Attitudes to Modern Foreign Language Learning

Brendan Bartram is Senior Lecturer at the School of Education, University of Wolverhampton, UK.

Brendan Bartram's Attitudes to modern foreign language learning: insights from comparative education presents an in-depth tri-national survey revealing pupils' attitudes towards Modern Foreign Language Learning (MFLL) and the factors that influence them. Without doubt this comparative study manifests qualitative research at its best: Bartram not only describes the study's methodological basis in great detail, he also explains its interpretive principles and applies them in carefully distilled recommendations which make this book invaluable to researchers in the field of MFLL as well as teachers and policy makers. The book is packed with comprehensive evidence difficult to come by elsewhere. Bartram draws on data from over four hundred teenagers in three different European countries, taking four different languages into consideration. Thus his conclusions about how to respond to the remarkable findings about language attitudes, especially the commodity view of language, are well worth discussing in national and international circles. Prof. Dr. Bärbel Diehr, University of Wuppertal, Germany

• 1. Introduction: Attitudes to language learning \ 2. Comparing: Issues and contexts \ 3. The Concept of Attitudes \ 4. Attitudes to Modern Foreign Language Learning and Educational Influences \ 5. Socio-cultural Attitudes and Influences \ 6. Attitudes to Learning German, French and English \ 7. Modern Foreign Language Learning Attitudes in the Three Countries \ 8. Conclusions and Lessons \ List of References \ Index