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Luhflww, THLJ J i 3: m n 7r ! “we a... 3133 i— ‘E :3. 3mm ‘ K3 "‘7’” This is to certify that the thesis entitled Attitudes, Motivation. and Achievement: in the Learning of Spanish as a Second Language presented by Joaquin S. Vila Barreto has been accepted towards fulfillment of the requirements for Masters Linguistics degree in 66% 7’]. A/C/“ZZZL Major professor sue February 23, 1983 0-7639 MS U i: an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Institution MSU LIBRARIES “ RETURNING MATERIALS: Place in book drop to remove this checkout from your record. FINES will be charged if book is returned after the date stamped below. nab-M v. .. . a. . 95E 0L“ KQQu-a ‘ 3' - u not I .|. i '1‘ . ‘2? k: d \ d /£:?C5z /4$€:?__/’ ATTITUDES, MOTIVATION AND ACHIEVEMENT IN THE LEARNING OF SPANISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE BY Joaquin S. Vila Barreto A THESIS Submitted to Michigan State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS Department of Linguistics 1982 ABSTRACT ATTITUDES, MOTIVATION AND ACHIEVEMENT IN THE LEARNING OF SPANISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE BY Joaquin S. Vila Barreto The purpose of the present study was to investigate the relation of specific attitudes and motives to achievement in learning Spanish as a second-language in a predominantly mon- olingual context for an acidental sample of 92 American university-level students, The data, suggest that most of these students are not solely integratively nor instrumental- ly motivated.i Though students exhibit strong integrative mo- tivation, an instrumental reason was found to be a better pre- dictor of achievement measured as oral proficiency (self- reported). No significant correlations were obtained between reasons for studying Spanish and G.P.A. In general, students seem to rely on the perception that knowing Spanish is useful for obtaining a job as a major reason for persevering in the study of Spanish. In addition, positive correlations were obtained between the desire to cOntinue studying Spanish and favorable atti- tudes toward second-language learning and the Hispanic cul- ture. Though tenuous, results are interpreted as reflecting the role of attitudes as supporters of motivation, which in turn may lead to perseverance and oral proficiency in learning . Spanish. A number of possible explanations for these findings are discussed along with the conclusion that, though appeal- ing, hypotheses regarding the role of the affective domain in the second-language learning process need to be subject to further research, and that social context may be crucial in determining the validity of socio-affective variables as reliable predictors of achievement. A mi querida familia y a los buenos amigos de ayer y hoy, por el gran amor e inalterable confianza con que siempre me han rodeado. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Many peOple have contributed in various ways to success- ful completion of this thesis and it is fair and fitting to acknowledge their contribution. I am profoundly indebted to: Dr. Carol M. Scotton, chairperson of my committee, for going over several early drafts and pointing out my flaws in the research design and content, for teaching me so many things about writing style, for steering my interestin sociolinguis- tics toward more productive roads, and, most of all, for her continuous encouragement and patience; Dr. Julia S. Falk, committee member, for her thoroughness and ability to offer constructive criticism, for shaping my in- terest in linguistics and language acquisition with her con- tageous enthusiasm in teaching, and for her constant support and concern shown on my behalf; Dr. Gover Hudson, committee member, for first bringing to my attention research on the role of socio-affective variables during his course on second-language acquisition, and for the many helpful discussions and thoughtful explanations which have enabled me to gain some knowledge about second- and foreign-language acquisition; iii Dr. Ruth M. Brend, for being so very helpful to me in the editing and proof-reading of the manuscript; Dr. Wallace E. Lambert, for his encouraging comments on my thesis proposal which he made during his course at the 1981 Summer Linguistic Institute at Cornell University; Prof. James P. Wang, chairperson of the Linguistic Department, and to whom I am particularly grateful for his personal sup- port, encouragement, and advice freely given since I first came to MSU; and, The Chairperson, faculty, and students of the Department of Romance language for their kind assistance and useful feedback during the course of this study. