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Sources of variation in Galici=
an
multilinguals’ attitudes towards Galician, Spanish, English and Frenc=
h
Fuentes de variación en las actitudes de los
multilingües gallegos hacia el gallego, el castellano, el inglé=
s y
el francés
Jean-Marc Dewaele
University of London
j.dewaele@bbk.ac.uk
Carmen Pena Diaz=
Universidad de
Alcalá
carmen.pena@uah.es
ABSTRACT
In this stu=
dy we
investigate the sources of individual differences in the language attitudes=
of
125 students enrolled in a language school in La Coru&=
ntilde;a
(Galicia). Adopting a multicompetence perspective (Cook, 2012), we assumed =
that
the presence of a particular language in the mind of a multilingual may aff=
ect
attitudes towards the other languages. Considering the unique status, prest=
ige
and history of Galician, Spanish, English and French in La Coruña,
we also assumed that differences in attitudes towards these languages could=
be
linked more or less strongly to various background variables in participants
such as self-perceived proficiency, type of upbringing (monolingual or
bilingual), age of onset of learning, exposure to foreign languages through
television and visits to the foreign country, gender and age. The results of
statistical analyses confirm that connections exist in the attitudes toward=
the
different languages, and that the independent variables have different effe=
cts
on the attitudes towards the four language.
Keywords: Attitudes, multilingualism,
Galicia
RESUMEN
En este =
trabajo
se investiga la variaci&oa=
cute;n
de las diferencias individ=
uales
en las actitudes
de lenguaje de 125 estudia=
ntes
matriculados en una escuel=
a
de idiomas en La Coruña (Galicia). Siguiendo la teoría
de la multicompetencia
(Cook, 2012), establecemos que la
presencia de una lengua concreta en
la mente de un multilingüe puede va=
riar su actitud hacia
otras lenguas. Teniendo en cuenta
el estatus ú=
nico, el prestigio y la historia del gallego,
castellano, inglés<=
/span> y
francés en La
Coruña, establecimos la
premisa de que las
diferencias en las =
actitudes hacia estos idiomas podrían
estar relacionadas con var=
iables
del contexto tales como la=
autopercepción de la competencia, el tipo de <=
span
class=3DSpellE>educación (monolingü=
e
o bilingüe), la edad de inicio del aprendizaje, la exposición a id=
iomas extranjeros a través de l=
a
televisión, as&iacu=
te;
como los viajes al extranj=
ero,
el género y la edad. Los resultados de los análisis estadísticos muestran
que existe relación entre las
actitudes hacia
Palabras clave: actitudes lingüístic=
as,
multilingüismo, Galicia
1. Introduction
The study of linguistic attitudes, which are
speakers’ opinions, ideas and prejudices about a language, has been a=
key
area in sociolinguistic studies for the last 40 years. It gives researchers=
an
insight into the process of what speakers actually think about their speech
production and their identity. Language is not neutral and from the moment =
we
deliver an utterance we are also consciously or unconsciously expressing our
views, judgements and thoughts. As Tabouret-Keller (1997: 315) states
“the language spoken by somebody and his or her identity as a speaker=
of
this language is inseparable. […] Language acts are acts of
identity.” This process affects not only the individu=
al
everyday interactions, but also at a macrosociological=
level. Being this fundamental in any linguistic community,
when more than one language is spoken in one same community, attitudes acqu=
ire
a greater importance, as they normally not only include attitudes towards t=
he
language itself but towards speakers of a particular language (Fasold 1984: 14=
8).
Furthermore, the status and importance of a language in a particular society
are individual but originate in-group behaviour. For this reason, Baker (19=
88)
stresses the importance of attitudes in the discussion of bilingualism.
=
Spain
has a linguistic diversity comparable to Switzerland, Belgium or Canada.
However, it does not have a state language policy of protection and promoti=
on
of its internal linguistic diversity, but each bilingual region regulates i=
ts
own linguistic policy and is in charge of protecting and promoting its mino=
rity
language.
As is normally the case in this type of socio-linguistic context, t<=
/span>here is an important difference between the perspectives of monoling=
ual
Spanish language users and that of plurilingual other languages users
(Catalan-Valencian, Galician and Basque). Spanish is the common language for
all Spanish citizens and on the other hand, the common languages of the four
different regions1 which are officially bilingual, Catalonia and=
the
Valencian Community, Galicia and the Basque country. As in other diglossic and bilingual areas of the world, conflicts=
arise
from the setting in which the common language (Spanish or Castellano in this case) is considered a taboo by a significant
part of the population in the monolingual regions where monolinguals find it
suspicious that there are bilingual regions and see them as possible
separatists and also in the bilingual ones, where people find it difficult =
to
accept that no matter which the first language is, all citizens in Spain can
understand each other perfectly in Spanish.
