The document summarizes research from a conference on what motivates students in the UK to study languages at university. It finds that the main motivations are enjoyment of the language and gaining intercultural competence, while enhancing employability and family ties are less common motivations. The document also examines students' views on important language skills, transferable skills gained, and potential barriers to studying languages, such as perceptions of difficulty and lack of career prospects.

1. ORANNA SPEICHER
ORANNA.SPEICHER@NOTTINGHAM.AC.UK
SASCHA STOLLHANS
S.STOLLHANS@LANCASTER.AC.UK, @SASCHASTOLLHANS
AULC 20TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE
WHAT MOTIVATES STUDENTS TO
STUDY LANGUAGES AT
UNIVERSITY IN THE UK?

2. Policy background – Language trends
2018/AULC 2018/UCML 2018
• Languages removed from compulsory curriculum in 2004
• 76% GCSE to 40% in 2011
• Small rise due to EBAC (government ambition to get to 90% by 2025)
• LCs don’t seem to follow the trend of falling numbers, so interest in
languages at HE level alongside main degree is stable
• Question of accessibility

3. Existing research (selection)
• Dörnyei (various)
• Krüsemann (2017) on motivations to study German in primary and
secondary school
• Guardian: Do young people care about learning foreign languages?
(2014)

4. Existing research (selection)

5. Cohort background Nottingham
■ Language Centre with approx. 1200 students
■ Currently 8 languages studied
■ Up to 6 levels of competence

6. 0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
Complete beginner post GCSE post AS/A2 B2/C1
Nottingham
Nottingham

7. Cohort background Lancaster
■ Department of Languages and Cultures
■ Chinese, French, German, Italian, Spanish
■ Majors and minors

8. Survey details
Nottingham: 63 responses Lancaster: 44 responses
• 27 different university
departments
• 49% English as mother tongue
Nearly 80% had studied a
language at school already
• For 62% the language module
was not compulsory
• 44 different subject combinations
• 56% major, 44% minor
• 84% had studied a language at
school
• 58% taking a beginners‘ module

9. Reasons for choosing LG modules
Notts/Lancs
■ enjoyment of the language: over 75% / 91%
■ gain intercultural competence: 39% / 59%
■ try something different: 38% / 24%
■ it complements my degree / other subjects: 32% / 27%
■ enhance my CV: 24% / 36%
■ family ties, study/work abroad: less than 2%

10. Which skills are important?
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Speaking the language writing the language understand the written language all of the above
Nottingham Lancaster

11. Transferable skills
• It provides you with the ability to think of things in more than one way.
• It teaches you the dedication and hard work needed to achieve the best
• It has taught me a lot about grammar and how our language influences
how we think of things e.g. the masculinity and femininity of nouns
• Understanding another language is a good way of understanding
another culture, and understanding other cultures is an important part
of functioning in society. It is also a way to learn how to commit yourself
to something which is enjoyable yet challenging.
• It helps me to communicate with others well and it also increase my
thinking skill, because I can use different thinking pattern to consider
things
• Persistence, being able to work things out without necessarily having all
the information

12. What motivates you to learn a LG?
• I like reading and watching movies. I think I'll understand the author or
the director better in its original language and it's really fulfilling for me
to learn a language
• I enjoy the challenge of thinking differently about the way I am
communicating
• Communication between people is probably the most important thing in
this world so the more people you can communicate well with the better
• Motivation to study a language can be destroyed the moment a person
is forced to learn it quickly, or put in uncomfortable situations because
of it. For beginners especially, I think having huge oral exams and having
to write huge passages for written ones is overwhelming, hence
demotivating.

13. What motivates you to learn a LG?
• I enjoyed being able to study a wide variety of things (literature, cinema,
history) under the banner of one subject.
• My motivation to study a language stemmed from the passion for French
that was instilled in me by my teachers from primary school through to
sixth form.
• I think it’s personal preference if I’m honest. For me, it’s extremely
important but that’s because I have an interest in languages and
cultures. But I don’t think we should force other people to speak one.
• In my opinion the importance of studying a language is highly dependent
on which country you are raised in.

14. What might stop people from taking up
LGs?
• The stereotype that they are very difficult, and that the only career prospects
are translating/teaching
• The UK's perception of how ''difficult'' it is to learn a language and the fact that
most parents are more bothered about STEM subjects (science, technology,
engineering, maths) than languages. Also we have a poor language system at
primary school level in my opinion which is the best age to start learning, as we
absorb information more easily.
• They might find it hard to learn or have less ability to put a tongue in a correct
way which may cause many troubles in the pronunciation process which might
be discouraging and demotivating.
• The idea that we shouldn’t learn a foreign language because of the global
dominance of English in the operation of society today.

15. Summary: common themes
• Interest/fun/enjoyment vs. usefulness/employability
• Language in context, cultural aspects
• Time/effort/amount of work
• Native-speaker as a model (unattainable)
• Political and educational context