A STUDY ON MOTIVATIONS AND ATTITUDES FOR THE ENGLISH MAIJORED STUDENTS AT THUONGMAI UNIVERSITY TOWARDS LEARNING ENGLISH

In addition, there was a general consensus among these studiesthat influential way to get a clear picture to learning process is to study the learners’attitudes and motivations towards l

THUONGMAI UNIVERSITY ENGLISH FACULTY

HANOI - 2020

Without student motivation, there is no pulse; there is no life in the class.Motivation is one of the most important factors which influence language learners’success or failure in learning the language Motivation is defined as "the choicespeople make as to what experiences or goals they will approach or avoid and thedegree of effort they will exert in this respect" (Keller, 1983) Specifically, forlanguage learning motivation can be understood as learners’ orientation with regard

to the goal of learning a second language As Wilkins (1972) points out that

"motivation is a term which occurs in discussion of the second rather than the firstlanguage learning" In addition, there was a general consensus among these studiesthat influential way to get a clear picture to learning process is to study the learners’attitudes and motivations towards learning English language

The aim of this study is to identify university student motivation towardslearning English To achieve this purpose, unstructured interviews were used by theresearcher with 100 participants These students are undergraduates of EnglishDepartment in ThuongMai University Qualitative case study was used , which fitsthe collected data

I hope that this study will help students have a better overview of thedifficulties From that, they will be aware of overcoming the difficulties andimproving their motivations Moreover, this study is considered as a reference somesuggested solutions that will help students solve the difficulties and develop theirown motivations towards learning English

Even though the study was limited by time – only 2 months and the limitations

of the long-days disease , I and my supervisor tried my best and t received lots ofsupport to complete this graduation thesis

First of all, I would like to express my deep gratitude to my supervisor, Ms.Hoang Thi Thuy, MA-lecturer of the English faculty for her valuable and insightfulcomments, suggestions and kind guidance correction throughout my research study

I would like to express my gratitude and appreciation to the teachers ofEnglish Faculty at Thuongmai University, who have imparted golden knowledge to

me From these supports, I can improve my English skills and have goodbackground to achieve my dreams

I am grateful to all of the lovely English major students of ThuongmaiUniversity who contributed and had a warm co-operation to help me during theperiod I carried out my survey

Last but not least, I am also grateful to my friends from ThuongmaiUniversity, who helped and encouraged me a lot when I was conducting myresearch Millions of thanks go to my beloved family whose financial support andspiritual encouragement contribute a significant part to the completion of theresearch

In short, I would really like to thank to all people helping me to finish thisgraduation thesis

Thaibinh, April 24th, 2020 Student

Bui Ngoc Son

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iii

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES vi

CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY 1

1.1 Rationale 1

1.2 Previous studies 1

1.3 Aims of the study 3

1.4 Research subjects 3

1.5 Scope of the study 3

1.6 Research methodology 4

1.6.1 Data collection instruments 4

1.6.2 Data collection procedures 5

1.6.3 Data analysis methods 6

1.7 Organization of the study 6

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 7

2.1 Some Basic Definitions 7

2.1.1 The definition of motivation 7

2.1.2 The definition of attitude 8

2.2 Motivation and attitude in Second Language learning 9

2.3 Types of motivation and attitude 11

2.3.1 Types of motivation 11

2.3.2 Types of attitude 12

2.4 Factor influencing students’ motivation and attitude 14

2.4.1 Factor influencing students’s motivation : 14

2.4.2 Factors influencing students’ attitude : 17

2.5 Strategies of Motivation and Attitude 18

2.5.1 Strategites of motivation : 18

2.5.2 Strategites of attitude : 19

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS 21

3.1 Students’ views on the importance of motivation in learning English 21

3.1.1.Instrumental Motivation 22

3.1.2 Personal Motivation 26

3.1.3 Intergrative motivation 28

3.1.2 Interview results 30

3.2 English-majored students’ attitude towards learning English 31

3.2.1 English-majored students attitude towards learning English 31

3.3 Summary of findings 34

CHAPTER 4: RECOMMENDATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS 35

4.1 Recommendations for English-majored students 35

4.1.1 Keeping yourself accountable 35

4.1.2 Establishing a Study Schedule 36

4.2 Recommendations for the teachers of the English Faculty 38

4.2.1 Develop meaningful and respectful relationships with your students 38

4.2.2 Setting an English speaking environment 39

4.2.3 Creating games and other activities 39

4.3 Recommendations for the Board of management of Thuongmai University 40

4.3.1 Investing in laboratories 40

4.3.2 Equipped classrooms with media facilities 40

4.3.3 Directing the Faculty of English to employ foreign native teachers 40

4.3.4 Organizing English-speaking events 41

CONCLUSION 42

REFERENCES vii

APPENDIX 1 viii

APPENDIX 2 xii

Et ceteraLearning Language StrategiesCross Language Information RetrievalVolume

Number

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

CHAPTER 1 OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY1.1 Rationale

English is a global language and many people are of the opinion that it is alanguage worth learning Along with the development of society, ThuongmaiUniversity is increasingly investing in the quality of teaching in business Englishfor the English-majored students However, not all graduate students use English fortheir work and many of them do not really care about subjects related to English inthe curriculum

