29.2593, Diss: Applied Linguistics; Language Acquisition; Linguistic Theories; Sociolinguistics: Susan Joffe: ''Identity, Motivation, Language Shift, and Language Maintenance''

[The LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List: Vol-29-2593. Tue Jun 19 2018. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 29.2593, Diss: Applied Linguistics; Language Acquisition; Linguistic Theories; Sociolinguistics: Susan Joffe: ''Identity, Motivation, Language Shift, and Language Maintenance''

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Date: Tue, 19 Jun 2018 10:59:28
From: Susan Joffe [susanjoffe at gmail.com]
Subject: Identity, Motivation, Language Shift, and Language Maintenance

 
Institution: Bar Ilan University 
Program: Department of English Literature and Linguistics 
Dissertation Status: Completed 
Degree Date: 2018 

Author: Susan Joffe

Dissertation Title: Identity, Motivation, Language Shift, and Language
Maintenance 

Linguistic Field(s): Applied Linguistics
                     Language Acquisition
                     Linguistic Theories
                     Sociolinguistics


Dissertation Director(s):
Joel Walters

Dissertation Abstract:

This study aims to investigate the roles of identity and motivation in the
second language proficiency of adult, L1 English-speaking immigrants to
Israel. Most studies of motivation, identity, and L2 proficiency study
students rather than adult immigrants. The study of second language
proficiency in adult immigrant populations poses significant challenges for
researchers. Immigrants' lives are inherently unstable. Consequently,
controlling for variables like length of exposure, and length of residence is
nearly impossible. Yet the fact that there are hundreds of millions of
immigrants in the world justifies the need for the study of this population,
and demands of researchers to find creative solutions to the methodological
challenges we face.

 
Three hundred L1 English-speaking adult immigrants completed an online
questionnaire. The five part questionnaire was comprised of sections eliciting
a) biographical information, b) motivation , two parts on identity c1) self
labeling  and c2) ethnolinguistic identity , and d) self-reported language
use. Principal Component Analysis was used to generate a motivation model.
Observations about the participants' ethnolinguistic identities were elicited
from the questionnaire's identity sections.

 
In addition to the questionnaire responses, oral narratives were elicited from
55 of the 300 participants to assess second language proficiency. The
narratives were recorded and analyzed for measures of Complexity, Accuracy,
and Fluency, and provided qualitative insights into the motivation and
identity constructs.

The motivation model was compared with the self-reported language use measures
and the second language proficiency measures to determine the relationship
between the constructs and to determine if motivation predicts second language
proficiency. A Confirmatory Factor Analysis yielded a model that differs from
models of student motivation in the literature.

 
Many significant relations emerged between motivation and second language
proficiency, particularly in Accuracy measures, but less so in the areas of
Complexity and Fluency measures. Higher motivation was associated with several
measures of accuracy.  Both the ethnolinguistic vitality and the self-labeling
measures yielded descriptions of immigrants that are very closely tied to
English.  Analysis of the participants' Hebrew narratives indicated that
Complexity was not hampered by imperfect Accuracy; even participants with very
low accuracy were able to tell narratives in Hebrew with an appropriate level
of complexity. 

In conclusion, this study set out to understand how motivation and identity
each influence second language proficiency. The findings clearly show that for
this population, motivation is a stronger predictor of second language
proficiency than identity. The immigration experience is profound and has a
profound impact on adults, but they do not become ''someone else.'' 

The study yielded two important methodological contributions. One was that
motivation was a better predictor of second language use and proficiency than
identity. This finding logically follows the finding that identity in this
adult, immigrant population was relatively static. A second significant
methodological contribution was that oral narrative analysis provided a rich
source for measuring second language proficiency. Most methods of proficiency
assessment examine accuracy alone. By adding complexity and fluency measures,
and by using oral language instead of written tests, it was possible to see
participants' communicative strengths and weaknesses.




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