SECOND-YEAR STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS ENGLISH LEARNING: A STUDY AT UNIVERSITY OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY – THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY

Abstract

This study aims at investigating non-English majored students’ attitudes towards learning English focusing on three components of attitudes (cognitive, affective, and behavioral), and towards teaching methods. A total of 207 second-year students at University of Information and Communication Technology – Thai Nguyen University who were doing a course in English 3 took part in an online survey via Google Form. An adapted questionnaire consisting of 15 five-point-Likert-scale items based on Hohenthal (2003) and Ahmed (2015) was employed as the data collection instrument. The research results revealed that students’ attitude towards learning English was positive in terms of cognitive component, but their attitude was rather negative in terms of affective and behavioral components. In addition, students expressed diverse attitudes towards current English teaching. Some pedagogical implications are suggested. This study is not only useful for English teachers who are interested in studying learners’ factors, especially attitudes, but also significant for training institutions with similar contexts in examining the educational objectives.