A Review on Learners’ Language Attitudes in Multilingual Contexts: Insights into Research Methodology

Language attitudes in multilingual contexts have been a rapidly growing research area. This paper presents a critical review of research methodology used in 32 empirical studies on learners’ language attitudes in multilingual contexts from 2003 to 2023. Firstly, it starts with a brief introduction to the background and research significance of learners’ language attitudes in a multilingual context. Secondly, this paper gives an overview on language attitudes and the existing literature of language attitudes in multilingual contexts. Thirdly, through the process of paper selection and review, the development and change of quantitative methods or mixed methods with emphasis on the quantitative part are analyzed and identified. Lastly, with a summary of the major findings and future trends of research methods used in this field, the conclusion part discusses limitations of this paper and implications for future research on language attitudes.