Venue

In person at Aula de Piedra, Rectorado de la Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria

Online via this link [https://t.ly/Xe3sa]  or via this QR code

Save the date: 10^th of July 2024, 9:00 – 16:30 GMT+1

Programme

9:00 Welcome Jin Taira, Vice-rector for Internationalisation, Mobility and International Projection, Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and Mégane Lesuisse (Université Paris 8)

9:20 Plenary talk Dr Sal Consoli, University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Language Learning Motivation: Advances in a Socially-oriented Research Arena

10:20 Coffee break

11:00 Re: ERUA Project presentation If you can dream it, you can achieve it: International Winged Stories by Mégane Lesuisse (Université Paris 8), and Bianca Manuela Sandu (Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria)

11:50 Round table with Mégane Lesuisse, Bianca Manuela Sandu, Université Paris 8 and Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria students: Experiences told by participants in two intertwined projects

12:40 Dr Bochra Kouraichi – Exploring learners’ motivational selves: LOTE Students in Estonia and Hungary

13:10 Dr Kathryn Sidaway - Language Learning Motivation and Adult Migrants

13:40 Mégane Lesuisse and Bianca Manuela Sandu on L2 learning motivation researchers and learners as people collaborating towards social action

14:00 Closing Director of Language Policy, Soraya García-Sánchez & Director of Educational Innovation and Teacher Training, Eduardo Quevedo Gutiérrez, Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.

14:30 Round table (with invited participants) of the Re: ERUA Project ‘If you can dream it, you can achieve it: International Winged Stories’  

* Free participation, but registration required via the website *

This international seminar is framed within the Re: ERUA Project ‘If you can dream it, you can achieve it: International Winged Stories’, a collaboration between Université Paris 8 and Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.

Summary of talks

12:40 Dr Bochra Kouraich

Exploring learners’ motivational selves: LOTE Students in Estonia and Hungary

With the recent calls to reconceptualize language learning motivation in a multilingual era that is dominated by global English (Busse, 2017; Dörnyei and Ushioda, 2021; Henry, 2017; Ushioda, 2017), this study aims to explore the languages other than English (LOTE) motivation of university students in Estonia and Hungary through a small-scale qualitative approach. Participants were recruited from different universities and majors. Interviews were conducted to explore students’ perception of multilingualism in the era of global English, what motivated them to start studying (an)other foreign language(s), their goals, and their language learning experience.

Data were studied using a qualitative content analysis following Dörnyei’s (2009) second language motivational self-system (L2MSS model). The ideal L2 self as well as the L2 learning experience were the most important in developing and maintaining students’ motivation. Students’ ultimate goals were mainly study abroad programs and relocation to a foreign country after graduation. In line with previous studies, the ideal L2 self was the prominent theme emerging from the data (Huhtala et al., 2019; 2021). Furthermore, integration into the target language community and culture was a recurring theme. The role of the language teacher was also highlighted in the data.

Key words: LOTE motivation – multilingual learners – L2MSS - ideal multilingual self.

References

Busse, V. (2017). Plurilingualism in Europe: Exploring Attitudes Toward English and Other European Languages Among Adolescents in Bulgaria, Germany, the Netherlands, and Spain. The Modern Language Journal, 101(3), 566–582. https://doi.org/10.1111/modl.12415

Dörnyei, Z. (2009). The L2 Motivational Self System. In Z. Dörnyei & E. Ushioda (Eds.), Motivation, Language Identity and the L2 Self (pp. 9–42). Multilingual Matters. https://doi.org/10.21832/9781847691293-003

Dörnyei, Z., & Ushioda, E. (2021). Teaching and researching motivation (Third edition). Routledge.

Henry, A. (2017). L2 Motivation and Multilingual Identities. The Modern Language Journal, 101(3), 548–565. https://doi.org/10.1111/modl.12412

Huhtala, A., Kursiša, A., & Vesalainen, M. (2019). “This language still motivates me!” Advanced language students and their L2 motivation. Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching, 9(2), 287–311. https://doi.org/10.14746/ssllt.2019.9.2.3

Huhtala, A., Kursiša, A., & Vesalainen, M. (2021). “I’m in contact with foreign languages every day”: University language students and their multilingualism. European Journal of Applied Linguistics, 9(2), 365–390. https://doi.org/10.1515/eujal-2019-0034

Ushioda, E. (2017). The Impact of Global English on Motivation to Learn Other Languages: Toward an Ideal Multilingual Self. The Modern Language Journal, 101(3), 469–482. https://doi.org/10.1111/modl.12413

13:10 Dr Kathryn Sidaway

Language Learning Motivation and Adult Migrants

This talk focuses on the experiences of adults enrolled on English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) courses in England at the intermediate level, from forced and voluntary migration backgrounds. Across applied linguistics, this population has been largely under-researched (Plonsky, 2023) and this is particularly acute in language learning motivation (Boo et al., 2015). The intermediate level is often where learners plateau (Richards, 2008) and for migrants, it indicates a move beyond the need to learn for survival. The research questions this talk aims to explore are: 1. What motivates adults to enrol on intermediate level ESOL courses?

2. What factors affect their motivation during the academic year? The study employed a longitudinal perspective with five adult ESOL students combining data collected through online interviews, text messages, and survey responses.  Self-determination theory (Ryan & Deci, 2017) was used as a theoretical framework to analyse the narratives which were constructed with the participants through member reflections. The findings suggest that the impact of teachers and peers was significant, as was the multicultural city where they lived and the opportunities they perceived to be open to them, challenging the notion that the ‘migrant’ learning experience is uniform across contexts.