Challenges and Prospects in Second Language Enrolment

This book provides a contextual examination of the factors that affect students’ elective second language (L2) study in Australia. It investigates why Tasmanian students do or do not choose to enrol in an elective second language at school and explores relationship of motivational factors that affect their decisions. This is a case study of one education system, but the findings are relevant to others globally.

With the field of L2 research turning attention to motivations around languages other than English (LOTEs), this book provides a unique account of adolescent students’ LOTE experiences in an Anglophone setting. It demonstrates there is a complex ensemble of factors that affect subject choice and enrolment decisions regarding elective second language learning. In the face of Global English, these findings address a gap in the research of adolescent LOTE learners, the majority of who have English as a first language, and thus motivations for language learning vastly differ from those wanting to learn English as an additional language.

The findings outlined in this book are valuable as they consider the practical implications for school language programmes. This book will be of interest to scholars, teachers, and policy makers globally wishing to gain further insight into motivational factors affecting L2 enrolment.