the
media while Spanish was only heard in the classroom. A few pupils also said that English
was easier because English classes had started earlier. One pupil pointed out that even
though Spanish is similar to French, he still thought that it was more difficult because
the words are written differently and therefore he often makes small mistakes. Another
pupil also said that Spanish orthography was more difficult. Finally, a few pupils stated
56
that Spanish grammar was more difficult than the English one. This is a surprising result
since Spanish grammar is very similar to French grammar.
Pupils who thought that Spanish was not more difficult to learn than English often stated
that Spanish was very similar to French and since two pupils had other “Romance”
origins – one Italian and one Portuguese pupil ‐ they also said that Spanish was very
similar to Italian and Portuguese respectively. Other pupils also pointed out that they
thought that the English grammar and pronunciation were very difficult for them.
Another pupil said that Spanish was a fun language to learn and therefore it was easier
o learn. t
Competence and effort
Item 5: D u think that you easily learn languages in general? o yo
Yes No
25/28
89% 11%
3/28
Table 29: S year pupils: Language aptitude ixth
Yes No
12/13
92% 8%
1/13
Table 30: Fifth year pupils: Language aptitude
The majority of pupils say that they easily learn languages in general. In other words,
ost pupils think that they have an aptitude to learn languages. m
Item 6: I nk I have a thorough command of Spanish. thi
Yes No
5/28
18% 82%
23/28
T
able 31: Sixth year pupils: Command of Spanish
57
Yes No
4/13
31% 69%
9/13
Table 32: Fifth year pupils: Command of Spanish
Most pupils do not think that they have a thorough command of Spanish. It is quite
surprising that nine pupils in total do think that their knowledge of Spanish is good since
his is only their first or second year of Spanish. t
Item 7: I t k I have a thorough command of English. hin
Yes No
14/28
50% 50%
14/28
Table 33: h year pupils: Command of English Sixt
Yes No
9/13
69% 31%
4/13
Table 34: Fifth year pupils: Command of English
Half of the sixth year pupils and 69% of the fifth year students thought that their
nowledge of English was good, this is an increase in comparison to Spanish. k
Item 8: What a
nces
re est at in Spanish? you b
re Compete Sco
Reading 97
Writing 67
Speaking 62
Listening 54
Table 35: Sixth year pupils: Skills of Spanish
58
Competences Score
1. Reading 48
2. Speaking 36
3. Writing 27
4. Listening 19
Table 36: Fifth year pupils: Skills of Spanish
When asked to range the four skills, all of the Walloon pupils ranked reading as the
easiest and listening as the hardest skill. The fact that Spanish people talk very fast
might be a cause of this. Sixth year students thought that writing was the second easiest
skill and speaking the third easiest although there was not much difference in points
between the two. Fifth year students, on the other hand, ranked speaking second and
riting third. w
Item 9: What a
nces
re est at in English? you b
re Compete Sco
Reading 88
Speaking 72
Writing 64
Listening 58
Table 37: Sixth ye
nces
ar pupi : Skills in English ls
re Compete Sco
Reading 47
Speaking 33
Writing 31
Listening 20
T
able 38: Fifth year pupils: Skills in English
59
The ranking of the four skills for English demonstrated the same results for both groups.
Reading was again considered to be the easiest skill. Speaking and writing followed
respectively. Finally, listening received the lowest amount of points and thus became the
ost difficult skill in both years for both languages. m
I
tem 10: Do you have to make a lot of efforts for Spanish?
I
agree
I
e disagre
a) I have to make a lot of efforts to learn this L well. 3/28
11%
25/28
89%
b) I regularly study this L, even when we do not have a specific
assignment or test.
3/28
11%
25/28
89%
c) I dare to ask the teacher questions in Spanish when I do not 20/2
71%
8 8/28
29% understand something.
T
able 39: Sixth year pupils: Efforts for Spanish
I
agree
I
ee disagr
a) I have to make a lot of efforts to learn this L well. 5/13
38%
8/13
62%
b) I regularly study this L, even when we do not have a specific
assignment or test.
4/13
31%
9/13
69%
c) I dare to ask the teacher questions in Spanish when I do not 8/13
62%
5/13
38% understand something.
Table 40: Fifth year pupils: Efforts for Spanish
Most sixth year students said that they did not have to make a lot of efforts to learn
Spanish (89%). Thirty‐eight per cent of the fifth year pupils, on the other hand, did think
that they had to do a lot for the course. This difference might be explained by the fact
that Spanish was an entirely new language for the fifth year pupils while the sixth year
students had already gotten used to it.
60
A similar response to the first question was found in the second one. Again, 89% of the
sixth year pupils said that they did not study Spanish spontaneously while 31% of the
fifth year admitted that they did.
The third question asked whether pupils were not afraid to ask questions in Spanish
when they did not understand something. The majority of the pupils responded
affirmatively although there was a difference between the two groups. Fewer fifth year
pupils answered positively in comparison to sixth year pupils. This might be due to the
act that fifth year pupils do not have enough knowledge of Spanish yet to ask questions. f
I
tem 11: Do you have to make a lot of efforts for English?
I
agree
I
e disagre
a) I have to make a lot of efforts to learn this L well. 9/28
32%
19/28
68%
b) I regularly study this L, even when we do not have a specific
assignment or test.
19/28
68%
9/28
32%
c) I dare to ask the teacher questions in English when I do not 25/2
89%
8 3/28
11% understand something.
T
able 41: Sixth year pupils: Efforts for English
I
agree
I
ee disagr
a) I have to make a lot of efforts to learn this L well. 5/13
38%
8/13
62%
b) I regularly study this L, even when we do not have a specific
assignment or test.
6/13
46%
7/13
54%
c) I dare to ask the teacher questions in English when I do not 11/1
85%
3 2/13
15% understand something.
T
able 42: Fifth year pupils: Efforts for English
61
There were more sixth year pupils who had to make a lot of efforts to learn English well
in comparison to Spanish. This percentage was more or less the same for the fifth year
pupils who also had the same results for Spanish.
For the second question, the percentages for both years were higher than in Item 10.
Sixty‐eight per cent of sixth year pupils and forty‐six per cent of fifth‐year pupils
mentioned that they regularly studied English without preparing for a task or test. One
pupil mentioned that she also considered watching English television programmes or
tlistening to English music to be prac ising English.
There was also a remarkable rise for the third question in comparison to the same
question for Spanish. More than 80% of all the pupils were not afraid to ask the teacher
questions in English. All the pupils had a minimum of three years of English instruction
so with their command of English there should normally not be a problem in forming
imple questions. s
Similarities with other languages
Item 12: Do you think that you can derive a lot of words and grammatical structures from
ch w you learn Spanish? Fren hen
Yes No
20/28
71% 29%
8/28
Table 43: h year pupils: Similarity between French and Spanish Sixt
Yes No
8/13
62% 38%
5/13
Table 44: Fifth year pupils: Similarity between French and Spanish
Similarity between the various Romance languages can mainly be observed in the
degree of shared ‘basic’ lexicon. According to Posner (1996), at least half of the common
words from one Romance language is recognisable in another. Rumanian tends to
present most difficulties, but in some pairs like Portuguese and Spanish, for example,
some 90 per cent of the ‘basic’ vocabulary will look familiar. Italian is the most ‘central’
62
of the languages and has inherited and borrowed the biggest amount of Latin
vocabulary. Some 80 per cent of its ‘basic’ vocabulary can be found in other Romance
languages (Posner, 1996). “It is not surprising, then, that among Romance speakers
there is some degree of mutual intelligibility or that, at any rate, they have
comparatively little difficulty in learning each other’s language.” (Posner, 1996: 87). She
also believes that communicative obstacles are formed rather by phonetic differences
than by lexical ones.
