The role of prejudice in second-language acquisition has received little attention but may be related to an individual’s motivation to learn another language. For instance, learners who express high Social Dominance Orientation or Right-Wing Authoritarianism, constructs reflective of prejudice and worldviews that endorse hostility towards or fear of outgroup members, may be less motivated to learn a second language. Moreover, increased Social Dominance Orientation and/or Right-Wing Authoritarianism scores may be associated with reduced motivation to learn a second language due to the impact of prejudice on Integrativeness, which is the extent to which a person has an interest in learning a second language and in interacting with members who speak that second language. The current study sought to test these associations with a sample of 110 college participants learning French as a second language in a bilingual institution. Integrativeness was found to fully mediate the relations between Social Dominance Orientation, Right-Wing Authoritarianism, and Motivation to learn a second language. Results suggest the importance of examining the role of prejudice in second-language acquisition.
AltemeyerB. (1988). Enemies of freedom: Understanding Right-Wing Authoritarianism.
San Francisco, CA:
Jossey-Bass, Inc.
2.
AltemeyerB. (2004).
Highly dominating, highly authoritarian personalities. The Journal of Social Psychology,
144(4), 421–448.
3.
ClémentR. (1980). Ethnicity, contact and communicative competence in a second language. In GilesH.RobinsonW P.SmithP. M. (Eds), Language: Social psychological perspectives (pp. 147–154).
Oxford, England:
Pergamon.
4.
ClémentR. (1986).
Second language proficiency and acculturation: An investigation of the effects of language status and individual characteristics. Journal of Language and Social Psychology,
5(4), 271–290.
5.
CsizérK.DörnyeiZ. (2005).
The internal structure of language learning motivation and its relationship with language choice and learning effort. The Modern Language Journal,
89, 19–36.
6.
DhontK.Van HielA.HewstoneM. (2014).
Changing the ideological roots of prejudice: Longitudinal effects of ethnic intergroup contact on Social Dominance Orientation. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations,
17(1), 27–44.
7.
DuckittJ. (2006).
Differential effects of Right-Wing Authoritarianism and Social Dominance Orientation on outgroup attitudes and their mediation by threat from and competitiveness to outgroups. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin,
32(5), 684–696.
8.
DuckittJ.WagnerC.Du PlessisI.BirumI. (2002).
The psychological bases of ideology and prejudice: Testing a dual process model. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,
83(1), 75–93.
9.
EkehammarB.AkramiN. (2007).
Personality and prejudice: From Big Five personality factors to facets. Journal of Personality,
75(5), 899–926.
10.
GardnerR. C. (2010). Motivation and second language acquisition: The socio-educational model.
New York, NY:
Peter Lang Publishing, Inc.
11.
GardnerR. C.TremblayP. F.MasgoretA.-M. (1997).
Towards a full model of second language learning: An empirical investigation. The Modern Language Journal,
81(3), 344–362.
12.
GhonsoolyB.KhajavyG. H.AsadpourS. F. (2012).
Willingness to communicate in English among Iranian non-English major university students. Journal of Language and Social Psychology,
31(2), 197–211.
13.
GilesH.ByrneJ. L. (1982).
An intergroup approach to second language acquisition. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development,
3(1), 17–40.
HayesA. F. (2012). PROCESS: A versatile computational tool for observed variable mediation, moderation, and conditional process modeling [White paper]. Retrieved from http://www.afhayes.com/public/process2012.pdf
16.
HeavenP. C.OrganL. A.SupavadeeprasitS.LeesonP. (2006).
War and prejudice: A study of social values, Right-Wing Authoritarianism, and Social Dominance Orientation. Personality and Individual Differences,
40(3), 599–608.
17.
HoA. K.SidaniusJ.KteilyN.Sheehy-SkeffingtonJ.PrattoF.HenkelK. E., . . . StewartA. L. (2015).
The nature of Social Dominance Orientation: Theorizing and measuring preferences for intergroup inequality using the new SDO7 scale. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,
109(6), 1003–1028.
18.
IwaniecJ. (2014).
Motivation of pupils from southern Poland to learn English. System,
45, 67–78.
19.
KormosJ.CsizérK. (2008).
Age‐related differences in the motivation of learning English as a foreign language: Attitudes, selves, and motivated learning behavior. Language Learning,
58(2), 327–355.
20.
KraemerR. (1993).
Social psychological factors related to the study of Arabic among Israeli high school students. Studies in Second Language Acquisition,
15(1), 83–105.
21.
