Implicit attitudes toward L2 native speakers

Abstract

Since Gardner and Lambert’s (1959) seminal study, second language (L2) motivation has always been construed as an explicit, deliberative process that can be measured to a satisfactory extent by self-report questionnaires (e.g., Dörnyei & Ushioda, 2011; Gardner, 2010). In contrast, implicit attitudes and motivation have received no systematic attention to date. This paper presents empirical results supporting the significance of implicit attitudes and demonstrating how to measure them.

Arabic L1 adults and young adults (N = 365) completed the Implicit Association Test (Greenwald et al., 1998) that examined their implicit attitudes toward L2 native speakers, as well as a self-report questionnaire that examined their explicit attitudes. The results showed that 1) explicit–implicit congruence was associated with stronger affiliation with L2 speakers, 2) learners with negative implicit attitudes were too heterogeneous to be considered a single group, and 3) implicit attitudes moderated the relationship between (explicit) attitudes toward L2 speakers and the ideal L2 self.

The paper concludes by arguing that implicit attitudes constitute a second dimension to L2 motivation in addition to the explicit dimension: Learners might score highly on
both, either, or none; and each of these possibilities may have a differential effect on L2 learning.

Full text

Implicit attitudes toward L2 native speakers
Ali H. Al-Hoorie
Paper presented at the international conference New Directions in Implicit and Explicit Learning
(June 10–11, 2015, University of Lancaster)
Since Gardner and Lambert’s (1959) seminal study, second language (L2) motivation has always
been construed as an explicit, deliberative process that can be measured to a satisfactory extent
by self-report questionnaires (e.g., Dörnyei & Ushioda, 2011; Gardner, 2010). In contrast,
implicit attitudes and motivation have received no systematic attention to date. This paper
presents empirical results supporting the significance of implicit attitudes and demonstrating how
to measure them.
Arabic L1 adults and young adults (N = 365) completed the Implicit Association Test
(Greenwald et al., 1998) that examined their implicit attitudes toward L2 native speakers, as well
as a self-report questionnaire that examined their explicit attitudes. The results showed that 1)
explicit–implicit congruence was associated with stronger affiliation with L2 speakers, 2)
learners with negative implicit attitudes were too heterogeneous to be considered a single group,
and 3) implicit attitudes moderated the relationship between (explicit) attitudes toward L2
speakers and the ideal L2 self.
The paper concludes by arguing that implicit attitudes constitute a second dimension to L2
motivation in addition to the explicit dimension: Learners might score highly on
both, either, or none; and each of these possibilities may have a differential effect on L2 learning.
References
Dörnyei, Z., & Ushioda, U. (2011). Teaching and researching motivation (2nd ed.). Harlow, UK:
Pearson.
Gardner, R. C. (2010). Motivation and second language acquisition: The Socio-Educational
Model. New York: Peter Lang.
Gardner, R. C., & Lambert, W. E. (1959). Motivational variables in second-language acquisition.
Canadian Journal of Psychology/Revue canadienne de psychologie, 13(4), 266–272.
Greenwald, A. G., McGhee, D. E., & Schwartz, J. L. (1998). Measuring individual differences in
implicit cognition: The Implicit Association Test. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,
74(6), 1464–1480.