This is one of the reasons many students feel bitter that after four years ofstudying English at Thuongmai University, their proficiency and competence inEnglish is virtually not even at the level of undergraduates This is against thebackground that the university has churned out graduates years after years Seeingfrom the fact like this, it has raised a lot concern from the author about the problemthat will spill into every place because the same half-baked graduates are beingemployed to teach young learners They will end up being as incompetent as some

of their tutors Lack of motivation and attitude among instructors and students isbelieved as central to this problem

This study, therefore, centers on investigating the role of motivation in thisissue Another motivation for the study lies in the fact that no known study has beencarried out to investigate the motivation of English language students, studyingEnglish at Thuongmai University This is a pioneer study and it will ignite a series

of subsequent studies on motivation at the university and both the other private andpublic universities in the area

1.2 Previous studies

I have found out and researched previous studies related to the motivationand attitude towards learning English since I selected this topic to study There aremany research topics in advance of foreign authors and Vietnamese authors Afterselecting, I chose some of the following research :

Firstly, Gardner (2006, page) “students with higher levels of motivation will

do better than students with lower levels” The author wanna point out that these

students are also more likely to be engaged in the relevant activities and expandefforts and to show desire to achieve the goal.

Secondly, the research ‘’Research methods in Education’’ done by Wilkins was published on the “European Journal of English Language, Linguistics and

Literature” in 2010 This study prove that the instrumental motivation is based on

students´ desire to learn the language for some utilitarian goal, such as "to pass an

examination, to use it in one's job, to use it in holiday in the country, as a change from watching television, because the educational system requires it" (Wilkins,

2010)

Thirdly, the study ‘’ Attitudes and motivation towards English: A survey of

Japanese freshmen ‘’ done by David Adebayo Oluwole was published in 2008

show out that the integrative motivation is stimulated by students´ interest towardsthe language itself, its culture, and the desire to communicate with the target

language group In one words, "to know more of the culture and values of the

foreign language group… to make contact with the speakers of the languages… to live in the country concerned"

Last but not least, In Papua New Guinea (PNG), a related study was undertaken by Buschenhofen (1998) He sought to assess the attitude towards

English between the 12th year and the final year college student To collect data, hedesigned a questionnaire about 50% of the sophomores and freshmen in PNG Bothgroups differ in their ability to tolerate the use of English in different contexts inthis study The results show the positive overall attitude of both groups towardsEnglish and some important attitudes related to the specific English languagecontext Buschenhofen attributes such differences to changing social, educationaland linguistic conditions, characterizing the transition from 12th grade to highereducation

Therefore, this research will specifically study the influence of motivationsand attitudes on the learning English of English-majored students to help them learnEnglish better and get higher results, as well as prepare for their future jobs

1.3 Aims of the study

Nobody can deny that people who use English well are very likely to succeed

in many fields of research and career advancement Especially in the era of the 4.0revolution, English in particular and other common languages such as Japanese,French, Chinese, etc play an even more important role in our lives English is nowthe official language of more than 53 countries and territories, the official language

of the EU and the third most used language in the world after China and Spain (due

to differences in population nation) It can be seen that English has become a globallanguage and is like a passport, a bridge to help you easily have a stable job with ahigher salary Foreign language plays such an important role, the requirement ofsociety for linguistic ability for young people is also very high, but the currentsituation of foreign language proficiency of students is too low,it have not yet meetthat requirement Therefore, this study is aim at investigating the impacts ofmotivations and attitudes , specifically the English-majored students at ThuongmaiUniversitywhere motivation is almost the biggest cause Meanwhile, it is necessary

to find out their difficulties and errors they often make in the learning of Englishbecause of the influence of the bad attitudes and motivation From these obstacles,some suggestions and recommendations will be given to help them improve andgain better results in their learning process

1.4 Research subjects

This study is designed to clarify the influence of motivation on Englishlearning process among these students More specifically, it tries to find out bothpositive effects and negative effects of motivations on learning English to see on

what aspects they can be helpful to and on what aspects they can be a “barrier”.

