Learning factors in a foreign-language classroom context
Main Article Content
Keywords
Attitudes, classroom anxiety, language learning, motivation
Abstract
Evidence suggests that motivation is one of the learning factors that has a considerable impact not only on learners’ attitudes to the language but also classroom anxiety at different levels. The present study investigates the factors that influence in EFL language learning, the research adapted a survey-based questionnaire from Gardner’s (1985) Attitude Motivation Test Battery –AMTB. It identified attitudes towards English language and learning situation, motivation (intrinsic and extrinsic) and classroom anxiety of 295 EFL language learners from the Language Center of Technical University of Cotopaxi, Ecuador, 160 were females and 135 males. Data analysis performed using SPSS software revealed that most of the learners, irrespective of their gender showed positive attitude to English language and its learning. The findings also highlighted a highly significant degree of intrinsic motivation to the target language compared the extrinsic outcomes. Moreover, EFL learners showed to have language anxiety in classrooms, which may vary from learner to learner, and in all cases of surveyed questionnaire, females indicated to be more self-confident than males.
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Rodrigo Tovar Viera, Technical University of Cotopaxi
Assistant professor at Dept. of English Education, English Major.Technical University of Cotopaxi, EcuadorPhD candidate in Applied Linguistics at University of Szeged, Hungary.