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF TABLES on...cooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo Vii LIST or FIGURES ..... ............ .... ........ ..... ix Chapter I. INTRODUCTION ............ .............. . ..... 1 The Research Questions ................. .... 1 General Background ......................... 4 Cognitive vs. Affective Factors in Second . Language Learning ......OOOOOOOOOOOOOO ...... 6 A Social Psychological Theory of Second Language Learning .......................... 10 II. HYPOTHESES ........ ..... . ..... ......... ..... 17 General Hypothesis ............ ....... ...... 17 Specific Hypotheses ........................ 17 III. METHOD’ ............... .................... .. 21 Measurement Instrument ...... ............... 21 Subjects ..................... .............. 23 Assessment of Spanish Proficiency .......... 25 Procedure ......... ......................... 25 IV. FINDINGS ....... . ........................... 28 V. DISCUSSION .. ....... . ......... . ............. 47 VI. CONCLUSIONS ... ................ . ............. 64 APPENDIX ........... . .............................. 70 Page Spanish Language Attitude Questionnaire ...... 7O BIBLIOGRAPHY‘00......0.0.0.000...OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO 75 General References .......................... 82 Vi Table 10 11 LIST OF TABLES Page Orientation Index- Reasons for Studying Spanish. Entries in columns l-S represent the number of students who chose this rating (N = 92). ........ 29 Matrix of intercorrelations among reasons for the study of Spanish. Numbers l-6 represent reasons nunIbered in Table 1. .0....0.000...0.00....0...0. 3o Correlations between Spanish G.P.A. and reasons for studying Spanish. .............................. 32 Correlations between Oral Proficiency and Reasons for stuinng SpaniSh. .00............0..0....000. 33 Motivational Orientation and G.P.A. Figures in the center column represent learners who scored the same on both sets of motivational reasons. Clas- sification of learners was based on their scores in the Orientation Index. ....................... 34 Motivation for studying Spanish. Entries in columns 1-5 represent number of students who chose the ratings. ..................................... 35 Correlations between Spanish G.P.A. and motivation- al intenSity reasons. 0.0......00...........0.0.. 38 Correlations between Motivational Orientation (See items in Table l) and Motivational Intensity (Items in Table 5). 00.0........0.0......0...........00. 38 Motivational Intensity for the Study of Spanish and G.P.A. ...................................... 39 Foreign Language and Culture Attitudes. Entries in columns 1-5 represent number of students who chose this rating: 5-strongly agree, 4-agree, 3-no opinion, 2-disagree, 1-strongly disagree. ....... 40 Correlations between Spanish G.P.A. and attitudes toward the Hispanic language and culture and toward foreign language learning. ...................... 42 vii Table Page 12 Correlations between Motivation Orientation (Items in Table l) and Attitudes (Items in Table 9). .... 42 13 Foreign Language and Culture Attitudes and G.P.A. 43 14 Attitude differences and level of study. ......... 44 viii LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 1 Gardner's model for 2LL (Taken from Gardner, 1979:196). ......... . ......... . .................. ll Simplified representation to the relationship of attitudes to motivation and achievement (Taken from Gardner, 1979:206). ........................ l4 ix CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION The Research Questions H. Douglas Brown (1980:102), Observed that ”understand- ing how human beings feel and respond and believe and value is an exceedingly important aspect of a theory of second language acquisition." To date, sharing agreement with that Observation, a significant body of research literature has focusednnlthe role of aptitude, attitude and motives, person- ality characteristics, and environmental variables in the second language learning (hereafter 2LL) process. A major goal of such research has been to investigate the relative influence of such affective variables on achievement in 2LL (e.g., Spolsky, 1969; Gardner & Lambert, 1972; Oller et al., 1977; Gardner, 1981). Following this same line of research, the major objective of the present study is to briefly examine a socio- ' psychological model of 2LL proposed by Robert Gardner (1979) vis-a-vis a monolingual context. Specifically, the study in- vestigates the validity of attitudes and motivation as reli- able predictors of achievement among American university- level second language learners of Spanish. In brief, Gardner's