After that, some solutions will be offered to help the students learn more effectively

1.5 Scope of the study

As mentioned, this study is done with English-majored students So thissurvey is divided into two main sub-sections: the students' motivation to learnEnglish and their attitudes towards the English language In presenting the results ineach sub-section, data obtained from both the questionnaire and interviews wereused Undoubtedly, this questionaire was designed to send to 100 students studying

at the English Faculty of Thuongmai University After that, data and information

are collected and analyzed to find out the results for their learning In addition,direct interviews with 5 questions were applied to make the data in this study morereliable From the results collected through questionnaires and interviews, somemistakes have been found and thus it is necessary for the author to do moreresearches, investigations and come up with better solutions to help them overcome.

1.6 Research methodology

In completing this research, lots of methods have been employed anddepending on certain kind of research, certain methods are used to help theresearchers have relevant, appropriate and reliable data and information for theirstudy

This study was conducted to identify English-majored students’ motivationaland attitudinal orientations in learning the English language To achieve thisobjective, two research tools were used namely, questionnaire and interviews Thistype of design, which uses different research methods to investigate the same issue,

is called a triangulation mixed method design (Creswell, 2002) The need for

triangulation arises from the ethical need to confirm the validity and reliability ofthe process (Tellis, 1997) In addition, using multiple methods in a research designwould also help to “give a fuller picture and address many different aspects ofphenomena” (Silverman, 2000, p.50)

To accomplish this study, the following research questions need to beconsidered:

1 What are the factors that affect students motivation towards learningEnglish?

2 What role do teachers play on students motivation in learning English?

3 In what ways does it lack of motivation affect English-majored students?

1.6.1 Data collection instruments

The primary method of inquiry used in this study was a questionnaire It

consisted of three sections: A, B and C In Section A, 3 items were used to collect

information regarding the students’ background Section B consisted of two partswhich included questions to identify students’ motivation to learn the Englishlanguage These reasons represented the three motivational constructs namely,instrumental motivation (items 1, 2, 3, and 4 in the questionaire), integrative

motivation (item 7 in the questionaire) and personal motivation (items 5 and 6) Itmight be worth indicating that Gardner’s instrumental and integrative types ofmotivation were adopted because such a classification offers “an impetus to thestudy of language attitudes and motivation that had previously been lacking”(Benson, 1991, p.35) In the second part of Section B in the questionnaire, on theother hand, the students were asked to answer a question on whether or not they areinterested in attending more English language training courses to improve theirproficiency in the English language Answering such a question is of great

importance to know about their desire for learning the language which is considered

one of the main components of language learning motivation (Gardner, 2006) Section C of the questionnaire was developed to elicit information regardingthe students’ attitudes towards the English language In this section, the students

were given 6 statements (items), for which they were requested to specify their responses by choosing any of the three alternatives provided, namely, agree,

disagree and don't know The items were divided into four main categories:

attitudes towards the use of English in ThuongMai University educational context(items 3, 4, and 5), attitudes towards the use of English in the ThuongmaiUniversity social context (items 1 and 2), attitudes towards the English language(item 6) Besides the questionnaire, interviews were used to obtain data tosupplement and cross-validate the students’ responses to the questionnaire Thestudents were asked questions related to their motivation towards the Englishlanguage The interviewees were asked about:

1) Their reasons for learning English

2) Their interest to attend more training courses in English

1.6.2 Data collection procedures

Given the description of the questionnaire and interviews, this sub-sectionpresents the procedures used in the administration process

Before distributing the questionnaire, the students were informed about thegoals and implications of the study They are also required to state their honest andhonest responses In addition, subjects were informed to ask for any clarificationthey might have After that, the achievement was distributed Once they have

completed the question, they are asked to check their answers for incomplete ormissing answers.

Before conducting the interviews, the subjects were briefed on the aims andprocedures of the interview sessions To reduce their fear of exposing their honestviews and to ensure better and valid results, the interviewees were informed thattheir answers would be treated confidentiality Moreover, ethical issues related tothe culture and nature of the interviewees and the policy of the environment weretaken into consideration when conducting the interviews

1.6.3 Data analysis methods

Data analysis is the process of inspecting, cleaning, transforming andmodeling data with the objective of discovering useful information, arriving atconclusion, and supporting the decision making process This method helps theresearcher come up with suggestions and solutions

In term of data obtained from the questionnaires, the results were collectedand analyzed by means of the Microsoft Excel software according to the percentage.After that, data will be illustrated through charts and tables for clearing descriptions

of the finding, helping me to confirm the results from questionnaire survey

This method helps the researcher save research time, accurate results andquickly retrieve research data for analysis

1.7 Organization of the study

- This study is organized in four chapters as follows:

- Chapter 1: Overview of the study This chapter provides the rationale, someoverviews of the previous studies, aims of the study, research subjects, scope of thestudy, research methodology and organization of this study

- Chapter 2: Literature review This chapter presents the theories relating tothe study: the definition of motivation and attitude, the roles and the impacts ofthem on learning English

- Chapter 3: Research findings and analysis This chapter presents the data andinformation collected through observation, investigation and interview The resultswill also be discussed and analyzed in this chapter

