The Global Trend?

Language Learning Attitudes of Selected

Public and Private Secondary English Teachers in the Philippines
Boyet L. Batang, PhD

and !o"ulo P. #illanueva $r., %AT

&
Section 'ead, Depart"ent of Languages, (ollege of Arts ) Sciences, *sabela State +niversity, (abagan, *sabela, Philippines
& Asst. Professor *#, Depart"ent of English, *nstitute of Arts ) Sciences, ,ar Eastern +niversity, %anila, Philippines
Introduction
So"e language-attitudes studies are strictly li"ited to attitudes to.ard
the language itself. 'o.ever, "ost often the concept of language attitudes
includes attitudes to.ards spea/ers of a particular language0 if the de1nition
is even further broadened, it can allo. all /inds of behavior concerning
language to be treated 2e.g. attitudes to.ard language "aintenance and
planning e3orts4 2,asold 5678 764.
Attitudes are crucial in language gro.th or decay, restoration or
destruction8 the status and i"portance of a language in society and .ithin an
individual derives largely fro" adopted or learnt attitudes. An attitude is
individual, but it has origins in collective behavior. Attitude is so"ething an
individual has .hich de1nes or pro"otes certain behaviors. Although an
attitude is a hypothetical psychological construct, it touches the reality of
language life. Ba/er 25664 stresses the i"portance of attitudes in the
discussion of bilingualis". Attitudes are learned predispositions, not
inherited, and are li/ely to be relatively stable0 they have a tendency to
persist. 'o.ever, attitudes are a3ected by e9perience0 thus, attitude change
is an i"portant notion in bilingualis". Attitudes vary fro" favorability to
unfavorability. Attitudes are co"ple9 constructs0 e.g. there "ay be both
positive and negative feelings attached to it, e.g. a language situation
2Ba/er ,566, pp. &- :4.
According to La"bert 25;<4, attitudes consist of three co"ponents8
the cognitive, a3ective and conative co"ponents 2Ditt"ar, 5<;, p. 64. The
cognitive co"ponent refers to an individual=s belief structure, the a3ective to
e"otional reactions and the conative co"ponent co"prehends the tendency
to behave in a certain .ay to.ards the attitude 2>ardner, 56:4.
The "a?or di"ensions along .hich vie.s about languages can vary are
social status and group solidarity. The distinction of standard@nonstandard
reAects the relative social status or po.er of the groups of spea/ers, and the
forces held responsible for vitality of a language can be contributed to the
solidarity value of it. Another di"ension, called ingroup solidarity or language
loyalty, reAects the social pressures to "aintain languages@language
varieties, even one .ithout social prestige 2Ed.ards, 56&, p. &B4.
,ish"an and Agheyisi 25<B4 have suggested that there is a "entalist
and behaviorist vie.point to language attitudes. According to the "entalist
vie., attitudes are a C"ental and neutral state of readiness .hich cannot be
observed directly, but "ust be inferred fro" the sub?ect=s introspectionC.
DiDculties arising fro" this vie.point include the Euestion that fro" .hat
data can attitudes be derived, and in .hat .ay are they Euanti1able.
According to behavioris", attitudes are a dependent variable that can be
statistically deter"ined by observing actual behavior in social situations. This
also causes proble"s0 it can be Euestioned .hether attitudes can be de1ned
entirely in ter"s of the observable data 2Ditt"ar, 5<;, p. 64.
,asold 25674 suggests that attitudes to.ard a language are often the
reAection of attitudes to.ards "e"bers of various ethnic groups 2p. 7648
people=s reactions to language varieties reveal "uch of their perception of
the spea/ers of these varieties 2Ed.ards, 56&, p. &B4.
%any studies have de"onstrated that ?udg"ents of the Euality and
prestige of language varieties depend on a /no.ledge of the social
connotations .hich they possess. Thus, for instance, the use of dialects and
accents .ould be e9pressions of social preference, .hich reAect an
a.areness of the status and prestige accorded to the spea/ers of these
varieties. A prestige standard for" of a language has no inherent aesthetic
or linguistic advantage over nonstandard varieties. The prestige is usually
the product of culture-bound stereotypes passed on fro" one generation to
the other 2Ed.ards, 56&, p. &4.
Le Page and Tabouret-Feller 256:4 stress the i"portance of the nature
of intergroup relations in the discussion of language attitudes and uses8 they
vary as the nature of intergroup relations changes. Ghen relations change,
status relationships, and therefore perceptions, attitudes and uses, change.
