Abstract
English is
now considered as global language, and with every single day its users are
increasing numerously. The paper aims to investigate the international
students’ attitudes towards English language focusing on a case of
International students’ in India. As the central university, The
English and Foreign Lnguages (EFL) University India has many international
students from
a wide range of countries. The
attitudes are in language skills and in other perspectives. Upon the
completion of the
collection of data,
these were analyzed, computed
and tabulated using
MS Excel.The study incorporates quantitative approach and has used
close ended questionnaire to collect data from the participants. A total number
of twenty students participated in the study. From the findings of the data, The research shows
that they had shown a
positive attitude towards
use of English
or an increase in
the use of
English. They believed that learning needs process. Motivation and
self-confidence are also main factors to master English comprehensively. They
also believe that EFL University is the best place in India to study English
intensively
Keywords: attitudes,
international students, english
Introduction
English becomes one of the most
needed languages in this globalization
era to support
our life in
order not to
be left behind
from other countries. It has
important role since most of the information resources are in English. It has
been learned and considered as the first foreign language used in
every aspect of
modern life such
as education, politics,
economics, and science. There are about 430
million non-native
English speakers, whereas
native speakers are 330 million,
excluding those who are learning English language (Crystal, 2003).
Bottery (2000) claims that globalization
is mostly associated
with English Language supremacy. As
English is becoming more and more global language, it’s becoming more and more
associated with academic achievements
for the students in any field. Blumental (1994: 11) states that language is the
principal means we have to get our ideas and feeling across the other. In
spoken language we do not rely on words alone and watch people
as they talk, note the
gestures, the changing expression, and
the tone of
the voice. In addition, most of
the world’s language learners study English in order to be able to communicate
fluently.
English is one of the knowledge
that is important to learn for people all over the world. One of the most
important parts is that English functions as the instrument of communication. This suggests that learning English is not only learning
the vocabulary and structure but also learning how to apply and use this
language for communication. As an international
language, English is very important and has many interrelationships with
various aspects of the life human beings. Learning English covers four skills:
reading, listening, speaking and
writing. All of the skills are learned in order to achieve integrated skill. When
someone was born, he learns how to speak, and speaking can make him to
communicate or contact with other person (Yorkey, 1990). Speaking is important
to learn especially for students of Junior High School to enrich their
vocabulary. Besides that, by mastering speaking they get experience and
knowledge from many kinds of media communication that related to English. For
instance, they can get knowledge from the movie, internet, newspaper, and
magazines. The factors that influences someone’s ability in speaking are
knowledge of language systems include grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, and
the knowledge of topic discussion. Bi-/multilingualism allows people
to grow up with
access to two or
more languages and this allows people
to show different
attitudes towards languages.
Language Attitude
Attitude is a
central part of human identity. Everyday people love, hate, like, dislike,
favour, oppose, agree, disagree, argue, persuade etc. All these are evaluative
responses to an object. Hence attitudes can be defined as a summary evaluation
of an object of thought (Bohner & Wänke, 2002). They are inclinations and
predispositions that guide an individual’s behaviour (Rubinstein, 1986) and
persuade to an action that can be evaluated as either positive or negative
(Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975). Attitudes develop and change with time
(Rubinstein, 1986). There are various definitions of the word attitude given by
previous researchers. Attitude studies are important to acquire personal
feedbacks on a phenomenon. According to Anderson (1994), there are five
components in attitude which are emotion, goal, direction, strength and
consistency. Each attitude component is divided into positive, neutral and
negative. From psychological point of view, attitude is viewed as a mental
condition that exists in a person, shaped through experience and will influence
a person’s reaction towards an object or related phenomenon. Attitude is
processed through learning and implicit in nature (Tay Meng Guan, 2003)
Regarding with
attitude study, Gardner Proposed that attitude is the overall feelings of a
person towards any particular thing (Gardner, 1980). Attitude of a person is
positive or of negative attributes to anything (Ajzan, 1988). Baker defined
attitudes as a person persistent way of behaving in particular way (Baker,
1992). Gardner proposed that attitude is an important element in language
learning (Gardner, 1985). Meanwhile, Wenden (1991) gives a new dimension to
attitude concept by dividing into three elements, namely: cognitive, evaluative
and behavioral which all works together. The concept has the same model of
Attitude proposed by Eagly & Chaiken (1993), attitudes are influenced by
three components. They are cognitive (beliefs, thoughts, attributes), affective
(feelings, emotions) and behavioural information (past events, experiences) (G.
