PhD in Sociolinguistics

Location: Swansea/nAlthough 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./nMotivation 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./nFunding Comment/nCovers full tuition, £20,780 stipend (2025/26), plus up to £500 yearly for research costs.