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Article published In:
Journal of Immersion and Content-Based Language Education
Vol. 6:1 (2018) ► pp.1–26
Refereed Article

Bucking the trend?

Motivational differences between boys and girls who opt in or out of bilingual education

| Leiden University
| Utrecht University
Research has suggested that motivation plays a significant role in language learning but that females tend to be more motivated language learners than males. Content and language integrated learning (CLIL) has been suggested as a means of narrowing this motivational gender gap, although there is as yet little empirical evidence to support this claim. In the current study, data regarding the motivation of 581 learners in bilingual and mainstream tracks of Dutch secondary education were analysed for interaction effects in terms of Gender, Education Type, and Year of CLIL study. In this context, it seemed that boys who had chosen bilingual education were the most positive and motivated regarding the learning of English, although girls had more positive attitudes regarding languages in general. No interactions were observed between Gender, Education Type, and Year, suggesting that existing differences may have influenced boys’ decision to follow bilingual education rather than the reverse.
Keywords: CLIL, bilingual education, motivation, L2 Motivational Self System, gender, Netherlands
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.CLIL and bilingual education in the Netherlands
  • 3.Motivation in language learning
    • 3.1The L2 Motivational Self System
    • 3.2Gender and the L2MSS
    • 3.3Gender, CLIL, and motivation
  • 4.Research questions
  • 5.Method
    • 5.1Participants
    • 5.2Questionnaire design
    • 5.3Data collection
    • 5.4Data analysis
  • 6.Findings
    • 6.1Gender gap in bilingual and mainstream education
    • 6.2Motivational differences across Years in BE and ME
  • 7.Discussion
    • 7.1RQ1. Is a gender gap in motivation towards language learning less prominent in bilingual education than in mainstream Dutch-medium education?
    • 7.2RQ2. Does the gender gap in motivation for language learning appear to differ related to the length of exposure to BE?
  • 8.Limitations and looking to the future
    • 8.1Methodological limitations
    • 8.2Areas for future research
  • 9.Conclusions
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 26 January 2018
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/jicb.17003.mea
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