Email this article How motivation enables polyglots to acquire foreign languages
Akmal Fajri, UIN Sunan Kalijaga Yogyakarta, Indonesia
Sumardi Sumardi, UIN Ar-Raniry Banda Aceh, Indonesia
Anshar Zulhelmi, UIN Ar-Raniry Banda Aceh, Indonesia
Chairunnisa Ahsana Amalan Shaliha, UIN Ar-Raniry Banda Aceh, Indonesia
Muhammad Yasir, Ez-Zitouna University, Tunisia
Abstract
This study investigates the motivation of polyglots to learn multiple languages, a topic not extensively studied in literature. It focuses on the role of motivation as a stimulus triggering consistent behavior in learning a foreign language, offering a unique perspective on this phenomenon. Purpose: The present study examines the diverse motivational backgrounds of polyglots and investigates the relationship between these motivations and the multilingual acquisition of foreign languages by polyglots. The study involved five informants who participated in semi-structured interviews, utilizing a descriptive case study approach for data collection. Results: The results demonstrated that the four main reasons why polyglots learned numerous foreign languages were: (a) enjoyment; (b) social interaction; (c) career advancement; and (d) intellectual pursuits. Prior studies have mostly shown that people who are studying foreign languages do so primarily for academic, professional, and social reasons. Apart from the three reasons, polyglots learned multiple languages for their own enjoyment. This is the main justification for their dedication to long-term multilingual education. Conclusion: The results of this study advance our knowledge of the motivations behind multilingual polyglots' acquisition of foreign languages. It is envisaged that language learners will successfully acquire numerous foreign languages by adopting or modifying the research participants' motives. To sustain kids' desire to learn foreign languages, educators, parents, and policymakers can think about, select, and construct engaging language activities as well as appropriate language teaching approaches.
Keywords
References
André, R., Romão, J., Azevedo, F., Gonçalves, M., Sereijo, C., Saraiva, R., Croca, M., & Abreu, M. (2022). The phenomenology of motivation. European Psychiatry, 65(S1), S705–S705. https://doi.org/10.1192/j.eurpsy.2022.1816
Aram, Y., Sharifi Rahnemo, S., Fathi, A., Rahnemo, M. S., & Aram, F. (2022). The Effectiveness of Teaching English-Language Lessons Using Study Strategies by Producing Video Content on Students’ Academic Enthusiasm and Vitality. Languages, 7(3), 189. https://doi.org/10.3390/languages7030189
Bas, G. (2022). Effect of student teachers’ teaching beliefs and attitudes towards teaching on motivation to teach: mediating role of self-efficacy. Journal of Education for Teaching, 48(3), 348–363. https://doi.org/10.1080/02607476.2021.2006043
Bradley, D. (2019). Language policy and language planning in mainland Southeast Asia: Myanmar and Lisu. Linguistics Vanguard, 5(1). https://doi.org/10.1515/lingvan-2018-0071
Batardière, M.-T., Berthaud, S., Ćatibušić, B., & Flynn, C. J. (2023). Language teaching and learning in Ireland: 2012–2021. Language Teaching, 56(1), 41–72. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261444822000374
Bernstein, K. A., Alvarez, A., Chaparro, S., & Henderson, K. I. (2021). “We live in the age of choice”: school administrators, school choice policies, and the shaping of dual language bilingual education. Language Policy, 20(3), 383–412. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10993-021-09578-0
Bui, G. (2023). A Dual-Motivation System in L2 and L3 Learning: A Theoretical Framework and Pedagogical Application. Languages, 8(1), 69. https://doi.org/10.3390/languages8010069
Cristina, G. (2024). The Acehnese Folklore and Social Behavior. Journal of Aceh Studies (JOAS), 1(1), 51-60. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10934617
Dewaele, J.-M., Saito, K., & Halimi, F. (2022). How teacher behaviour shapes foreign language learners’ enjoyment, anxiety and attitudes/motivation: A mixed modelling longitudinal investigation. Language Teaching Research, 136216882210896. https://doi.org/10.1177/13621688221089601
Dolas, F., Jessner, U., & Cedden, G. (2022). Cognitive Advantages of Multilingual Learning on Metalinguistic Awareness, Working Memory and L1 Lexicon Size: Reconceptualization of Linguistic Giftedness from a DMM Perspective. Journal of Cognition, 5(1). https://doi.org/10.5334/joc.201
Ghafar, Z. N., & M. Amin, M. Y. (2022). Difficulties in Speaking English among the EFL students in Iraqi Kurdistan Region. World Journal of English Language, 12(6), 286. https://doi.org/10.5430/wjel.v12n6p286
Grossberg, S. (2021). Conscious mind, resonant brain: how each brain makes a mind. Oxford University Press.
