The motivations of heritage and non-heritage students in learning portuguese in L(USA)land

Abstract

This study investigates the motivations of both heritage and non-heritage students of Portuguese at two universities in Rhode Island where Portuguese-speaking migrant communities have settled and their language has strong visibility. Attention is drawn to motivation since it is known to be a significant factor in the development of linguistic proficiency. The results of this study underscore a difference in students’ motivation for studying Portuguese between heritage and non-heritage language learners. Findings also suggest that heritage speakers of Portuguese recognize the importance of the language to communicate daily with family and relatives. In contrast, non-heritage learners of Portuguese perceive the Linguistic Landscape as an authentic space to practice and facilitate their learning. Furthermore, non-heritage learners value the language and are motivated to learn Portuguese in order to communicate with the community and understand its culture. Finally, in light of our conclusions, we seek to contribute and extend our research of students’ motivation to other languages.

Keywords:

• Language learning motivations
• diasporic communities
• Portuguese-speaking communities in New England
• linguistic landscape as motivation for language learning

Disclosure statement

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

Notes

1 A more in-depth discussion about how motivation has been conceptualized from 1959 through 2019 can be found in Al-Hoorie and MacIntyre (2020).

2 Dörnyei understood that research on motivation needed to include psychological research on identity since humans have distinct ideas and behaviors. Dörnyei introduced the theory of possible selves in his studies on motivation. The term possible selves was introduced by Markus and Nurius (1986) who stated that people have ideas of what they might become, what they would like to become and what they fear of becoming. Dörnyei developed the L2 Motivational Self Theory which includes the three components: ideal L2 self, the ought-to L2 self and the L2 learning experience. Dörnyei claims that it is important to consider possible selves in research since they help learners maintain a focus on future goals.

3 The English quotation included here is a direct translation from the original text retrieved from The Portuguese Times (XLIII, N. 2256, Wednesday, September 17^th, 2014, p. 7), available online. The original quote by Nuno Brito is as follows: ‘O Portuguese Discovery Monument simboliza as boas relações existente entre dois países: Portugal e Estados Unidos, mercê do importante contributo da comunidade luso-americana a todos os níveis. Este monumento é de facto um símbolo das relações de proximidade entre Portugal e os EUA. Para mim o que é importante é não apenas recordar o passado mas também recordar o presente. Nós temos uma comunidade portuguesa e luso-americana muito importante neste país, temos muito orgulho nela e trabalhamos muito bem com ela…Vir aqui foi apenas um ato cultural…’ (2014, p. 7)

4 One of the authors who is a heritage speaker of Portuguese collected the data from the participants. Both authors were in charge of designing the materials to be used.

5 Second language learners whose first language was Spanish were initially grouped separately, in anticipation that their behavior might reflect an important distinction from the other group due to the linguistic proximity between Spanish and Portuguese. However, their behavior coincided with those students who study Portuguese as a foreign language, and thus their results were ultimately included within the group of ‘no Portuguese origin’.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Judy de Oliveira

Judy de Oliveira holds a PhD in Hispanic Linguistics from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Currently, she teaches Portuguese in the Department of Modern and Classical Languages at the University of Rhode Island, and Spanish and Portuguese at Salve Regina University. In addition, she teaches medical Portuguese for graduate medical students at the Alpert Medical School at Brown University. Her research interests include sociolinguistics, language contact, second language acquisition and applied linguistics. She works with native and heritage speakers of Spanish and Portuguese.

Patricia Gubitosi

Patricia Gubitosi is associate professor of Hispanic Linguistics in the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where she teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in sociolinguistics, bilingualism and language contact.