Sociolinguistics and Language Education.pdf

Language and Ideologies 13
project as the collective feature of any social group such as ‘demographic
representation [size], social status, and institutional support’ (2006: 613).
For analysis, the investigators developed a set of hypothesized relationships
amenable to testing through path analysis. This technique builds on
regression analysis, which seeks mathematically optimal combinations of
variables infl uencing an outcome, and makes the model more precise by
specifying the sequence, or order, in which these variables operate. While
results cannot be interpreted as causative, they at least suggest processes
at play in the particular research setting.
Findings were explained according to the ‘additive versus subtractive’
forms of bilingualism, distinguishing educational approaches that enable
learners to add a second language to their native language skills (hence,
additive) from those requiring that learners actually lose or forget skills
in their initial language as they learn a second (thus, subtractive; see
Gardner & Lambert, 1972; and Lambert, 1980). 3 Intriguingly, the results
did not demonstrate the subtractive (for Francophones) or additive (for
Anglophones) stances expected of these highly educated bilinguals.
Instead, and crucial for language educators, fi ndings indicated that the
amount of experience using the L2 produced positive cultural representations
of the respective L2 communities for both groups of participants,
although the developmental path leading to the confi dence resulting from
frequency of L2 use differed for French and English speakers. (Confi dence
in one’s ability to use a second language has also been identifi ed as important
in qualitative work; see Nikolov, 2000.) For Francophones, there was
a link between L1 and L2 identity, whereas no such path existed for
Anglophones. The investigators interpreted this fi nding to mean that the
lower ethnolinguistic vitality of French in Ontario meant that French
speakers needed to establish their L2 identity securely before acquiring
stronger L2 skills. Such research shows that investigations of languagerelated
attitudes in bi- or multi-lingual communities must examine the
relative status, or vitality, of each community involved to be maximally
informative.
Social psychologists interested in language pedagogy have begun to
build on these advances and extend them explicitly to second-language
classrooms. Much of the ‘classic’ work conducted by Lambert and Gardner
and colleagues was mainly descriptive of various student profi les derived
through correlation and factor analysis and did not generally address
instructional practices. However, more current formulations include closer
attention to pedagogy. Dörnyei (2001) extends the model explicitly to language
instruction and notes that, to improve the odds of success, instructors
need to promote and enhance attitudes related to L2 speakers as well
as attitudes that refl ect a realistic notion of the effort required to learn, that
is, to achieve an ‘ideal L2 self’ (2001: 102–105). He has also spearheaded a
considerable amount of related research to help elucidate the factors