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German language learning in England: understanding the enthusiasts

German language learning in England: understanding the enthusiasts
German language learning in England: understanding the enthusiasts
This study explores the motivation of English undergraduates to study German. In a context focused approach the history of German language learning in England is reviewed first. The historical findings in combination with a review of L2 motivation research lead to the empirical work. Inspired by Ushioda’s (2009) person-in-context relational view of motivation I have conducted cross-sectional qualitative interview research with groups of British undergraduates who study German at two different English universities. The data collected gives an insight into language learning motivation in general and shows what is specific to Anglophone learners and to German language learning. Through qualitative data analysis relating to different language learning motivation models I test the relevance of the concepts of integrativeness, instrumental orientation and the L2 motivational self system, to the learning of a high status ‘niche’ language which is often a third language for Anglophone students.
Stolte, Rosemarie
4ed9d272-f2d7-466d-81f3-fa7a2a7fa93e
Stolte, Rosemarie
4ed9d272-f2d7-466d-81f3-fa7a2a7fa93e
Mitchell, Ros
de2eabed-7903-43fa-961a-c16f69fddd7e

Stolte, Rosemarie (2015) German language learning in England: understanding the enthusiasts. University of Southampton, Faculty of Humanities, Doctoral Thesis, 306pp.

Record type: Thesis (Doctoral)

Abstract

This study explores the motivation of English undergraduates to study German. In a context focused approach the history of German language learning in England is reviewed first. The historical findings in combination with a review of L2 motivation research lead to the empirical work. Inspired by Ushioda’s (2009) person-in-context relational view of motivation I have conducted cross-sectional qualitative interview research with groups of British undergraduates who study German at two different English universities. The data collected gives an insight into language learning motivation in general and shows what is specific to Anglophone learners and to German language learning. Through qualitative data analysis relating to different language learning motivation models I test the relevance of the concepts of integrativeness, instrumental orientation and the L2 motivational self system, to the learning of a high status ‘niche’ language which is often a third language for Anglophone students.

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More information

Published date: 22 September 2015
Organisations: University of Southampton, Modern Languages

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 388471
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/388471
PURE UUID: d151b2ee-85ee-418e-9c28-fe14433d87df
ORCID for Ros Mitchell: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-0325-528X

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 29 Feb 2016 13:21
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 02:33

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Contributors

Author: Rosemarie Stolte
Thesis advisor: Ros Mitchell ORCID iD

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