Welsh, Sociolinguistics: Fully Funded PhD in Understanding and Supporting Adult Motivation to Learn Welsh

Although large numbers of adults attend Welsh for Adults classes nationally, statistics from 2019–2024 show that only around 26% progress beyond Entry level (CEFR A1; National Centre for Learning Welsh, 2025). Increasing these progression rates is a key aim of the Welsh Government’s strategy to reach one million speakers by 2050 (Welsh Government, 2017; 2025). Achieving this requires a deeper understanding of learners’ changing motivations, and ensuring that Welsh tutors draw on current evidence to sustain learner engagement over time.

Motivation is a major factor in second language acquisition (Yousefi & Mahmoodi, 2022). The L2 Motivational Self System (L2MSS; Dörnyei, 2005) is widely used to explain variation in learners’ motivation. However, questions have been raised about its suitability for languages other than English and for minority-language contexts (Dörnyei & Al-Hoorie, 2017; Zhu, 2019). There is very limited research on the motivations of adult Welsh learners, and no studies have yet applied the L2MSS to Welsh. This project will address this gap by developing a systematic understanding of adult Welsh learners’ motivations and evaluating the suitability of contemporary motivational theories for a minority indigenous language context.

Funding Comment

Covers full tuition, £20,780 stipend (2025/26), plus up to £500 yearly for research costs.

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