Modelling the role of inter-cultural contact in the motivation of learning English as a foreign language.

The research reported in this paper explores the effect of direct and indirect cross-cultural contact on Hungarian school children's attitudes and motivated behaviour by means of structural equation modelling. Our data are based on a national representative survey of 1,777 13/14-year-old learners of English and German in Hungary; 237 of the students learning English with the highest level of inter-cultural contact were selected for analysis. Our model indicates that for our participants, motivated behaviour is determined not only by language-related attitudes but also by the views the students hold about the perceived importance of contact with foreigners. The results of our study also reveal that the perceived importance of contact was not related to students’ direct contact experiences with target language speakers but was influenced by the students’ milieu and indirect contact. Among the contact variables, it was only contact through media products that had an important position in our model, whereas direct contact with L2 speakers played an insignificant role in affecting motivated behaviour and attitudes

'Great Expectations': The motivational profile of Hungarian English language students.

In this article we investigate what characterizes the language learning motivation of Hungarian English language students in terms of Dörnyei and Ottó's process model of motivation (Motivation in Action, 1998). We used a mixed-method research design, in which qualitative interviews conducted with 20 students were supplemented with questionnaire data gained from 100 participants in order to have a better understanding of the apparent discrepancy between students' and society's expectations of teaching English Language at tertiary level and the present educational system in Hungary. The ambivalent nature of English language students' motivational profile was found to reflect this situation. The interview data revealed that the respondents had very favourable motivational characteristics but they did not invest sufficient energy in maintaining and improving their language competence. This is explained with reference to a low level of learner autonomy primarily caused by teacher-centered instruction

A második nyelvi motivációs énrendszer, az önszabályozó tanulás és az énhatékonysági képzetek szerepe a nyelvtanulási motivációban: egy kérdőíves vizsgálat angol szakos egyetemisták körében

Az egyéni változók kutatása évtizedek óta az alkalmazott nyelvészet és nyelvpedagógia egyik legfontosabb kérdése (Dörnyei, 2005). A tudományterületen egyetértés uralkodik abból a szempontból, hogy mely egyéni változók befolyásolják leginkább az idegen vagy második nyelvek tanulásának sikerességét. A legfontosabbnak tartott tényezők a következők: nyelvtehetség, nyelvtanulási motiváció, nyelvtanulási szorongás, nyelvtanulási stratégiák, tanulási stílusok, önszabályozó tanulás és a nyelvtanulási képzetek. Mivel a felsorolt tényezők mindegyike olyan komplex konstruktum, amelynek kutatása önmagában is szerteágazó feladat, egyetlen adatgyűjtés során lehetetlen az összes tényezőt egyszerre vizsgálni. Éppen ezért a következőkben csak azon egyéni változókkal kapcsolatos elméleteket tekintjük át, amelyeket magunk is mértünk az itt ismertetett vizsgálatban: motivációs és attitűdváltozók (Dörnyei, 2005, 2009); idegen nyelvi szorongás (MacIntyre és Gardner, 1994); nyelvtanulási stratégiák (Oxford, 1989); önszabályozó tanulás (Tseng, Dörnyei és Schmitt, 2006); tanulási stílusok (Mónos, 2009; Reid, 1984, 1987); nyelvtanulási képzetek (Horwitz, 1987, 1988, 1999; Piniel, é. n.; Reiger, 2009)

Nyelvtanulási motiváció az angol szakos egyetemisták körében

Magyarországon számos felmérés készült a különböző korosztályú nyelvtanulók motivációs beállítódásának elemzésére. A jelen tanulmány ezeket az ismereteket egészíti ki azzal, hogy kvantitatív módszerrel vizsgálja az angol szakos egyetemisták motivált tanulási viselkedését befolyásoló tényezőket. Vizsgálatunk kitér az egyetemi nyelvtanulás nehézségeire és az interkulturális kapcsolatok hatásának fontosságára

Individual differences

Készült az ELTE Felsőoktatási Struktúraátalakítási Alapból támogatott programja keretében

Investigating individual differences with qualitative research methods: Results of a meta-analysis of leading applied linguistics journals

The aim of the present article is to provide a systematic review of qualitative studies in the leading journals of our field focusing on their distributional properties in the various journals as well as topic choice and selected quality control issues. In order to achieve this aim, we carried out a systematic review of research articles published in leading journals in our field, namely, Applied Linguistics, Language Learning, Language Teaching Research, Studies in Second Language Acquisition and Modern Language Journal between 2016 and 2020. Our sample contains 93 articles in which researchers employed qualitative research methods or mixed methods including a qualitative component. Our main results indicate that there is great variation among journals in terms of the number of qualitative studies. As for topic considerations, some traditional individual difference variables seem to have a dominant role, with cognitive processes involved in language acquisition gaining some ground as well. Concerning quality control issues, there could be room for improvement with regard to reporting the quality control measures, including the tools employed in the studies. Based on our results, we can conclude that a more systematic understanding of acceptable processes in the field of applied linguistics could increase not only the number of qualitative articles published but also their topical importance.The aim of the present article is to provide a systematic review of qualitative studies in the leading journals of our field focusing on their distributional properties in the various journals as well as topic choice and selected quality control issues. In order to achieve this aim, we carried out a systematic review of research articles published in leading journals in our field, namely, Applied Linguistics, Language Learning, Language Teaching Research, Studies in Second Language Acquisition and Modern Language Journal between 2016 and 2020. Our sample contains 93 articles in which researchers employed qualitative research methods or mixed methods including a qualitative component. Our main results indicate that there is great variation among journals in terms of the number of qualitative studies. As for topic considerations, some traditional individual difference variables seem to have a dominant role, with cognitive processes involved in language acquisition gaining some ground as well. Concerning quality control issues, there could be room for improvement with regard to reporting the quality control measures, including the tools employed in the studies. Based on our results, we can conclude that a more systematic understanding of acceptable processes in the field of applied linguistics could increase not only the number of qualitative articles published but also their topical importance