=
The
aim of this paper is not to report on the language attitudes in a mini-cens=
us
approach but rather to investigate to what extent sources of individual
differences are comparable across languages and whether the language attitu=
des
of Galician students towards Spanish, Galician, English and French are
interrelated. It also assumes that just as linguistic systems influence each
other in the mind of multilingual users (cf. Cook 2012), attitudes towards
various languages also exert an influence on each other (Dewaele
2016).
2. SOCIOHISTORICAL AND GEOGRAPHICAL CONTEXT
<=
span
lang=3DEN-GB style=3D'font-size:11.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-famil=
y:"Verdana",sans-serif;
mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'> =
Galician is a co-official language of the
North-western region of Spain called Galicia. The galego language belongs to the Romance language group –like French or
Catalonian– and it is the result of the evolution of Latin introduced=
by
the Romans on the north west of the Iberian Peninsula. Galician's consolida=
tion
did not take place until the 20th century. A recovery of Galician as litera=
ry,
cultural and historical language was confirmed towards the end of 20th cent=
ury.
Galician was not standardized yet and this had a negative effect on social =
prestige
and affected its geographical spread (less widely used in cities).
=
Since
the middle of the 12th Century, when Galicia became part of the Castilian
Crown, Galician started its differentiation from Portuguese, slowly losing =
its
prestige with regard to the dominant Castilian classes and language (Ramallo 2007: 21). There were attempts to strengthen =
its
status (Rexurd=
imento), but the middle classes imitated=
the
habits of the more prestigious Spanish upper classes, for whom Spanish was =
the
language of choice. Spanish was the only language considered official during
Franco’s reign and Galician thus became considered a dialect used by =
the
rural lower classes. With the promulgation of the Statute of Autonomy of Galicia in 1981 and the transition into democracy, Galician was given the
status of co-official language and its normalization began to take place in=
all
fields of public institutions and powers, especially administration, educat=
ion
and media, however, as Herreiro-Baleir=
o
(2002: 297) states, according to the Law of Linguistic Normalization, Galic=
ians
have the right to know Galician and the duty to know Spanish, which places
Galician in a disadvantageous position with regard to the Spanish language.=
&nbs=
p; The
legislative setting in which different orders and decrees regulate the use =
of
Galician in local, judicial, military and administration allow the use of
Galician with local and autonomic administrations who must write all their
official documents in Galician; it has been incorporated into education from
primary level and the promotion of the Galician language is guaranteed where
there are immigrants and in the territories bordering the Community.
&nbs=
p; The
Secretar&iacut=
e;a Xeral de =
Política Lingü&iacut=
e;stica
(General Secretariat of Linguistic Policy) is the organism monitoring Galic=
ian
use at every level of public life. It is also responsible for the promotion=
of
the use of Galician in society, providing the means to achieve a full "=
;galeguización=
"
(change into Galician), fighting against the traditional prejudices and
promoting positive attitudes.
&nbs=
p; Galician
is the language of almost two and a half million of the 2,800,000 inhabitan=
ts
of Galicia. According to A Sociedade Galega e o Idioma: a evolución sociolingüística de Galicia (1992-2003), published by the Language Section of the Council=
for
Galician Culture, the majority of people still learn to speak in Galician,
although nearly half the population learns to speak in Castilian or in both
languages. This publication also states that although nearly all of the old=
er
generation said their first words in Galician and consider it their first
language, it is not the case amongst younger people. In general, it is in t=
he
rural setting, i.e. in villages and in the coastal areas, that more people =
use
Galician whereas in cities and inland areas Spanish is generally more widely
used. A decrease in the number of people who learn to speak in Galician has
been observed over the last few years, and more and more people are now bei=
ng
brought up as bilingual speakers.
&nbs=
p; Since
the co-official status was granted, there has been a greater presence of
Galician in areas where it had been traditionally been absent. The
Social-linguistic Map of Galicia, M=
SG,
an important work done thanks to an agreement between =
Xunta de Galicia (the regional government) and the Social-linguistic
seminar of the Royal Academy of Galicia, shows a change in values with resp=
ect
to the language: 72% of the population have a good attitude towards Galicia=
n;
68,7% think that Galician is similar or more useful than Spanish, and 66% t=
hink
that Galician should be the language used in schools. This study, which
constitutes the most reliable tool for the sociological analysis of Galician
language, was elaborated from polls which projected the opinion of a
representative example of the population and collected information from the
different social, cultural and geographical dimensions. It was introduced in 1992 and the l=
ast
results are from the year 2004, although published completely in 2009. Concerning linguistic attitudes, the most striking feature was that in
contrast with the general positive results found towards Galician, the numb=
er
of speakers is lower amongst the young population who have a positive attit=
ude
yet speak relatively Galician (O’Rourke 2005). In further studies tak=
en
from the same MSG data2, it was found that youngsters who normally speak Spanish have more
negative views towards Galician than expected; it was also revealed that
Galician in general played a discrete role in young people’s identity,
they valued negatively those who code-switched, and even pretended to have a
lower level of linguistic competence in Galician than they actually had. The
younger people also had prejudiced and negative stereotypes of Galician
speakers. On a more positive note, the research did show a favourable attit=
ude
towards linguistic diversity and plurilingualism and an improvement in the
social prestige of Galician.
