Download Understanding Attitudes Towards Language Learning: Definitions and Components and more Study notes Psychology in PDF only on Docsity!
1
CHAPTER II
LITERATURE’S REVIEW
This chapter will present the attitude, English language learning, and the review of previous studies. This chapter will be explained as followed. A. Attitude
1. Definition of Attitude Definition of attitude has been mentioned by some researchers in the fields of psychology and education. The researchers consider several definitions of attitude which mention different meanings from different contexts and perspectives. Attitudes according to Crystal is the feelings people have about their own language or the languages of others. Thus, attitude to language is a construct that explains linguistic behavior in particular.^2 However, attitude is characterized by a large proportion of emotional involvement such as feelings, self, relationships in community.^3 It is clear that attitude consist of emotional and behavioral aspect in particular. Kirimsoy emphasizes the power of culture there by shaping our life and feeling towards external world. It has the same meaning with Triandis, he said attitude is a manner of consistency toward an object. It can be said that attitude is an manner and feeling toward an object. (^2) D. Crystal , A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics, 4th ed, (United Kingdom: Blackwell, 3 1997), 215.H. Douglas Brown, Teaching by Principles: An Interactive Approach To language Pedagogy, Second Edition, (San Francisco : Public University, 2001), 61. 8
Allport defines in Baker, attitude is a mental or neural state of readiness, organized through experience, exerting a directive or dynamic influence upon the individual’s response to all objects and situations with which it is related.^4 It has the same definition with Eveyik in her MA thesis, she points out that attitude is the state of readiness to respond to a situation and an inclination to behave in a consistent manner toward an object.^5 As a result, attitude relates to respon the situation. Another definition comes from Gardner, he said that attitude is an evaluative reaction to some referent or attitude object, inferred on the basis of the individual’s beliefs or opinions about the referent.^6 Based on the theory of planned behavior, Montano and Kasprzyk stated Attitude is determined by the individual’s beliefs about outcomes or attributes of performing the behavior (behavioral beliefs), weighted by evaluations of those outcomes or attributes. It can be conclude that attitude is an evaluative reaction and behavioral aspect about some objects. Moreover, Nastran Ule maintains that attitudes are fairly permanent systems of positive or negative evaluation, feelings and actions in relation to different social situations.^7 It has the similar way with Brown, he defines attitude as long lasting psychological readiness to react in certain ways, and
(^45) C. Baker, Attitudes and Language , (Clevedon: Multilingual Matters Ltd, 1992), 11. Eveyik Evrim, Teachers’Attitudes. Development of an Attitude Scale to Investigate Turkish EFLBasılmamışYüksek Lisans Tezi, (İstanbul: Bogazici University Institute of
(^6) R. Gardner,^ Social Sciences, 1999), 21. Social psychology and second language learning: The role of attitudes and 7 motivation, Nastran Ule and Mirjana,^ (London: Edward Arnold, 1985), 91-93. Temelji socialne psihologije. (Ljubljana: Znanstveno in publicistično središče, 2000), 116.
Visser, in her opinion attitude is considered as an essential factor influencing language performance. Furthermore, Gardner and Lambert have concluded that the ability of the students to master a second language is not only influenced by the mental competence or, language skills, but also on the students’ attitudes and perceptions towards the target language. They also advocated that attitude concept could enhance the process of language learning, influencing the nature of student’s behaviors and beliefs towards the other language, its culture and community, and this will identify their tendency to acquire that language.^10 Baker proposed a comprehensive theoretical model, focusing on the importance of conducting attitudinal research in the field of language learning. He defines that in the life of a language, attitudes to that language appear to be important in language restoration, preservation, decay or death.^11 The finding of Oller points out that attitudes are merely one of types of factors that give rise to motivation which eventually results in attainment of proficiency in a second language. Likewise Oller, Tahaineh and Danna also mention that attitudes play an eminent role in determining one's behavior, as the attitude has an impetus which stimulates the behavior and directs it in a particular direction^12. Thus, attitudes are indirectly related to second language achievement.
(^1011) R. Gardner and W. Lambert, Attitudes and motivation in second language learning, 59. 12 C. Baker,J.W Oller et. al, “Attitude and Attained Proficiency in ESL: a Sociolinguistic Study of Native^ Attitudes and Language , (Clevedon: Multilingual Matters Ltd, 1992), 9. Speakers of Chinese in the United States” , Language Learning , 27 (1977), 1-26.
Moreover, Dörnyei and Csizér have a positive attitude facilitates foreign language learning while a negative attitude acts as a psychological barrier against learning^13. Thus, attitudes, ranging through negative, natural, and positive states, determine a student’s success or failure in his or her learning. Meanwhile, Spolsky looked at the relationship between attitude and success in language learning from a different perspective. He suggested that attitudes do not have direct influence on learning, but they lead to motivation, which does.^14 Since attitudes play a fundamental role in shaping our behavior, it is crucial for FL teachers to be able to identify learners’ attitudes and develop techniques to influence them in a positive way. Language attitude is an important concept because it plays a key role in language learning and teaching. A successful learner is the one who possess positive attitudes towards the target language.
