Book announced at https://linguistlist.org/issues/36-159

Title: Adult Minority Language Learning
Subtitle: Motivation, Identity and Target Variety
Series Title: Second Language Acquisition
Publication Year: 2024

Publisher: Multilingual Matters
http://www.multilingual-matters.com/
Book URL: http://www.multilingual-matters.com/display.asp?isb=9781788926546

Author(s): Colin J. Flynn

Reviewer: Teresa Wai See Ong

Summary

Written by Colin J. Flynn, Adult Minority Language Learning: Motivation, Identity and Target Variety contains an introduction chapter, eight chapters of research content, references, appendices, and author and subject indexes. Employing a mixed-method research, Flynn presents a case study of Irish language adult learners acquiring various traditional (Gaeltacht) and non-traditional (second language) varieties of the language. Specifically, the author explores the relationship between motivation, attitudes of learners towards target language varieties and self-concept (identity) due to the lack of research that focuses on these themes in the Irish and minority language acquisition field.

In the first chapter, Flynn introduces the historical, social and educational issues related to the Irish language and situates his study in the field of second language acquisition (SLA). The Irish language has been spoken in Ireland since the early centuries of the Christian era (Ó Riagáin, 2007). It can be divided into four periods: Old Irish (500-900), Middle Irish (900-1200), Early Modern Irish (1200-1600) and Modern Irish (1600-present) (Flynn, 2020). The majority of native speakers (L1) for the language live in Gaeltachtaí (west of Ireland) while smaller numbers live elsewhere in the country. By the 17th century, the Irish language began to lose ground to English as the main medium of communication, thus creating three distinct dialect groups of Munster (south), Connacht (west) and Ulster (north). After independence in 1922, the Irish government began the task of standardising the spelling and grammar of the Irish language. Although the Standard version has been used in most official communications, the three main regional varieties are still seen in learning materials. Due to the reduced number of L1 speakers, language revitalisation programmes took place starting from the Revival Period (1880-1922) and continuing till present day.

In the second chapter, the author addresses issues related to the definition of native speaker, and the similarities and differences between native speakers and second language speakers. Some researchers prefer terms such as first language, primary language and mother tongue, which all refer to the language a person learns from birth and continues to use as their primary medium of communication. Nevertheless, some researchers argue that concepts such as competence and performance should be considered when referring to those definitions. The author continues to discuss theories of first language acquisition, followed by SLA, where he also talks about the critical period hypothesis in both types of language acquisition.

In the third chapter, Flynn moves on to discuss the three variables that were investigated in this study – attitude, motivation and identity. According to Sarnoff (1970, p. 279), attitude is defined as “a disposition to react favourably or unfavourably to a class of objects”. In keeping up with research on attitudes that mostly focused on first language acquisition, SLA specialists began looking at the role of attitudes in the process of SLA. However, there is still a lack of clear conclusion. On the other hand, language motivation has long been a popular topic in SLA research. Gardner (1985) proposes the socio-educational model, which became a popular framework for studying language motivation, even though some researchers criticised it and incorporated cognitive and educational psychology (Crookes & Schmidt, 1991; Oxford & Shearin, 1994; Ushioda, 1994). It has been re-modelled several times (Gardner, 1985, 2001, 2010), Nevertheless, in recent years, the L2 Motivational Self System (Dörnyei, 2005, 2009), which comprises three components, emerged and has been applied in many learning environments. Likewise, the issue of identity is a core element in sociolinguistics. Early work on the role of identity in SLA was heavily influenced by psychoanalytic methods (Block, 2009; Singleton & Ryan, 2004). Subsequently, researchers examined it from social psychological perspectives. Contemporary research has adopted a broader theoretical perspective but for the Irish language, there is limited work conducted in issues related to identity negotiation.

In Chapter 4, Flynn describes the methodology used for the study in which he employed multiple methods for data collection and analysis. For Stage 1, Flynn designed the Irish Language Questionnaire for Adult Learners, containing 69 items, and distributed to adult learners from six adult course providers. A stamped, addressed return envelope was presented with each questionnaire. In Stage 2, Flynn employed the Speaker Evaluation Exercise, commonly known as the verbal guise technique (Garrett, 2000, 2010). Thirty-one participants from the first stage of the study participated, and each participant met in a pre-arranged location to complete the exercise in approximately 30 minutes. In Stage 3, Flynn conducted semi-structured interviews with the same 31 participants to obtain a clearer and deeper understanding of the issues faced by the participants. The author ends the chapter by stating the limitations of the study.

Chapters 5-7 report the findings based on each stage of data collection. In Chapter 5, which relates to Stage 1 data collection, the responses to the Irish Language Questionnaire for Adult Learners first provided basic background information on the 157 participants. Subsequently, the responses revealed that at least half of the participants were multilingual speakers and many were integratively oriented toward learning the Irish language due to self-identity issues. The participants also reported wanting to have more opportunities to speak the language and be like L1s. However, their attitudes towards learning dialects of the Irish language did not show positive signs because they lean towards a particular variety only. The last section of the questionnaire demonstrated that more proficient speakers had a more positive attitude towards achieving native-like proficiency.

In Chapter 6, which refers to Stage 2 data collection using the Speaker Evaluation Exercise, the first part of the findings revealed that the participants rated highly for the L1 recordings compared to the non-native speakers. The second and third parts of the findings showed that the participants were not able to consistently identify the speakers’ place of origin and their Irish proficiency level. The final part demonstrated that the participants’ self-comparison to the various speakers was correlated with their level of proficiency. In general, these findings indicated that the participants were more favourable towards the Irish L1 varieties.