=
Summarising
the results, the number of people who normally speak Galician has gone down
from 61% to 39%. The opposite has happened to Spanish. The main difference
which has occurred between the MSG from 1992 and 2004 is in the monolingual
population, the Galician monolinguals were over 30% in the 1992 MSG whereas
only 16% now. With Spanish, figures have shown an increase from 13% to 25.8=
%.
Although there does not seem to be a direct link between the use of Galician
and ideology, the use of Galician increases among those with left-wing incl=
inations
and the use of Spanish increase on the other side of the political spectrum=
.
There are three broad types of speakers in Galicia:
monolingual Spanish speakers, Galician speakers and the bilingual ones. Each
will be described.
Monolingual Spanish
In the first group are those who
usually speak Spanish, understand Galician, but were brought up speaking on=
ly
Spanish and it is their everyday language of use. However, despite the fact
that they publicly show positive attitudes towards Galician, they do not ac=
tually
consider it as important as Spanish or even English and may no teach their
children Galician. Their preference for their children’ schooling is =
the
denominated “bilingual” education in which Galician and Spanish=
are
used on a 50% basis3. These speakers mainly live in cities or la=
rger
towns. During the Spanish Transition, an important part of a whole generati=
on
was brought up as Spanish speakers although their parents’ main langu=
age
was Galician. They normally have a strong Spanish national identity and
consider Spanish as the language
that will allow them to study and work both inside and outside Galicia.
Galician speakers
The Galician speakers can be subdiv=
ided
into two further groups: the monolingual Galicians, those who live in rural
areas and who have problems speaking Spanish and those who choose to speak
Galician all the time even though they are fully bilingual. The first are
normally older people who have never left their place of origin and have pr=
oblems
communicating in Spanish. Whichever their attitude is, they are less likely=
to
speak Spanish. The latter are=
on
the opposite side of the scale, i.e. younger generations with higher levels=
of education
and living in cities or larger urban centres. They may have been brought up=
in
Spanish or Galician, but have a strong Galician identity, can speak Spanish=
but
prefer and choose to use normativo Galician (the standardised offici=
al
variety) perfectly and raise their children in Galician. They would also opt for more teach=
ing
hours in Galician at school. Their choice of Galician over Spanish typicall=
y reflects
their political ideology. This group is a good example of how changes in so=
cial
values affect the attitudes and intergroup relations. As Galician is used by
intellectuals and socially empowered individuals, the social value of the
language is increased in this group and so is its prestige. Not all varieties of Galician are
equally appreciated. Loureiro-Rodriguez, Boggess and Goldsmith (2013) found
significant differences in Galician high school students’ attitudes
towards standard Galician, non-standard Galician and Spanish. They particularly disliked non-sta=
ndard
Galician and a Galician accent in Spanish.
Bilingual speakers
The bilingual group is the largest =
and
it includes different socio-cultural classes, age groups and geographical
areas. They use Galician or Spanish depending on the situation and context.
Normally if an interlocutor uses either, the bilingual will answer in the s=
ame
language. O'Rourke’s (2005, 2006) study of 725 Galician
university students in Vigo showed that positive attitudes towards Galician
were strongly linked to Galician national sentiment and that these contribu=
ted
to changes in the language behaviours of younger users of Galician.
3. SECOND AND FOREIGN LANGUAGES IN GALICIA
As in the rest of Spain, students s=
tudy
a first foreign language in primary education, typically English, and can
choose a second foreign language (French, Portuguese or German) at secondary
level. French is the preferred option for this second foreign language.
&nb=
sp; Older
generations may have received most of their schooling in Spanish with Galic=
ian
as an obligatory subject throughout their primary and secondary education.
Education curricula before the nineties included the study of foreign langu=
ages
at ages ranging from 8 to 10 years old.
&nb=
sp; The
first foreign language is, to a very wide extent, English. In fact, in 2009=
the
Galician government introduced a “plurilingual education” CLIL
project similar to those in Madrid or Andalucía, in which 144 Primary
and Secondary schools use English (80% of all the schools), French (15%) or
Portuguese (5%) as one of their languages of instruction in a third of their
school hours (in subjects such as art, mathematics, music, biology, geology=
and
physical education). This programme wants to make most Galician schools
“plurilingual”. This issue has become quite controversial, as t=
hose
who want more teaching hours in Galician claim it will reduce them. Concern=
s have
also been voiced about the negative effects of CLIL on academic performance=
. González
Gándara’s (2015) study of academic
grades of 747 pupils from 13 primary schools in Galicia over a two-year per=
iod
showed that “there were no negative effects on academic performance c=
aused
by CLIL” (2015: 13).
