Analyzing Student’s Attitude towards Foreign Language Learning

                                 Analyzing Student’s Attitude towards Foreign Language Learning

 

Karwan Talaat Rashid¹ & Diman Salahaddin Jabbar²

Business and Management Department, Tishk International University, Erbil, Iraq

Email: [email protected]

Doi:10.23918/ijsses.v3i4p185

 

The study is dedicated to analyzing student’s attitude towards foreign language learning. In most of the countries, students are required to learn a foreign language. It may sometimes have its impacts on learners. The procedure of teaching a foreign language is, in turn, influenced by different factors, such as the applied methods and techniques, as well as educators, learners, inspirations, environment, and etc. The problem of the study accompanied with dimensions to resolve the Foreign language as an official language has its impact on Student’s Relations. Learning a Foreign language (FL) gives a good opportunity to students to learn the culture of another country. To learn a second language, students attitude towards foreign language differs according to gender. Furthermore, For the better understanding of different types of foreign languages and its empowerment to discover the solution to the research question, the following objectives should be taken into consideration: Knowing the different types of foreign language and how they affect the student’s performance, as well as measure the ability of their efficiency.

 

Foreign language is a non-domestic language to another country. The obtained language that not spoken in native country (Aida, 1994). A foreign language is the language not used in it own country of origin, as well as we can discover that in other countries. There are many people who can learn and speak more than one language except their native language, and it starts from birth or from a very early age.  It does not surprise us because generally children have an advantage to learn foreign language over adults and that’s called Bilingual. These can be said to have two, three, or more mother tongues, even if that language will be the foreign language for the majority of people in the child’s birth country. For example, learning foreign language can be called as superior ability, so now there is no doubt about benefits of speaking a foreign language .therefore, this research will investigate the relationship between native and foreign students as there is a relationship for those students who have the willingness to learn foreign language and their achievement (Saracaloglu, 2013).  At the beginning of using any foreign language, it will be somehow curious for the learner and may they take it difficult to use bilingual language, but they may notice that it has a very useful effect on their knowledge, even for learning the culture of the other country. Furthermore, speaking a foreign language assumes the functionality of your brain by challenging it to communicate in foreign language system conversation (Merritt, 2013). Psychologically speaking, it has been discovered that speaking more than one language (bilingual) is a great value to cognitive process, and the brain of bilingual people operate different than single-language speakers. The differences offer several rational benefits and you will be able to solving tasks as well. With having bilingual language you become more perceptive. Learning foreign languages will make you smarter, and here we realize the benefits of learning foreign languages because it is good for your career, helpful during your overseas trips, and good for your degree while it is not all our opinion. According to some measures, the most widely spoken language in the world is English (Hayakawa, 2016) while the other languages also have their own values. Acquiring two or more languages take your life to a new level. In today’s business commanded society being bilingual can only be an advantage and give you a competitive quality when you’re searching for a job. It, in deed, increases your chance of winning a professional position. By learning a second language you will be ineffable as you can easily bridge the culture gab between two countries. according to a writer, who writes about the influence of foreign language on students and their attitude, it is divided into two categories: priority factor which is an approach to the learners,  and other factors which are developing the leaning during this process. According to Gardiner speech in (1985) (Prosper, 2012), this idea reveals the ability to become proficient in foreign language is a skill and it takes you to the high level of oral and written proficiency (Siebenhar & Plageman, 1998).

 

In the review of other studies, knowing foreign language can help us to clarify our concept, our prospect, and even our tolerance. In foreign language learning there are several factors that influence the learning process. The factors are: mobilization, anxiety, encouragement, readiness, skillfulness, figures, and etc. (Abidin, 2012). Having or using foreign language at universities has its own effects but the good or bad effects are different from a student to another student, otherwise we have to have their idea because it will be initial step ,some of them see it as more difficult and others will define it as less difficult. Those having more difficulties usually blame lack of motivation ,but others will see it as a great attention that make students feel that using foreign language will help their success (Doganay & Yergaliyeva, 2013). It will also be an important point to both of teachers and to students to have a helpful approach for students’ proficiency level because it will be more difficult for student if they have limited information about foreign language and their proficiency (Fuller, 2009). Another useful step for students to be proficient in foreign language is to teach them grammar, however, some students would probably realize that this grammar is not necessary or sometime it is boring, but still they have to take it as a course. One more encouragement approach is to make them work in pairs and groups. (Guntzviller, Yale, & Jensen, 2016).

(Serraj, 2012) Learning or offered to learn second language will help you to learn your third language because it will open a new way for you to find the new opportunities, then you will notice that you achieved your new language and you are well satisfied with this and you will be proud of what you have achieved (Blaise, 2015). Theory of Foreign Language in United Kingdom Administration was established in 1992 under an agreement signed between both Ministry of Education Culture and the British Council. The main purpose of this project is to develop the four skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing (Lee, 2016) Meanwhile, it is a good idea to teach other languages to these people, because it is a way of learning about other cultures, especially because  they may never leave their communities (Lee, 2016) and for learners we may classify them toward their desire for leaning foreign language as its divided into groups such as a group that they have a strong desire to continue in their foreign language another group of students who in spite of their decision for getting FL but they are hesitant to their study. But one more group they totally want to take off altogether (Bekleyen, 2009). It shows  that students anxiously decide to follow the steps for knowing other languages even if they face difficulties. If we classify the number of FL students and if we compare it to the recent years, we will realize that it has increased to a high record by %7 comparing to the previous years. The three top countries that have the universal students are South Korea ,China, and India (Zacharias, 2012). Unlike native students, foreign language students, particularly those from none-English talking countries, probably faced difficulties by understanding courses and interacting with their lecturers due to rareness of their English proficiency (Xu, 1991). It shows that using foreign language developed from time to time. It is going to be known if we compare it with the previous years. There also is a close relationship between learning language and students attitude toward language because if they have this desire for getting bilingual language they will try their best. Additionally, students usually have positive and negative attitude toward foreign languages; they also investigate the relationship between skillfulness and attitude in foreign language and this is clear that attitude for students is as important as capability for language implementation (Seker, 2016). furthermore, students have the desire to take proficiency tests because of all specific advantages for instance opportunity to live in a foreign country or opportunity to find a job, so this student’s interest is useful to manage their proficiency. The teaching efficacy development is to enhance in classrooms, in researchers investigate might getting more studies depending on level of student’s characteristics; in order to learning style and performance with their second language expectation (Montrul, 2010).