In Chapter 7, which deals with Stage 3 data collection (participants’ interviews), the findings provided a more in-depth understanding of the participants’ choices from Stages 1 and 2. In general, the participants had positive experiences with their learning at their respective adult course providers and many had great memories with their experienced teachers who played a role in inserting passion into Irish language acquisition. Only a few older participants did not have positive experiences, as they blamed the poor teaching methods. The interviews have also shown preference for the Gaeltacht-based courses. The participants provided various reasons for picking up the Irish language, including cultural reasons, wanting to finish what they did during their childhood days and passing the exams after attending the course. At the end of the day, many hoped to achieve a reasonable level of fluency in the Irish language.

The final chapter sums up the discussion of the findings and concludes the study. Based on the findings, Flynn states that in general, the Irish language adult learners are aware of the traditional (Gaeltacht) and non-traditional (non-Gaeltacht) varieties of the language and show mild to strong attitudes towards them. Nevertheless, they have a clear preference for the L1 spoken varieties. They are considered motivated towards learning the course because they self-elected it. Additionally, the findings reveal the struggles between wanting to speak like the natives and being realistic in working towards the achievement. Flynn concludes that more work, such as potential strategies for compromising, need to be done as there is still inadequate research on adult Irish language learning.

Evaluation

SLA is not a new field of study in linguistics. Rather, it is an established field of study because children/teenagers and young/old adults are always interested in picking up a new language. They may be influenced by wanting to understand their culture as they grow up or the latest social media trends, such as pop music. For older adults, learning a second language may be beneficial as it is claimed to reduce the risk of getting dementia because learners are making use of their cognitive abilities.

Flynn sets out an interesting study to examine SLA of adult learners, examining a range of factors that are influencing the participants in achieving their targeted aims. Specifically, Flynn employs a mixed method methodology, consisting of an Irish Language Questionnaire for Adult Learners, a Speaker Evaluation Exercise and a semi-structured interview, to investigate the relationship between the attitude, motivation and identity of adult learners, and its influence on which variety they prefer as their target speech models. He uses the Irish language as a case study; the language is unique because it does not have a standard spoken variety. The general findings from the study are as follows:

(i) Most participants grew up in Ireland and had previous learning experience of the Irish language. Although they are mostly multilingual speakers, being able to speak the Irish language meant a lot for their self-identity. They would like to have the proficiency of a L1 but accepted the fact that it is not easy to achieve.

(ii) 31 participants from the first stage of study clearly preferred the recorded speech of L1s but did not consistently identify their place of origin and proficiency level. Nevertheless, their responses validated their favourable attitude towards L1 varieties of the Irish language.

(iii) Most of the participants reported they enjoyed their Irish language learning experience and had fond memories with their teachers. Although they preferred the traditional variety of the language and ideally wanted to become fluent like a L1, they knew about the challenges and difficulties. However, being able to speak the language made them feel good and gave them a sense of pride and belonging.

It is worthwhile to recognise that Flynn’s study was conducted to provide a comprehensive understanding of how adult learners felt in their language learning journey. Through this understanding, we know that additional support needs to be given to adult learners to motivate and help them to complete their journey. Additionally, having more learners pick up a second language is indirectly helping to revitalise minority languages or maintain languages that are less spoken by the global communities so that they do not disappear in the future. It is also important for learners to know that by learning a second language, they are getting connected to the respective language’s culture. Hence, Flynn’s study plays a significant role in informing us how attitudes and motivations are crucial elements in realising an adult learner’s linguistic goals. The appendices attached are a useful source of reference for future studies.

References
Block, D. (2009). Second language identities. Continuum.
Crookes, G., & Schmidt, R. W. (1991). Motivation: Reopening the research agenda. Language Learning, 41(4), 469-512.
Dörnyei, Z. (2005). The psychology of the language learner: Individual differences in second language acquisition. Lawrence Erlbaum.
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.
Flynn, C. J. (2020). Adult minority language learning: Motivation, identity and target variety. Multilingual Matters.
Gardner, R. C. (1985). Social psychology and second language learning: The role of attitudes and motivation. Edward Arnold Publishers.
Gardner, R. C. (2001). Integrative motivation and second language motivation. In Z. Dörnyei & R. Schmidt (Eds.), Motivation and second language acquisition (pp. 1-20). University of Hawaii Press.
Gardner, R. C. (2010). Motivation and second language acquisition: The socio-educational model. Peter Lang.
Garrett, P. (2000). Language attitudes: Methods and interpretation in sociolinguistic research (Unpublished PhD thesis). Cardiff University, UK.
Garrett, P. (2010). Attitudes to language. Cambridge University Press.
Ó, Riagáin, P. (2007). Irish. In D. Britain (Ed.), Language in the British Isles (pp. 218-236). Cambridge University Press.
Oxford, R., & Shearin, J. (1994). Language learning motivation: Expanding the theoretical framework. The Modern Language Journal, 78(1), 12-28.
Sarnoff, I. (1970). Social attitudes and the resolution of motivational conflict. In M. Jahoda & N. Warren (Eds.), Attitudes: Selected readings (pp. 279-284). Harmondsworth.
Singleton, D., & Ryan, L. (2004). Language acquisition: The age factor (2nd edn.). Multilingual Matters.
Ushioda, E. (1994). L2 motivation as a qualitative construct. Teanga: The Irish Yearbook of Applied Linguistics, 14, 76-84.

About the reviewer

Teresa W. S. Ong is a learning support specialist at Singapore University of Social Sciences, Singapore. She has widely published in areas related to language maintenance and language shift, linguistic landscapes and early childhood education. Currently, she co-investigates a project related to tertiary education student learning needs and behaviours.