Aspects of Identity - Multicultural Language Learning Motivation and Beliefs of Minority Bilinguals.

The present study investigates learner beliefs of dominant bilinguals, belonging to the Hungarian minority in Romania within the social, historical and cultural contexts. As language learners, they constantly negotiate and resist the diverse positions the contexts offer them. These personal "myths" reveal a lot about their "motivational transformational episodes", as being shaped and reshaped in the process of language learning. Belief system of language learners plays a decisive role in their success and failure in language learning. The research presents the results of a qualitative study and content analysis of 12 interviews, carried out in two Romanian universities with students from the Hungarian minority; presents the patterns of language learning beliefs, learning success regarding the official (Romanian) and foreign language (English). The paper approaches through belief patterns the differences between learning the two languages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]