- Chapter 4: Recommendations and suggestions This chapter offers somesuggestions to help students learn English better

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

In this chapter, the topic will be analyzed more specifically to find out themotiovation and attitude towards learning English English-majored students ofEnglish Faculty at Thuongmai University This chapter is devided into thefollowing parts: definition of motivations and attitudes, the importance of them andfactors affecting English-majored students’ motivations and attitudes

2.1 Some Basic Definitions

The definition of “motivation” and “attitude” have been researched fordecades by many experts and scholars; therefore, some theories relate to theseissues are presented in this part of the study

2.1.1 The definition of motivation

Motivation is very hard to define As Gardner (2006) states “motivation is avery complex phenomenon with many facts Thus, it is not possible to give a simpledefinition” This is because the term ‘’motivation’’ has been viewed differently bydifferent schools of thought From the behaviouristic perspective, motivation is

"quite simply the anticipation of reward" (Brown, 2000) However, the cognitivistsview the term motivation as being more related to the learner's decisions as Keller(1983), quoted by Brown, stated, "the choices people make as to what experiences

or goals they will approach or avoid, and the degree of effort they exert in thatrespect" However, in the constructivists' definition of motivation, they place

"further emphasis on social contexts as well as the individual's decisions" Despitethe differences, in all the definitions of motivation given by the three schools ofthought, the concept of "needs" is emphasized, that is, "the fulfilment of needs isrewarding, requires choices, and in many cases must be interpreted in a socialcontext

The importance of motivation in enhancing second/foreign language learning

is undeniable Lifrieri (2005) points out that “when asked about the factors whichinfluence individual levels of success in any activity – such as language learning –,most people would certainly mention motivation among them” Brown (2000) statesthat "it is easy in second language learning to claim that a learner will be successful

with the proper motivation" With similar views, Gardner (2006) posits that

“students with higher levels of motivation will do better than students with lowerlevels” He further adds that “if one is motivated, he/she has reasons (motives) forengaging in the relevant activities, expends effort, persists in the activities, attends

to the tasks, shows desire to achieve the goal, enjoys the activities, etc” (Gardner,2006)

On the other hand, integrative motivation was defined as "learning a languagebecause the learner wishes to identify himself with or become integrated into thesociety” of the target language Therefore, a learner is integratively motivated whenhe/she learns a language because he/she wants to "know more of the culture andvalues of the foreign language grou to make contact with the speakers of thelanguage to live in the country concerned”

Besides Gardner’s integrative and instrumental constructs, Cooper andFishman (1977) mentioned a third type of motivation which they termed

"developmental" Developmental or personal motivation, according to them, refers

to motivation relating to “personal development or personal satisfaction” Thisincludes such activities as watching movies and reading books in English

The researchers concur with Spolsky (1989) in that “a language may belearned for any one or any collection of practical reasons” As such, identifying thestudents’ motivation will be related to the reasons for which they learn the Englishlanguage In other words, instrumental, integrative and personal reasons will beconsidered as far as the students’ motivation is concerned

2.1.2 The definition of attitude

Likert (1932) defines the term attitude as "an inference which is made on thebasis of a complex of beliefs about the attitude object" Gardner (1980) elaborates

on Likert's definition by defining attitude as "the sum total of a man's instinctionsand feelings, prejudice or bias, preconceived notions, fears, threats, and convictionsabout any specified topic" Ajzan (1988) considers attitudes as “a disposition torespond favourably or unfavourably to an object, person, institution, or event”.Baker (1992) defines attitudes as “a hypothetical construct used to explain thedirection and persistence of human behaviour”

Gardner (1985) considers attitudes as components of motivation in languagelearning According to him, “motivation refers to the combination of effort plusdesire to achieve the goal of learning the language plus favourable attitudes towardlearning the language” However, Wenden (1991) proposed a broader definition ofthe concept “attitudes” He states that the term attitudes includes three componentsnamely, cognitive, affective and behavioural A cognitive component is made up ofthe beliefs and ideas or opinions about the object of the attitude The affective onerefers to the feeling and emotions that one has towards an object, 'likes' or 'dislikes','with' or 'against' Finally, the behavioural component refers to one's consistingactions or behavioural intentions towards the object (ibid).

