National language in a globalised world: are L1 and L2 adolescents in Iceland more interested in learning English than Icelandic?

ABSTRACT

Language acquisition and Language Maintenance (LM) both depend on ample opportunity and motivation. Currently, many national language societies are undergoing Language Shift (LS) to English, impacting their acquisition as first (L1) and possibly even more as second (L2) language. This study interviewed 44 adolescents, including 24 L1 and 20 L2 speakers of Icelandic, on their views on the importance of Icelandic and English, whether Icelandic is hard to learn, and their future plans. Qualitative and quantitative results showed highly similar views and future plans across groups; both languages were considered important but for different purposes. However, L1 speakers were far more likely to think that Icelandic is hard to learn, and only L1 speakers attached cultural value to Icelandic. L1 speakers were more ambivalent than L2 speakers on whether immigrants should learn Icelandic. L2 students’ ability to learn Icelandic appears impacted more by lack of opportunity than by lack of motivation. The study suggests that LS to English contributes to decreased opportunities to learn Icelandic as L2. It is further suggested that language policy in Iceland as well as international policy on which languages should be considered vulnerable due to a minority status need to be revisited in a globalised world.

KEYWORDS:

• Motivation
• L2 learning
• adolescence
• school-age
• Icelandic
• English

Acknowledgements

This study was supported by Project Grant 152446-053 from RANNÍS, The Icelanic Centre for Research, awarded to the Author. We wish to thank the participants for their time invested in this study. Thanks are extended to Birkir Már Viðarsson and to the adolescents who participated in the study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by The Icelandic Centre for Research, RANNÍS, [grant number 152446-053].

Notes on contributors

Elin Thordardottir

Elin Thordardottir, a native of Iceland, graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison (US) and is Full Professor at the School of Communication Sciences and Disorders at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, and a certified Speech-Language Pathologist. Her research in Canada and Iceland has focused on bilingual and multlingual development and Developmental Language Disorder.