Spea/ers select their code fro" a variety of socially "ar/ed "odels. (hange
ta/es place .hen the social values of the "odels change and the behavior of
the speech co""unity also changes 2Le Page ) Tabouret-Feller, 56:, p.
<&4.
Ghen studying language attitudes, the concept of "otives is
i"portant. T.o basic "otives are called instru"ental and integrative "otives.
*f second language 2 L&4 acEuisition is considered as instru"ental, the
/no.ledge in a language is considered as a Cpassport to prestige and
successC. The spea/er@learner considers the spea/ing@learning of English as
functional 2Ellis, 55, p. <4. Hn the other hand, if a learner .ishes to
identify .ith the target co""unity0 to learn the language and the culture of
the spea/ers of that language in order to perhaps be able to beco"e a
"e"ber of the group, the "otivation is called integrative. *n generally,
research has proved the integrative "otivation to have been "ore bene1cial
for the learning of another language 2Loveday, 56&, p. <-64. Hn the other
hand, >ardner and La"bert 256:4, for instance, have found out that .here
the L& functions as a second language 2i.e. it is used .idely in the society4,
instru"ental "otivation see"s to be "ore e3ective. %oreover, "otivation
derived fro" a sense of acade"ic or co""unicative success is "ore li/ely to
"otivate one to spea/ a foreign@second language 2Ellis ,554.
According to (urtin 25<54, languages are functions of the culture and
environ"ent in .hich they have developed and cannot be treated in
isolation. Language teachers appreciate this but language learners do not.
They are therefore to be encouraged that success in language learning
depends upon the degree of to .hich they integrate the"selves .ith the
native environ"ent of the language, .hether they are learning or not.
Attitude can be de1ned as a set of beliefs developed in a due course of ti"e
in a given sociocultural setting. Although it necessarily so not deter"ine
behavior but can have so"e i"pact on it. *t is studied that positive attitude
facilitates learning. *f the learner is reluctant to learn or he@she does not have
a positive attitude, he@she does not produce any result. Language learning is
e3ected by the attitude and "otivation. %otivated, de"otivated and
"otivated students have di3erent perceptions of their class, teacher and
curriculu". Their perceptions are responsible to for their attitudes. An
individualIs perception of the class, perception of the teacher, peer group,
syllabus and his@her a.areness for future needs e3ect hi@her attitude to
language learning.
*n the study of %aha"er 2&BB74 language learning attitude is one of
the factors that a3ect the learning of the language. *n his study, he
atte"pted to identify language learning attitude and its relationship .ith
English Language pro1ciency a"ongst second language learner of English.
The 1nding indicates that the sub?ects have less favorable language learning
attitude as portrayed by the inclination of personality traits to.ards the less
favorable attitude Jones. This sho.s that language learning attitude does
inAuence the sub?ectsI perfor"ance in their English language e9a"ination as
pointed out by their 1nal English e9a"ination results at the end of the 1rst
se"ester of their fresh"an year cooperative learning strategies are
reco""ended in the English language activities conducted in the classroo"
as to i"prove the studentsI language learning attitude. The i"ple"entation
of these strategies in all four s/ills is in the ai" to i"prove studentsI
language learning attitude, .hich contribute to the enhance"ent of their
perfor"ance in the English language e9a"ination. To have a positive attitude
to.ards the language is a good start to learning the language. The .hole
learning process .ould be "uch easier, hence, the pre"ise of this paper.
Speci1cally, it atte"pts to ans.er the follo.ing Euestions. 24 Ghat is the
pro1le of secondary English teachers of the Kational (apital !egion in ter"s
of8 age, gender, degree, type of school, and years in service, and 2&4 Ghat
are the language learning attitudes of secondary English teachers of the
Kational (apital !egion?
The Organizational Information Theory
The HrganiJational *nfor"ation Theory as proposed by Douglas
%cgregor 25:74 argues that the "ain activity of organiJations is the process
of "a/ing sense of eEuivocal infor"ation. *n truth, organiJational "e"bers,
in this case, are secondary school teachers fro" public and private schools
can acco"plish this sense-"a/ing process through enact"ent, selection, and
retention of infor"ationL.hich is the learning attitude process.
