Abstract
Motivational factors and experiences have the potential to
influence students’ attitudes and anxiety levels towards English
language learning. Recognizing the importance and multi-dimensional
complexities of motivational attitudes and anxiety, this mini-research
study attempts to investigate gender wise students’ attitudes,
motivation and anxiety towards the learning of English as a second
language in the multilingual context of Karachi, Pakistan. The study
adapts a survey questionnaire from Gardner’s ‘Attitude Motivation Test
Battery,’ to explore attitudes (English language and learning),
motivations (intrinsic and extrinsic) and classroom anxiety of grade 8th
students in a private secondary school. The survey findings of 77
students (40 males and 37 females) highlight that students have
affirmative attitudes and high level of enthusiasm towards English
language and its learning. The findings also illustrate a higher degree of
extrinsic motivational goals attached to the student’s language learning
outcomes and future achievements comparable to intrinsic ones,
irrespective of the gender. Overall, the results emphasize girls to have a
slightly higher degree of positive attitudes and motivation comparable
to the boys. The overall classroom anxiety demonstrates student’s
moderate responses with relatively high standard deviation,
highlighting that anxiety levels vary from student to student. The study
concludes with educational implications and limitations.
Meenas Shams. (2008) Students’ Attitudes, Motivation and Anxiety towards English Language Learning, Journal of Research and Reflections in Education, Volume 2, Issue 2.
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