Maio, G. R. Maio, & Haddock, 2010). Bernat and Gvozdenko while discussing
social factors upon language learning, place attitude with them for having its
effect on language learning (Bernat, E. and Gvozdenko, I, 2005). Csizer and
Donyei draw same conclusion in their research and place attitude at an
important position for language learning (Csizer, K and Dornyei, Z, 2005).
Attitude defines or promotes
certain behaviors and explains their direction and persistence. It is a convenient and
efficient way of explaining consistent patterns in behaviour.
It often manages
to summarize, explain
and predict behaviour
(Baker, 1992). Attitudes, according
to Crystal (1997:
215), are the
feelings people have
about their own language
or the languages
of others. Allport (1935) defines,“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” (cited in Baker, 1992:11).
Thus, attitude to language is
a construct that
explains linguistic behaviour in particular. The evaluation that a particular
language is harsh,
sweet, difficult, easy, international, local, prestigious or vernacular is due to the variation of attitudes
towards the language. Therefore, attitude change is an
important notion since attitudes are affected
by experience. There may be both positive
and negative feelings attached to
a language. The major dimensions along which views about
languages can vary are ‘social statuses’ and ‘group solidarity’ (Hohenthal,
2003). Baker (1992: 11)
quotes Ajzen (1988) who says,
attitude is ‘a disposition to
respond favourably or unfavourably
to an object,
person, institution, or
event’. It means
that if a speech
community shows their
unfavourablity to a
particular language, that
language is unlikely to survive and
vice-versa. Another researcher proposes attitude
is one of the key elements for learning language (Karahan,
2007), (Starks, D., & Paltridge, B., 1996). It is a variable thing and
it can be changed governing to many external as well internal personality
factors of
a person.
After the British left India, even than people of the sub-continent and
particularly in Pakistan do not want to study English as they
considered English language learning as a mark of slavery. But
this attitude about English language learning is now changed as English has acquired a
status of global
language (Bamgbose, 2001).
Language attitudes vary in nature. People show attitudes of
varying nature such as attitude to the
variation of language;
attitude to minority
language and dominant
language; attitude to foreign
and second language;
attitude to a
specific language etc.
Whatever the nature
of attitude, it has
two components: instrumental
and integrative (Baker,
1992). Instrumental attitude refers
to showing attitude
to a particular
language for self-achievement and recognition. As
Hohenthal (2003) reports
that attitude to
English in India
is instrumental: English is
perceived as a useful language to know mostly because of job opportunities and
for education. People favour a
particular language when they
find that the language is a
tool to achieve high
status, economic advantage,
basic security and
survival and matters
related to self-orientation.
Integrative attitude, on the other hand, concerns someone’s attachment with a
particular speech community. People show such attitude in order to be
identified as a member of the desired
community. Instrumental and
integrative orientation to
language attitudes are not
necessarily opposite and
alternatives, rather
complementary to each other. A
person may be motivated
in different strengths
by both orientations
(Baker, 1992).
The problem can be formulated as what
is the attitude of
the International students of English
and Foreign languages (EFL) University, India towards English
? Also
this study
finds it
relevant to investigate
attitudes of the International students of English and
Foreign languages (EFL) University towards English
that consists of Listening and Speaking; and
Reading and Writing. The
objectives of the study is to
know the attitude of
the International students of English
and Foreign languages (EFL) University towards
English language and to describe attitudes
of the International students of English
and Foreign languages (EFL) University towards English
that consists of Listening and Speaking; and
Reading and Writing. Attitude has been
studied from various
perspectives with reference
to a number of languages in a variety of settings
such as attitude towards mother
tongue; attitude towards a second
or foreign language;
attitude towards national
language; attitude towards varieties of
languages; attitude towards
language in education
policy; relationship between attitudes and
motivation; the relationship
between attitudes and
learning strategies; the relationship between
attitudes and level
of achievement.
EFL University
Profile
The English and Foreign Languages
University is located in Hyderabad, an Indian city that is more than four
hundred years old. Founded in 1958 as the Central Institute of English (CIE),
it was renamed the Central Institute of English and Foreign Languages (CIEFL)
in 1972 with the addition of three major foreign languages. In 2006 it was
given central university status and accordingly came to be called the English
and Foreign Languages University. Dedicated to the study of English and foreign
languages, it is the only one of its kind in South Asia. It has been specially
set up to conduct advanced research and training in English and foreign
languages (Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Russian,
Japanese, Korean, Persian, Turkish) in the areas of Teacher Education,
Literature, Linguistics, Interdisciplinary and Cultural Studies.
