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This presentation will focus on multilingual higher education programs in French-speaking Belgium.

Law, economics & management and political sciences students enrolled at the UCLouvain on campus Saint-Louis in Brussels have the choice between different language tracks:

1. a unilingual degree in French
2. a multilingual degree with Dutch Medium Instruction (DMI), or
3. a multilingual degree with English Medium Instruction (EMI)

After providing an overview of the organisation of multilingual programs at the UCLouvain, students’ motivations when choosing between a unilingual university degree in French (n = 293) or a multilingual degree with DMI (n = 140) or with EMI (n = 273) will be examined using quantitative data gathered through an online survey.

The quantitative results gave insights into the different types of motivations regarding their choice of language track according to the expectancy-value model of achievement of Eccles and Wigfield (2002) focusing on the utility the students perceive in the program, their interest for the program, the cost of the program and their competence.

The findings show that the three groups of students have different motivation factors behind their enrolment in a study program. Moreover, within the student cohorts we could identify subgroups with specific combinations of socioeconomic profile, language profile and motivation constructs using cluster analysis. Finally, we found that language proficiency is an important barrier to register for a multilingual degree.

This comparative study of students enrolled in unilingual French programs, and programs with DMI and/or EMI contributes to the limited research evidence on students’ motivations for DMI alongside EMI. Furthermore, it also provides implications for language support in DMI and EMI programs.

Reference

Eccles, J. S., & Wigfield, A. (2002). Motivational Beliefs, Values, and Goals. Annual Review of Psychology, 53(1), 109–132.