From a different angle, McGuire, cited in Oscamp, (1977) suggests that it ispossible that the three components are so closely interrelated, “that theorists whoinsist on distinguishing them should bear the burden of providing that thedistinction is worthwhile” This made Van Els et al (1984) to suggest that “it doesnot really matter whether all or only one of the three components are measured; therelationship between the components is so close that sufficient information on anattitude can be obtained by measuring only one component, no matter which”

2.2 Motivation and atitude in Second Language learning

Numerous theorists and researchers have discovered that it is vital to take alook at the construct of motivation not as a single entity but as a multi-factorial one

In relation to the learner attitudes towards the target language, it was indicated

by Gardner’s results (1959, 1983, 1985) that Second Language learners withpositive attitudes towards the speakers and culture were more thriving in learningthe language than those who had negative attitudes Gardner (1983) argued that,because language is the fundamental part of culture, the learning of a secondlanguage is dependent upon the learner’s eagerness to recognize with the culture ofthe target language and to fit in aspects of the target- language culture, includinglinguistic repertoire into his or her own behavior

In addition, Fasold (1984) stressed the function of learners’ attitudes inlanguage growth or perish and he stated that the notion of language attitudes not

only includes attitudes towards speakers of a particular language, but it as wellincludes all kinds of behavior relating to language to be treated.

Captivatingly, achievement in learning Second Language for the most partdepends on the social relation among the First and Second Language communities.Wong-Fillmore (1991) suggested that accomplishment in learning a secondlanguage is dependent on the presence of the following conditions: (a) motivatedstudents who realize they need to learn the target language, (b) target-languagespeakers who support the second- language learners, and (c) frequent social contadbetween target-language speakers and learners

Regarding the outcome of learning a foreign language one’s own culture,Kramsch (1995) writes about how language plays an imperative function not only inthe building of culture but also in the surfacing and emergence of cultural change.Kramsch (1995) also claimed that “social change occurs slowly, but inevitably atthe edges of dominant cultures This is true also of the change that we might want tobring about by teaching people how to use somebody else’s linguistic code insomebody else’s cultural context.” Educating members of one society how to talkand how to behave in the context of another community potentially changes thesocial and cultural equation of both communities, by ingeniously diversifyingmainstream cultures

The intensity of the relationship between students’ own cultural backgroundand the background anticipated by the target community culture usually affects theirattitudes and motivation towards learning Second Language Lambert (1990)differentiated between two types of bilingualism: “additive” and “subtractive” Inadditive bilingualism, the Second Language learners believe that by learning a newlanguage, something new to their knowledge and experience is added withouttaking anything away from what they already know But, in subtractive case, thelearners feel that learning Second Language threatens what they already achieve forthemselves So, it can be said that additive circumstances lead to successful SecondLanguage learning and integrativeness

Obeidat (2005) conducted a study to inspect Malaysian students’ attitudes whowere studying in Jordan Universities, towards learning Arabic as a foreign

language He concluded that the students were integratively motivated and theirintegrative orientations could be credited to the shared belief in Islam which madethem prone to expand their scope and construct up their character in the course oflearning Arabic.

Besides, attitudes of the foreign language learners may be affected by theapprehension that participation with the target language group may effect inestrangement from one’s own group For example, opinions that English is inrivalry with Arabic, may have a negative affect on attainment of English in the ArabWorld Pennycook (1994) stated that “that whether or not tension exists betweenWestern and Islamic knowledge , there is a strong feeling that English is linked toforms of culture that threaten an Islamic way of life.” Consequently, an analysis intolearners’ attitudes is a technique by which language teachers, education planners,syllabus designers and researchers can boost better insight into the languageteaching and learning process

2.3 Types of motivation and attitude

2.3.1 Types of motivation

Types of Motivation previous studies concerned about motivation in learning asecond or a foreign language have made a clear difference between 3 types ofmotivation namely, integrative motivation , personal motivation and instrumentalmotivation

Gardner and Lambert (1972) clarify that integrative motivation is learning alanguage for personal sakes and cultural enrichment; while instrumental motivation

is learning a language to gain more direct and practical purposes Lucas et.al (2010)define integrative motivation as the desire to learn L2 to have contact with membersfrom L2 community; while instrumental motivation for them was defined as thedesire to learn L2 to reach practical purposes such as academic success and jobadvancement

In other words, instrumentally motivated learners own very specific goals forL2 learning such as listening to radio, reading books, or watching TV programs Onthe other hand, integratively motivated learners have got different goals such asknowing the culture, norms, and traditions of the L2 community Masgoret and

Gardner (2003) states that integratively motivated learners have the willing to knowthe culture of foreign countries, and the status of that foreign language for them issimilar to their native language’s status Noels (2001) points out that learners’motivation to language learning consists of several variables such as desire to reachtheir goals, effort, and attitudes to learn that language Crookes, and Schmidt (1991)claim that integrative motivation is more important in sustaining long-term success

in L2 learning

2.3.2 Types of attitude

Aspects of attitude include each of: behavioral aspect of attitude, cognitiveaspect of attitude, and emotional aspect of attitude The first one deals with the waythat the learner behaves and reacts in particular situations In fact, the successfullanguage learning enhances the learners to identify themselves with the nativespeakers of that language and acquire or adopt various aspects of behaviors whichcharacterize the members of the target language community Kara (2009) stated

that: “Positive attitudes lead to the exhibition of positive behaviors towards courses

of study, with participants absorbing themselves in courses and striving to learn more Such students are also observed to be more eager to solve problems, to acquire the information and skills useful for daily life and to engage themselves emotionally.”