The English and Foreign Languages University was founded
with the singular vision of developing competency building teacher education
and training in the country.The mandate of the University is to advance and
disseminate “instructional,
research and extension facilities in the teaching of English and Foreign
Languages and Literatures in India” as well as “to take appropriate measures for
interdisciplinary studies and research in literary and cultural studies, and to
develop critical intercultural understanding of civilizations”. With its
unique mandate to build teacher competency in language and literary pedagogy,
the university has steadily enhanced its expertise in areas of language
education, pedagogical and evaluative methods, material production, the
sciences of linguistics and phonetics, in English and Foreign Languages. Three
generations of teachers from primary to tertiary levels from across the country
and abroad were trained at CIEFL/EFLU. The University has two regional centres
— one each at Lucknowand Shillong, to cater for the needs of the students of
the Northern and North-eastern regions respectively. The regional centres run
their own programmes andcourses of study. They have their own libraries and
hostel facilities.
Participants’
profile
The researcher observed twenty international students at EFL
University. They were
mostly at the first year or fresher. International students are the students
from various countries outside India. At the EFL University they can meet their
highest expectations and the university provides them with all the support
services necessary to ensure that they have a rewarding experience, both
academically and socially. They come from a wide range of countries such as Indonesia, Oman, Turkmenistan, Syiria, China, Bhutan, Afghanistan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Yemen, Eritrea, Bhutan, Turkey, Iraq, Nepal, Bangladesh and other countries. The respondents are
eleven male students and nine female students.
Methodology
This is a quantitative
study which explores International Students’ Attitudes towards English at EFL
University. Quantitative approach is one in which the investigator primarily
uses post positivist claims for developing knowledge (i.e, cause and effect
thinking, reduction to specific variables and hypotheses and questions, use of
instrument and observation, the test theories), employs strategies of inquiry
such as experiments and surveys and collects data on predetermined instruments
that yield satistical data (Creswell 2003). Survey entails the collection of
data by using questionnaire to discover the opinions of a population, based on
a sample of the population (creswell, 2009). Moreover there are many techniques
used to collect data which include interviews, telephone calls, and observation
(tharenou, Donohue & cooper, 2007).
A popular method of
collecting data for surveys is using likert scales, these are used for
measuring attitudes which require respondents to choose a statement from a
number of statements that range from ‘strongly agree’ to ‘strongly disagree’
(zikmund, 2003; saunders, lewis & Thornhill 2007). The respondent usually
choses a response from a set of five statements where each response is assigned
a weight which allows the researcher to perform statistical analysis (zikmund,
2003). The choice that the respondent makes means means that they agree with
the statements they have chosen which allows them to express their feelings
(zikmund, 2003).
The researcher used
a likert scale that adopted a 5 point scale for his study, instead of a 7 point
likert scale because 5 point scales reduce the level of frustation among
respondents, and increases the rate and quality of the responses (Buttle, 1996;
prayag, 2007). A likert scale was used
in this study which asked international students to best describe the way they
feel about English as: 1 strongly agree, 2 agree, 3 neutral; 4 strongly
disagree, 5 disagree. Likert scales require
the respondent to state the extent to which they agree or disagree with a
series of statements about the attitude object. Each response is given a score
and the item scores are summed to produce an overall score that indicates the
respondent’s attitude.
The data were collected by the
researcher himself from all the
participants, monitoring and guiding the participants for correct filling of the
questionnaire. Participants were selected from different countries and different study program,
so as to represent
the data equally. The study does not
utilize gender
base discrimination as well and both male/female genders have equal
value in the study. After collecting
the data, ms
excel is being utilized to interpret
the data, after interpretation of data, its frequencies were also
measured. Table presentation
of the results of the findings
is incorporated.
Findings and Discussion
The
following sections discuss the findings. It includes
a description of the
demographic profile of
the respondents followed
by a discussion
on the International
Students’ Attitudes towards English at EFL University. The result is divided
into three parts. They are Student’s attitudes towards Listening
and Speaking, Student’s
attitudes towards Reading and Writing, and Student’s attitudes from various
perspectives. Respondents’ attitudes
towards English language
were obtained through
the use of
a five-point Likert
scale questionnaire with
5= strongly agree
(SA), 4 = agree
(A), 3 = neutral
(N), 2 =disagree (DA),
and 1 = strongly
disagree (SDA). The researcher
gave 20 statements which consist of attitudes towards L&S, R&W, and
other perspectives.
