A Mixed Methods Study on Hungarian English Majors' Individual Differences and Linguistic Identity Construction (original) (raw)

This inquiry, which is part of a larger classroom research project, sheds light on the individual differences (ID) of students majoring in English at the University of Pécs in Hungary and how these IDs shape their linguistic identity construction (Kramsch, 2009) in a context where English is shifting to being used as a lingua franca (ELF) (Jenkins, 2009; Seidlhofer, 2004). The ID factors investigated in the study include motivation, willingness-to-communicate (WTC) in English (Nagy, 2007), language anxiety (Horwitz, 2001), competitiveness (Tóth, 2007), perfectionism (Gregersen & Horwitz, 2002), and self-perception (Baker & MacIntyre, 2000). In the present small-scale mixed methods study, data were collected with the help of a questionnaire including 30 open-ended questions that were answered by 31 students in the spring semester of 2015. Owing to the relatively large number of the participants, the inquiry yielded some numerical data indicating frequencies and trends. On the other hand, the textual data revealed emerging patterns and subtle details that explicated the numerical results. The findings showed that the participants experienced English learning very differently in the classroom and outside the classroom. In the classroom, their identity construction was characterized by negative experiences whereas outside the classroom their identity showed only positive characteristics associated with the use of English. Whereas in the classroom they fell short of the native speaker norms, outside the classroom they gained ownership of English drawing on ELF standards.