=
A
study by Dewaele (2012) on variation in
self-perceived proficiency in Spanish, Galician, English and French among 1=
22
Galician students (i.e. the sample on which the current study is based) sho=
wed
that they felt maximally proficient in Spanish, somewhat less so in Galicia=
n,
and less still in English and French. Early Spanish-Galician bilinguals sco=
red
significantly higher than the participants who had been brought up
monolingually on comprehension and writing in Galician and in speaking, rea=
ding
and writing in French. The language(s) of upbringing had no effect on
self-perceived proficiency in Spanish nor English, nor on speaking and read=
ing
Galician. Participants who had had their education in bilingual
Spanish-Galician schools felt significantly more proficient in Galician com=
pared
to those who had gone to monolingual schools. Age of onset of acquisition was fo=
und to
have an effect for Galician, English and French, with an early start being
linked to high level of proficiency. Participants with more positive attitu=
des
towards Galician, English and French (but not Spanish) reported significant=
ly
higher levels of proficiency. Participants who had stayed in French- or
English-speaking countries or watched television programmes regularly in th=
ese
languages rated their proficiency in these two languages significantly high=
er
than those who had not been abroad on a number of skills. No gender differences emerged, but=
older
participants were found to score lower on oral self-perceived proficiency in
Galician, English and French but not in Spanish.
4. LANGUAGE ATTITUDES
Gardner (1985) defined attitude as
“an evaluative reaction to some referent or attitude object, inferred=
on
the basis of the individual beliefs or opinions about the referent”
(1985: 9). Attitudes are at t=
he
core of his model, yet they are not attitudes to=
wards
a particular language but rather attitudes towards its speakers and towards
speaking that language. As Dörnyei, Cziser and Németh =
(2006)
have shown, attitudes towards various languages are linked to macrocontextual and geopolitical factors (2006: 423).=
Lasagabaster (2001) has shown that the knowledge of previous
languages affects attitudes towards subsequent foreign languages. In his study on Basque university
students with Basque L1, Spanish L1 and bilingual speakers, he found that t=
he
different first languages affected not only attitudes towards Spanish and
Basque (the two official languages in the Basque Autonomous Community) but =
also
towards English (the foreign language), which had been learned in instructed
settings. Further studies in the same context showed that Basque
students’ most positive attitudes were towards English and their own =
L1
(Basque or Spanish) (Ibarraran, Lasagabaster
and Sierra 2007; Lasagabaster 2004, 2005).
A study by Huguet,
=
Dewaele (2005) found a similar pattern in attitudes t=
owards
foreign languages among Flemish high school students: attitudes towards Eng=
lish
were much more positive than those towards French. Participants with a stro=
ng
regional identity (i.e. Flemish) displayed more negative attitudes towards
French than participants with a stronger national identity (Belgian). The m=
ore
negative attitude towards French was attributed to the tense socio-political
relations between the Dutch and French-speaking communities in Belgium while
English is generally perceived to be a ‘cool’ lingua franca. Th=
is
departure point could be used as a hypothesis of what occurs in Galicia.
The effect of age of onset of learning on
language attitudes and motivation has been studied in a number of studies. =
The
early introduction of English (at the age of 4) seems to have exerted a
positive influence on Basque students’ attitudes (Cenoz
2001; Cenoz & Gorter 2005,
2017). However, Tragant (2006) reported than Ca=
talan
students who had started learning English at 11 had more positive attitudes
towards the language than participants who had started at age 8. Learners w=
ho had
had more hours of exposure to English also held more positive attitudes (
=
In
a more decontextualised study of multilinguals’ perceptions and attit=
udes
towards their languages, Dewaele (2010a, b) fou=
nd
that languages that have been acquired later in life typically score lower =
on
affective dimensions such as perceived emotionality, richness, colourfulnes=
s,
warmth but not necessarily on more instrumental dimensions such as perceived
usefulness. The use of langua=
ges
acquired later in life typically elicits higher levels of foreign language
anxiety (Dewaele 2010a).