The majority of the students thought that a lot of words and grammatical structures of
Spanish could be derived from French. Nevertheless, the fifth year pupils seemed to be
than the sixth year pupils. less convinced
Item 13: Do you think that you can derive a lot of words and grammatical structures from
ch w you learn English? Fren hen
Yes No
16/28
57% 43%
12/28
Table 45: h year pupils: Similarity between French and English Sixt
Yes No
9/13
69% 31%
4/13
Table 46: Fifth year pupils: Similarity between French and English
In 1066, England was conquered by William of Normandy. Anglo‐Norman became the
language of the court, the nobility, the clergy and the public life. Approximately 10000
French words came into English in the 13th century. Many of the new words were quite
ordinary, everyday terms and belonged to fields such as law, administration, medicine,
art and fashion. About three‐quarters of all these French loans are still in the language
today (Crystal, 2003). This explains why many English words are the same as French
words. This could be a facilitating factor for Francophone people who learn English.
63
The number of pupils answering affirmatively to this question was smaller than for the
previous one but still more than half of both groups seemed to think that many
tructures and words of English are similar to French. grammatical s
Foreign language anxiety
Item 14: Do you feel comfortable when you h to speave ak Spanish
ntage Yes Perce
a) during a presentation? 6/28 21%
b) when you have to answer in class? 19/28 68%
c) on vacation? 12/17 71%
d) when a native speaker comes to visit? 7/17 41%
Table 47: Sixth year pupils: Foreign language anxiet Spanish y for
Yes Percentage
a) during a presentation? 6/13 46%
b) when you have to answer in class? 13/13 100%
c) on vacation? 5/7 71%
d) when a native speaker comes to visit? 5/9 56%
Table 48: Fifth year pupils: Foreign language anxiety for Spanish
For items 14 and 15, the last two questions had fewer answers from participants
because some pupils had never been on a vacation where they had to speak Spanish or
64
English or they had never met any Spanish or English native speakers.
During a presentation, less than half of the pupils felt comfortable speaking Spanish.
Especially sixth year students seemed to be anxious. All of the fifth year pupils said that
they felt comfortable when they had to answer in class. This is a very high number and
might again be explained by the fact that their knowledge of Spanish is not big and they
probably only have to answer with words like “sí” or “no”. The majority of the sixth year
pupils also answered affirmatively to the question but to a smaller degree than the fifth
year pupils. Like I already said, not all of the pupils answered questions c) and d) but
results for the fifth and sixth year seemed to correspond well. Seventy‐one per cent felt
comfortable when they had to speak Spanish on vacation and about half felt the same
way when they had to speak Spanish to a native speaker. So, overall, most pupils felt
comfortable when they had to speak Spanish. They felt most anxious when they had to
peak during a presentation. s
Item 15: Do you feel comfortable when you h to speave ak English
ntage Yes Perce
a) during a presentation? 12/28 43%
b) when you have to answer in class? 8/28 29%
c) on vacation? 25/28 89%
d) when a native speaker comes to visit? 6/17 35%
Table 49: Sixth year pupils: Foreign language anxiet Englisy for h
ntage Yes Perce
a) during a presentation? 4/13 31%
b) when you have to answer in class? 11/13 85%
c) on vacation? 10/11 91%
d) when a native speaker comes to visit? 8/12 67%
Table 50: Fifth year pupils: Foreign language anxiety for English
For English, the differences between fifth and sixth year students were even bigger,
especially for questions b) and d). Sixth year pupils seemed to be a lot more anxious
when they had to answer in class or talk to a native speaker than their counter‐
participants of the fifth year. During an English presentation, less than half of the pupils
felt comfortable but there was, however, an increase in comparison to Spanish for sixth
year students. Most pupils – 89% and 91% respectively – felt comfortable when they
ad to speak English on vacation. h
65
Item 16: Why do you feel selfconscious/confident when you sp an ? eak Sp ish
I agree %
a) I think I will never fully manage this L. 16/28 57%
b) I was never good at learning L. 2/28 7%
c) Schools do not make enough time to learn the L. 22/28 79%
d) I am afraid that I will sound ridiculous if I speak this L. 9/28 32%
Table 51: Sixth year pupils: Reasons for anxiety in Spanish
I agree %
a) I think I will never fully manage this L. 8/13 62%
b) I was never good at learning L. 1/13 8%
c) Schools do not make enough time to learn the L. 8/13 62%
d) I am afraid that I will sound ridiculous if I speak this L. 4/13 31%
Table 52: Fifth year pupils: Reasons for anxiety in Spanish
I also tried to find out the reasons why pupils felt anxious when they had to speak the
foreign language. The two most common reasons were the fact that not enough time is
being spent on teaching the language and the thought that they will never fully manage
Spanish. Around a third of the pupils also feared that they would sound ridiculous in
panish. S
Item 17: Why do you feel selfconscious/confident when you sp gl ? eak En ish
I agree %
a) I think I will never fully manage this L. 12/28 43%
b) I was never good at learning L. 0/28 0%
c) Schools do not make enough time to learn the L. 23/28 82%
d) I am afraid that I will sound ridiculous if I speak this L. 6/28 21%
T
able 53: Sixth year pupils: Reasons for anxiety in English
66
I agree %
a) I think I will never fully manage this L. 5/13 38%
b) I was never good at learning L. 1/13 8%
c) Schools do not make enough time to learn the L. 8/13 62%
d) I am afraid that I will sound ridiculous if I speak this L. 4/13 31%
Table 54: Fifth year pupils: Reasons for anxiety in English
For English, the results were generally the same as for Spanish but here more pupils had
faith in their knowledge of English and thought that they would eventually fully know
the language. Moreover, fewer sixth year pupils were afraid that they would sound
ridiculous in English (21%) whereas this percentage was 10% higher for Spanish.
Motivation
Item 18: Why do you want to learn Spanish?
Number Percentage
a) I know people who speak this L. 12/28 43%
b) It is handy to know this L if you are looking for work later. 16/28 57%
c) I am interested in the culture of the people who speak this L. 23/28 82%
d) I am interested in the politics and economy of the countries
where this L is spoken.
2/28 7%
e) It is obligatory to learn this L. 6/28 21%
f) I travel a lot to a country where this L is spoken. 8/28 29%
g) I think it is a beautiful L. 22/28 79%
Table 55: Sixth year pupils: Motivations to learn Spanish
67
Number Percentage
a) I know people who speak this L. 3/13 23%
b) It is handy to know this L if you are looking for work later. 9/13 69%
c) I am interested in the culture of the people who speak this L. 7/13 54%
d) I am interested in the politics and economy of the countries
where this L is spoken.
2/13 15%
e) It is obligatory to learn this L. 4/13 31%
f) I travel a lot to a country where this L is spoken. 3/13 23%
g) I think it is a beautiful L. 9/13 69%
Table 56: Fifth year pupils: Motivations to learn Spanish
Items 18 and 19 inquire into the different motivations that Walloon pupils have to learn
both languages. Interest in the culture of Spanish speaking people was the most popular
motivation given by sixth year pupils. This motivation was far less frequent with fifth
year pupils but still above half. This might indicate that a lot of pupils have an
integrative orientation towards learning Spanish. Another popular incentive to learn
Spanish for both groups was the belief that Spanish was a beautiful language. Many
pupils also share an instrumental orientation towards learning Spanish because 69% of
fifth year pupils and 57% of sixth year pupils think that this language will help them to
get a good job. Quite a few sixth year students and three fifth year pupils also know
people who speak Spanish and therefore wanted to learn it. The other three reasons
given (interest in politics and economy, compulsory course and travel) were less
popular.
