Student’s Attitude & Motivation Towards English Language Learning: English Major Students at Dire Dawa University in Focus

Abstract

The aim of this study was to explore English major Students attitude and motivation towards English language learning. The study is descriptive and aimed to describe the existing students’ attitude and motivation towards English language learning. The participants of study were all 1^st, 2^nd & 3^rd year English major students at Dire Dawa University. In order to get the intended data, 35 close ended attitude questions were developed and filled by 51 English major students. The reliability of developed questions to all variables were  evaluated by using Cronbach's Alpha and the obtained result marks a good reliability consistence which is greater than 0.7 The administered questionnaire was a five point Likert –scale attitude questions which was targeted to obtain English major students attitude and motivation toward English language learning. The obtained data was analyzed quantitatively using SPSS that contains descriptive statistics such as mean scores and standard deviations. Based on respondents’ response, the result of the study revealed that students have positive attitude towards English language in general and English language learning in particular. Moreover, the obtained result also depicted that respondents have positive outlook on English language teachers and the activities students are given to interact with in classroom. In addition, the subjects’ responses revealed that they are instrumentally motivated to learn English language. Finally, the researcher would like to recommend that teaching is not getting in front of the class; teachers’ needs to be doing more to get students in taking an active role in their learning. Moreover, a teacher shouldn’t spend much time to talk rather let students to interact with the activities.  In order to grasp the intended knowledge and skills, a student has to develop interest towards the target language. In doing so, a teacher has to play an important role in bringing a desirable attitude and motivation in teaching and learning process.

Keywords: Attitude, Motivation, English Major Students