Students’ Attitudes, Motivation and Anxiety towards English Language Learning- revised

Background of the study / Statement of the Problem

The acquisition of second/foreign language is induced by various variables like

motivation, attitudes, anxiety, learning achievements, aptitudes, intelligence, age, self identities, personalities, and so forth (Gardner, 1960; Lehmann, 2006; Schmidt, Borai & Kassabgy, 1996). Successful language learning is a multifaceted creation where these

variables have a complex relationship (Gardner & Lambert, 1972; Boyle, & Houndoulesi,

1993; Dornyei, 1994; Norris-Holt, 2001) and have the potential to influence student’s

motivation, attitudes (i.e. likes and dislikes) and similarly could raise or drop their

anxiety levels (i.e. levels of apprehension or fear) towards language learning (Dornyei,

1990; McIntyre & Gardner, 1991; Dornyei & Otto, 1998; Ramirez, 1995). These factors

increase student’s interests, behaviors and actions in the language classrooms, promoting

or hindering their language learning performances (Deci & Ryan, 1985; Clement,

Dornyei & Noels, 1994; Salim, 1996) and are demonstrated differently by individuals

exhibiting their experiences, values, societal norms and living patterns (Mertens, 1998

cites Schwandt, 1994). Lack of comfort or fear that a student might experience will

influence his/her performances on language tasks that require attention and deliberate

effort (Horwitz, Horwitz & Cope, 1986) and can lose confidence in the instructional

approach if language teaching processes fail to meet their needs and expectations and

therefore, the language accomplishment can be inadequate (Horwitz, 1987).

Moreover, gender has been an important perspective under second language

learning investigations; highlighting females to execute more interests, positive behaviors

and performances, in comparison to the males (Keller, 1983; Aacken, 1999; Dornyei &

Shoaib, 2005). These gender differences are due to students’ unlike levels of motivation,

attitudes and anxiety towards language learning, further influenced by their learning

characteristics and styles, lesson content and teaching strategies, social environment and

supportive mechanisms, family influences and peer pressures, cognition levels, and so

forth (Williams, Burden & Lanvers, 2002). Thus, investigating affective aspects have

become vitally important, especially under the gender perspective in order to enhance

students’ interests and outcomes in second language learning. Therefore, this research

study aims to answer the following research question:

What are the attitudes, motivations and classroom anxiety of male and female

Students towards English language learning in a multilingual context of form six students in the district of Temerloh, Malaysia?

The importance of investigating the gender-wise students’ attitudes, motivations

and anxiety in an eastern multilingual context, makes this study more significant, as the

existing literature refers to studies mostly conducted in western contexts; generally on

native speakers or immigrant students. The study findings will contribute to the existing

literature by adding valuable insights from the gender perspective.

Objectives

RQ.1-Are the students highly interested/motivated in learning English as a second language?

RQ.2 Are the students motivated instrumentally or integratively towards learning English?

RQ.3 What are the attitudes of the students towards learning English?

RQ.4 What are the attitudes of the students towards English-speaking people?

Conceptual Framework

The students’ attitudes, motivation and anxiety towards English language learning. 

Instrument

the survey questionnaire was adapted from Gardner’s (1985)

‘Attitude Motivation Test Battery’ (AMTB).

Analysis

Descriptive Statistics