Predictors of L2 attitudes and motivational intensity: a cross-sectional study in the Saudi EFL context

Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)The present research investigated the relationships among four factors: predictors of second language (L2) attitudes, L2 attitudes, motivational intensity and actual learning efforts. The research aimed at achieving five objectives. The first one was to establish what L2 attitudes exist among Saudi learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) in relation to: a) English and its speakers; and b) issues associated with the teaching/learning of English, such as the textbook, the learning of English in the classroom and the teacher himself/herself. The second objective was to investigate whether participants’ demographic background had an impact on the two categories of learner attitudes. The third objective was to identify the factors responsible for the formation of existing L2 attitudes—again in two separate categories: a) socio-psychological constructs like in-group identification, para-social contact, in-group contact and perceived out-group threats as predictors of L2 learners’ attitudes towards English and the English-speaking communities; and b) learners’ beliefs about language learning as predictors of attitudes toward the learning situation. The fourth objective was to establish the extent to which learner attitudes affect learners’ motivational intensity (i.e., intended learning efforts) and by extension learners’ actual efforts. The research also addressed the issue of the salience of the English speaking community—the target language group—for learners of English in Saudi Arabia. Research data from 510 male and female university students was collected via a dedicated questionnaire from three campuses of Taibah University across Medina region. A range of statistical procedures were used to analyse the data including factor analysis, reliability analyses, descriptive analyses, one way ANOVAs, correlation analyses, repeated measures analyses of variance, t-tests analyses, regression analyses and path analyses. This research found that Saudi EFL learners have essentially positive attitudes towards English and its speakers, and towards the learning situation, but are generally opposed to accepting the target language group’s social and religious values. This research established that five predictors have significant effects of varying strength on L2 attitudes: in-group identification, para-social contact, in-group contact, intergroup threat and beliefs about language learning, thus extending the theoretical scope of Stephan & Stephan’s (1996) Integrated Threat Theory to the domain of L2 attitudes. Learner attitudes, in turn, were found to be related to both intended and actual learning efforts, although with many of the research participants intended efforts were not necessarily reflected in actual efforts. Overall the research findings demonstrated that the target language group remains salient for Saudi EFL learners. These results suggested that, despite the recent push towards conceptualising L2 motivation from the social psychological perspective (Gardner, 2010) to the L2 motivational self-system (Dörnyei & Ushioda, 2009), the links between social psychology and applied linguistics remain significant for predicting L2 attitudes and L2 motivation