3. Attitude towards Language Learning The result of the Starks and Paltridge research stated that learning a language is closely related to the attitudes towards the languages^15. Attitudes towards language are likely to have been developed by learners’ experiences. They may change during the passage of time. Then, Fasold claimed that
(^13) Z. Dornyei, “Conceptualizing Motivation in foreign language learning”, Language Learning , (^14) Spolsky,40(1990), 45-78 Conditions for Second Language Learning , 49. (^15) D. Starks. and B. Paltridge_. A note on using sociolinguistic methods to study non-native attitudes towards English’, World Englishes,_ 10 (1996), 218.
language and the culture of the target language speaking community has great impact on language learning motivation^17. Moreover, Baker also points out that language attitudes vary in nature. Whatever the nature of attitude, it has two components: instrumental and integrative. Instrumental attitude refers to showing attitude to a particular language for self achievement and recognition. Integrative attitude, on the other hand, concerns someone’s attachment with a particular speech community.^18 Moreover, attitude change is an important notion since attitudes are affected by experience. There may be both positive and negative feelings attached to a language. In other words, attitude to language is a construct that explains linguistic behavior in particular. From all explanation above, we can conclude that attitude toward language learning is not static, however it is dynamic. Attitude toward language learning can change during the passage of time since it developed by learners’ experience. Attitude toward language learning will show positive, negative or neutral, it depends on the learners’ belief, feeling, though and fears.
(^17) R. Gardner, Social psychology and second language learning: The role of attitudes and 18 motivation C. Baker, Attitudes and Language,125-135., 50.
4. Aspects of Language Attitude Language attitudes may have an effect on second language or foreign language learning. The measurement of language attitudes provides information which is useful in language teaching and language learning. Ryan defines language attitudes as any effective, cognitive or behavioral index of evaluative reactions toward different language varieties or speakers.^19 Furthermore, Nastran Ule points out the fundamental characteristic of attitudes that consist of three main components. The first component is cognitive and is related to one’s beliefs, thoughts and ideas about something. The second, affective component is based on an individual’s feelings or emotions towards something, and finally, the third component is behavioural or conative and describes the tendency to act in certain ways.^20 Moreover, Wenden sees attitudes as including three components: First, attitudes tend to have a cognitive component. This could involve beliefs or perceptions about the objects or situations related to the attitude. Second, attitudes have an evaluative component. This means that the objects or situations related to the attitude may generate like or dislike. Third, attitudes have a behavioral component, i.e. certain attitudes tend to prompt learners to adopt particular learning behaviors.^21
(^1920) Ryan et al. Attitudes towards Language Variation , (London: Edward Arnold,1982),7. 21 Nastran Ule and Mirjana,A. Wenden, Learner Strategies for Learner Autonomy^ Temelji socialne psihologije ,59., 120.
information and skills useful for daily life and to engage themselves emotionally. b. Cognitive aspect of attitude The cognitive aspect of attitude involves the beliefs of the language learners about the knowledge that they receive and their understanding in the process of language learning. The cognitive attitude can be classified into four steps of connecting the previous knowledge and the new one, creating new knowledge, checking new knowledge, and applying the new knowledge in many situations. Gardner stated that cognitive component involves the beliefs, thoughts or viewpoints about the object of the attitude. Alfred Smith describes the formation of the cognitive component, i.e. the perception of the concept or situation. Students develop a concept of foreign language and foreign language class.^24 c. Emotional aspect of attitude Gardner points out that affective/ emotional component refers to the individual’s feelings and emotions towards an object, whether he/she likes or dislikes. Alfred Smith describes the formation of the feelings towards the cognitive element. It might be a feeling of excitement, happiness and confidence, or a feeling of boredom, frustration and anger.^25
(^2425) Ibid, 85-86. Ibid, 86-88.
Another opinion also stated from Feng and Chen, they stated that Learning process is an emotional process.^26 It is affected by different emotional factors. The teacher and his students engage in various emotional activities in it and varied fruits of emotions are yield. Attitude can help the learners to express whether they like or dislike the objects or surrounding situations. Then, Choy and Troudi also agreed that the inner feelings and emotions of FL learners influence their perspectives and their attitudes towards the target language.^27
B. English Language Learning The term learning is used to refer to the process relating to the subjects who participated in the study, university students experiencing English as a foreign language. Learning foreign language in example English, has recently become a popular and essential means for getting prestige in social community. There are two major values in the study of foreign language, extrinsic and intrinsic. The intrinsic value refers to the value of learning the language itself. The extrinsic value refers to the value of learning the language that is not intrinsic, another view it called as instrumental value. Gardner and Lambert concluded that learning a foreign language can take various forms; sociological factors do influence the learners because their attitudes, views of foreign people and cultures, and orientation toward the (^26) R. Feng and H. Chen, “An Analysis on the Importance of Motivation and Strategy in 27 Postgraduates English AcquisitionS. C. Choy and S. Troudi, “An investigation into the changes in perceptions of and attitudes”,^ English Language Teaching. 2(2009), 93-97. towards Learning English in a Malaysian college Learning in Higher Education, 18(2006), 120-130.”. International Journal of Teaching and
Powell and Littlewood investigated the possible correlation between attitude and social class and concluded that the latter played no significant role in the distinction of attitude scores.^29 So that, for example, all girls showed the same attitude towards French despite their social class i.e. a more positive attitude than boys, which eventually contributed to their linguistic achievement. b. Individual differences Individual differences could be characterized by the following: age, gender, personality, language aptitude, and attitudes and motivation. Individual differences refer to intelligence, aptitude (amount of time needed to learn a task), and motivation (amount of time the learner is willing to expend), which altogether affect the level of achievement but are affected by the instructional characteristics.