Students were also allowed to give additional motivational reasons. The most frequent
additional reason was that students loved to learn new languages or wanted to learn as
many languages as possible. Another recurrent incentive to learn Spanish was the fact
that it is a world language. One student stated that he had Italian origins and since
panish and Italian are very similar, it was easy for him to learn this language. S
68
Item 19: Why do you want to learn English?
Number Percentage
a) I know people who speak this L. 11/28 39%
b) It is handy to know this L if you are looking for work later. 28/28 100%
c) I am interested in the culture of the people who speak this L. 22/28 79%
d) I am interested in the politics and economy of the countries
where this L is spoken.
5/28 18%
e) It is obligatory to learn this L. 5/28 18%
f) I travel a lot to a country where this L is spoken. 12/28 43%
g) I think it is a beautiful L. 22/28 79%
Table 57: Sixth year pupils: Motivations to learn English
Number Percentage
a) I know people who speak this L. 7/13 54%
b) It is handy to know this L if you are looking for work later. 13/13 100%
c) I am interested in the culture of the people who speak this L. 10/13 77%
d) I am interested in the politics and economy of the countries
where this L is spoken.
3/13 23%
e) It is obligatory to learn this L. 6/13 46%
f) I travel a lot to a country where this L is spoken. 5/13 38%
g) I think it is a beautiful L. 12/13 92%
Table 58: Fifth year pupils: Motivations to learn English
69
All of the pupils (of both years) agreed that knowing English is handy when you are
looking for a job. This clearly indicates that students have a very pragmatic orientation
towards learning English. Quite surprisingly, 92% of fifth year pupils and 79% of sixth
year pupils learned English because they thought it was a beautiful language. Thus, more
Walloon pupils think that English is a beautiful language in comparison to Spanish.
Around 77% of the pupils are also interested in the culture of the people who speak
English, thus indicating an integrative orientation. Eighteen pupils stated that they
wanted to learn English because they know people who speak this language. Seventeen
pupils said that they frequently travelled to a country where English was spoken. The
other two reasons (interest in politics and economy and compulsory course) scored
lowest again.
Among the additional reasons for learning English, the fact that English is a world
language was again found. Two pupils also pointed out that it is handy to know some
nglish when you have to work with a computer. E
70
4.3 Findings for the two Flemish teachers31
Two Flemish teachers were interviewed, one of Spanish and one of English. Both had
been teachers in their subject for about 20 years. The Spanish teacher, however, has
only recently been teaching in secondary schools because of the implementation of
Spanish in secondary education in the recent past. Before that, she gave Spanish evening
classes. The English teacher followed Spanish evening classes for four years and,
consequently, was asked questions about her own experiences in learning Spanish. The
interviews consisted of nine similar items and six additional questions for the English
eacher. All the quotes were translated into English. t
Difficulty
The first two items sought to explain why various foreign languages are taught and
learned in a dissimilar way. The first item was asked to find out what the main
differences were in teaching these languages. The second item looked for reasons for the
lleged higher degree of difficulty of Spanish. a
Item 1: Do you think that teaching English/Spanish is different than teaching French,
Spanish, and German/English? Why?
Both teachers say that they start from the knowledge the pupils already have. The
English teacher says that most pupils do not hear French, German or Spanish often
enough, but that they hear English everyday on radio, television and the Internet. She
also states that pupils of English are actually “false beginners”, while pupils of French,
Spanish and German most of the time actually do not have any prior knowledge of these
languages. The English grammar also looks a lot easier than the French one in the
beginning, according to her. “French and Spanish have a lot more linguistic forms in
comparison to English. When pupils start taking English classes, it also seems that
English is a language that everyone understands,” she adds.
The teacher of Spanish says that she starts from the knowledge pupils have of French.
Pupils already enjoyed six years of French courses before taking Spanish courses.
“French and Spanish have a similar morphological system and share a lot vocabulary.
For this reason, beginner courses of Spanish can be given at a much faster tempo.”
31 The interviews with the Flemish teachers are part of my BA-paper.
71
Item 2: Do pupils think that Spanish is more difficult to learn than English, according to
you?
Both teachers agree on this item: they both believe that pupils find English easier than
Spanish. The omnipresence of English in Flemish media is the main reason reported by
the teachers. “Fewer people watch Spanish television or read Spanish newspapers.”
Connected to this is the fact that pupils of English are false beginners, while pupils of
Spanish usually have absolutely no knowledge of the language. The English teacher
noticed that pupils may not be able to speak correctly in English but that they are able to
make themselves understood.
The teaching of English also starts three years earlier than the teaching of Spanish. In
addition, Spanish courses only last 50 minutes per week, while English is taught at least
wice that amount of time. t
Competence and effort
By asking items 3 and 4, I wanted to discover whether pupils had to work hard to learn a
particular language and which of the four skills (speaking, reading, writing and
istening) the pupils mastered the best. l
Item 3: Do pupils need to make a lot of efforts for the course?
The answers of the teachers seem to be a bit more divided on this subject. The English
teacher thinks that English is often underestimated, especially in the last two years of
secondary education. “Until the fourth year, pupils tend to score good grades with just
the knowledge of English they pick up from television. From the fifth year onwards,
however, English classes become a lot more difficult. Pupils actually have to start
studying the course material. Normally, students improve on their marks by skill
exercises but if they do not study, their skills will get worse as well.”
The Spanish teacher thinks that pupils have to put a lot of effort into Spanish. “They have
to study a lot of vocabulary and grammar and do many exercises at home.” She suggests
that she teaches a lot of material in class and expects the students to practise as much as
ossible at home. “It is a course that shows if students can study independently.” p
72
Item 4: What are pupils best at: speaking, reading, listening or writing? Is there an
explanation for this?
Interestingly, the two teachers agree on the order of the four skills. Writing was found to
be the most difficult skill because pupils need to have a thorough command of the
vocabulary as well as the grammar. Reading was considered to be the skill that students
were best at. “Reading is rather receptive and pupils do not need to do a lot themselves;
they just have to extract things from the text. They can also look at the context and work
at their own pace,” the English teacher said. The Spanish teacher thinks students are
better at speaking than listening and the English teacher thinks the two are at the same
evel. l
Foreign language anxiety
The next items mainly concern “communicative anxiety” since “test anxiety” or “general
anxiety” is also found in other types of courses. The teachers were asked whether
students felt comfortable talking in the foreign language and reasons for this were
ought. s
Item 5: Do you think that pupils are pretty confident about themselves when they have to
use English/Spanish? Do they cooperate in class or do you notice that they are
uncomfortable when using the foreign languages?
The English teacher thinks this is very unstable. “Some students are very cooperative
and others are very timid.” She does not think that this always has something to do with
the particular language. “When I discuss a pupil with teachers of other languages, they
also observe the same behaviour.” The English teacher thinks that confidence in a
foreign language is more determined by the pupil him‐/herself than by a certain
language.
The Spanish teacher points out that students are inclined to be much more confident in
writing skills than in speaking skills. She does add that less attention is being paid to
speaking since pupils only have 50 minutes of Spanish per week. She also mentions that
he pupils co‐operate enthusiastically in class. t
73
Item 6: Why do you think pupils are confident or selfconscious when they have to speak
English/Spanish?
The two teachers agree on this question: both think that lack of confidence in a foreign
language depends on the pupil him‐/herself. The personality of the student is
considered to be much more crucial than his/her actual competence. The two teachers
also acknowledge that a deviant pronunciation is one of the major obstacles. “There are
pupils who make a lot of grammatical mistakes but still speak fluently.” According to the
teacher of English, this is due to the fact that they cannot hear themselves speak, while
pupils with a deviant pronunciation can. The Spanish teacher also adds that some
students lack confidence in Spanish because they were never good at learning any other
anguages. l
Motivation
Item 7 tries to find out if students are enthusiastic in following the courses. Item 8 is a
rather personal question directed to the teachers. It investigates how important they
hink their course is. t
Item 7: Do you notice that students want to learn the language or that they just follow it
because it is obligatory?
