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Researching Bias

Portuguese as a Minority Attitudes of Undergraduate Students Studying

Sónia Maria Nunes Reis

Language acquisition cannot be separated is considered more standard by the tions of the way the target language is from the social arena in which it takes L2 Portuguese learners. written or spoken—that is either EP or place. (Dörnyei, 2009, p. 227) It is important to note that L1 refers BP—as well as the cultural aspects as- to a student’ and L2 is the sociated to each of these two varieties of Introduction that a student acquires. Portuguese. Herein all references to L2 are to the Por- Most of the students who chose such Second language acquisition theorists tuguese language course being taught at courses select them as an elective. Some have yet to conceptualize an understand- the university level. students who enroll want to catch up on ing of undergraduate students’ attitudes The primary research for this the missed over the and experiences when studying the two study was: years while others arrive in a first year different versions of Portuguese language Portuguese course for an easy credit. Con- most often encountered in experimental u What are the attitudes and course trary to what Gardner and Lambert (1972) literature, (EP) and experiences found among L2 Portu- suggest is the ideal age to start learning a (BP). The differences guese undergraduate students with second language, the participants in this between EP and BP raise some interest- respect to EP versus BP? study are much older and arrive in L2 Por- ing issues that are well worth considering tuguese university courses with stronger through undergraduate university stu- Background: attitudes and expectations about which dents’ perceptions and attitudes. Acquisition variety of Portuguese they should learn in Instructors of undergraduate courses an undergraduate Portuguese university in Portuguese literature suggest that in Gardner and Lambert (1972) suggest course. For instance, when referring to EP terms of curriculum design, curriculum that it is around the age of 10 that second and BP, some students have argued that delivery, and attitudes of students these language learners are most receptive and version is a language and the other a differences can be quite extreme, espe- display a friendlier attitude towards for- . This raises the question whether cially when one compares EP and BP with eign language acquisition, whereas learn- we are in the presence of one language the . Students enrolled ing an L2 and the culture associated with with two or is it actually two in undergraduate Portuguese courses that L2 language later in life is more dif- ? are often taking or have taken Spanish ficult because the L2 learner tends to link These L2 adult Portuguese learners language courses, making possible a cultural and linguistic differences with the are not alone in pointing out some differ- between both programs and norm that the student is used to in his or ences between EP and BP. For instance, languages. The purpose of this study is to her own L1. Moreover, it has also been back in 1994, Kato and Raposo stated: understand the existing discrepancies in argued in experimental literature that the Portuguese language and the result- the attitudes, motivation, and classroom European and Brazilian Portuguese have ing attitudes of students when faced with experiences of an L2 learner will result in long been considered as two dialects of the these differences. the student’s success or failure in a foreign same language, with variable aspects in their , and . Using data collected with L1 English/ language course. Thus the learner’s atti- L2 Portuguese students at a Canadian tudes cannot be separated from what goes There are, in fact, remarkable differ- university, this will show how a on in the classroom. ences between EP and BP. One difference strong preference for one variety of the Most of the students registered in concerns the placement of within Portuguese language exists when studing L2 Portuguese undergraduate university common phrases. Some examples of these the arts but how a different preference courses in are of Portuguese de- dialectal variations follow: emerges when analyzing which language scent. They are often speakers who spoke only Portuguese at (1) a. Chamo-me Maria. (EP) (My name is Maria). Sónia Maria Nunes Reis is a professor home with their grandparents and parents on the Faculty of Education until they started school at the age of four. b. Me chamo Maria. (BP) at The University of Western Ontario, They therefore arrive in undergraduate (My name is Maria). London, Ontario, Canada. university courses with preconceived no-