model is based on a theory proposed by l 2 Wallace Lambert (1967;102) which states that an individual who successfully acquires a second language is able and will- ing to gradually adopt various aspects of the behavior char- acteristics of the target language (hereafter TL) community. It is suggested that a learner's ethnocentric disposition and attitude toward the other group will influence the learner's success in acquiring the new language. The role of the social milieu in which the learner re- sides is an important component of this model. It is pro- posed that the prevailing social beliefs in the learner's community will influence his/her attitude about, for example, the value of learning the language, the TL speakers, and his/ her culture. These attitudes would in turn determine the learner's motivation to learn the language and sustain‘him/ her during the long process of 2LL. This motivation is said to be ”instrumental" if the major reason for studying the language is for its utilitarian value, and "integrative" if the student is oriented toward learning more about the other community as if he/she strongly wanted to join that culture. In a given learning context a strong motivation to learn would be conducive to success in the learning task (Lambert et al., 1963; Gardner & Lambert, 1972; Gardner, 1979, 1981). However plausible this model of 2LL may be, there remains considerable controversy about the role of affective factors in 2LL (Hamayan et al., 1977; Oller et al., 1980; Gardner, 1.981) . Claims about the relationships between affect and achievement and the effect which social milieu may have upon these variables requires additional testing since many of these may "need yet to be empirically established" (Oller, 1981:24). For example, the role and effect of attitudes and motivation on achievement within a monocultural (and mono- lingual) environment should be studied to test the predictions made by this model and to collect data to be used in the for- mulation of additional hypotheses and in the re-examination of the results of previous studies. Tucker (1981:32) sums up this need when he concludes that, One point which seems to me to be particularly clear is that until we examine the power of theories such as this in other settings, we 'will not have a fair test of the theory. The current study will focus on the learning Of Spanish in a context where actual contact and interaction with TL speakers and their culture is rather limited. The following questions are specifically addressed: 1. Are both integrative and instrumental orientations present in learners of Spanish in the United States, and if so, do they both lead to success in learning the language? 2. Is an integrative orientation a reliable predictor of achievement in 2LL? 3. Do positive attitudes toward the Spanish language, its speakers, and foreign language learning serve as a support for an integrative orientation? In the sections that follow, several areas which describe the origin and shape of research in the socio-affective do- main auoz __ Honouaso - _ 114 _ _ _ _ _ _ h I ..— l l l 035.3%. omwowss d _ ”sandman ~ 1. _ oaumwswswq m ownswsma _ _ (I. _ Fl Hmauom I _ _ - d ‘ 1 _ r I ... _l I I 00:03:03; _ _ - J _ u . . . _ _ mosoouso muxmusoo soauwowsvoo omnswcmalvsooom noosouowmwv Adsvw>wusm flflflfifia HGHUOM 12 and its interaction with attitudes, motivation and achievement. Social milieu is defined as the context within which the 2LL process takes place and as involving the social and cultur— a1 beliefs of the learner's community with regard to the speak- ers of the TL and the learning of that language and foreign language learning in general. The beliefs and attitudes are "sociogenic" in nature. That is, they arise from the basic assumptions or predispositions that a person has about the self in relation to the social environment, about other people, and about what is right or wrong and .desirable or.undesirable_..in social behavior (Thompson, 1975:19-20). Social behavior is said to be a direct function of beha— vioral intention whichzhlturn is an additive function of atti- tude toward the behavior and the influence of the social en- vironment. Accordingly, a learner's attitudes toward 2LL are a reflection of the social attitudes prevailing in the learner's social milieu (Spolsky, 1969:273; Gardner, 1973:235). As Gardner et a1. (1970:332) write, Subjects react to ethnic groups in terms of certain attributes, primarily because of shared beliefs in their community concerning the applicability of these traits to the group in question. Taking into consideration that acquiring a second language might involve also acquiring some of the social and cultural