Gundarina, O., & Simpson, J. (2022). A monolingual approach in an English primary school: practices and implications. Language and Education, 36(6), 523–543. https://doi.org/10.1080/09500782.2021.1945084
Howard, J. L., Bureau, J. S., Guay, F., Chong, J. X. Y., & Ryan, R. M. (2021). Student Motivation and Associated Outcomes: A Meta-Analysis From Self-Determination Theory. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 16(6), 1300–1323. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691620966789
Ishikawa, T. (2021). Global Englishes and ‘Japanese English.’ Asian Englishes, 23(1), 15–29. https://doi.org/10.1080/13488678.2020.1858579
Jiao, S., Jin, H., You, Z., & Wang, J. (2022). Motivation and Its Effect on Language Achievement: Sustainable Development of Chinese Middle School Students’ Second Language Learning. Sustainability, 14(16), 9918. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14169918
Kidd, E., & Garcia, R. (2022). How diverse is child language acquisition research? First Language, 42(6), 703–735. https://doi.org/10.1177/01427237211066405
Kissau, S., Davin, K. J., Wang, C., & Haudeck, H. (2022). Enhancing foreign language teacher candidates’ oral proficiency: An international comparison. Research in Comparative and International Education, 17(1), 124–142. https://doi.org/10.1177/17454999211028052
Liu, Y. (2022). Investigating the Role of English as a Foreign Language Learners’ Academic Motivation and Language Mindset in Their Grit: A Theoretical Review. Frontiers in Psychology, 13. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.872014
Low, E. L., & Ao, R. (2018). The Spread of English in ASEAN: Policies and Issues. RELC Journal, 49(2), 131–148. https://doi.org/10.1177/0033688218782513
Markey, M. (2022). Learning a foreign language in immersion and second language acquisition contexts – students’ multilingual experiences with French in Ireland. Journal of Immersion and Content-Based Language Education, 10(1), 33–61. https://doi.org/10.1075/jicb.19014.mar
Maisari, Y. (2024). The Role of Teachers in Increasing Interest in Learning Arabic in Madrasah Aliyah 6 Aceh Besar. Journal of Society Innovation and Development (JSID), 5(2), 161-170. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10680072
Morris, L. S., Grehl, M. M., Rutter, S. B., Mehta, M., & Westwater, M. L. (2022). On what motivates us: a detailed review of intrinsic v. extrinsic motivation. Psychological Medicine, 52(10), 1801–1816. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291722001611
Munidar, F. (2024). The Acehnese Literature and Social Behavior. Journal of Aceh Studies (JOAS), 1(1), 31-40. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10934646
Mus, I. (2024). Poetry Kama Nasya’Works of Samih Al-Qasim (Analysis of The Semiotic Riffaterre). Journal of Society Innovation and Development (JSID), 5(2), 140-150. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10496916
Nachatar Singh, J. K., & Jamil, H. (2021). International education and meaningful contributions to society: Exploration of postgraduate international students’ perspectives studying in a Malaysian research university. International Journal of Educational Development, 81, 102331. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedudev.2020.102331
Navarro-Torres, C. A., Beatty-Martínez, A. L., Kroll, J. F., & Green, D. W. (2021). Research on bilingualism as discovery science. Brain and Language, 222, 105014. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bandl.2021.105014
Nichols, S. (2021). Rational rules: Towards a theory of moral learning. Oxford University Press.
