Exploring the Role of Attitude, Motivation and Gender in EFL Learning (1)

It is argued that attitude plays a crucial role in motivating EFL learning. Along the same lines researchers in SLA believe that positive attitude facilitates EFL learning while negative attitude hinders it. The present study examines the attitude of male versus female university students as a motivating factor in studying English as a foreign language. The hypothesis set was whether the responses to each individual item significantly varied across the genders which may consequently lead up to better performance. Participants in the study were 84 male, and 102 female university students majoring in courses other than English (Science, Humanities, or Engineering) at The University of Tabriz and The Azad University of Tabriz. A Questionnaire was employed for data collection and the appropriate statistical means were employed for data analysis. Significant differences were found with 4 of the items corresponding to a) Hearing English language spoken, b) Being made to learn English, c) Appearing cosmopolitan as a result of knowing English, and d) Loss of identity as a result of foreign language ability. Implications of the study are discussed