Attitudes of Spanish-speaking students toward Spanish

Includes bibliographical references (pages 35)This study is an investigation of attitudes towards the learning of Spanish among Mexican-American students in an all-girl high school in Los Angeles. It was hypothesized that the students' attitudes towards studying Spanish would correlate with two other variables: amount of Spanish spoken at home, and knowledge of the language.\ud The sample was selected by means of a screening questionnaire. The total number of subjects in the study is 100, with ages ranging from 14 to 17. Two other questionnaires were used to collect data regarding the respondents' attitudes towards Spanish and their use of Spanish in their daily lives. Where appropriate, single items of each questionnaire were grouped into different categories which were scored according to the answers given by the respondents.\ud The analysis confirmed that there is a positive correlation between the attitudes of Mexican-American students towards studying Spanish and the amount of Spanish spoken at home on one hand, and the knowledge of the language, on the other.\ud The results indicate that there is a general tendency on the part of Mexican-American youngsters to avoid using Spanish. However, it was found that there is a positive correlation between maintenance of Spanish and their knowledge of the language. Some suggestions are given for application of this study to the Spanish teacher of Mexican-American students