5. MULTICOMPETENCE
Vivian Cook pointed out that learning a new langua=
ge
has consequences beyond the linguistic realm. The L2 user gains multicompetence =
which
“involves the whole mind of the speaker, not simply their first langu=
age
(L1) or their second. It assumes that someone who knows two or more languag=
es
is a different person from a monolingual and so needs to be looked at in th=
eir
own right rather than as a deficient monolingual.” (2012: 1). Dewaele and Pavlenko (2003) highlighted the dynamic nature of an
individual's multicompetence. It is constantly evolving through use and
exposure to different languages. As a consequence, we posited that no two
individuals can have perfectly isomorphic multicompetence. Comparing langua=
ges
in contact in the multilingual’s mind with liquid paint on a canvas, =
the
authors argued that: “two liquid colours =
that
blend unevenly, i.e. some areas will take on the new c=
olour
resulting from the mixing, but other areas will retain the original colour while still other may look like the new colour, but a closer look may reveal a slightly diffe=
rent
hue according to the viewer's angle” (2003: 137). In other words, the
languages in the mind of the multilingual constitute a highly complex syste=
m in
a state of flux, as new linguistic input can cause widespread change with s=
ome
parts of the system remaining unaffected (Dewaele
& Pavlenko 2003). The sample consists =
of
92 women and 30 men (aged 15-65, mean age =3D 34) who were students at the
Escuela Oficial de Idiomas=
in La Coruña (Galicia, Spain). As such t=
hey
cannot be seen as a representative sample of the Galician population, becau=
se
all had voluntarily enrolled in the language school and are therefore expec=
ted
to have more favourable attitudes towards foreign languages than the general
population. However, there is=
no
reason to believe that their attitudes towards the local languages would di=
ffer
from other inhabitants of the region of La Coruñ=
;a.
Forty-eight participants grew up with Spanish as their L1, 17 grew up with
Galician as their L1, and the remaining 57 grew up with both Spanish and
Galician from birth. The sample consists of 3 trilingu=
als,
97 quadrilinguals, 20 pent=
alinguals,
and 2 sextalinguals. All had studied -or were
studying- French and English at secondary school, and were studying French.=
A
majority (n =3D 81) had spent some time in an English-speaking country and =
30
watched an English programme on television at least once a week. Similarly, a large group (n =3D 84=
) had
spent some time in France and 49 watched a French programme on television at
least once a week. Twelve participa=
nts
had studied another Romance language (Portuguese or Catalan) and 10 had stu=
died
another Germanic language (German).
The mean Age of Onset of Acquisition (AOA) of lear=
ning
of Spanish was 1.5 years (SD =3D 2.1), it was 5.5 years for Galician (SD =
=3D 8.5),
12.3 years for English (SD =3D 12.0) and 18.2 years for French (SD =3D 10.1=
). =
A
look at the distribution of AOA shows an important shift across languages. A
majority of participants had started with Spanish before age 3 (87.6%) comp=
ared
to 60.9% for Galician, 5.6% for English and only 1.9% for French. =
The
largest proportion of participants (52%) had started English between the ag=
e of
8 and 12. This bulge fell in =
the next
AOA bracket for French, where 36.8% started between the age of 13 and 18 and
another 31.1% started learning French after their secondary education (see
table 1) AOA Spanish Galician English French N % N % N % N % Birth 52 43.0 37 32.2 0 0.0 0 0.0 1-3 54 44.6 33 28.7 7 5.6 2 1.9 4-7 12 9.9 18 15.7 24 20.0 1 0.9 8-12 3 2.5 12 10.4 64 52.0 31 29.2 13-18 0 0.0 7 6.1 15 12.8 39 36.8 19+ 0 0.0 8 7.0 12 9.6 33 31.1 TOTAL 121 100 115 100 122 100 106 100 Table 1: Distribu=
tion
of participants according to AOA brackets for the different languages =
Seventy
participants had had – or were having – their secondary educati=
on
in Spanish-medium school, 42 had been– or were- in bilingual
Galician-Spanish schools. Participants rated their proficiency levels in
speaking, comprehending, reading and writing on a 4-point Likert scale. The
highest average score was for Spanish (mean
=3D 3.96), followed by Galician (me=
an =3D
3.46), English (mean =3D 2.54),=
and
French (mean =3D 2.23). The study received ethical approval at the first
author’s research institution. Attitudes towards the different langua=
ges
were measured through scales consisting of 10 items (from Lasagabaster
2007, who based it on Baker 1992) with 4-point Likert scales, ranging from
“totally agree to “totally disagree”. These were the items: I like heari=
ng X
spoken; X should be taught to all pupils in the region of Galicia; I like
speaking X; X is an easy language to learn; There are not more useful langu=
ages
to learn than X; I prefer to be taught in X; Learning X enriches my cultural
knowledge; I would not mind marrying a speaker of X; X is a language worth
learning; If I have children, I would like them to be speakers of X regardl=
ess
of other languages they may know. =
Cronbach
alpha analyses revealed strong internal consistency reliability for the
attitude scales in the different languages: Spanish (alpha =3D .87), Galici=
an
(alpha =3D .89), English (alpha =3D .77) and French (alpha =3D .73). =
A
series of one-sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov tests revealed that the attitude va=
lues
for the four languages are normally distributed (Kolmogorov-Smirnov Z values
vary between .8 to 1.2, all p =3D n=
s).