The teacher of English estimates that about 80% of her pupils like to follow English
classes. She even claims that if students were asked to choose between French or
English, English would win for three reasons. “First of all, English is more popular than
French. Second, English is a world language and French not anymore. Last, English
seems easier to learn than French.”
In the school of the Spanish teacher, pupils have a choice between taking German or
Spanish courses, so technically speaking it is not a compulsory course. “Every year, more
students choose the Spanish classes and also the number of people who continue their
tudies in Spanish increases.” s
74
Item 8: What languages do you think are most important to learn these days?
The English teacher makes a distinction between the importance of knowing languages
at world level and the importance of languages in Belgium. At world level, the order is
English, Spanish, French and German. In Belgium, she thinks French is still the most
important foreign language and then English, German and Spanish. She also says that
she encourages her students to take their French courses seriously because in most
Belgian companies knowledge of French is still important and knowing only English will
not be enough.
The Spanish teacher seems to share that last opinion because she also rates French
higher than English. Nevertheless, she thinks Spanish is more important to learn these
days than German, because Spanish is a world language and German is used in fewer
ountries. c
General thoughts
Item 9: Do you notice that the ideologies or attitudes towards your course or subject have
changed?
The teachers have been teaching for over twenty years now but neither observed any
changes in the attitudes or ideologies towards their subject. The English teacher did
notice that students have become less tense and more fluent over the years. She also
mentions that the way of teaching has changed a lot. When she started teaching, she was
only required to teach grammar and vocabulary but nowadays the skills have become
much more important. The Spanish teacher observed that girls are a lot more accurate in
earning a foreign language than boys. l
Additional questions for the teacher of English who followed Spanish evening
courses
Item 10: Do you think that it was harder to lear Spanish than English?
“It was a lot harder to learn Spanish than English. The most difficult things about
Spanish were the fact that no personal pronouns are used but just the verb form, unless
you want to stress something (“hago” versus “yo hago”: “I do”), and also the conjugation
of the verbs.” She also claimed that the vocabulary was rather hard to learn. She also
mentioned that she had problems with keeping the different past tenses apart. “Most of
the time, I use the “pretérito perfecto compuesto” (for example “he hecho”) while a few
other possibilities exist as well (for instance “hice” and “hacía”).” “Furthermore, Spanish
is not omnipresent like English: there are fewer songs in Spanish, there is only one
Spanish‐speaking channel on television, etc.”
n
75
We might conclude that the main contributors to the difficulty of Spanish are the
orphological system and the fewer possibilities to hear Spanish in everyday life. m
Item 11: What are you best at in Spanish?
She listed reading as her favourite skill. Listening to the teacher is quite easy, according
to her, but listening to real Spanish people is very different. “They tend to swallow a lot
of sounds and talk too fast.” She says that she is fairly good at writing as well, as long as
she can look things up and has enough time to think. She considers speaking her worst
kill because she does not have enough time to think then. s
Item 12: Did you have to put a lot of effort into your evening courses?
She had three hours of class a week and besides that, she spent at least one hour a week
on recapitulating and doing exercises. “When I had to learn so much vocabulary again, I
ealized how hard it was.” r
Item 13: Do you feel comfortable while speak ng Spanish?
A few different occasions were presented when being asked about this item. She felt
most comfortable when she had to speak during a presentation because then you can
prepare the things you want to say. She also reported not being too nervous to speak on
vacation in a Spanish‐speaking country because most people are just glad when you try
to speak Spanish and because you will not be marked when you make a mistake. She felt
very uncomfortable when she needed to answer in class because you cannot prepare
n e d e
i
anything then a d because it tak s too much time to find a ec nt answer.
Items 11 and 13 reveal that the teacher has a type of “communicative anxiety”
(MacIntyre & Gardner, 1989, cited in Aida, 1994). She is especially anxious when she
cannot prepare her discourse. We can infer that she puts a great deal of effort in
speaking correctly because she says that she needs time to think. She will probably not
ake a lot of mistakes. m
Item 14: How long do you think it will take until you will be able to use this language
76
fluently?
The teacher followed evening classes for four years but she says that was not enough.
According to her, it takes at least five or six years to learn a language and you need to
practise it regularly. “If I would have a week to recapitulate the grammar and basic
vocabulary again, I would probably pass a written exam, but I am just not fluent enough
n speaking yet.” i
Item 15: Why did you want to learn Spanish?
“I wanted to learn Spanish because I thought it was a beautiful language and also
because I wanted to travel to South‐America.” The teacher’s motivation to learn Spanish
was obviously integrative. It was not her intention to get a better job but to be able to
alk to native speakers. t
77
4.4 Findings for the teacher of Spanish and English
I had the chance to interview one Walloon teacher who gives both English and Spanish
courses. She has been a teacher for three years now and this year she teaches Spanish in
the fifth and sixth year and English in the third, fourth and fifth year at Collège Saint‐
Julien in Ath. She remarked that pupils who were from Italian origin had advantages
when learning Spanish in comparison to the francophone pupils. In the analysis of data
of the pupils, we could already conclude that pupils of Portuguese and Italian origin
ound it easier to learn Spanish than the other pupils. f
Difficulty
Item 1: Do you think that Spanish is different than teaching English? Why?
The teacher gives three reasons for this. Her first argument involves the similarities
between French and Spanish. “When I explain Spanish grammar, I can draw a lot more
teaching
parallels between Spanish and French than between Spanish and English.”
The second reason she gives has a more cultural dimension. “When I am teaching
Spanish, many cultural notions come into play because the Hispanic world (geography,
history, current affairs, customs, and traditions) is little known to us, whereas the
English culture is widespread. The students appreciate learning about different
countries and traditions.” The two Flemish teachers both said that the omnipresence of
English media and culture was a facilitating factor to learn English but the Walloon
teacher states that pupils actually like to learn about other – and relatively unknown –
cultures as well.
As her third argument, she mentions that pupils’ motivations to learn English are always
instrumental and therefore they are more serious to learn this course. “When pupils
start learning English, their motivation is different than when they start learning
Spanish. They take the education of English a lot more serious than the education of
Spanish. They think that knowledge of English will be indispensable later in their
professional life while Spanish will only be useful if you travel to a Spanish‐speaking
country or if you do charity‐work in Latin‐America.”
78
Item 2: Do you think that Spanish is easier to learn than English? Why?
The Walloon teacher thinks that English is harder to learn in the beginning whereas the
first classes of Spanish are easy for Francophones. “From the beginning onwards the
pupil manages to understand, to speak, to express him‐/herself in Spanish. It is easy for
a francophone to manage in Spanish. In English, on the other hand, the take off is a lot
slower and talking in English is a lot more complicated because of the pronunciation.”
“However, as the course advances, the complexity of the Spanish conjugation causes
most trouble. Moreover, in everyday life, the pupil does not read or does not (or hardly)
hear any Spanish in the Belgian media. Spending time abroad in a Spanish‐speaking
country is the only way to improve one’s Spanish.”
“English, nevertheless, is omnipresent in all the “teenage” media, and this permits
students to practise the language and make progress outside of school.”
She concludes: “I think that both languages are equally difficult to learn if we are talking
about a thorough knowledge of the language but the difficulties take place at a different
ime.” t
Item 3: Do pupils think that Spanish is asier to learn than Engl sh, according to you?