Cognitive aspect of attitude involves the beliefs of the language learners aboutthe knowledge that they receive and their understanding in the process of languagelearning The cognitive attitude can be classified under four steps relating theprevious knowledge and the new one, creating new knowledge, checking newknowledge, and applying the new knowledge in many situations For Emotionalaspect of attitude; Feng and Chen (2009) stated that: “Learning process is anemotional process It is affected by different emotional factors The teacher and hisstudents engage in various emotional activities in it and varied fruits of emotionsareyield.” Attitude can help the learners to express whether they like or dislike theobjects or surrounding situations It is agreed that the inner feelings and emotions of

FL learners influence their perspectives and their attitudes towards the targetlanguage (Choy &Troudi, 2006)

Some learners may have negative attitude towards the second language andwant to learn it in order to prevail over people in the community but generallypositive attitude strengthens the motivation Some individuals might generateneutral feelings Attitudes towards language are likely to have been developed bylearners’ experiences It could refer to both attitudes towards language learning andattitudes towards the members of a particular speech community Fasold (1984)claims that attitudes towards a language are often mirrored in the attitudes towardsthe members of that speech community The attitudes play an eminent role indetermining one's behavior, as the attitude has an impetus act which stimulates thebehavior and directs it in a particular direction Attitudes are some what indirectlyrelated to second language achievement We can say that improving the positiveattitude of the students towards a particular academic subject may increase theirdesire to learn it, and an ability to apply what they have been taught, as well as animprovement in remembrance Baker (1992, p.10) defines attitude “a hypotheticalconstruct used to explain the direction and persistence of human behaviour”.Karahan (2007, p.84) avers that “positive language attitudes let learner havepositive orientation towards learning English”.

Researchers, teachers and learners agree that a high motivation and a positiveattitude towards a second language and its community help second languagelearning” In other words, all who are concerned, agree that high motivation andpositive attitudes towards a language, its culture and people help to achieve acertain goal As such, attitudes may play a very crucial role in language learning asthey would appear to influence students’ success or failure in their learning, but thequestion is how they could be measured Gardner and Lambert (1972) in Attitudesand Motivation in Second Language Learning postulate the theory in brief: Thistheory, maintains that the successful learner of a second language must bepsychologically prepared to adopt various aspects of behaviour which characterizemembers of another linguistic-cultural group The learner’s ethnocentric tendenciesand his attitudes towards the members of the other group are believed to determinehow successful he will be, relatively learning the language His motivation to learn

is thought to be determined by his attitudes towards the other group in particular

and towards the learning task itself They distinguished the two types of motivationknown as integrative and instrumental motivation Gardner (1985) designed a testbattery known as the Attitude and Motivation Test Battery (henceforth AMTB) Itincluded some items measuring all factors that affect attitude and motivation InGardner's AMTB , the idea of attitude is incorporated in motivation meaning thatpositive attitudes increase motivation.

2.4 Factor influencing students’ motivation and attitude

2.4.1 Factor influencing students’s motivation :

There have been some studies on the factors affecting students’ motivation inlearning a foreign language so far Above are two L2 motivation frameworks thatrefer to some factors such as language level, learner level, learning situation level(Dornyei, 2001) and internal and external factors (Williams and Burnden, 1997).Although researchers have had some different views in this issue, they all havecome to an agreement with a list of common factors affecting students’ motivation.These factors can be divided into three groups: teacher’s factors, students’ factorsand learning condition factors

2.4.1.1 Students’ factor :

The first factors are students’ intelligence and aptitude: Intelligence,

according to Lightbown and Spada (1999: 52), refers to ‘performance on certainkinds of test’ and 10 aptitude is something which ‘involves both underlyinglanguage learning capacity and a capacity to handle decontextualizedlanguage’ ,Lightbown and Spada also point out that language aptitude is usuallydescribed as a combination of four factors: the ability to identify and memorize newsounds, the ability to understand the function of particular words in sentences, theability to figure out grammatical rules from language samples and the ability tomemorize new words (1999: 53)

The second is students’ personality: In the eyes of many language teachers,

the personality of the students constitutes a major factor contributing to success orfailure in language learning Ellis (1997) has proved that extroverted learners areadvantaged in the development of the kind of language associated with basisinterpersonal communication skills and that extroverted learners may also be more

likely to participate actively in oral communication Shared the same view withEllis, Lightbown and Spada list a number of personality characteristics that have agreat influence on the success of second language learners: extroversion, inhibition,self- esteem, empathy, dominance, talkativeness and responsiveness

