ATTITUDES TOWARD ESP AMONG UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

Abstract

The introduction of the Bologna process to Croatian Universities has resulted in many changes in course programmes. At the University of Zadar many areas of study from the fields of Humanities and Social Sciences have included obligatory courses in foreign languages. However, many students appear to lack enthusiasm and interest in their language classes. The aim of this paper was to understand student attitudes toward learning English for Specific Purposes (ESP) among first year university students who are non-language majors. The instrument used was a questionnaire whose results were subject to factor analysis. The results showed three subscales: firstly, attitude toward the teacher and evaluation method, secondly, attitude toward English, and thirdly, affective attitude toward learning English. It can be concluded that students generally had high results on all three subscales, that is, a positive attitude toward the teacher, evaluation method, and English as well as a positive affective attitude toward learning English.