“In the beginning, the pupils think that Spanish is easier than English because the
comprehension of texts and of audio material is relatively easy. Furthermore, Spanish
carries an image of vacation which causes that the notion of effort is not immediately
associated with this language. As classes move forward, they realize that their
knowledge remains superficial if they do not make efforts. The more motivated pupils
admit that it is necessary to make time to learn vocabulary and grammar thoroughly and
to spend as much time learning Spanish as learning English and Dutch.”
e i
Competence and effort
Item 4: What are students best at in both languages according to you: speaking, reading,
79
writing or listening? Do you have an explanation for this?
“For English, I think that they are best at reading and then listening, speaking and
writing. For Spanish, the order is reading, speaking, writing and listening. Reading is
much easier in both languages because the pupil has the text and also the time to
analyse it. Listening to Spanish audio material is difficult because Spanish native
speakers talk very fast. When we work with authentic material, the rhythm complicates
the comprehension. The oral production is much more difficult in English because of the
pronunciation and the intonation. Writing in Spanish is much easier because the level of
expectation is lower. “
Item 5: Do pupils need to make a lot of efforts for the course of Spanish?
“They should do more than they do now to make more progress. Nevertheless, this
course (third modern language with 2 hours a week) has a status of activity and the
pupils do not invest much time to study the language regularly. They are active in class
ut not so much outside of class.” b
Item 6: Do pupils need to make a lot of efforts for the course of English?
“Since it is their second modern language with four hours a week and since it is their
fourth year of learning this language, their effort for the English course is much more
important. There is a lot more material to study, many preparations, many evaluations
and the level of expectation is a lot higher.”32
Foreign language anxiety
Item 7: Do you think that pupils are confident about themselves when they speak
Spanish/English? Do they cooperate in class or do you notice that they are more
uncomfortable when they have to answer in Spanish/English?
Similar to the responses of the Flemish teachers, she also thinks that the personality of a
pupil influences his/her language anxiety. “I do not see any difference between the two
languages concerning the audacity to express oneself in class in Spanish or in English. It
is more a matter of character. The pupils know that they can make mistakes, that they
are in school to learn and the ones that understand that dare to talk in any language.”
“I do notice a difference between the two languages in the fact that the lexical and
grammatical knowledge of Spanish is smaller than that of English because they only
started learning Spanish in the fifth year with two hours of class a week. They are thus
ore dependent on me to express their ideas in Spanish than in English.” m
Item 8: Why do you think that some pupils are confident and others are selfconscious
when they have to speak Spanish?
“This is a matter of character, but I do notice that the pupils with an Italian background
have less difficulty with expressing themselves in Spanish but they do insert a lot of
Italian words into their Spanish discourse.”
32 The pupils she is talking about are sixth year pupils.
80
Motivation
Item 9: Do pupils want to learn Spanish and English voluntarily or do they follow the
courses because they are obliged?
“English and Dutch courses are obligatory. Spanish is obligatory for students who have
chosen the option “languages” but it is optional for the others.”
Other
Item 10: What languages do you think are most important to learn these days: French,
Spanish, English, German, Dutch?
“It depends on what kind of profession you want to do later in life. For someone who is
planning on working in Belgium I think that Dutch is the most important “foreign”
language to learn, followed by English, German and Spanish. For someone whose
profession is oriented towards export or international contacts, English is the most
important language, followed by German, Spanish, French and Dutch. I think that
hinese can also be added to the list.” C
81
5. Discussion
In this section, I will compare the results of all the pupils and teachers by briefly
recapitulating the findings and linking several items to each other. I will discuss the
results of the Walloon pupils in general and not separately as in the findings‐section
because I want to indicate the general tendencies of the Walloon pupils compared to
hose of Flemish pupils. t
5.1 Difficulty
In Flanders, the morphology of a particular language and the fact that you cannot
practise a certain language in everyday life are the factors that cause most trouble for
language learners in general. With Walloon pupils, however, the pronunciation was also
considered to be a major obstacle. Additional reasons were the motivation to learn a
language and the time that is spent on the language. Flemish pupils thought that a lot
depended on the teacher of the course and Walloon pupils stated that a language could
be easier to learn if you knew a native speaker. All the teachers thought that the
presence of a language in the media played a crucial role in the language learning
process. The similarity with other known languages was also a facilitating factor
according to them.
The majority of all the pupils thought that both Spanish and English were not
particularly difficult or easy to learn, thus giving them the label “average”. Nevertheless,
there was a slight difference between the Flemish and Walloon pupils in that for both
languages more Flemish than Walloon pupils thought that they were easy or very easy
to learn.
Both the Walloon teacher and I expected that Francophone pupils would find it easier to
learn Spanish, especially in the beginning. There was, however, no overwhelming
majority that agreed with this belief and in the fifth year even the opposite was found.
Reasons for this may be that English courses started earlier, that the English language is
omnipresent in today’s media and that Walloon pupils might have more problems to
82
learn the differences between their mother tongue and Spanish.
The two Flemish teachers and I also expected that almost all the Flemish pupils would
find English easier than Spanish but again only a little more than half of the pupils
confirmed this. The fact that Spanish is a course of only one hour a week might be a
cause of this. Pupils are only required to learn the basic things so the content is
relatively easy. The similarity with French and the fact that Spanish spelling can
generally be determined from the pronunciation also contributed to this. A few pupils
ere also more stimulated to learn Spanish because it was a new language. w
5.2 Competence and effort
We might say that the majority of pupils of both regions thinks that they easily learn
languages in general. More pupils thought that they had a thorough command of English
in comparison to Spanish. Nevertheless, Flemings were more confident in their
knowledge of English than Walloons. When pupils were asked to rank the four skills,
reading was always considered to be the easiest. Walloon pupils always ranged speaking
as the second easiest skill whereas Flemish pupils only ranked speaking in English as
number two. Writing and listening were mainly considered to be the most difficult skills.
Overall, pupils said that they did not make a lot of efforts for their Spanish and English
courses. There were, however, more Walloon pupils than Flemish pupils who studied
English spontaneously from time to time. The teachers of English did mention that their
pupils should work more for their English courses because the knowledge that they pick
up from television is just not enough. Walloon pupils also proved to be less anxious
when they had to ask questions in Spanish. For English, the results were somewhat the
same for Flemish and Walloon pupils. This might indicate that Walloon students are less
timid to ask questions in a foreign language even though that their command of that
anguage is not perfect yet. l
83
5.3 Similarities with other languages
Teachers and pupils stated in Item 1 that similarity with other languages could enhance
the language learning process. Most of the pupils agree that French and Spanish are
similar languages and that you can derive a lot of vocabulary and grammatical
structures from French when you learn Spanish. The percentage for Flemish pupils was
higher. This might be explained by the fact that Walloon pupils have a very thorough
command of French because it is their mother tongue and therefore see more
differences between French and Spanish. A few pupils already mentioned in Item 4 that
Spanish was more difficult because it is hard to learn the differences between French
and Spanish. Especially the small differences in orthography and morphology seem to
form problems.
The majority of the Walloon pupils also thought that there were many similarities
between French and English but the Flemish students did not agree with this. This is
quite a remarkable difference and proves that you need to know the French language
thoroughly before you can see the similarities with English. Finally, only one third of the
Flemish pupils thought that Dutch and English were similar languages thus indicating
that although they both belong to the same language family, they are not as similar to
ach other as French and Spanish. e
5.4 Foreign language anxiety
All of the pupils feel most comfortable when they have to speak English or Spanish in
class or on vacation and most anxious when they have to do a presentation or speak to a
native speaker. More Walloon pupils feel comfortable when they have to speak Spanish
in comparison to Flemish pupils and more Flemish pupils seem to be comfortable when
they have to speak English. I already noted that Walloon students thought that speaking
was the second easiest skill in both languages while Flemish pupils only felt the same
way for English, thus indicating that Flemings feel more comfortable speaking English
than Spanish. Walloon pupils were also less anxious than Flemish pupils to ask the
teacher questions in Spanish. We might conclude that Walloon pupils are more risk‐
taking than Flemish pupils.
