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Social Psychological Factors Related to the Study of Arabic Among Israeli High School Students

A Test of Gardner's Socioeducational Model

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 November 2008

Roberta Kraemer
Roberta Kraemer
Affiliation:
Tel Aviv University
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Abstract

This study investigated the generalizability of Gardner's socioeducational model for second language learning to a highly different social context from that in which the model was developed. Specifically, the study examined Jewish high school students in Israel learning Arabic as a foreign language in a setting characterized by a high degree of intergroup conflict. Four tenets were identified as forming the essential core of Gardner's theory. These we would expect to apply across widely differing contexts in order to support the generalizability of the model. Other elements in the model, as well as the degree of relationship between variables, may be specific to the social context. The main hypothesis posited an expanded version of Gardner's model that included additional constructs—both general and context specific.

The subjects for this study were 484 pupils studying Arabic in the 10th grade in regular high school programs. The instruments consisted of written questionnaires that were administered during two regular class periods. Teachers' marks were collected at the end of the school year. The hypothesis was tested using linear structural relations (or LISREL) causal modeling techniques. Regarding each of the four core elements in Gardner's theory, we concluded that the model was indeed generalizable to the context of this study. Other relationships between variables in the model are interpreted in light of the specific language learning context.

Type
Articles
Information
Studies in Second Language Acquisition , Volume 15 , Issue 1 , March 1993 , pp. 83 - 105
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1993

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