LalondeR. N.GardnerR. C. (1984).
Investigating a causal model of second language acquisition: Where does personality fit?Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science/Revue Canadienne Des Sciences du Comportement,
16(3), 224–237.
22.
LarocheM.PonsF.RichardM. O. (2009).
The role of language in ethnic identity measurement: A multitrait-multimethod approach to construct validation. The Journal of Social Psychology,
149(4), 513–540.
23.
MacIntyreP. D.BakerS. C.ClémentR.ConrodS. (2001).
Willingness to communicate, social support, and language-learning orientations of immersion students. Studies in Second Language Acquisition,
23(3), 369–388.
24.
MacIntyreP. D.BakerS. C.ClémentR.DonovanL. A. (2002).
Sex and age effects on willingness to communicate, anxiety, perceived competence, and L2 motivation among junior high school French immersion students. Language Learning,
52(3), 537–564.
25.
MacIntyreP. D.CharosC. (1996).
Personality, attitudes, and affect as predictors of second language communication. Journal of Language and Social Psychology,
15(1), 3–26.
26.
MacIntyreP. D.DörnyeiZ.ClémentR.NoelsK. A. (1998).
Conceptualizing willingness to communicate in a L2: A situational model of L2 confidence and affiliation. The Modern Language Journal,
82(4), 545–562.
27.
McEownM. S.NoelsK. A.ChaffeeK. E. (2014). At the Interface of the socio-educational model, self-determination theory and the L2 motivational self system models. In CsizérK.MagidM. (Eds), The impact of self-concept on language learning (pp. 19–42).
Bristol, England:
Short Run Press Ltd.
28.
NicolA. A. M.De FranceK. (2016).
The Big Five’s relation with the facets of Right-Wing Authoritarianism and Social Dominance Orientation. Personality and Individual Differences,
98, 320–323.
29.
NoelsK. A. (2014).
Language variation and ethnic identity: A social psychological perspective. Language & Communication,
35, 88–96.
30.
Official Languages Act. (1985). R.S.C. 1985, c. 31 (4th Supp.). Retrieved from Minister of Justice: http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca
31.
OkuniewskiJ. (2012).
Polish secondary school students learning German: Motivation, orientations and attitudes. Psychology of Language and Communication,
16(1), 53–65.
32.
PassiniS. (2008).
Exploring the Multidimensional facets of authoritarianism: Authoritarian aggression and Social Dominance Orientation. Swiss Journal of Psychology,
67(1), 51–60.
33.
PassiniS. (2017).
Different ways of being authoritarian: The distinct effects of authoritarian dimensions on values and prejudice. Political Psychology,
38(1), 73–86.
34.
PettigrewT. F.TroppL. R. (2006).
A meta-analytic test of intergroup contact theory. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,
90(5), 751–783.
35.
PlatsidouM.KantaridouZ.PapadopoulouI. (2017).
International orientation as predictor of EFL learning strategy use in adolescent students. Language, Culture and Curriculum,
30(2), 157–173.
36.
PrattoF.SidaniusJ.LevinS. (2006).
Social dominance theory and the dynamics of intergroup relations: Taking stock and looking forward. European Review of Social Psychology,
17, 271–320.
37.
RubenfeldS.ClémentR.VinogradJ.LussierD.AmireaultV.AugerR.LebrunM. (2007).
Becoming a cultural intermediary: A further social corollary of second-language learning. Journal of Language and Social Psychology,
26(2), 182–203.
38.
SibleyC. G.DuckittJ. (2008).
Personality and prejudice: A meta-analysis and theoretical review. Personality and Social Psychology Review,
12(3), 248–279.
39.
SibleyC. G.WilsonM. S.DuckittJ. (2007).
Antecedents of men’s hostile and benevolent sexism: The dual roles of Social Dominance Orientation and Right-Wing Authoritarianism. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin,
33(2), 160–172.
40.
SidaniusJ.PrattoF. (1999). Social dominance.
Cambridge, England:
Cambridge University Press.
41.
TrofimovichP.TuruševaL. (2015).
Ethnic identity and second language learning. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics,
35, 234–252.
42.
WrightS. C.TroppL. R. (2005).
Language and intergroup contact: Investigating the impact of bilingual instruction on children’s intergroup attitudes. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations,
8(3), 309–328.
43.
YashimaT.Zenuk-NishideL.ShimizuK. (2004).
The influence of attitudes and affect on willingness to communicate and second language communication. Language Learning,
54(1), 119–152.