As a consequence, parametric statistics were used, with the exception of
self-perceived proficiency values, which were not normally distributed. Printed versions of the anonymous questionnaire in English were
collected by Flor Gonzales who was a teacher at the Escuela Oficial =
de Idiomas. The following independent variables were selected =
in
the present design: 1) self-perceived proficiency; 2) type of upbringing
(monolingual or bilingual); 3) monolingual vs bilingual schooling; 4) age of
onset of learning the language; 5) exposure to foreign languages through
television and visits to the country; 6) gender; 7) and age. Sample sizes may vary across the analyses because some
participants did not provide data for all the dependent variables. 1) Attitudes towards the four languages will diffe=
r. 2) Higher levels of self-perceived proficiency wil=
l be
linked to more positive attitudes in all languages. 3) Bilinguals from birth (Spanish/Galician) will h=
ave
more moderated attitudes towards both languages. 4) Monolingual versus bilingual schooling will hav=
e an
effect on attitudes towards the two local languages but not the foreign
languages. 5) Independent variables of a more general nature,
such as Age of onset of acquisition (AoA), expo=
sure
to the languages, could equally affect the local and the foreign
languages. 6) Gender and age may affect language attitudes
towards the local languages. 7) Attitudes towards the four languages will be
connected. Attitudes were most positive towards Spanish, foll=
owed
by English, French, and finally Galician (see figure 1). A series of paired
t-tests revealed that the attitudes towards Spanish were significantly high=
er
than for Galician (t (123) =3D =
-6.7, p < .0001). The attitudes towards English were =
also
significantly more favourable than those towards French (t (125) =3D 3.9, p =
<
.0001). No difference existed
between attitudes towards Galician and French (t (123) =3D -0.74, p =3D ns). Figure 1: Attitudes towards the four languages =
We
hypothesised that participants with more positive attitudes towards a langu=
age
would rate their proficiency higher in that language. A Spearman rank
correlation analysis revealed a highly significant positive relationship
between attitudes to Galician, English and French and self-perceived
proficiency in the four skills in these languages (table 1). However, no such link existed betw=
een attitudes
towards Spanish and self-perceived proficiency in that language. Spanish Galician English French Speak 0.05 0.47*** 0.41*** 0.38*** Comprehend -0.01 0.42*** 0.40*** 0.34*** Read -0.04 0.41*** 0.35*** 0.41*** Write 0.00 0.45*** 0.43*** 0.33*** *** p =
<
.0001 Table 1: The
relationship between language attitude and self-perceived proficiency (Spea=
rman
Rho) Participants who grew up in bilingual (Spanish/Galician) families had
significantly more positive attitudes towards Galician (t (115.3) =3D -2.0, p <
.046) and more negative attitudes towards Spanish (t (115.3) =3D 2.1, p <
.036) compared to participants who grew up in monolingual families. There was no significant difference
between both groups in their attitudes neither towards French nor towards
English. As the group of
participants in monolingual families included both Galician and
Spanish-speaking families, we decided to dig a little bit deeper by examini=
ng
the effect of the first language(s) of participants on their attitudes towa=
rds
their languages. A multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) indicated a
significant effect: Wilks’ lambda =3D 0.71, F (8, 224) =3D 4.83, p<=
/i> <
0.001, η2 =3D 0=
.16. A
closer look at between-subject effects showed a significant effect of first
language(s) on attitudes towards Galician (F
=3D 10.9, p < .0001) and Spa=
nish (F =3D 10.7, p < .0001), but not on English (F =3D 0.9, p =3D ns) nor French (F =3D 0.7, p =3D ns). As expected, the scores for both Galician and Spanish of the bilingu=
als
from birth were halfway between scores those who had been brought up in one
language only. It is striking=
also
that the attitudes towards Galician of the Spanish monolinguals were
considerably lower than that of the Galician monolinguals towards Spanish.<=
o:p> The type of schooling turned out to have no effect on language
attitudes: participants who went to monolingual or bilingual schools had
similar attitudes towards Galician (t
(120) =3D -1.0, p =3D ns), towa=
rds
Spanish (t (117) =3D 1.4, p =3D ns), English (t (119) =3D 1.3, p =3D =
ns),
and French (t (119) =3D 0, p =3D ns). Age of onset of acquisition correlated negatively with attitudes tow=
ards
Galician (r =3D -.273, p < .003), in other words, thos=
e who
had started with Galician at a younger age had more positive attitudes towa=
rds
that language. No such relati=
onship
emerged between AoA for Spanish (r =3D -.18, p =3D ns), nor
English (r =3D -.12, p =3D ns), nor French (r =3D .13, p =3D ns). Participants who had more exposure to English through television and
film had significantly more positive attitudes towards that language (r (122) =3D .383, p < .0001). Th=
e same
pattern emerged for French (r (=
122) =3D
.347, p < .0001). The 83 participants who had spent some time in an English-speaking
country also had more positive attitudes towards English (mean =3D 29.6) compared to the 43 participants who had not been
abroad (t (122) =3D 2.89, p < .005) (mean =3D 26.6).