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(2) a. Eu vi ele no ano passado. language learner. It is an internalized and (Weinreich, Labov, & Her- (BP-spoken) ideal concept that the L2 learner has of zog, 1968). Thus, EP and BP are seen as (I saw him last year). himself or herself. Second, the “Ought two relatively heterogeneous varieties b. Eu o vi no ano passado. L2 Self” is a more extrinsically motivated of the Portuguese language. This raises (BP- written) self-attainment that an individual pos- the following in relation to the (I saw him last year). sesses when trying to follow the norms of current study: Which language variety what he or she believes is expected in a L2 is being learned in our L2 Portuguese . Eu vi-o no ano passado. (EP – spoken and written) language situation. Third, the novelty in undergraduate courses? Are the students (I saw him last year). Dörnyei’s reconfiguration of L2 learning seeing one variety of Portuguese as being (2009) suggests that the environment in more linguistically educated than other? For purposes of this study I chose to the L2 classroom plays an important role Which one of the two is more ? narrow the research to on the at- in the learning outcomes. titudes and classroom experiences of the Methodology L2 Portuguese undergraduate learner, The Language Situation The participants in this study were drawing on the theoretical considerations in L2 Portuguese Courses described by Dörnyei (2009) in his book all undergraduate students who had each The L2 Motivational Self-System. I felt EP and BP are two somewhat het- taken an L2 first-year Portuguese under- that after looking at a vast number of erogeneous varieties of the Portuguese graduate course. Their languages were L1 other influential approaches, including language that need to be looked at from a English and L2 Portuguese. In this context Gardner (1985), Dörnyei’s 2009 work socio-historic dimension. BP has a long his- the intent of the study was to consider: tory of being spoken only and not written seemed to be the most promising for 1. The attitudes that the L2 Portu- by the marginalized illiterate minorities at investigating L2 learning. He offers an guese learners have regarding the the time when was under Portuguese additional component of language learn- two main varieties of Portuguese (EP governance. These minority groups were ing not previously addressed that made it and BP) (see Figure 1). especially appropriate for this study. for the most part slaves from the African Equally significant is that in the area continent who came with their own lan- 2. How the classroom experience has of experimental literature not much has guages and gradually developed a Creole an impact on the attitudes of L2 Por- been said about the acquisition of minor- language as their native languages mixed tuguese learners (see Figure 2). ity languages at the university level. Most with Portuguese. One result of this mixture The participants were each asked to studies have focused on the L2 learner at of language was BP. In contrast, EP was comment on eight affective factors of the a much younger age—Meisel, Clahsen, the variety of Portuguese used almost ex- two versions of Portuguese: sound, expres- and Pienemann (1981), Krashen (1982), clusively as the written language, and thus siveness, musicality, elegance, literature, Cummins (1984), Odlin (1989), Skehan it was seen as the standard. science, preciseness, and standardization. (1989), Genesee (1995), Lightbown and Labov (1972), one of the pio- Dörnyei (2009) states that “”—the Spada (1999), Snow (1992), and VanPatten neers in the theories of language change, way by which research literature refers to and Sanz (1995), among others. Although argues that any linguistic phenomenon emotions—has been a somewhat neglected Dörnyei’s work (2009) does not any must be considered from a socio-historic topic in applied linguistics despite the fact specific age group of learners, it seems to perspective, especially when applied to that second language learning can be an provide a long overdue break-through in the the linguistic situation between Brazil emotionally taxing experience (p.219). conceptualized theory of L2 acquisition. While previously Dörnyei proposed a configuration of an L2 theory that synthe- Figure 1 sized several of the influential constructs in the field of language acquisition, the novelty of his current and more updated model in The L2 Motivational Self System is that it is constructed under the view that there are now three components to be taken into consideration in any L2 class- room and not just two as seen previously in Dörnyei (2005) and other research. According to Dörnyei these three con- stituents are the “Ideal L2 Self,” the “Ought L2 Self,” and the “L2 Learning Experience” (Dörnyei, 2009). Such a conceptual ladder is what most research has been focusing on over the last two decades and thus is what I feel constitutes an important structure worth utilizing in analyzing an L2 Portu- guese course. First, the “Ideal L2 Self” is an intrin- sically generated self-concept of a foreign

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It is my view that one cannot separate These results are not surprising, consid- As displayed in Figure 2, the respon- the concepts of attitudes and motivation ering the linguistic attitudes experienced dents in this study clearly reveal that there any more than one can separate classroom between Portugal and Brazil over four is a strong presence of EP in the classes experiences from motivation. Herein lies centuries of historic interaction between they are taking. The professors are teach- my the justification in applying Dörnyei’s the two countries. Also, the students ing mostly EP, the course materials are most recent three-component theoretical surveyed are English speakers and feel coming for the most part from Portugal, model to this study. the pressures of a globalized world. They and their content is consistently focused The affective factors tested in this do not place great importance in the Por- on EP. Not surprisingly, the instructors’ study (sound, expressiveness, musicality, tuguese language for writing in scientific knowledge is mostly focused on EP as elegance, literature, science, preciseness, fields, resulting in much lower scores in Portugal tends be their country of origin. standardization) were selected based on that area for both EP and BP. The study participants also suggest that what L2 students traditionally identify Dörnyei (2009) sees the classroom the other students in their classes would as the distinguishing characteristics of experience as an important factor in the prefer to learn EP rather than BP if given a particular language. Dörnyei (2009) is learning process and a key factor in devel- a choice. Thus, one may conclude that BP interested in how affective traits may play oping increased motivation in L2 learning. is receiving minimal importance in the a role in the learning of an L2, just as I am Dörnyei’s three-factor concept, stated as classrooms of our study participants. quite interested in understanding how af- a “third possible attractor basin to [the] Dörnyei (2009) suggests the existence fective traits effect the students’ attitudes motivational landscape” (p. 218), further of one of the three suggested components during the L2 learning process. explicates the L2 learning experience, a is sufficient to influence and guide an topic that has been debated over recent L2 learner. In this study, the working Results: years, especially in the education field. knowledge of the course instructors who Data Analysis and Discussion One important aspect to consider, as come from EP backgrounds serves as a Dörnyei suggests, is that the teacher, the clear indicator of where these students According to the data collected (see curriculum, the student peers, and the are headed with respect to one variety of Figures 1 and 2), BP is favored in terms overall experience each play a critical role Portuguese over the other. of how it sounds, by its expressiveness in the attitudes and motivation of the L2 and its musicality. This is not surprising learner. I believe this is true regardless of Conclusion since BP has long been known as a very the students’ age. Most experimental litera- and Future Research Possibilities pleasant language to listen to. The results ture in this area tends to focus on younger presented here confirm the attitude that learners, but I suggest that these are re- As expressed in the attitudes and in- some L2 Portuguese learners display when ally important factors in any L2 classroom trinsic and extrinsic motivation revealed first enrolled in a first year L2 Portuguese regardless of a student’s age. The students among L2 Portuguese learners with course, suggesting that BP is a fun variety need to be actively involved in the learning respect to EP and BP, BP receives great of Portuguese to learn. process if we want them to be successful. At importance in the arts based on the way Such results should not come as a all age levels the information and materials it sounds, its expressiveness, and how surprise to any individual who has basic presented in class shape a student’s percep- musical it is when compared with EP. On knowledge of the Brazilian variety of the tions and attitudes towards the targeted L2 the other hand, EP is clearly the favored Portuguese language. BP is often referred language and its culture. language for writing and it is also consid- to as being very romantic in comparison to ered to be more precise and standard. its European counterpart. In terms of the way EP and BP sound, or how expressive Figure 2 they both are, the results were not particu- larly different. With respect to musicality the results for EP (4 on a scale of 8) are considered low. The participants found both EP and BP to be equally elegant in language structure, but EP was favored for the writing of important literary works and for its traditional function in literature. As a literary language BP was reported as not being as precise or as standard as EP. Moreover, both BP and EP are seen by these respondents as not being highly appropriate for scientific fields as they both scored very low (4). These data suggest that the L2 Por- tuguese students feel a social pressure to choose EP as the language variety more learning original content instructor instructor Instructor other common and thus more important in lit- text text focus knowledge origin students erature works because it is perceived to be both more precise and more standard. type