The pupils thought that “I think I will never fully manage the language” and “Schools do
not spent enough time on teaching the language” were the biggest reasons why they had
anxiety in Spanish and English but each time the percentages for Walloon pupils were
higher. A few pupils already mentioned the second reason in Item 1. A minority also
thought that the fear of sounding ridiculous had an influence on the level of anxiety. The
teachers, on the other hand, mentioned that the major reason for foreign language
anxiety was the personality of the pupil him‐/herself. The two Flemish teachers also said
that pupils with a deviant pronunciation seemed to be more anxious when they had to
speak the foreign language. The Flemish teacher of Spanish also stated that the most
nxious pupils were those who were never good at learning languages. a
84
5.5 Motivation
In Item 1, pupils said that the motivation to learn a language was important for the
language learning process. Walloon pupils have more integrative reasons to learn both
languages. They are especially more interested in the Spanish culture and more Walloon
pupils want to learn Spanish to be able to talk to Spanish speakers. The percentages are
a little lower for English but still much higher in comparison to the results of Flemish
pupils. Both Flemish and Walloon pupils seem to think that Spanish is a beautiful
language and even more Walloon pupils think that English is a beautiful language (83%),
while only 45% of Flemish students think the same. The Flemish pupils have more
instrumental reasons to learn a language, especially English. In terms of intrinsic and
extrinsic motivation, we can say that most pupils have an extrinsic motivation to learn
both Spanish and English. Fewer pupils also showed a type of intrinsic motivation.
85
6. Conclusion
In this dissertation, I have set out to compare the ideologies of Flemish and Walloons
pupils towards English and Spanish. I have first explained the differences between
language ideologies and language attitudes. Then, I have elaborated on some of the
individual differences which may influence ultimate language achievement. Finally, I
have explored if there are differences in the ideologies of language learning of Flemish
and Walloon pupils and if learning English is any different from learning Spanish.
Language learners have conceptions about the nature of a specific language even in the
early language learning stages. These beliefs may influence the way in which they
approach the language and how they learn it. The teachers agreed that there was a
difference in teaching English and teaching Spanish. The English teachers assume that
learners already know a bit of English and their aim is to make students acquire more
knowledge. The teaching of Spanish, on the other hand, starts at a basic level, although
not entirely. Teachers of Spanish tend to compare French and Spanish to facilitate and
accelerate the language learning process. Another difference between English and
Spanish classes is that for Spanish classes the teacher never assumes that pupils will
master the language completely. The Flemish teacher who took Spanish evening classes
said that it takes five to six years to learn the language and you have to practise it
regularly. Since the pupils only start learning Spanish in the fifth year and the
opportunities to practise it in Belgium are rare, we may presume that achieving a
thorough knowledge of Spanish is not a goal in secondary education and both teachers
and students know this when they start the course. Naturally, this has consequences for
their language study. Pupils will take the classes of English a lot more serious than the
86
Spanish classes because less is expected from them in the last ones.
Pupils are also said to have preconceived ideas about the difficulty of a language, e.g.
Belgian pupils tend to think that French, Dutch and German are difficult foreign
languages (cf. supra). My initial hypothesis was that Flemish pupils would find English
easier than Spanish because of the omnipresence of English in the media and that
Walloon pupils would find Spanish easier than English because of the similarity with
French. There was a slight majority of Flemish pupils who found English easier and
slightly more Walloon pupils found Spanish easier but the difference is too small to draw
any definite conclusions. Reasons for this may be that Spanish courses in Flanders are
very basic and therefore easier than their English courses which are at an advanced
level. Moreover, English is also omnipresent in the media of Wallonia; therefore Walloon
pupils have the same advantage as Flemish pupils. The bulk of Walloon pupils also think
that they can derive a lot of words and grammatical structures from French when they
study English, again indicating a facilitating factor for their study of English.
All in all, we can assume that Spanish has a better reputation than German as a fourth
language. Only a slight percentage of all the pupils thought that Spanish was a difficult
language to learn, while Sercu’s research (2000) indicated that most pupils found
German a difficult language. Housen et al. (2003) also observed that Flemish pupils
classified French as a difficult language and Mettewie’s research (2004) indicated that
Walloon pupils felt the same way about Dutch. We may conclude that Belgian pupils
tend to find French, Dutch and German difficult foreign languages while English and
Spanish are mainly regarded as not particularly easy or difficult. I did observe that more
Flemish pupils thought that both languages were easy or very easy and there were also
more Flemings who thought that their command of both languages was better in
comparison to Walloon pupils.
Another finding that offered evidence of this was the fact that more Walloon pupils than
Flemish pupils thought that they would never fully manage English and Spanish and that
schools do not spend enough time on teaching both languages. They also studied English
more spontaneously than Flemish students.
I do have to mention that Walloon pupils seemed to be more communicative in Spanish.
They were less afraid to ask the teacher questions, thought speaking Spanish was a fairly
easy skill and the percentages of foreign language anxiety were a lot lower in
comparison to those of Flemish pupils. The results were different for English. In most
cases, Flemish pupils felt more comfortable than Walloon pupils when they had to speak
English, but the results were not as striking as for Spanish.
Another noteworthy difference between Flemish and Walloon pupils is their motivation
to learn English and Spanish. Flemish pupils have more pragmatic reasons to learn a
language ‐ especially English ‐ while most Walloon pupils also show an integrative
orientation. The Walloon teacher said that pupils with an instrumental orientation to
learn the language were more serious about the course because they thought knowing
87
the language would be essential when they applied for a job later.
On the basis of these results, we can state a few pedagogical implications. First, the
teaching of a language course should start earlier than the fifth year in order for
students to take the course seriously and help them to believe that it is possible that
they will obtain a thorough command of the language. Second, it is important that the
teacher stresses both the factors that make a language more difficult to learn and the
ones that facilitate the course. For instance, teachers should mention that English may
seem easy at first because you hear it frequently in the media but they should also stress
that this will not be enough to completely master the language.
In conducting this research, I was hampered by the small pool of pupils available since
only three schools wanted to cooperate. It is clear that these findings cannot simply be
extrapolated to foreign language education in Belgium as a whole. Therefore, the general
picture that emerges is still a tentative one. Despite the small sample size, however, I feel
that this study provides interesting exploratory findings.
The contribution of this paper to research in the field is threefold. First, the ideologies of
language learning had not been studied yet. Second, language ideologies and attitudes
have never been properly compared. Third, beliefs towards Spanish education in
Belgium had not yet been done.
One promising area for further research could be to compare the beliefs towards all the
foreign languages taught in Belgium to each other. Another avenue of fruitful research
could be to compare both German and Spanish since they are generally the fourth
anguage that Belgian pupils learn. l
88
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93
8. Annexes
8.1 Questionnaire for Flemish pupils
Richting: tudiejaar: o e
SM
ed rtaal:
1. Vink aan: Denkt u dat sommige talen moeilijker zijn om te leren dan andere Omwille van de uitspraak?
Omwille van de verbuigingen en vervoegingen van woorden (de verschillende a n r r a g m i j a
vormen v n ee we kwoo d, zelfst ndi naa woord, b jvoegli k n amwoord, bijvoorbeeld de vormen van het werkwoord “querer”: quiero, quieres,…)?
Omwille van de mate waarin de taal gebruikt wordt in de media (bijvoorbeeld Engels wordt meer gebruikt in de media dan Spaans. Is Spaans leren daarom moeilijker?)
van het feit dat u sommige talen niet kan oefenen in het dagelijkse ik?