Surprisingly, no such pattern was found for French where the 86
participants who had spent some time there had no more favourable attitudes
towards French (mean =3D 26.9) =
compared
to the 40 participants who had not been in France (t (122) =3D 0.92, p =3D=
ns) (mean =3D 26.1). Gender was not found to have any significant effect on attitudes tow=
ards
the various languages. Male a=
nd
female participants did not differ in their attitudes towards Galician (t (122) =3D -.114, p =3D ns), Spanish (t (122)
=3D 1.0, p =3D ns), English (t (122) =3D -1.1, p =3D ns), nor French (=
t
(122) =3D -.442, p =3D ns). Age was correlated negatively with attitudes towards Galician (r (122) =3D -.29, p < .001) but positively with Spanish (r (122) =3D .20, p=
<
.035). No significant relatio=
nships
emerged between age and attitudes towards English (r =3D -.06, p =3D ns), nor
French (r =3D -.16, p =3D ns). In o=
rder to
see more clearly where the age differences were situated in the attitudes
towards the local languages, we divided our sample in three groups: the you=
ng
group (aged 16-21, n =3D 17), t=
he
medium group (22-47, n =3D 80),=
and the
older group (48-65, n =3D 19).<=
span
style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> An ANOVA revealed a significant ef=
fect
of age group on attitudes towards Galician (df
=3D 2, F =3D 4.3, p < 0.015, η Figure 2: Differe=
nces
in attitude towards Galician and Spanish among three age groups Finally, we wondered whether attitudes towards the various languages
would be connected. A Pearson
correlation analysis revealed significant positive correlations between
attitudes towards Galician and attitudes towards French (r =3D .23, p < .=
01),
between attitudes towards Spanish and attitudes towards English (r =3D .36, p < .0001) and French (r
=3D .25, p < .006). There was also a significant
relationship between attitudes toward French and English (r =3D .40, p <
.0001). Interestingly, no
relationship emerged between attitudes towards Galician and Spanish (r =3D -.10, p =3D ns). =
The
findings in the present study mirror to a certain extent those for variatio=
n in
self-perceived proficiency on the same population (Dew=
aele
2012). Indeed, attitudes, just as proficiency levels, were highest for Span=
ish
and significantly lower for English and French. Only the position for Galician is
different: while participants rated their proficiency in Galician half-way
between Spanish and the two foreign languages, their attitudes towards Gali=
cian
are the least positive of the four languages. The most positive attitudes towards
Spanish reflect the pattern uncovered in Aragon for Spanish and Aragonese (Huguet, Lapresta & Madariaga 2008).&nbs=
p;
The relatively low score for Galician also resonates with the follow=
ing
observation by O’Rourke (2018): “While official language polici=
es
in Galicia since the 1980s have increased the potential for language use
through bilingual educational policies, these policies have failed to conve=
rt
the large pool of potential speakers amongst a younger generation of Galici=
ans
into active language users” (2018: 407). =
Sources
of variation in attitudes towards to the four languages turned out to be qu=
ite
different (see table 2 for an overview). Independent
variable Spanish<=
o:p> Galician<=
o:p> E=
nglish F=
rench Proficiency<=
o:p> ns<=
o:p> *=
** *=
** *=
** Early =
bilingualism *=
*=
ns<=
o:p> ns<=
o:p> Schooling<=
o:p> ns<=
o:p> ns<=
o:p> ns<=
o:p> ns<=
o:p> AoA<=
o:p> ns<=
o:p> *=
* ns<=
o:p> ns<=
o:p> Exposure =
to media N=
A N=
A *=
** *=
** Lived =
abroad N=
A N=
A *=
* ns<=
o:p> Gender<=
o:p> ns<=
o:p> ns<=
o:p> ns<=
o:p> ns<=
o:p> A=
ge *=
*=
* ns<=
o:p> ns<=
o:p> NA: not applicable, ns: not significant, * p < =
.05,
** p < .01, *** p < .001 Table 2: Overview of the relationships between
independent variables and attitudes towards the four languages Participants who were brought up bilingually in Spanish and Galician=
had
more nuanced attitudes towards these two languages compared to those with
monolingual upbringings. This=
was
the same pattern that Hugu=
et, Lapresta and Madariaga (2008) found in Aragon. However, the
language(s) of upbringing had no effect on French or English. Participants =
who
had had their education in bilingual Spanish-Galician schools did not diffe=
r in
their language attitudes compared to those who had gone to monolingual scho=
ols.
