How MFL subjects are perceived by international pupils in Italy
<p>This school-based study used mixed methods to investigate pupil perceptions of Modern Foreign Language (MFL) subjects. These were widely defined so as to include the language of societal context, Italian. The focus was on perceived enjoyment and importance of the subjects, as well as overal...
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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2021
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| _version_ | 1826316240314957824 |
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| author | Rankin, JE |
| author2 | Chalmers, H |
| author_facet | Chalmers, H Rankin, JE |
| author_sort | Rankin, JE |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | <p>This school-based study used mixed methods to investigate pupil perceptions of Modern Foreign Language (MFL) subjects. These were widely defined so as to include the language of societal context, Italian. The focus was on perceived enjoyment and importance of the subjects, as well as overall linguistic self-concept in the form of pupils’ self-rating as ‘good at languages.’ The school was an English medium British international school in Italy and the N=158 participants were in Key Stage 3. </p>
<p>The study was conducted in two stages, with a short questionnaire being administered in the first stage. Follow-up group interviews were then held with 46 pupils, who were invited due to their language backgrounds and/or a particularly high or low self-rating. </p>
<p>Perceptions of mandatory Italian lessons were compared, using both quantitative and qualitative analysis, to perceptions of pupil-selected ‘second’ MFL lessons. Particular focus was placed on comparing perceptions by pupil language background (monolingual, bilingual and multilingual as well as whether Italian was spoken at home). In addition, the data were analysed by MFL subject choice. </p>
<p>No statistical effects were found in respect of either enjoyment of importance ratings for (non-Italian) MFL subjects. However, statistically significant effects were found for Italian as a subject, whereby those who speak Italian at home rated it more enjoyable and important as a school subject. In addition, speaking Italian at home and having a multilingual home language background both correlated positively with overall linguistic self-concept. </p>
<p>Thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006) of the group interview data showed qualitative differences between the interest and enjoyment of the MFL subjects by language background. </p>
<p>It is suggested that, in some international contexts, proficiency in the language of society may be of greater salience in deciding overall linguistic self-concept than proficiency in (multiple) other languages, even if the language of society is not used much in daily life.
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| first_indexed | 2024-03-06T20:36:08Z |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oxford-uuid:32b09492-5d42-437f-b267-d78fba50b75a |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-09T03:41:17Z |
| publishDate | 2021 |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:32b09492-5d42-437f-b267-d78fba50b75a2024-12-07T12:19:03ZHow MFL subjects are perceived by international pupils in ItalyThesishttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_bdccuuid:32b09492-5d42-437f-b267-d78fba50b75aLanguages, ModernQuestionnaireMixed methods researchSecond language acquisitionKey stage 3Group interviewsEnglishHyrax Deposit2021Rankin, JEChalmers, H<p>This school-based study used mixed methods to investigate pupil perceptions of Modern Foreign Language (MFL) subjects. These were widely defined so as to include the language of societal context, Italian. The focus was on perceived enjoyment and importance of the subjects, as well as overall linguistic self-concept in the form of pupils’ self-rating as ‘good at languages.’ The school was an English medium British international school in Italy and the N=158 participants were in Key Stage 3. </p> <p>The study was conducted in two stages, with a short questionnaire being administered in the first stage. Follow-up group interviews were then held with 46 pupils, who were invited due to their language backgrounds and/or a particularly high or low self-rating. </p> <p>Perceptions of mandatory Italian lessons were compared, using both quantitative and qualitative analysis, to perceptions of pupil-selected ‘second’ MFL lessons. Particular focus was placed on comparing perceptions by pupil language background (monolingual, bilingual and multilingual as well as whether Italian was spoken at home). In addition, the data were analysed by MFL subject choice. </p> <p>No statistical effects were found in respect of either enjoyment of importance ratings for (non-Italian) MFL subjects. However, statistically significant effects were found for Italian as a subject, whereby those who speak Italian at home rated it more enjoyable and important as a school subject. In addition, speaking Italian at home and having a multilingual home language background both correlated positively with overall linguistic self-concept. </p> <p>Thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006) of the group interview data showed qualitative differences between the interest and enjoyment of the MFL subjects by language background. </p> <p>It is suggested that, in some international contexts, proficiency in the language of society may be of greater salience in deciding overall linguistic self-concept than proficiency in (multiple) other languages, even if the language of society is not used much in daily life. </p> |
| spellingShingle | Languages, Modern Questionnaire Mixed methods research Second language acquisition Key stage 3 Group interviews Rankin, JE How MFL subjects are perceived by international pupils in Italy |
| title | How MFL subjects are perceived by international pupils in Italy |
| title_full | How MFL subjects are perceived by international pupils in Italy |
| title_fullStr | How MFL subjects are perceived by international pupils in Italy |
| title_full_unstemmed | How MFL subjects are perceived by international pupils in Italy |
| title_short | How MFL subjects are perceived by international pupils in Italy |
| title_sort | how mfl subjects are perceived by international pupils in italy |
| topic | Languages, Modern Questionnaire Mixed methods research Second language acquisition Key stage 3 Group interviews |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT rankinje howmflsubjectsareperceivedbyinternationalpupilsinitaly |