Learners\u27 attitudes, contact and oral ESL proficiency: A study of Chinese graduate students at United States universities

The purpose of this study is to examine from a sociocultural perspective the relationship among attitudes, contact, and oral ESL proficiency of Chinese students at U.S. universities. Specifically, through investigation of students from mainland China on a large mid western university campus, the study attempts to determine (a) whether Chinese L2 learners\u27 attitudes toward the American target language group are positively correlated with their ESL proficiency as indicated on the SPEAK test; (b) whether the amount of contact with the target language group is positively correlated with oral proficiency; and (c) whether there is a positive relationship between the attitudinal and the contact variables. The study further examines (d) whether the contact variable contributes to the explanation of the relationship between attitudes and L2 proficiency. Results of data analysis indicate that: (a) there is an overall positive relationship between proficiency and learners\u27 attitudes toward Americans on some attitudinal items; (b) there is a significant positive relationship between contact and proficiency; (c) there is a positive relationship between contact and certain attitudinal variables but a negative relationship with other attitudinal variables; (d) contact contributes greatly to the explanation of the attitude-proficiency relationship. The findings of this study are discussed in light of previous research results to provide a more holistic scholarly view of the issue. Recommendations are included for future research and practice