Student’s attitudes towards Listening and Speaking
Listening and speaking are very
important in communication. Based on the nature of language, we can see that
children acquire language from the stage of listening then speaking. In this
result, Student’s
attitudes towards Listening and Speaking will be the
first discussion. The
respondents were asked to provide their opinion on six statements regarding
their attitudes
towards Listening and Speaking. Among
the statements, the
first four statements
elicited respondents’ perception
and impression about English L&S which is
shown in table 1
below. 60% respondents
strongly agreed and 40%of them agreed that Speaking English is an advantage.
50% respondents strongly
disagreed and 45% of them
disagreed and 5% is neutral in
giving statement that I dislike people who speak to me in English.
In the question When
someone speaks English I think he/she is educated ( both agreed and neutral were same 35%, 25% disagreed, and 5% strongly agreed). Dealing with campus life, 50% respondents
strongly agreed and 45% of them agreed and 5%
is disagreed in giving statement that making friends with international students at EFLU will increase
students’ speaking skill in English. A majority
of the
respondents (15% strongly agreed and
75% agreed) and only 5% neutral,
and 5% disagreed opined that there
should be more TV
and radio programs
in English. Then, 50% agreed, 10% strongly agreed, and 40% neutral)
stated that When
someone speaks English it creates a good impression for him/her.
Thus, it can apparently
be said that
the respondents have
positive attitude towards
Listening and Speaking.
Table.1
NO
|
QUESTIONS
|
SA
|
A
|
N
|
DA
|
SDA
|
|
1
|
Speaking
English is an advantage
|
60%
|
40%
|
0%
|
0%
|
0%
|
100%
|
2
|
I dislike
people who speak to me in English
|
0%
|
0%
|
5%
|
45%
|
50%
|
100%
|
3
|
When someone
speaks English I think he/she is educated
|
5%
|
35%
|
35%
|
25%
|
0%
|
100%
|
4
|
Making
friends with international students at EFLU will increase students’ speaking
skill in English
|
50%
|
45%
|
0%
|
5%
|
0%
|
100%
|
5
|
There should
be more TV and radio programs in English
|
15%
|
75%
|
5%
|
5%
|
0%
|
100%
|
6
|
When someone
speaks English it creates a good impression for him/her
|
10%
|
50%
|
40%
|
0%
|
0%
|
100%
|
Student’s attitudes towards Reading and Writing
Other aspects in mastering language
are Reading and Writing. The respondents were asked to provide their opinion on
six statements regarding their attitudes towards Reading
and writing. Among the
statements, the first
four statements elicited
respondents’ perception and
impression about English R&W which
is shown in
table 2 below. In media
domain, the respondents
opined (35% neutral, 30% agreed,
15% strongly agreed, and 20% disagreed) that all official documents should be
in English. In developing students’ competence, the respondents opined (55%
agreed, 35% strongly agreed, and 10% neutral) that Making an English Diary can Improve
Students’ writing skill in English. Then the researcher gave the statements
If an
academic text is available in English,
I will enjoy reading
the text, the result was 60% agreed, 10%
strongly agreed, 25% neutral, and 5% disagreed. Then, given the statement Only
English must be
used in advertisements, public
signs, map etc, the result was 15%
agreed, 35% neutral, and 40% disagreed, and 10% strongly disagreed. As the
emphasizing, 15% of the
respondents strongly agreed, 55%
of them agreed, 25% neutral, 5% disagreed with the statement
that English should
be used in
advertisements, public signs,
map etc. They also
gave their responses
with almost similar percentage
of frequency (25%
of the respondents
strongly agreed, 55% of
them agreed, 15% neutral, 5%
disagreed) that they liked to read more newspapers and magazines in English (e.g. The times of India, Deccan
chronicle, The Hindu, The Hans India, etc).
This pattern
of choice indicates that though
the respondents had
shown a positive
attitude towards use
of English or an
increase in the
use of English
in media and also developing the
students’ ability both reading and writing.