Hn the other hand, as %cgregor posits, the focus on hu"an inAuences
in organiJations .as reAected "ost noticeably by the integration of Abraha"
%aslo.=s Chierarchy of hu"an needsC into organiJation theory. 'e said that
%aslo.=s theories introduced t.o i"portant i"plications into organiJation
theory.
. That people have di3erent needs and therefore need to be "otivated
by di3erent incentives to achieve organiJational ob?ectives.
&. %aslo.=s theories held that people=s needs change over ti"e, "eaning
that as the needs of people lo.er in the hierarchy are "et, ne. needs
arise.
These assu"ptions led to the recognition, for e9a"ple, that asse"bly-
line .or/ers could be "ore productive if "ore of their personal needs .ere
"et, .hereas past theories suggested that "onetary re.ards .ere the sole,
or pri"ary, "otivators.
Douglas %c>regor contrasted the organiJation theory that e"erged
during the "id-5BBs to previous vie.s. *n the 5:Bs, %c>regor o3ered his
reno.ned Theory M and Theory N to e9plain the di3erences. Theory M
enco"passed the old vie. of .or/ers, .hich held that e"ployees preferred
to be directed, .anted to avoid responsibility, and cherished 1nancial
security above all else.
This study supports the theory developed by %c>regor .ho believed
that organiJations that e"braced Theory N .ere generally "ore productive.
The theory, .hich held that hu"ans can learn to accept and see/
responsibility0 "ost people possess a high degree of i"aginative and
proble"-solving ability0 e"ployees are capable of e3ective self-direction0 and
that self-actualiJation is a"ong the "ost i"portant re.ards that
organiJations can provide its .or/ers.
Methodology
This study .as facilitated by a language learning attitude
Euestionnaire. Each of the areas of evaluation is geared to.ard one end of
the scale or the other. ,or instance, if the score is lo. in the Self-i"age
colu"n, this points to a lo. self-i"age in language learning, and thus, a
potential hurdle to overco"e. The higher the score is in the *nhibition, !is/-
ta/ing, and Ego Per"eability colu"ns, the "ore you tend to e9hibit those
traits, .hile the higher the score for the last colu"n 2Tolerance of A"biguity4,
the less it tends to e9hibit that trait. !espondents of the study consisted of
76 selected public and private high schools English teachers of the Kational
(apital !egion. They .ere participants to a Kational English Pro1ciency
Training sponsored by the (enter for English Language Studies of ,ar Eastern
+niversity, %anila in coordination .ith Phila"Life and the A"erican (ha"ber
of (o""erce.
Results and Discussion
Ghat is the pro1le of secondary English teachers of the Kational (apital
!egion in ter"s of8 age, gender, degree, type of school, and years in service?
Table
!espondentsI >ender ) Age
Table presents that 6<.:O or 7& are fe"ales .hile there are only
&.:O or ; "ales. This i"plies that in the Philippine setting teaching
profession is do"inated by the fe"ales. %a?ority also fro" the respondents
belong to the age brac/et of &;-PB. This also i"plies that the teaching
profession is no. also being do"inated by the young blood .herein these
ne. young blood teachers can cater to the needs of the language learners in
delivering Euality language education instruction.
Table &
Respondents Degree
Table &, on the other hand, sho.s that "a?ority &; or :7.<O are BSEd
holders, P or ;.&7O are BEEd degree holders, 6 or ;.;<O are .ith %A units,
; or &.:O are %A holders, and or &.B6 percent is a PhD holder, so"e ?ust
"ar/ed it others. As it reAected in the survey, not all of the %A holders are
vertical degrees in nature. Since "a?ority of the respondents are fro" public
schools, so"e opted to enroll in the %aster of Arts in Education "a?or in
Educational %anage"ent degree.
Table P
Type of School
Age Male Female
Belo !" #
!"$!% & '
!'$&" ! ##
&#$&% %
&'$(" #"
(#$(% # %
(%$%" #
%#$%' &
' (!
Total #!)%* +,)%*
Degree F *
BEEd P ;.&:
BSEd &; :7.<
%A +nits 6 ;.;<
%A ; &.:
PhD +nits B B
PhD &.B6
Hthers 7 6.PP
Total (+ #""*
Type of School F *
Public P6 <5.<
Private B &B.6P
Total (+ #""*
As gleaned in Table P, "a?ority of the respondents .ith P6 or <5.<O
are fro" public schools, .hile B or &B.6PO are fro" private schools.
