Attitudinal patterns of secondary education students in Catalonia. The direct and moderator effects of origin

Abstract

Language attitudes have become more relevant than ever as a result of the considerable number of immigrant students enrolled in the Catalan educational system and the challenges this entails in terms of promoting social integration and language learning. Therefore, the objective of the study is to increase our understanding of language attitudes formation by analysing how origin (autochthonous or immigrant) influences (a) the attitudes towards Catalan and Spanish and (b) the effects of several demographic and sociopsychological variables on these attitudes. Additionally, it aims to identify the most important determinants of these language attitudes. For this purpose, 1156 secondary education students from 10 schools across Catalonia completed a language attitudes questionnaire, a sociolinguistic survey, and two language competences tests. The results showed that, generally, self-identifications and language uses were the most influential. Furthermore, origin moderated the relationships between attitudes and their determinants, indicating that the models traditionally used to explain the attitudes held by autochthonous students need to be revised to take into account the particularities of the immigrant population.

This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness [grant number EDU2014-54093-R]; the Agency for Management of University and Research Grants (AGAUR) of the Government of Catalonia [grant number 2014 SGR 208].