In line with the increased interest in studying implicit language attitudes, this study aims to explore implicit attitudes towards Catalan and Spanish in the multicultural and multilingual context of Catalonia (Spain) using the Implicit Association Test (IAT). A sample of 113 adolescents completed the IAT and a set of explicit measures of…

With the widening urban-rural gap caused by urbanisation, the equity of urban-rural education has become a research hotspot. This study explored the differences in motivational beliefs about English learning among Chinese urban and rural students and the impact of motivational beliefs on their English performance. A total of 6326 urban and 2600…

This article aims to contribute to the explanation of why bilingual education (CLIL) may reduce the differences in motivation and English proficiency commonly seen between students from different SES backgrounds (Shepherd and Ainsworth 2017). From a mixed-methods approach involving a questionnaire and focus group interviews, fourth year Secondary…

The present study examined the relations between three motivational variables, i.e. academic self-efficacy, task importance, and interest with three types of learning behaviours, i.e. class engagement, metacognitive self-regulation, and avoidance coping with 1954 secondary students in Singapore. Positive correlations were found between the three…

Although there have been several comparative studies of willingness to communicate in a first language (L1 WTC), there is a dearth of comparative research on L2 WTC, especially between groups with distinct cultural and educational backgrounds. This study synthesises the L2 motivational self system (ideal L2 self and ought-to L2 self) and attitudes…

In recent years, increasing numbers of Chinese international secondary school students have come to study in Canada. Upon arriving in their international context, their academic studies are influenced by socio-economic and cultural forces circulating between the home and host spaces of China and Canada. This paper delves into the economic,…

This article has emerged from a large-scale, nationwide attitudinal study (n=2397) into the motivation of learners of English in Japan, which initially found that enjoyment of the learning experience seemed to be the major factor in the motivation of English learners. However, subsequent examination of the data revealed several incongruities in…

In Belgium and Brussels, macrocontextual features such as language policy and language legislation have a profound impact on people's language use and on the way languages are learned. In order to explain this impact, the political and economic developments that have determined the current context of learners in Brussels are discussed. Secondly, a…

In the bilingual contexts of two regions of Spain, Asturias (Asturian/Spanish) and Eastern Aragon (Catalan/Spanish), and given the relationship between language attitudes and linguistic proficiency, our study has two objectives. Firstly, the attitudes to the two contact languages are described. Secondly, the variables that can explain such…