Students' motivation and attitude towards English

Abstract

This research intends to identify the level of secondary school students’ motivation and attitude towards English. The study involved six schools from three different areas which are urban, suburban and rural areas. A total of 240 students were selected to be the respondents for this study. However, only 192 respondents gave their full commitment in this study. The data was gathered using questionnaires consisting of 3 parts namely Part A (Demography), Part B (Motivation towards English) and Part C (Attitudes towards English). The collected data was then analyzed thoroughly by means of descriptive statistics (mean and percentage) and inferential statistics (ANOVA and Pearson Correlation). Generally, the findings show high level of motivation towards English but medium level of attitudes towards English. The findings also unearthed that students from different school areas have different level of motivation and attitude towards English. The findings also made it clear that there is a difference in students’ level of motivation and attitude towards English based on ethnicities. In addition, this study finds that there is a strong relationship between students’ motivation and attitude towards English. In this study, several suggestions have been made based on the findings and to ease future researchers.