Elders’ and young adults’ perceptions and attitudes towards languages in contact in multilingual Friuli-Venezia Giulia: A comparison to inform language teaching within an intergenerational perspective

The overall research project framing the present contribution fits within studies on plurilinguals’ language attitudes, studies on language learning motivation, on lifelong language learning and on language learning in old age, its aim being to understand whether elders and young adults could be successfully involved in language learning and teaching within an intergenerational perspective. The research has been carried out in the Friulian-speaking area of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy. Our main focus here is on the first phase of the wider research, which, starting from Baker (1992), consists in a quantitative survey on elders’ and young adults’ habits of use and perceptions with reference to the languages they are mainly in contact with in their everyday life (i.e., Italian, Friulian, English). The aim of this exploratory investigation is to define elders’ and young adults’ profiles and identify the most relevant similarities and differences between the two categories of subjects, with special regard to their relationship with the local minority language (Friulian) and the global international language (English). Findings from the quantitative survey will be presented, together with a preliminary discussion of possible implications for language teaching within an intergenerational perspective.