Professional paper
Relationship Between Affective Factors of Secondary School Students and Success in English Language Classes
Ružica Tokić
; Fakultet za odgojne i obrazovne znanosti, Osijek, Republika Hrvatska
Abstract
Learning is a complex psychological process during which the behavioral changes of the student occur. In addition to knowledge, during the process of learning, students use experiences that they acquire from the environment they grow up in. Authors such as Gardner, Brown, Mihaljević Djigunović agree that affective characteristics are very important for successful learning of a foreign language because they increase motivation for learning. Brown (2000) states that negative attitudes can be changed if we introduce the culture to the students or if we introduce them to a person from a different culture. The area of affective factors, especially attitudes and awareness of differences among host and foreign culture and their relationship with success of primary school students is insufficiently explored. For that reason, the research was conducted on three levels. The first level included students’ attitudes toward English language, culture and nation. Then the level of awareness of similarities and differences among host and foreign culture was examined. Finally, the knowledge of facts from British and American culture was tested. Target group were students from four 8th grades of one secondary school and the number of participants was 99. This age group was chosen because 8th grade students were learning English for a couple of years, they were acquainted with American and British culture and therefore they had a developed stand towards the elements of the research. The results show to which extent these elements are connected with the students’ success in terms of grades in English and it can be concluded that students who exhibit more positive attitude towards English language and culture achieve higher success.
Keywords
affective factors; English language; culture; success
Hrčak ID:
177047
URI
Publication date:
15.12.2016.
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