 

The research has followed the methodology of exploratory research. The concept has been derived from the existing theories and bank of knowledge. The extensive study is presented in literature review mentioning all concepts very clearly. Furthermore, the new concept developed to study narrowing down the existing knowledge. The research further uses the concept of survey method to solve the problem observed during literature review. Research objectives formulated to reach the conclusion of the research. The study conducted using a self-prepared survey questionnaire having four variables of demography and twenty-two items of all other variables of the study. According to (Gargallo & Suárez Rodríguez, 2009), this questionnaire was distributed among students and interviews were conducted with teachers because the role of teachers in using foreign language is necessary. This might be the most common way to classify by gathering and analyzing, divided in quantitative and qualitative methods, the research deals with the numbers of students. The sample size selected for the study is 213 from different universities and different faculties. The simple random sampling method of non-probability sampling is taken for the selection among 219 of respondents. The rest of the participants are not used for data analysis because of the lack of information.

Table 4: One Sample T-test

Parameters	Test Value – 3
	Mean	Std. Deviation	t	Sig. (2-tailed)
Studying foreign language is important because it makes me skillful	3.7230	1.04759	10.073	.000
Learning a foreign language will help me to get other subjects as well	3.8826	1.16162	11.089	.000
I feel upset when I communicate in foreign language with others	3.2019	1.03778	2.839	.005
Studying foreign language helps me to have a good relationship with other natives	3.2582	1.04339	3.612	.000
When I study foreign language, I acquire more knowledge	3.4554	1.04797	6.342	.000
Studying foreign language like my native language is enjoyable	3.2676	1.15282	3.388	.001
When I hear someone who speaks a foreign language, I like to practice speaking with her/him	3.3192	1.04225	4.470	.000
Speaking a foreign language makes me have a good feeling	3.4272	1.10770	5.629	.000
I prefer Studying my mother tongue more than a foreign language	3.8451	1.21292	10.168	.000
Speaking a foreign language makes me to have more confidence to express my feelings	3.5681	1.19406	6.943	.000
Sometimes it makes me to improve my personality	3.8592	1.01353	12.372	.000
Using foreign language makes me to seek for a new knowledge	3.6338	1.11473	8.298	.000
Honestly, I study foreign language just to pass	3.6526	1.21370	7.847	.000
I enjoy a lot when I communicate in a foreign language	3.3380	1.21248	4.069	.000
I don’t like Studying foreign languages	3.7887	.90983	12.652	.000
I feel embarrassed to speak in a foreign language	3.7700	1.06339	10.567	.000
I wish I could speak more than one foreign language	3.3052	1.16385	3.827	.000
I wish I had many foreign friends in order to learn their language	3.2254	1.16389	2.826	.005
I don’t fell satisfied with my performance in FL	3.5305	1.05296	7.353	.000
Foreign language doesn’t have any impact on me	3.4272	1.08184	5.764	.000
Speaking FL is as important as my mother tongue	3.5023	1.13114	6.482	.000
I will practice with foreign language as my native language	3.4319	1.29269	4.876	.000

 

 

Findings and Conclusion

As shown in the above table, the 22 questions are checked for its acceptance in the study. All 22 questions are well accepted while being very significant in the outcome of the study. The twenty two questions are presented consecutively as: studying foreign language is important because it makes me skillful; Learning a foreign language will help me to get other subjects as well; I feel upset when I communicate in a foreign language with others; Studying foreign language helps me to have a good relationship with other natives; When I study foreign language I get more knowledge; Studying foreign languages like my native language is enjoyable; When I hear someone who speaks foreign language, I like to practice speaking with her/him; speaking foreign language makes me have a good feelings; I prefer Studying my mother tongue more than foreign language; Speaking a foreign language makes me have more confidence to express my feelings; Sometime it makes me to improve my personality; Using foreign language makes me to get new knowledge; Honestly ,I study foreign language just to pass; I enjoy a lot when I communicate in a foreign language; I don’t like Studying foreign languages; I feel embarrassed to speak in foreign language; I wish I could speak more than one foreign language; I wish I had many foreign friends in order to learn their language; I don’t fell satisfied with my performance in FL language; Foreign language doesn’t have any impact on me; Knowing FL is as important as my mother tongue; and I will practice foreign language as my native language. The third, sixth and the eighteenth questions are not fully significant but close to 100%. The rest all are 100% accepted having the significant level of .000. The research question resolves having the analysis of the questions where it is having the answers for all research questions and fulfilling all objectives defined earlier in the study.

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