Tweede- en Vreemde-Taalverwerving in een Meertalige Context

In Brussels, multilingualism is considered an important asset. Especially knowledge of French, Dutch (Belgium's two main national languages) and English is a pre-requisite for good career opportunities. In this context, students' attitudes towards languages and language learning are of interest to both language teachers and educational policy makers, especially since these attitudes are assumed to have an (indirect) influence on the success rate of second and foreign language acquisition (Ellis, 1994; Gardner, 1985; MacIntyre, 2002; Dörnyei, 2003). The purpose of our study was to investigate the relationship between language images, attitudes and language learning motivation in a multilingual environment. The findings indicate that learner characteristics such as linguistic background and contact with the target language are variables modifying this relationship.