Participants with more positive attitudes towards Galician, English=
and
French rated their self-perceived proficiency in the four skills in t=
hese
languages higher. No such relationship was found for Spanish. This could be
explained by the fact that both self-perceived proficiency in Spanish and
attitudes towards that language were near ceiling. It is likely that a dominant and v=
ery
frequently used language rules the hearts and minds of users, and that the
language therefore occupies a unique position. Little investment is needed to mai=
ntain
proficiency and positive attitudes in the dominant language. However, given=
the
possibility of not using Galician, English=
and
French in Galicia, participants need to make a conscious effort to attain a
high level of proficiency in the language, and a positive attitude towards
these languages will thus be linked to a higher level of (self-perceived)
proficiency (cf. Gardner 1985), though not necessarily a higher frequency of
use (cf. O'Rourke 2006). Age of onset of acquisition was only found to have an effect on
attitudes towards Galician, with younger starters displaying more positive
attitudes towards that language. =
The
quantity of exposure to foreign languages through television and film was
linked to more positive attitudes towards these languages. This is obviously not a direct
cause-effect relationship, as more positive attitudes towards French or Eng=
lish
might be the reason why participants would tune in to these channels rather
than channels in the local languages.
The same argument applies to the link between stay abroad and attitu=
des
towards the foreign languages.
Those who had stayed in English-speaking countries displayed more
positive attitudes towards the language, but that was not the case for
French. It is possible that
participants had actually been discouraged by negative feedback by French
speakers on their performance (Dewaele 2010b).<=
span
style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> Indeed, English speakers seem to h=
ave a
less normative view on accuracy of expression, while the French might react
more strongly to non-target-like features. 6. METHOD
6.1
Participants
6.2
The research instrument
6.3 Research design
Hypotheses
Analysis
![](3D"2.DewaelePenaJM_archivos/image004.gif")
![](3D"2.DewaelePenaJM_archivos/image006.gif")
7. DISCUSSION
While gender was not linked to attitudes towards the local and not t=
he
foreign languages, participants’ age was correlated with attitudes
towards the local languages. A
closer look at three age groups revealed that the more favourable attitudes
towards Spanish and the less favourable attitudes towards Galician were most
pronounced in the oldest group of participants, reflecting the findings in
O'Rourke’s (2001, 2005, 2006).
This difference might be linked to the finding in Dewaele
(2012) that the
=
Participants
felt more proficient in is Spanish, which is not surprising as it is the
language to which they are mostly exposed to, and it is also the language t=
hat
is mostly used. Galician is used by a significant percentage of participant=
s,
but mostly by bilinguals and not as their only language of everyday use. An
important number of participants were what was previously denominated
“monolingual speakers”, i.e. those who had been brought up in
either language/s but who have a strong Galician identity and choose to make
Galician their everyday language, the language in which they were brought u=
p is
not a significant variable. The results might have been different if the
research had been conducted on a wider sample of population. However, as co=
uld
be expected, education in a bi- or multilingual school boosts proficiency in
all languages (Dewaele 2012) and Basque (Cenoz & Gorter 2017),=
but
surprisingly, not the attitudes towards that language. It is equally import=
ant
to remember that our participants’ attitudes towards the foreign
languages might not be shared by the rest of the Galician population. Since our participants were enroll=
ed in
foreign language courses, one might expect that their attitudes towards the=
se
languages were substantially more positive than that of the general populat=
ion
in Galicia.
Finally, attitudes towards the four languages were significantly
positively correlated, with the exception of the relationship between Galic=
ian
and Spanish. This provides ev=
idence
that with the exception of the default language (Spanish), language learners
have broadly similar positive attitudes towards all the lesser used or fore=
ign
languages. This could be a reflection of their unique multicompetence (Cook=
2012;
Dewaele 2016), i.e. the appreciation of the
uniqueness and beauty of the languages they might not yet fully master.
8. CONCLUSION
The present study investigated the sources=
of
individual differences in the attitudes of 125 Galician multilinguals towards Galician, Spanish, English and
French. Patterns not only div=
erged
between the “local languages”, Galician and Spanish, but also
between the two foreign languages, English and French. Self-perceived proficiency, type of upbringi=
ng,
age of onset of learning, language exposure through television, visits to t=
he
foreign country and age had different (or null) effects on attitudes towards
the four languages. With the exception of the relationship between Galician and Spanish, positive relationships existed between attitudes towards the other languages. This confirms previous findings th=
at
language attitudes are linked to a wide range of micro and macrocontextual
and geopolitical factors and well as unique learner-internal sociobiographical variables and linguistic profiles (=
Dewaele 2010b; Dörnyei et
al. 2006; Huguet et al. 2008; Lasagabaster 2001).
Acknowledgment
We would like to thank Flor Gonzales for collecting
the data and the anonymous reviewers for their excellent comments.
NOTES
1 The term “regions” refers to the
3 This is the most recent linguistic law (Decreto 79/2010 from 20th May 2010) which regulates t=
he
languages used in non-university education levels.
<=
span
lang=3DEN-GB style=3D'font-size:11.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-famil=
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