The third factor is learners’ age: Children are believed to be better than

adults in acquiring an L2 in general and in speaking a new language with like fluency in particular Some researchers argued that late starters may be able tolearn the syntax and the vocabulary of a second language, but that attaining anative-like pronunciation is impossible for them Also, they concluded that youngerlearners have a greater chance of attaining native-like proficiency in the L2, olderlearners may show faster progress at the beginning, but are probably surpassed bythe young ones in the end

native-The fourth factor is learning style: native-The term ‘learning style’ refers to the

characteristic ways in which individuals orientates to problem- solving Keefe(1979) defined learning style as ‘the characteristic cognitive, affective andphysiological behaviors that serve as relatively stable indicators of how learnersperceive, interact with and respond to the learning environment Learning style is aconsistent way of functioning that reflects underlying causes of behavior

The last factor is learners’ belief: Most learners have strong beliefs about

how languages are learnt, how their instruction should be delivered Little,Singleton and Silvius found out past experience, both of education in general and

of language learning in particular, played a major role in shaping attitudes tolanguage learning

2.4.1.2 Teachers’ factors :

Teacher plays an important role in students’ learning motivation As a matter

of fact, some teacher’s factors and appropriate teacher behaviors will increasestudents to motivate in learning

Dornyei (2001) pointed out some teacher’s factors affecting students’motivation: appropriate teacher behavior, teacher’s enthusiasm and a goodrelationship with the students

Firstly, appropriate teacher behavior in classroom is very important It isconsidered a powerful “motivational tool” Alison (1993) stated that teacher’sbehavior could “persuade” or “attract” students to engage in on- task behaviors(cited in Dornyei 2001: 120) The teacher should be a patient, encouraging personwho supports students’ learning efforts Students should feel comfortable takingintellectual risks because they know that they will not be embarrassed or criticized

if they make a mistake

Secondly, teacher’s good relationship with the student is also a key element ofmotivation in student learning The teacher should establish the relationship ofmutual trust and respect with students This relationship also involves findingopportunities to talk with them on a personal level and letting them know thatteachers have thought about them and that their individual effort is recognized.The third factor is teacher’s enthusiasm Csikzentmihalyi (1997) said thatteachers needed to be ‘enthused and involved in the teaching process and in thematerial they are teaching’ Csikzentmihalyi also points out that enthusiasticteachers are the ones who love what they are doing, who show by their dedicationand their passion that make students willing to pursue knowledge

The last factor is teacher’s commitment to the students’ academic progress.Teachers should care for what their students have learnt and succeeded (Dornyei,2001) They should also offer concrete assistant, responding immediately when help

is requested, correcting tests, arranging extra- assignments and so on

In short, teacher’s attitude, behavior as well as the general level of theircommitment towards the students, their learning and their subject matter, constitutesome of the most prevailing influences on student motivation Dornyei says that

‘teachers are the designated leaders of the class group’ and therefore, they cannotlack their responsibility for maintaining their own commitment to the teachingprocess because the lack of this responsibility will cause ‘psychological absence’from teaching process, which is the fastest way to undermine the motivational base

of the learners

2.4.1.3 Teaching and Learning conditions :

Teaching and learning condition involves classroom atmosphere and physicalcondition A pleasant and supportive classroom atmosphere will create motivation;

it encourages students to express their opinions and thinking MacIntyre (1999) andYoung (1999) pointed out that students’ anxiety created by a tense classroomclimate was one of the most potent factors that undermined learning effectivenessand L2 motivation

Physical conditions are important, too Physical conditions refer to something

in classroom such as classroom’s size, classroom’s facilities (chairs, desks, tables,electric facilities…) Hammer (1992) stated that physical conditions had greatimpact on students’ learning as well as their attitude towards the subject matter.Physical condition affects both teacher and students’ motivation The large class,the poor facilities will decrease the relationship between teacher and students, and

as a result, will decrease motivation

2.4.2 Factors influencing students’ attitude

Learning process is regarded as a positive change in the individual’spersonality in terms of the emotional, psychomotor (behavioral) as well as cognitivedomains, since when one has learned a specific subject, he/she is supposed to thinkand behave in a different manner and one’s beliefs have been distinguished (Kara,2009) Furthermore, learning process has social as well as psychological aspectsbesides the cognitive approach Attitude concept can be viewed from these threedimensions Each one of these dimensions has different features to bring outlanguage attitude results Accordingly, the attitude concept has three componentsi.e., behavioral, cognitive and affective These three attitudinal aspects are based onthe three theoretical approaches of behaviorism, cognitivism and humanismrespectively In the following, the three aspects of attitude concept i.e., behavioral,cognitive, and emotional aspects are briefly described

 Influenced by Behavioral Aspect:

The behavioral aspect of attitude deals with the way one behaves and reacts inparticular situations In fact, the successful language learning enhances the learners

to identify themselves with the native speakers of that language and acquire or

adopt various aspects of behaviors which characterize the members of the targetlanguage community Kara (2009) stated that, “Positive attitudes lead to the exhibition of positive behaviors towards courses of study, with participants absorbing themselves in courses and striving to learn more Such students are also observed to be more eager to solve problems, to acquire the information and skills useful for daily life and to engage themselves emotionally.”

