L2 motivation among hearing learners of Finnish Sign Language

ABSTRACT

The realisation of the linguistic rights of Deaf individuals is, to a considerable extent, dependent upon whether there are majority language speakers who acquire a sign language as an L2 and use their L2 skills. Still, the motivation of hearing persons in learning sign languages as L2s is a largely unmapped area. This study seeks to capture the motivation underlying the L2 use among hearing learners of Finnish Sign Language (FSL) in terms of current theorising on L2 motivation and to test the applicability of central constructs in L2 motivation research in a specific SLA context. We collected data in 2018 using an anonymous online questionnaire (N = 173). We tested a serial mediational model that linked L2 learning orientations and L2 learning experience, through a set of mediating variables, to L2 use. The model was statistically significant and explained 66% of the variance in L2 use. In addition, integrativeness significantly moderated the effect of L2 competence on L2 use. The findings from the quantitative analysis are enriched with the analysis of the respondents’ comments. We discuss the results from the perspective of how hearing learners of sign languages can extend the communication networks of Deaf sign language users.

KEYWORDS:

• sign language
• integrative motivation
• bilingualism
• language minorities
• second language acquisition

Acknowledgements

We sincerely thank the Finnish Association of the Deaf for the assistance with the data collection. Our special thanks go to Päivi Rainò and Pirkko Selin-Grönlund for their invaluable help with refining our questionnaire. Finally, we are indebted to our participants, without their contribution this research would not have been possible.

Disclosure statement

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

Notes

1 We use upper case Deaf to refer to a group of deaf people who share a sign language such as Finnish Sign Language, while lowercase deaf refers to the audiological condition of not hearing.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Koneen Säätiö¶.

Notes on contributors

Enikő Marton

Enikő Marton is a doctoral researcher at the University of Helsinki. Her dissertation addresses the motivation of majority language speakers in learning and using minority languages in various bilingual settings.

Peter D. MacIntyre

Peter D. MacIntyre is professor of psychology at Cape Breton University. His research focusses on the psychology of language and communication.