Efl learning attitudes and investment in higher education: the case of pre-service teachers for learners with special needs.

Abstract

Education changes the course of an individual’s life. The French scholar Pierre Bourdieu explained that education results from interactions between cultural, economic, and social aspects of a person’s life (Bourdieu, 2011). Learning investment is important in any field because it promotes the development of the necessary competencies in every learner (Norton Peirce, 1995). For second language learners, there are always individual expectations that will be the driving force to put in time and effort that will be rewarded at the end of the process. The objective of the present study is to explore the attitudes towards compulsory language learning and the impact on the level of learning investment in higher education students that will not be related to language teaching in their professional lives. It is necessary to know what factors underpin the relationship between attitudes towards compulsory English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learning and language learning investment among higher education students from programs which are not related to the EFL profession. Qualitative research has been conducted related to language teaching and investment in different contexts with learners with different interests. However, this is a mixed methods study with an explanatory sequential design to collect quantitative and qualitative data. Based on other researchers’ findings regarding the design of useful instruments, two Likert-scale questionnaires were designed and validated to explore attitudes using five dimensions: multilingualism, English learning, English classes, personal development, and professional benefit. Four dimensions of learning investment that were identified in qualitative research were also explored: motivation, necessities, engagement, and agency. Content, construct, and convergent validity were achieved and the relation between dimensions was examined. Also, the internal consistency and inter-item correlation were checked in the questionnaires. Besides, an interview was designed to complement and explain the quantitative findings. The exploration of the four dimensions of investment through various non-parametric analyses and the interview revealed that motivation, engagement, and agency promote language learning investment. Nonetheless, necessity poorly contributed to language learning investment as the participants do not identify a strong necessity of vi learning the language in relation to their profession. Findings made evident that the connection between necessities and expectations promote positive attitudes that help to foster language learning investment. Education changes the course of an individual’s life. The French scholar Pierre Bourdieu explained that education results from interactions between cultural, economic, and social aspects of a person’s life (Bourdieu, 2011). Learning investment is important in any field because it promotes the development of the necessary competencies in every learner (Norton Peirce, 1995). For second language learners, there are always individual expectations that will be the driving force to put in time and effort that will be rewarded at the end of the process. The objective of the present study is to explore the attitudes towards compulsory language learning and the impact on the level of learning investment in higher education students that will not be related to language teaching in their professional lives. It is necessary to know what factors underpin the relationship between attitudes towards compulsory English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learning and language learning investment among higher education students from programs which are not related to the EFL profession. Qualitative research has been conducted related to language teaching and investment in different contexts with learners with different interests. However, this is a mixed methods study with an explanatory sequential design to collect quantitative and qualitative data. Based on other researchers’ findings regarding the design of useful instruments, two Likert-scale questionnaires were designed and validated to explore attitudes using five dimensions: multilingualism, English learning, English classes, personal development, and professional benefit. Four dimensions of learning investment that were identified in qualitative research were also explored: motivation, necessities, engagement, and agency. Content, construct, and convergent validity were achieved and the relation between dimensions was examined. Also, the internal consistency and inter-item correlation were checked in the questionnaires. Besides, an interview was designed to complement and explain the quantitative findings. The exploration of the four dimensions of investment through various non-parametric analyses and the interview revealed that motivation, engagement, and agency promote language learning investment. Nonetheless, necessity poorly contributed to language learning investment as the participants do not identify a strong necessity of vi learning the language in relation to their profession. Findings made evident that the connection between necessities and expectations promote positive attitudes that help to foster language learning investment. Education changes the course of an individual’s life. The French scholar Pierre Bourdieu explained that education results from interactions between cultural, economic, and social aspects of a person’s life (Bourdieu, 2011). Learning investment is important in any field because it promotes the development of the necessary competencies in every learner (Norton Peirce, 1995). For second language learners, there are always individual expectations that will be the driving force to put in time and effort that will be rewarded at the end of the process. The objective of the present study is to explore the attitudes towards compulsory language learning and the impact on the level of learning investment in higher education students that will not be related to language teaching in their professional lives. It is necessary to know what factors underpin the relationship between attitudes towards compulsory English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learning and language learning investment among higher education students from programs which are not related to the EFL profession. Qualitative research has been conducted related to language teaching and investment in different contexts with learners with different interests. However, this is a mixed methods study with an explanatory sequential design to collect quantitative and qualitative data. Based on other researchers’ findings regarding the design of useful instruments, two Likert-scale questionnaires were designed and validated to explore attitudes using five dimensions: multilingualism, English learning, English classes, personal development, and professional benefit. Four dimensions of learning investment that were identified in qualitative research were also explored: motivation, necessities, engagement, and agency. Content, construct, and convergent validity were achieved and the relation between dimensions was examined. Also, the internal consistency and inter-item correlation were checked in the questionnaires. Besides, an interview was designed to complement and explain the quantitative findings. The exploration of the four dimensions of investment through various non-parametric analyses and the interview revealed that motivation, engagement, and agency promote language learning investment. Nonetheless, necessity poorly contributed to language learning investment as the participants do not identify a strong necessity of learning the language in relation to their profession. Findings made evident that the connection between necessities and expectations promote positive attitudes that help to foster language learning investment.