 Influenced by Cognition Attitude :

This aspect of attitude involves the beliefs of the language learners about theknowledge that they receive and their understanding in the process of languagelearning The cognitive attitude can be classified into four steps of connecting theprevious knowledge and the new one, creating new knowledge, checking newknowledge, and applying the new knowledge in many situations.

 Influenced by Emotion :

Feng and Chen (2009) stated that, “Learning process is an emotional process.

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 orsurrounding situations It is agreed that the inner feelings and emotions of learnersinfluence their perspectives and their attitudes towards the target language (Choy &Troudi, 2006)

2.5 Strategies of Motivation and Attitude

2.5.1 Strategites of motivation :

Motivational strategies of English language learning are many; their main goal

is the help the learner to acquire the English language as well as to facilitate itsapplication in the field of study and work Those strategies can be summarized asfollows:

Stay Active: this means that our bodies adapt what we do and how we live If

we don’t do any effort into life, our body stays static, but if we are active then ourbody wants to achieve more activities

Hang around with Motivated People: here you may have heard the

statement of “your income is the average of the 5 people you spend the most time

with” This brings up a powerful point which can be applied to nearly every aspect

of life

Have a Goal: sometimes it can be hard to do things that seem boring,

difficult, or complicated It is so easy to put them off until tomorrow instead ofdealing with them now One way to deal with this is to start creating your plan inlife and have a goal

Let Others Know Your Goal: we all want to appear smart, talented, and

clever in front of other people Nobody wants to show his failure Letting otherpeople know what your goal is, is really a way that you can use this basic human

principal to your advantage

Read Motivational Quotes: one more thing you can do is reading

motivational quotes about life This act can inspire you and get you ready to takeaction

Do the Hardest Thing First: sometimes we ignore some things simply

because we do not want to do the hardest thing in our life When we havesomething that we just don’t want to do all of these motivational strategies can goout the window

Make it Fun: no matter if you do something fun; after all if we enjoy what

we are doing it is a whole lot easier to keep doing it

Realize That We All Have Bumps in The Road: Everybody hits bumps in

the road The greater your goals are the bigger those bumps will be, but thesebumps do not have to defeat you In order to be successful you have to realize thatbumps in the road will not stop you from reaching your goals as long as you aremotivated enough to keep pushing forward and doing what you can to achievethose goals

Read Motivational Quotes: one more thing you can do is reading

motivational quotes about life This act can inspire you and get you ready to takeaction

2.5.2 Strategites of attitude

Attitudes are generally composed of three major models; these are cognitive,affective, and behavioural Cognitive refers to a person’s own beliefs and ideas

about something; affective represents our feelings or emotions towards something;while behavioural means the attendance to behave in certain ways towardssomething This paper also provides a particular overview on the key issuesconcerning the use of language learning strategies in second and foreign languagelearning and teaching Weinstein and Mayer (1986) define learning strategiesbroadly as "behaviours and thoughts that a learner engages in during learning"which are "intended to influence the learner's encoding process" Later; Mayer(1988)refers to: "behaviours of a learner that are intended to influence how thelearner processes information".Many definitions and meanings are given tolanguage learning strategies Tarone (1983) defined a learning strategy as: "anattempt to develop linguistic and sociolinguistic competence in the target language to incorporate these into one's interlanguage competence" Rubin (1987) suggeststhat Learning strategies "are strategies which contribute to the development of thelanguage system which the learner constructs and affect learning directly".O'Malley and Chamot (1990) defined Learning Strategies as "the special thoughts

or behaviours that individuals use to help them comprehend, learn, or retain newinformation" Oxford dictionary (1990)views that language learning strategies arethe specific actions, behaviours, steps, or techniques that students (oftenintentionally) use to improve their progress in developing language skills

These strategies can facilitate the internalization, storage, retrieval, or use ofthe new language Strategies are tools for the self-directed involvement necessaryfor developing communicative ability At the same time, we should note thatlearning language strategies are distinct from learning styles, which refer morebroadly to a learner's "natural, habitual, and preferred ways of absorbing,processing, and retaining new information and skills LLS has therefore animportant role in enhancing language learning and it help to develop languagecompetence, as reflected in the learner's skills in listening, speaking, reading, orwriting the L2 or FL Cohen (1990) insists that only conscious strategies are LLS,and that there must be a choice involved on the part of the learner Transfer of astrategy from one language or language skill to another is a related goal of LLS, asPearson (1988) and Skehan (1989) have discussed