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Home > HCAS > HCAS_PUBS > HCAS_JOURNALS > TQR Home > TQR > Vol. 26 > No. 12 (2021)

 

Abstract

Polyglots are extraordinary people in terms of language ability. Therefore, it is interesting to academically explore their motivations for learning several languages. This research is novel compared to previous studies because scant extant research exists of polyglots’ motivation for learning several languages. To this end, researchers collected data from semi structured interviews obtained from five informants. The method that we used was a descriptive case study. Findings showed that the polyglots’ motivation for learning multiple foreign languages were (a) pleasure, (b) social intercourse, (c) professional purposes, and (d) academic purposes. Mostly, the previous research revealed that motivation for people learning foreign languages were for social interaction, professional reasons, and academic purposes. Meanwhile, the motivation of polyglots for learning many languages besides those three motivations was for pleasure. This is the key point behind their commitment to sustainable multiple language learning.

Keywords

motivation, polyglots, learning, foreign languages, descriptive case study

Author Bio(s)

Dr. Noprival holds a doctoral degree in Applied Linguistics from Universitas Negeri Jakarta, Indonesia. His research interests are in the areas of second language acquisition, multilingualism, and English for specific purposes. In this research article, he is as a corresponding author. Correspondence regarding this article can be addressed directly to: noprival@gmail.com.

Prof. Zainal Rafli is a full professor in the Department of Applied Linguistics, Universitas Negeri Jakarta (State University of Jakarta), Jakarta, Indonesia. His research interests include second language acquisition, psycholinguistics, and multilingualism.

Dr. Nuruddin is an associate professor in the Department of Applied Linguistics, Univeristas Negeri Jakarta (State University of Jakarta), Jakarta, Indonesia. He focuses on qualitative research in language education.

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by Sandwich-Like/PKPI program, The Indonesian Directorate General of Higher Education (DIKTI).

Publication Date

12-8-2021

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

DOI

10.46743/2160-3715/2021.4619

ORCID ID

0000-0001-5352-5773

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