| Reluctance in learning Spanish as a third/foreign language in teenage learners in Trois-Rivieres (Quebec, Canada) and the scarcity of studies that addressed the question of these learners' attitudes and motivation towards learning Spanish were the two incentives behind carrying out this study.Forty-eight Grade 11 students (25 female and 23 male) aged 16-17 years and enrolled in a Languages Profile program at Seminaire Saint-Joseph in Trois-Rivieres (Quebec, Canada) volunteered to participate in the study. They were administered a sociolinguistic questionnaire (El Euch, 2008) and an attitudes and motivation questionnaire (adapted from the AMTB (Gardner & Lambert, 1972)). Data were coded following El Euch's and Gardner and Lambert's coding procedures. They were statistically analyzed in order to generate descriptive statistics and comparisons of means (T-Tests).Results showed that Grade 11 learners' attitude towards learning Spanish was significantly better than their attitude towards native Spanish speakers. While the former was barely positive, the latter was rather neutral. Similarly, their orientations towards learning Spanish were generally neutral even though their integrative orientation was significantly higher than their instrumental orientation. Their motivation to learn Spanish was not that different from their attitudes and orientations. It was moderate, but with a significant difference between motivational intensity and desire to learn Spanish. The desire of Grade 11 learners to learn Spanish was more important than their motivational intensity, i.e. their willingness to put in the effort necessary to learn the language. In addition, results showed that Grade 11 learners had an overall preference for receptive skills (listening and reading) over productive skills (speaking and writing). The language skill that they preferred most in Spanish was the listening skill and the least preferred skill was the writing skill.These results were accounted for by the foreign status of Spanish in the context of the study, by some adolescence characteristics and by a self-identity issue related to a conscious or unconscious desire to protect the L1 (French) culture. In addition, external influences such as parents' encouragement to learn the L3 as well as the teacher, the techniques used by the teacher, and the like could also be behind the results of this study.This study falls within the framework of research that showed the importance of attitudes and motivation in the learning process (e.g. Baker, 1992 Clement, 1980, 1984 Gardner, 2006, 2007). More precisely, it draws on Gardner's socio-educational model which highlights the different causal and resulting factors related to attitudes and motivation. Within this framework, this study aimed at describing Grade 11 learners' attitudes and motivation towards learning Spanish and at identifying the language skill that best motivates these learners to learn Spanish. More precisely, it aimed at reaching the following objectives: (1) Describe Grade 11 learners' attitudes towards learning Spanish and towards Spanish native speakers and their interest in foreign language learning in general (2) Describe Grade 11 learners' integrative and instrumental orientations to learn Spanish (3) Describe Grade 11 learners' motivational intensity and desire to learn Spanish and (4) Identify which of the four language skills (listening, speaking, reading or writing) that best motivates Grade 11 learners to learn Spanish.These different findings have pedagogical implications. In order to improve Grade 11 learners' attitudes and motivation towards Spanish learning, three actions can be taken up: (1) involve learners in some of the decision-making processes that shape classroom learning, (2) consider the L3 culture in the content of the language class, and (3) foster the learners' own motivation and sense of self-determination to learn the L3.Despite its pertinence, this study has some limitations, especially on the level of the representativeness of the participants in that it focused on learners aged 16-17 and enrolled in one specific high school. Future research should consider involving teenage participants learning Spanish in different contexts in Quebec. Using regression analysis to identify the influential factors on adolescents' attitudes and motivations towards learning Spanish as an L3/FL would also be worth considering. |
