Students’ Motivations for Choosing (or Not) to Study Portuguese: A Survey of Beginning-level University Classes

Abstract

Although previous literature has discussed ways of promoting the study of Portuguese, to our knowledge no study has ever directly surveyed students to ascertain why they chose to learn the language. This study reports on a survey of the motivations of first- and second-year Portuguese students to study the language, and contrasts their motivations with those of students of French, German, Italian, and Spanish. In addition, the study reports on students’ opinions as to the usefulness of Portuguese in comparison with these other European languages. Results showed that Portuguese students consisted of two separate groups, Spanish speakers and non-Spanish speakers, each with distinct motivations for language learning, which differed from those of students of other European languages. Based on the findings, we offer recommendations for the recruitment and instruction of Portuguese students at the post-secondary level, with particular emphasis on Portuguese for Spanish speakers.

LextPT: A reliable and efficient vocabulary size test for L2 Portuguese proficiency

“…As one of the most spoken languages in the world, Portuguese has seen a growing interest in learning it as a foreign language (Bateman et al, 2014;Sollai et al, 2018).…”

The Motivation of Learning English: A Descriptive Case Study of Indonesian Lecturers

“…The results of this study were consistent with what Marten and Mostert (2012) discovered in their research, which indicated that one reason people in the United Kingdom chose to learn Zulu as a second language was for professional reasons. Furthermore, Bateman and Oliveira (2014) discovered that students of Spanish-speaking backgrounds were mostly motivated to learn Portuguese in order to advance their professional lives. Similar to this, Pratt et al (2009) stated that the motive to learn Spanish as a foreign language was for future job benefits in a study conducted at various high schools in the racially diverse urban west Texas.…”

“…The increased focus on the concept of language learning motivation has drawn much interest among researchers (see Aladdin, 2013;Bateman & Oliveira, 2014;Chen, 2017;Giles, 2016;Marten & Mostert, 2012;Noprival, 2021;Pratt et al, 2009). For example, Chen (2017) conducted a study about students' motivation in learning English in a junior high school in Taiwan.…”

Indonesian Pharmacy Students' Motivations for Learning English: A Qualitative Case Study

“…The results of this study were consistent with what Marten and Mostert (2012) discovered in their research, which indicated that one reason people in the United Kingdom choose to learn Zulu as a second language was for professional reasons. Furthermore, Bateman and Oliveira (2014) discovered that students of Spanish-speaking backgrounds were mostly motivated to learn Portuguese in order to advance their future careers. Similar to this, Pratt et al (2009), who conducted their study in an American high school in Texas, stated that a primary motive for students to learn Spanish as a foreign language was for future job benefits.…”

“…Researchers have been particularly interested in the topic of language learning motivation due to its popularity and the importance it has for successful language learning (see Aladdin, 2013;Bateman & Oliveira, 2014;Chen, 2017;Giles, 2016;Marten & Mostert, 2012;Noprival, 2021;Pratt et al, 2009). For instance, Chen (2017) explored students' motivation in learning English in a junior high school in Taiwan, finding that the school's exams encouraged pupils to learn higher quantities of English.…”