AGE - RELATED AND SOCIO - ECONOMIC CORRELATIONS OF LANGUAGE LEARNING: A STUDY OF THE HUNGARIAN YOUTH

In our study we examined the background of the foreign language knowledge and learning of the Hungarian Youth. Who are successful and what group of learners can convert their knowledge into language certificates? What aspects lie behind their success? We based our analysis on the Magyar Ifjúság 2012 database using the variables that could help us draw conclusions about language skills, language learning and language certificates. As in the first place we studied the effect of age and student status, we divided the sample into 3 main categories: 15-19-year-old secondary school students, 20-24-year-old students mostly students studying at higher education and 25-29-year-old students predominantly workers. We examined several dimensions of language learning: (1) the subjective perception of language skills (2) the objective perception of language skills (language certificates and their level), (3) formal and non-formal education (4) students’ plans to study foreign languages in the future. Examining the similarities and the differences between the groups we also analysed what correlations there were between the socioeconomic status of the parents and the language skills of the students. We analysed the students’ attitude to foreign languages as we ll as their attitude towards English as a foreign language. As a result we detected strong parental influence, however, some differences between the age groups could be observed