Inter-ethnic contact: Attitudinal consequences.

Abstract

Attitudes of 379 grade eight anglophone students were assessed both before and after a short excursion to Quebec City. One hundred and ninety-eight students who did not participate in the excursion served as the control group, while 87 were classified as having had a low amount of contact and 94 as having had a high amount of contact with Quebec residents. Examination of the pre-test scores revealed that the High Contact group tended to have the most favourable attitudes towards French Canadians, and towards various aspects of French language acquisition. Analyses of covariance of the post-test scores, using the corresponding pre-test attitude score as the covariate, demonstrated that the High Contact group exhibited more positive attitudes towards both the people and the language than the other two groups.

On the predictive validity of the attitude/motivation test battery

“…Numerous studies have investigated the relation between attitudinal/ motivational variables and second language achievement (Clement, Gardner & Smythe, 1977, 1980Gardner, 1979;Gardner & Lambert, 1959, 1972Gardner, Smythe, Clement & Gliksman, 1976), but none of them have been particularly concerned with the stability of these relations across different samples, nor with the extent to which these relationships are influenced by the particular criterion under investigation. The present study focuses on data collected in six regions of Canada (both bilingual and unilingual) from five different grade levels for two consecutive years and is concerned with the relative predictability of three different criteria by three different composite measures.…”

“…The indices are not independent, and in fact the variables defining these composites usually load together as an Integrative Motive factor in factor analytic investigations (cf. Clement et al, 1977Clement et al, , 1980. Moreover, in such studies where indices of language aptitude are also included, it is consistently shown that the attitudinal/motivational variables are relatively independent of language aptitude (cf.…”

Expanding the Paradigm: Countering Violent Extremism in Britain and the Need for a Youth Centric Community Based Approach

“…Various studies have made clear that such interethnic contact was amongst one of the largest predictors of a youth's positive attitude change. [46] Before writing this article, the author had undergone extensive experience taking part in inter-faith and inter-ethnic exercises with youth from various communities. One such initiative spearheaded by the New York City branch of a non-profit named Boy's Hope Girls Hope (BGHGNY), was titled "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, " which brings majority black and Latino youth together with professionals from mixed race backgrounds to discuss careers and life choices over a two-hour dinner.…”

Family Language Policy of the English Speaking Immigrant Community in Israel: Families with Young Children and Their FLP Planning, Management, and Outcomes

“…On a more global scale, Canada has been a popular research destination for bilingualism due to the presence of dual official language policy of Canadian English and Canadian French within its borders, with Canadian English being the stronger in terms of number of native speakers. Numerous studies on attitudes, motivation, and language maintenance stem from Canada Lambert, 1959, Clement, Gardner, andSmythe, 1977a). A very popular bilingualism research destination has been the USA, focusing on the experiences of immigrants and maintenance of HL"s within the English-only terrain of the USA.…”