Omwille taalgebru
Andere?
2. Vindt u Spaans (heel moeilijk/moeilijk/matig/gemakkelijk/heel gemakkelijk) om te leren?
3. Vindt u Engels (heel moeilijk/moeilijk/matig/gemakkelijk/heel gemakkelijk) om
te leren?
4. ? Vindt u Spaans moeilijker om te leren dan Engels? Waarom (niet)
en)
5. Vindt u dat u talen gemakkelijk leert in het algemeen? (ja / ne
6. Ik vind dat ik Spaans goed beheers. (akkoord / niet akkoord)
7. Ik vind dat ik Engels goed beheers. (akkoord / niet akkoord)
8. Waarin bent u het best in Spaans? Rangschik: lezen, schrijven, luisteren, spreken.
k ben het best in: I
Ik ben het minst goed in:
9. Wa t in Engels? Rangschik: lezen, schrijven, luisteren, spreken.
arin bent u het bes k ben het best in: I
Ik ben het minst goed in:
94
10. Moet u veel inspanningen doen voor Spaans?(akkoord ‐ niet akkoord) Ik moet veel inspanningen doen om deze taal goed te leren.
Ik studeer deze taal regelmatig, zelfs wanneer we geen specifieke taak of toets hebben.
Ik durf vragen te stellen in het Spaans aan de leerkracht wanneer ik iets niet begrijp.
11
. Moet u veel inspanningen doen voor Engels? (akkoord – niet akkoord) Ik moet veel inspanningen doen om deze taal goed te leren.
Ik studeer deze taal regelmatig, zelfs wanneer we geen specifieke taak of toets hebben.
Ik durf vragen te stellen in het Engels aan de leerkracht wanneer ik iets niet begrijp.
2
1 . Vindt u dat u veel woorden en grammaticale structuren kan afleiden van het Frans wanneer u Spaans leert?
13. Vindt u dat u veel woorden en grammaticale structuren kan afleiden van het
Nederlands wanneer u Engels leert?
14. Vindt u dat u veel woorden en grammaticale structuren kan afleiden van het Frans wanneer u Engels leert?
15. Voe aans moet spreken? (vink aan) lt u zich op uw gemak wanneer u Sp
resentatie?
Tijdens een p
Als u moet antwoorden in de klas? Op vakantie?
Als er iemand op bezoek komt die deze taal als moedertaal heeft?
16. Voe ngels moet spreken? (vink aan) lt u zich op uw gemak wanneer u Eresentatie?
Tijdens een p
Als u moet antwoorden in de klas? Op vakantie?
Als er iemand op bezoek komt die deze taal als moedertaal heeft?
17. Wa kt? (vink aan) arom voelt u zich onzeker/zeker als
u Spaans spree Ik denk dat ik de taal nooit volledig zal beheersen.
Ik ben nooit goed geweest in talen. Er wordt niet genoeg tijd vrijgemaakt om de talen aan te leren.
ek. Ik ben bang dat ik mezelf zal belachelijk maken als ik Spaans spre
18. Wa kt? (vink aan) arom voelt u zich onzeker/zeker als
u Engels spree Ik denk dat ik de taal nooit volledig zal beheersen.
Ik ben nooit goed geweest in talen. Er wordt niet genoeg tijd vrijgemaakt om de talen aan te leren.
Ik ben bang dat ik mezelf zal belachelijk maken als ik Engels spreek.
95
19. Waarom wilt u graag Spaans leren? (vink aan)
Omdat ik mensen ken die deze taal spreken. Omdat het handig is om deze taal te kennen als je later werk zoekt.
iOmdat ik geïnteresseerd ben n de cultuur van de mensen die deze taal spreken.
omie van de landen Omdat ik geïnteresseerd ben in de politiek en de econ
waar deze taal gesproken wordt. om deze taal te leren.
and waar deze taal wordt gesproken. Omdat het nu eenmaal verplicht is
vaak op reis ga naar een l het een mooie taal vind.
Omdat ikOmdat ik
Andere:
2
0. Waarom wilt u graag Engels leren? (vink aan)
Omdat ik mensen ken die deze taal spreken. Omdat het handig is om deze taal te kennen als je later werk zoekt.
iOmdat ik geïnteresseerd ben n de cultuur van de mensen die deze taal spreken.
omie van de landen Omdat ik geïnteresseerd ben in de politiek en de econ
waar deze taal gesproken wordt. om deze taal te leren.
and waar deze taal wordt gesproken. Omdat het nu eenmaal verplicht is
vaak op reis ga naar een l het een mooie taal vind.
Omdat ikOmdat ik
Andere:
96
8.2 Questionnaire for Walloon pupils Formation : Année (1/2/3/4/5/6) : Lan egu maternelle :
1. Pensez s langues sont plus difficiles à apprendre que d’autres ‐vous que certaineen ce qui c ncerne o
la prononciation ? les conjugaisons et les déclinaisons (les formes différentes d'un verbe,
d’un nom, d’un adjectif, par exemple les formes du verbe « querer » : quiero, quieres, …) ?
la familiarité avec la langue grâce à l’utilisation de la langue dans les médias ? (par exemple l’anglais est plus utilisé dans les médias ue ql’espagnol. C’est plus difficile d’apprendre l’espagnol pour cette raison?)
s ne pouvez pas utiliser certaines langues dans la vie le fait que vouquotidienne ?
autres raisons?
2. Trouvez‐vous l’espagnol (très difficile / difficile / modéré / facile / très facile) à apprendre ?
3. Trouvez‐vous l’anglais (très difficile / difficile / modéré / facile / très facile) à
apprendre ?
4. ue l’anglais? Pourquoi? Trouvez‐ vous l’espagnol plus difficile à apprendre q
5. Apprenez‐vous facilement des langues en général ?
6. ? Pensez‐vous que vous maîtrisiez bien l’espagnol
7. Pensez‐vous que vous maîtrisiez bien l’anglais ?
8. Quelles res compétences de l’espagnol ? Rangez: lire, écrire, sont vos meilleuécouter, parler. e plus facile, c’est l
le plus difficile, c’est
9. Quelles ures compétences de l’anglais ? Rangez: lire, écrire, sont vos meilleécouter, parler. e plus facile, c’est l
le plus difficile, c’est
97
10. Devez‐ rd – pas vous faire beaucoup d'efforts pour vos cours d’espagnol ? (d'accod’accord) Je dois faire beaucoup d'efforts pour bien apprendre cette langue. m n pJ'étudie moi‐même cette langue régulièrement, ême si nous n'avo s as
de tâche spécifique ou une interrogation. J'ose poser des questions en espagnol au professeur quand je ne comprends pas quelque chose.
11. Devez‐ d – pas vous faire beaucoup d'efforts pour vos cours d’anglais? (d'accor
d’accord) Je dois faire beaucoup d'efforts pour bien apprendre cette langue. J'étudie moi‐même cette langue régulièrement, même si nous n'avons pas
de tâche spécifique ou une interrogation. J'ose poser des questions en anglais au professeur quand je ne comprends pas quelque chose.
12. Pouvez‐vous reconnaître beaucoup de mots espagnoles et beaucoup de
structures grammaticales espagnoles du français ? 13. Pouvez‐vous reconnaître beaucoup de mots anglaises et beaucoup de structures
grammaticales anglaises du français ?
14. Êtes‐v pagnol? ous à l’aise quand vous devez parler l’esAu cours d'une p résentation ?
Quand vous devez répondre en classe ? Aux vacances ?
Quand un natif espagnol vient en visite ?
15. Êtes‐vous à l’aise quand vous devez parler l’anglais? Au cours d'une p résentation ?
