Language learning in conflictual contexts: a study of Turkish Cypriot adolescents learning Greek in Cyprus

ABSTRACT

The Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot communities in Cyprus have been divided for the last five decades. This study investigated whether the recent introduction of Greek language studies in Turkish Cypriot secondary schools affects students’ attitudes towards the language, its speakers and culture, and motivation to study the language. Findings revealed that students studying Greek (experimental group) report having more positive attitudes towards Greek, its culture, and speakers and are more motivated to study it. Findings confirm the important role the degree of satisfaction with language studies plays in students’ motivation to study a language.

KEYWORDS:

• Language attitudes
• policy issues
• language minorities

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the participants and participating schools of the study for candidly sharing their views on a potentially sensitive topic. We would also like to thank our three reviewers for their suggestions during the publication process. Finally, we would like to thank Smadar Donista-Schmidt for guidance in designing the questionnaire utilised in this study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.