Learning Second Languages in Ireland

Résumé du livre

Results of a survey of students of the University of Dublin concerning their language learning experiences and attitudes are reported. The study was undertaken within a larger study of self-directed language learning. The questionnaire had seven sections. The first and largest covered these topics related to students' language background: (1) the languages they knew, (2) their reading and writing habits in those languages, (3) the languages they had learned in educational institutions, (4) the instructional methods and materials they had experienced, (5) their success in language examinations, (6) visits made to second or foreign language communities, (7) their assessment of their competence in the four language skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing), (8) the productive difficulties experienced, and (9) information about the languages they knew but would like to know better and those they did not know but would like to know. The six other sections covered the students' general attitudes toward foreign languages and cultures, foreign language needs, approaches to learning a foreign language they needed, opportunities to learn languages, individual characteristics (age, sex, parents' occupation, and so on), and responses to the questionnaire's design. Tables of survey data and analyses are presented within the narrative of results. The survey instrument is appended. (MSE)