Table.2
NO
|
QUESTIONS
|
SA
|
A
|
N
|
DA
|
SDA
|
|
7
|
All official
documents should be
in English
|
15%
|
30%
|
35%
|
20%
|
0%
|
100%
|
8
|
Making an
English Diary can Improve Students’ writing skill in English
|
35%
|
55%
|
10%
|
0%
|
0%
|
100%
|
9
|
If an
academic text is
available in English, I
will enjoy reading the text
|
10%
|
60%
|
25%
|
5%
|
0%
|
100%
|
10
|
Only English
must be used in advertisements, public
signs, map etc
|
0%
|
15%
|
35%
|
40%
|
10%
|
100%
|
11
|
English should
be used in advertisements, public
signs, road signs, map etc
|
15%
|
55%
|
25%
|
5%
|
0%
|
100%
|
12
|
I would
like to read
more Indian newspapers and magazines
in English (e.g. The times of
India, Deccan chronicle, The Hindu, The Hans India, etc)
|
25%
|
55%
|
15%
|
5%
|
0%
|
100%
|
Student’s
attitudes from various perspectives
Another
result to discuss is Student’s attitudes from various perspectives. In this
section, the statements were about the students’ motivation and dealing with
their future. The respondents were asked to provide their opinion on eight
statements regarding their attitudes from various perspectives. Among the
statements, the first
four statements elicited
respondents’ perception and impression about English and their
responses about liking and disliking of English language which is
shown in table 3
below. 70% respondents strongly
agreed and 30%
of them agreed that
they like speaking
English. Then, respondents’ opinion on global status and importance of
English language which is shown in
table 3. Most of
the respondents (40%
strongly agreed, 55% agreed, and
5% disagreed) opined that English is an important lingua franca in globalization.
They also reported with commendable percentage (20% strongly agreed, 70%
agreed, and 10% neutral) that it is needed to increase the use of English in
this era of globalization. It is apparent from the data of the
table that the
respondents recognize the
global status and
importance of English language in
this era of
globalization and global
communication network. This is indeed an expression of positive
attitudes of the respondents towards English language. The respondents also believe in process that
Language is Habit (35% strongly agreed, 60% agreed, and 5% neutral). They also
opined (45% strongly agreed, 50% agreed, and 5% disagreed) that knowledge of
English offers advantages in seeking good
jobs. It can be seen
from the responses
of the respondents, they realized
that knowledge of English offers advantages in this era of globalization
when getting a good job, securing a better social position and personal
establishment is very competitive. the
majority of the
respondents (30% strongly
agreed, 65% agreed, 5%disagreed) reported
that they need English
in order to
succeed in higher
education. What is apparent from table 3 is that the respondents have a
positive attitude towards English language as they are inclined to the increase
use of English language in education domain. Besides, they stated that
Motivation and self-confidence are main factors to master English
comprehensively (35% strongly agreed and 65% agreed), so both of them are very important
for International students. Then the last is about studying more English both
at EFL University and in India, 30% respondents strongly agreed, 60% of them
agreed, 5% neutral, and 5% disagreed. So, it also indicates that EFL University
is the best place in India to study English intensively.
Table.3
NO
|
QUESTIONS
|
SA
|
A
|
N
|
DA
|
SDA
|
|
13
|
I like
speaking English
|
70%
|
30%
|
0%
|
0%
|
0%
|
100%
|
14
|
English is
an important lingua franca in globalization
|
40%
|
55%
|
0%
|
5%
|
0%
|
100%
|
15
|
Language is
habit, so Learning English needs process
|
35%
|
60%
|
5%
|
0%
|
0%
|
100%
|
16
|
We need
to increase the
use of English in this era of
globalization
|
20%
|
70%
|
10%
|
0%
|
0%
|
100%
|
17
|
Knowledge of
English offers advantages in
seeking good jobs and reaching better positions at company
|
45%
|
50%
|
0%
|
5%
|
0%
|
100%
|
18
|
I need
English in order
to succeed in higher education
|
30%
|
65%
|
0%
|
5%
|
0%
|
100%
|
19
|
Motivation
and self-confidence are main factors to master English comprehensively
|
35%
|
65%
|
0%
|
0%
|
0%
|
100%
|
20
|
I would like
to study more English both at EFLU and
in India
|
30%
|
60%
|
5%
|
5%
|
0%
|
100%
|
Conclusion
They are three parts of International
Students’ Attitudes towards English at EFL University. The first is Student’s attitudes towards Listening
and Speaking. The second is Student’s attitudes towards Reading
and Writing. The
last is Student’s
attitudes from various perspectives. Then, the
respondents had shown
a positive attitude
towards use of
English or an increase
in the use
of English in
media and also developing the students’ ability both reading and
writing. From
the data of the table
that the respondents
recognize the global
status and importance
of English language in
this era of
globalization and global
communication network. Then, the
respondents have a positive attitude towards English language as they are
inclined to the increase use of English language in education domain. They
stated that Motivation and self-confidence are main factors to master English
comprehensively. They also believe that EFL University is the best place in
India to study English intensively
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