Table 7
Nears in the Service
Table 7 presents the years in the Service of the Participants. %a?ority of
&: or :&.B6O belongs to B-: year brac/et, .hile there is only or 7.<O
belongs to the P-P: years in the service brac/et. Teaching profession is
no. Aoc/ed by fresh graduates .ho are dedicated and active in the
delivering Euality language education instruction.
Ghat are the language learning attitudes of secondary English teachers of
the Kational (apital !egion?
As "entioned earlier, each of the areas of evaluation is geared to.ard
one end of the scale or the other. ,or instance, if the score is lo. in the Self-
i"age colu"n, this points to a lo. self-i"age in language learning, and thus,
a potential hurdle to overco"e. The higher the score is in the *nhibition, !is/-
ta/ing, and Ego Per"eability colu"ns, the "ore you tend to e9hibit those
traits, .hile the higher the score for the last colu"n 2Tolerance of A"biguity4,
the less it tends to e9hibit that trait.
Table :
Attitude To.ards Language Learning
ATTIT-D.S F * Ran/
Self Image & ')!% %
0ears F *
B-: &: :&.B6
;-B 5 6.<:
-: ; &.:
;-&B : B.7&
&-&: &.B6
P;-PB 7.<
P-P:
Total (+ #""*
Inhi1ition % #")(# (
Ris/ Ta/ing !" (#)', #
.go 2ermea1ility ! ()#, '
Am1iguity #" !")+& !
Self Directed
3anguage 3earning
+ #')', &
TOTA3 (+ #""
Another area of second language research and practice that the
acEuisition-learning hypothesis helps to interpret is .or/ in second language
aptitude and attitude, providing a parsi"onious e9planation for .hat had
appeared to be a strange 1nding8 both language aptitude 2as "easured by
standard tests4 and attitude 2a3ective variables4 appear to be related to
second language achieve"ent, but are not related to each other. *t is possible
to have high aptitude and lo. attitude, lo. aptitude and high attitude, or
both high, or both lo..
Table : presents the attitude to.ards language learning of the 76
respondents in the study. The survey reveals that &B or 7.;<O are ris/
ta/ers, B or &B.6P belongs to the a"biguity attitude, 6 or ;.;<O are into
self-directed language learning attitude, : or B.7O are into inhibition
attitude, and P or ;.&:O are into self i"age attitude. This i"plies therefore
that, English language has never been foreign. This is so because the
language has been around for a long ti"e and is used in al"ost all /inds of
co""unication. 'o.ever, the attitude of the people to.ards the language
"a/es it still a foreign language to so"e of us.
Ge actually do not have to learn it for"ally as .e do no. because our
life co"es into contact .ith English language in al"ost every sense, at every
"inute since our birth.
4onclusion and Implications
Based on the foregoing, it all boils do.n to attitude, that is, attitude
to.ards the language, attitude to.ards learning the language, attitude
to.ards the language teacher, attitude to.ards school in general, and level
of responsibility. The study reiterated the theory of %c>regor .ho believed
that organiJations e"braced Theory N .ere generally "ore productive in
nature. *t is a substantiation that teachers in the secondary education can
learn to accept and see/ responsibility.
>enerally, the 1ndings of the study indicate that public and private
secondary English teachers have a positive learning attitude to.ards the
English Language.
Language learners .ho ta/e ris/s in learning the language are the ones
.ho .ill learn the language better because these are the learners .ho are
not afraid to "a/e 2co""it4 "ista/es, .ho are not insecure, .ho have a go
.ithout feeling devalued, .ho spea/ .ithout fear, and .ho have con1dence
to try so"ething .ithout assistance.
*t should be noted, ho.ever that this study has surveyed only 76
public and private secondary English teachers. The sa"ple siJe is too li"ited
to represent the total population of English language teachers in both public
and private high schools of the Kational (apital !egion, Philippines. Thus, the
results and 1ndings cannot really generaliJe the learning attitudes of public
and private secondary English teachers in the Philippines. %oreover, the
survey "ethod "ay not have been suDcient to elicit data needed for the
study.
Despite its li"itations, this study "ay o3er so"e insights to all
learners of the English language that having a positive learning attitude
2being a ris/ ta/er, having a high-self i"age, having a high tolerance of
a"biguity4 to.ards the English language "ay contribute to the success of
learning a second language.
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http8@@....ans.ers.co"@topic@organiJation-theory retrieved on ,ebruary &,
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