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Not surprisingly, then, these results Gardner, . C. (1985). Social psychology 3(2), 109-35. appear to be directly linked to the “actual and second language learning: The role Romaine, S. (1989). Bilingualism. Oxford, UK: experience of being engaged in the learn- of attitudes and motivation. London, UK: Basil Blackwell. ing process” (Dörnyei, 2009, p.218) with Edward Arnold. Skehan, P. (1989). Individual differences in Genesee, F. (1995). Educating second second language learning. London, UK: EP being experienced more directly by the language children: The whole child, the Edward Arnold. participants in these university classroom whole curriculum, the whole community. Snow, C. (1992). Perspectives on second- settings. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University language development: Implications for Worth looking at in future studies Press. bilingual education. Educational Researcher, would be an examination of the attitudes Hamers, ., & Blanc, M. (1989). Bilinguality and 21(2), 16-19. and motivation as well as classroom ex- bilingualism. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge VanPatten, B., & Sanz, C. (1995). From input periences in L2 Portuguese courses in the University Press. to output: Processing instruction and as well as Canada in order to James, .(.d.). Measuring foreign language communicative tasks. In F. Eckman, D. aptitude and attitude. http://www.soc. Highland, P. Lee, J. Mileham, & R. Weber develop a comparative study of the results hawaii.edu/LEON/499s99/ramil/psy499/ (eds.), Second language acquisition: Theory between language learners in these two chapter.html and pedagogy. Mahwah, : Lawrence countries. Kato, M., & Raposo, . (1994). European and Erlbaum Associates. Brazilian Portuguese order: Questions, Weinreich, ., Labov, W., & Herzog, M. (1968). References focus, topic constructions. In C. Parodi, C. Empirical foundations for theory of language Quicoli, M. Saltarelli, & M. L. Zubizarreta change. In P. Lehmann & . Malkiel (Ed.), , . D. (2000). Principles of language (eds), Aspects of . Selected Directions for historical linguistics (pp. learning and teaching (4th ed.). : Papers from the LSRL XXIV (pp. 267-278). 95-188). Austin, TX: University of Addison Wesley Longman. , DC: Georgetown University Press. Cummins, J. (1984). Bilingualism and special Press. education: Issues in assessment and pedagogy. Krashen, S. (1982). Principles and practice in Clevedon, Somerset, UK: Multilingual second language acquisition. Oxford, UK: Matters. Pergamon. Dörnyei, . (2005). The psychology of the Labov, W. (1972). Sociolinguistic patterns. language learner: Individual differences in Philadelphia: University of second language acquisition. Mahwah, NJ: Press. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Lightbown, P., & Spada, N. (1999). How Dörnyei, Z. (2009). The psychology of second languages are learned. Oxford, UK: Oxford language acquisition. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. University Press. Meisel, J. M., Clahsen, H., & Pienemann, M. Gardner, R. C., & Lambert, W. (1972). Attitudes (1981). On determining developmental stages and motivation in second-language learning. in natural second language acquisition. , MA: Newbury House. Studies in Second Language Acquisition,

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