Noprival, N., Rafli, Z., & Nuruddin, N. (2021). The Motivations of Learning Foreign Languages: A Descriptive Case Study of Polyglots. The Qualitative Report. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2021.4619
Noprival, N., Rafli, Z., Nuruddin, N., & De Felice, D. (2021). Indonesian Polyglots: Lived Experiences of Adults Learning Languages Online and Beyond the Classroom. The Qualitative Report. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2021.4555
Perlman, A. J. (2020). Southeast Asian Refugee-Learners: Identities Informing ESL Education and Support. Journal of Southeast Asian American Education and Advancement, 15(1). https://doi.org/10.7771/2153-8999.1179
Rivero, C. A. P., & Ubierna, F. (2021). The development of the entrepreneurial motivation from the university. International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, 17(3), 1313–1334. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11365-020-00723-5
Rahmadani, A. (2024). The Writing Culture of Scholars of The Aceh kingdom. Journal of Aceh Studies (JOAS), 1(1), 9-20. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10934911
Rivero, C. A. P., & Ubierna, F. (2021). The development of the entrepreneurial motivation from the university. International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, 17(3), 1313–1334. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11365-020-00723-5
Rodríguez, N. N. (2020). “This is why nobody knows who you are:” (Counter)Stories of Southeast Asian Americans in the Midwest. Review of Education, Pedagogy, and Cultural Studies, 42(2), 157–174. https://doi.org/10.1080/10714413.2020.1757377
Rungkaew Phumpho, S. N. (2019). Challenges for Thai business people using English in ASEAN. Kasetsart Journal of Social Sciences. https://doi.org/10.34044/j.kjss.2019.40.3.10
Saddhono, K., & Hartanto, W. (2021). A dialect geography in Yogyakarta-Surakarta isolect in Wedi District: An examination of permutation and phonological dialectometry as an endeavor to preserve Javanese language in Indonesia. Heliyon, 7(7), e07660. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2021.e07660
Schapiro, T. (2021). Feeling Like It: A theory of inclination and will. Oxford University Press, USA.
Shamim, F. (2018). Language, identity and education on the Arabian peninsula: bilingual policies in a multilingual context. Current Issues in Language Planning, 19(3), 335–339. https://doi.org/10.1080/14664208.2018.1444954
Shahzad, K., & Khan, S. A. (2023). The relationship between motivational factors and librarians’ professional development (PD): A systematic review. Journal of Librarianship and Information Science, 55(2), 383–402. https://doi.org/10.1177/09610006221083685
Sockett, G. (2023). Input in the digital wild: Online informal and non-formal learning and their interactions with study abroad. Second Language Research, 39(1), 115–132. https://doi.org/10.1177/02676583221122384
Van den Broeck, A., Howard, J. L., Van Vaerenbergh, Y., Leroy, H., & Gagné, M. (2021). Beyond intrinsic and extrinsic motivation: A meta-analysis on self-determination theory’s multidimensional conceptualization of work motivation. Organizational Psychology Review, 11(3), 240–273. https://doi.org/10.1177/20413866211006173
Van der Linden, S. (2023). Foolproof: Why misinformation infects our minds and how to build immunity. WW Norton & Company.
Vo, T. T. D., Tuliao, K. V., & Chen, C.-W. (2022). Work Motivation: The Roles of Individual Needs and Social Conditions. Behavioral Sciences, 12(2), 49. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs12020049
Van der Linden, S. (2023). Foolproof: Why misinformation infects our minds and how to build immunity. WW Norton & Company.
Zeng, Y. (2021). A Review of Foreign Language Enjoyment and Engagement. Frontiers in Psychology, 12. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.737613
DOI: https://doi.org/10.21831/diksi.v32i1.72299
Refbacks
- There are currently no refbacks.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Jurnal Diksi is published by Faculty of Languages, Arts, and Culture, Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta. It is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Based on a work at http://journal.uny.ac.id/index.php/diksi
Our Journal has been Indexed by:
2.png)
Diksi Journal is published by the Faculty of Languages and Arts Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta in collaboration with Himpunan Sarjana Kesusasteraan Indonesia (HISKI)
Supervised by:
