Influence of psychosocial factors on attitude in learning English as a second language among rural school students

Students’ attitudes towards learning English as a second language is not a new issue. A lot of research have been done pertaining the factors leading to these attitudes. However, very little is known about how these factors actually affect the students’ attitudes through the lens of not only the students but also their parents, teachers, as well as the educational authorities. Using the social perspectives based on two theories (i.e., Spolsky’s (1989) Model of Second Language Learning and Gardner’s (1985) Second Language Acquisition Theory) as the research framework, this study examines Malaysia students’ attitudes towards learning English as a second language in one rural school in the country, involving 6 students from 3 different classes. Three questions were formulated to guide this study, namely: (i) What are rural secondary school students’ attitudes towards learning the English language?; (ii) What and how are the social and psychological factors influence rural secondary school students’ attitude towards learning the English language?; and (iii) How can positive attitudes be fostered for rural school students to learn the English language? Working within the tradition of descriptive and exploratory qualitative research, this study employed a case study approach. A rural school in a southern state in Malaysia was selected with 6 students from 3 different classes as the primary participants. These students were individually interviewed twice and were individually observed at least thrice during English lesson in the classrooms. The researcher also analyzed their learning materials (i.e. their notes, exercises and homework). To complement the data, the researcher also interviewed 6 parents (of the selected students), 3 English teachers from the school, and 3 prominent educational authorities (i.e., the school principal, the district’s SISC+ English teacher and the Head of Education District Office). All of the collected data were analyzed and triangulated. The data were coded and analyzed using thematic analysis. Results from the study showed that social and psychological factors have been found as significant factors affecting the students’ attitudes towards learning English as the second language in many ways. In term of psychological factors, students’ personality traits and their reactions to certain circumstances in their learning and personal lives have been found to be important factors leading them to have positive attitudes in learning English language. As for the social factors, the influence and support from the family is found to be an influentialfactor affecting students’ interest in learning English language. Based on the findings, a typology of the kinds of ESL learners was developed. Three types of students were identified from this research, namely; i) Independently Interested Learners, ii) Dependently Interested Learners, and iii) Uninterested Learners. The findings also suggest that in order to develop positive attitudes among secondary school English language learners, it is crucial for the teachers as well as the educational authorities to understand the types of students in order to deal with their attitude. Also, it is important to have good cooperation from the parents and the students themselves, in helping to make the students better ESL learners. As the researcher discusses rural secondary school students’ attitudes towards learning English in general and the attitudes of the students in this school in particular, the researcher also discusses the efforts that should be put forth in fostering positive attitudes among rural secondary school students in learning English as the second language, focusing on the parents’ support, the teachers’ instructional methods and psychology as well as the educational system and policies.

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