Beliefs about Learning Portuguese as a Foreign Language – Multilingual Context

This chapter explores Portuguese as a Foreign Language (PE–FL) learners’ beliefs about language learning, by drawing on data gathered from learners’ questionnaires in the UK. Applying other studies on the beliefs of learners of other languages, this analysis explores the beliefs PE–FL students have about language learning, and how these vary according to each learner’s linguistic background. It compares the beliefs of monolingual and multilingual learners. Results suggest convergence between learners’ profiles and their beliefs about PE–FL, indicating that beliefs are not only related to ‘learning contexts’ but also to opportunities of interaction learners have in the target language. Its main contribution concerns PE–FL as L3 and/or L4.