- Age In fact, Smith and Braine found out that adults are superior in the acquisition of a miniature artificial language. Asher and Price found adults superior at deciphering and remembering instructions given in the foreign language. Therefore, second language learners, especially adolescents and adults, may concentrate effectively in that language despite the difficulty in mastering the pronunciation and intonational patterns.
(^29) Powell, R.C.and Littlewood, P, Why choose French? boys’ and girls’ attitudes at the option stage”, in The British Journal of Language Teaching, 36. (London: British University Press, 1983),
- Gender Nyikos in study on gender effect, found no difference in males and females’ rote memorization skills in terms of foreign language learning.^30 Meanwhile, Boyle points out that female Chinese learners were stronger in overall language ability while male learners of English in China were found to stonger in terms of vocabulary recognition in a listening task.^31
- Personality Roadkey and Shore stating that personality elements clearly affect classroom behavior and language learning outcomes discuss the design of an instrument to predict language learning behaviour on the basis of personality.
- Language Aptitude Language aptitudes could be defined as a set of cognitive or verbal abilities which appears to be related to second language achievement. This variable has always been combined with the attitudes and motivation variables to compare their relative effects on achievement.
(^30) Nyikos, Gender in language learning. In C. Griffiths (Ed.), Lessons from good language 31 learners: Insights for teachers and learners J. P Boyle, Sex differences in listening vocabulary. Language Learning , (Cambridge University Press, 2008), 73-82., 37(1987), 3273-3284.
adjustment, or personality development.^33 The term might also refer to the costs and benefits of a society which supports more than one language to maintain a distinct cultural identity. Learning a second and foreign language has been shown to enhance children’s metalinguistic awareness and thereby their reading readiness. Several kinds of experiences help them to develop understandings and insights about the nature of language which they need in order to develop literacy.^34 Learning another language offers insights into other cultures and ways of relating to the world which no other area of the curriculum can offer. A language and its culture are inextricably linked – they have developed together over a long period of time. When we learn another language, we are learning not only the words used by speakers of that language to designate everyday objects and ideas, but we gain insights into other ways of thinking about and relating to the world.^35 Some experts have proofed that learner of bilingual, demonstrate the greater cognitive flexibility and are more divergent thinkers than learner of mono language. Inter relationships between cognitive and linguistic have
(^3334) Gardner, R.C, Social Factors in Language Acquisition and Bilinguality in Canada ,128. second language. Applied Psycholinguistics G. J Yelland, Pollard and A. Mercuri.^ The metalinguistic benefits of limited contact with a ,14(1993), 423-444. (^35) Crozet and Liddicoat, Teaching culture as an integrated part of language: implications for the aims, approaches and pedagogies of language teaching. In: Teaching Languages, TeachingCultures. (Melbourne: Applied Linguistics Association of Australia, 2000), 1-18.
developed in both the first and second language. The children in the bilingual program had gained cognitive benefits from their experience.
C. Review of Previous Studies There are some previous studies related to the Students attitude toward English language learning. The first research was done by Shahrzad Eshghinejad, entitled EFL students’ attitudes toward learning English language: The case study of Kashan University students. The results of the qualitative and quantitative data analysis showed a positive attitude toward English learning in three aspects of behavioral, cognitive, and emotional. In addition, there were statistically significant attitudinal differences between the two groups. In contrast, Mohamad Jafre Zainol Abidin, conducted study entitled EFL Students’ Attitudes towards Learning English Language: The Case of Libyan Secondary School Students. The result of the study reveal that the three aspects of attitude i.e., cognitive, behavioral, and emotional of the participants showed negative attitudes towards learning English. On the demographic profile, there were statistically significant attitudinal differences regarding gender and field of study but not year of study. Meanwhile, Abdullah al Mamun et al, undertook a research entitled Students’ Attitudes towards English: The Case of Life Science School of Khulna University. The result of the study shows that the respondents have positive attitudes towards English language. The result also shows that the respondents realized that knowledge of English offers advantages in this era of globalization
