Early-Year Awakening to Languages: A Spotlight on Motivation

Research on early-year motivation is needed in the wake of the ever-increasing trend to acquire English at ever-earlier ages. The current study addresses whether early exposure to a foreign language (FL) has a sustainable bearing on one’s motivational disposition for learning that given language in a formal context as he or she advances in his or her course of education. In order to measure the variety and amount of exposure to FL in the formative years of 321 Tunisian primary school children and examine its effect on their motivational depository, a 2-scale self-report questionnaire was conceived ad hoc. Incumbent findings suggested that such exposure weighed significantly on the informants’ motivational orientations. Evidence for such correlation may present an inroad for interested academics and practitioners to explore the possibilities of establishing FLE in a mainstream curricular effort, particularly through a child-friendly pedagogy such that of the awakening-to-languages (ATL) approach.