Quand vous devez répondre en classe ?Aux vacances ?
Quand un natif anglais vient en visite ?
16. Pourq d vous parlez uoi est‐ce que vous vous sentez assuré/pas assuré quanl’espagnol ?
Je pense que je ne maîtriserai jamais entièrement la langue.
Apprendre une langue n’a jamais été mon point fort
ole. On n’a pas assez de temps pour apprendre une langue à l’éc J’ai peur que je me ferai ridicule quand je parle l’espagnol.
17. Pourq d vous parlez uoi est‐ce que vous vous sentez assuré/pas assuré quanl’anglais?
Je pense que je ne maîtriserai jamais entièrement la langue.
Apprendre une langue n’a jamais été mon point fort.
’école. On n’a pas assez de temps pour apprendre une langue à l J’ai peur que je me ferai ridicule quand je parle l’anglais.
98
18. Pourquoi est‐ce que vous voule apprendre l’espagnol? z Parce que je connais des gens qui parlent cette langue. vParce qu’il est utile de connaître cette langue quand ous cherchez du
travail plus tard. Parce que je suis intéressé(e) à la culture des gens qui parlent cette
langue. es pays où Parce que je suis intéressé(e) à la politique et à l'économie d
cette langue est parlée. Parce que nous sommes obligé(e) s d’apprendre cette la ngue.
e est parlée. Parce que je voyage souvent vers un pays où cette langu ve que l’espagnol est une jolie langue. Parce que je trou Autres raisons:
19. Pourquoi est‐ce que vous voulez apprendre l’anglais?
Parce que je connais des gens qui parlent cette langue. vParce qu’il est utile de connaître cette langue quand ous cherchez du
travail plus tard. Parce que je suis intéressé(e) à la culture des gens qui parlent cette
langue. es pays où Parce que je suis intéressé(e) à la politique et à l'économie d
cette langue est parlée. Parce que nous sommes obligé(e) s d’apprendre cette langue.
gue est parlée. Parce que je voyage souvent vers un pays où cette lan uve que l’anglais est une jolie langue. Parce que je tro Autres raisons:
99
8.3 In terview with Flemish teacher of English 1. Denkt u dat Engels aanleren anders is dan het aanleren van Frans, Spaans en
Duits? Waarom?
2. Denken de leerlingen dat Engels makkelijker is om te leren dan deze andere
talen, volgens u?
3. Moeten leerlingen veel inspanningen doen voor het vak Engels?
4. Waarin zijn leerlingen volgens u het best: spreken, lezen, schrijven of luisteren?
(Gelieve te rangschikken). Kunt u daar een reden voor geven?
5. Merkt u dat leerlingen al vrij zeker van zichzelf zijn wanneer ze Engels spreken?
Werken ze goed mee in de klas of merkt u dat ze eerder verlegen zijn om te
antwoorden in het Engels?
6. Waarom denkt u dat sommige leerlingen zeker en andere onzeker zijn als ze
Engels moeten spreken?
7. Merkt u dat leerlingen graag Engels willen leren of dat ze het vak volgen omdat
het nu eenmaal niet anders kan?
8. Welke taal vindt u het belangrijkst om te leren vandaag de dag? Rangschik van
belangrijk naar minst belangrijk: Frans, Spaans, Engels, Duits.
9. Zijn de attitudes van de leerlingen tegenover het vak Engels hetzelfde gebleven
door de jaren heen of heeft u verschillen gemerkt?
10. Vond u dat het moeilijker was om Spaans te leren dan Engels? Waarom?
11.Waarin bent u het best in Spaans: lezen, schrijven, luisteren of spreken?
12. Moet u veel inspanningen doen voor de avondlessen Spaans en om uw Spaans te
onderhouden?
13. Voelt u zich op uw gemak als u Spaans moet spreken?
Tijdens een presentatie?
twoorden in de avondles? Als je moet an
Op vakantie?
Als er iemand op bezoek komt die deze taal als moedertaal heeft?
en dat u deze taal goed beheerst? 14. Hoelang denkt u dat het zal duren teg
15. Waarom wilde u graag Spaans leren?
100
8.4 In terview with Flemish teacher of Spanish
m? 1. Denkt u dat Spaans aanleren anders is dan Engels aanleren? Waaro
2. Denkt u dat Spaans moeilijker is om te leren dan Engels? Waarom?
s, volgens u? 3. Denken de leerlingen dat Spaans moeilijker is om te leren dan Engel
4. Moeten de leerlingen veel inspanningen doen voor het vak Spaans?
5. Vindt u dat leerlingen redelijk zeker zijn van zichzelf als ze zich uitdrukken in het
Spaans? Werken ze goed mee in de klas of merkt u dat ze eerder verlegen zijn om
te antwoorden in het Spaans?
6. Waarom denkt u dat leerlingen onzeker (eerste vier) of zeker (laatste twee) zijn
als ze Spaans moeten spreken? bijvoorbeeld:
n beheersen. Omdat ze denken dat ze de taal nooit helemaal zulle
Omdat sommigen nooit goed geweest zijn in talen.
Omdat sommigen niet genoeg tijd besteden aan Spaans en daarom de taal
minder goed beheersen.
maken als ze Spaans spreken. Omdat ze bang zijn dat ze zich belachelijk zullen
eheersen. Omdat ze weten dat ze de taal goed b
sowieso goed zijn in talen. Omdat ze
Andere:
7. Waarin zijn de leerlingen volgens u het best: spreken, lezen, schrijven of
luisteren? (Gelieve te rangschikken). Kan u daar een reden voor geven?
8. Merkt u je dat leerlingen graag Spaans willen leren of dat ze het vak nu eenmaal
volgen omdat het niet anders kan?
9. Welke talen vindt u het belangrijkst om te leren de dag van vandaag? Rangschik
van belangrijk naar minst belangrijk: Frans, Spaans, Engels en Duits.
10. Zijn de attitudes van de leerlingen tegenover het vak Spaans hetzelfde gebleven
of heeft u verschillen gemerkt?
101
102
8.5 In t f d terview with Walloon eacher o Spanish an English
1. Pensez‐vous qu'enseigner l’espagnol est différent qu'enseigner l’anglais?
Pourquoi ?
2. Pensez‐vous que l'espagnol soit plus facile à apprendre que le l’anglais?
Pourquoi?
3. Est‐ce que les élèves pensent qu’apprendre l’espagnol est plus facile
qu’apprendre l’anglais, selon vous?
4. Quelles sont les meilleures compétences des deux langues des élèves selon vous :
parler, lire, écrire ou écouter? (veuillez les ranger). Existe‐t‐il une explication
pour ce classement ?
5. ?Est‐ce que les élèves doivent faire beaucoup d'efforts pour les cours d’espagnol
6. Est‐ce que les élèves doivent faire beaucoup d'efforts pour les cours d’anglais?
7. Remarquez‐vous que les élèves soient assurés quand ils parlent espagnol?
Travaillent‐ils bien dans la classe ou remarquez‐vous qu'ils soient plutôt timides
quand ils doivent répondre en espagnol ?
8. Pourquoi est‐ce que certains élèves sont assurés et d’autres sont incertains
quand ils doivent parler l’espagnol?
9. Est‐ce la même chose dans les classes d’anglais ou remarquez‐vous des
différences oc a ncernant l timidité de parler l’anglais ?
10. Les élèves veulent‐ils apprendre volontairement l’espagnol et l’anglais ou
suivent‐ils les cours parce qu'ils sont obligés ?
11. Quelle langue trouvez‐vous la plus importante afin d'apprendre aujourd’hui?
Rangez de la plus importante vers la moins importante : le français, l’espagnol,
l’anglais, l’allemand, le néerlandais.