behavior of the TL group, it is hypothesized that the learner's attitudes will affect the extent to which he/she acquires the 13 TL (Gardner et al., 1978:181-82). Thus, if the learner's com- munity values the TL community and values 2LL, it is likely that such favorable views willlxashared by the learner and that they will influence the learner's success in acquiring the TL. The model further elaborates that attitudes are influen- tial in 2LL not so much'because of adirect association with pro- ficiency, but mainly because they serve to support and maintain motivation in the "lengthy task of acquiring competence in the second language" (Gardner & Smythe, 1981:523-4). Gardner (1981:111) points out that, The present model is explicit in indicating how in the context of second language acquisi- tion, attitudes do influence behavior. More- over, the attitudes involved include a number of social attitudes which help to indicate the role played by social factors in what, on the surface might appear to be an educational problem. Motivation, according to Gardner's model, refers in turn to the affective characteristics which orient the learner to try to acquire elements of the second language (Gardner, 1979: 167). It involves a willingness to be like valued members of the TL community and refers to goal-directed behavior (Gardner, 1981:103-5). The model proposes that there is a close associa- tion between attitudes and motivation in the sense that atti- tudes are said to be the foundation of motivation since an individual's beliefs and perceptions are likely to affect the amount of effort devoted to achieve the goal of learning the language, as well as the intensity of the individual's wants and desires to achieve this end (Gardner et al., 1978:181~2). Though it is feasible that the proposed relationship between l4 attitudes and motivation might be bi-directional, this is irrelevant to the scope of the present study which focuses on the relationship that attitudes and motives have with achieve- ment in 2LL. Thus, as suggested by the simplified representa- tion of Gardner's model shown in Figure 2, it is assumed that differences in a learner's attitudes will influence his/her motivation to persevere in learning the TL which eventually leads to differences in achievement. It is further suggested that achievement itself will affect the learner's attitudes toward learning the language in a sort of cyclic fashion )éINGUISTIC " *NON-LINGUISTI (Gardner, 1979:205-7). v___+LgTTITUDBs-——+[MOTIVATION LAQHIEVEMENT Figure 2. Simplified representation to the relationship Of attitudes to motivation and achievement (Taken from Gardner, 1979:206). Despite the appeal that the above model may have, further study is needed in all of the foregoing aspects of 2LL as con- cluded by a number of recent studies (e.g., Oller & Perkins, 1978a; Oller et al., 1980; Gardner et al., 1979; Gardner & Smythe, 1981; Gardner, 1981). Hypotheses about relationships between affect and achievement and the effect of social con- text on such relationships need to be tested in a monolingual 15 environment since the study of these variables in a context where two or more cultures are presented is analogous to ad- ding more variables to an already complex process. As it is strongly emphasized by Tucker (1981:31), It seems to me to be absolutely crucial that we provide a fair setting in which to test the rel- ative prominence of a variety of intuitively appealing variables -- be they affective, cogni- tive or social. The present study follows this line of thought as it seeks to further clarify and test some of the hypotheses discussed here. l6 Footnotes to Chapter One This concept of motivation has been expanded in more re— cent literature to what is labeled an "integrative motive" which links the effort and attitudes involved in the goal (If learning a second language (Gardner & Smythe, l974a:l4-24, l974b:33-36, Gardner et al., 1978:181; Gardner, 1981:105-10). Though this concept is more logi- cal than empirical (Gardner & Smythe, 1981:520), it cap- tures the close association between certain attitudes and motivation as related to 2LL. For purposes of the present study, however, we will adopt the earlier text. This will allow foraicloser basis for comparison between the present and the earlier studies on this subject. Accordingly, attitudes are said to refer to beliefs and notions about, for example, 1) the TL group, 2) learning the TL, while motivation refers to the learner's amount of effort he/she is willing to spend in the learning task and his/her orientation (i.e., reason) for wanting to learn the language. Gardner & Smythe (l974b:38) state that "language aptitude is somewhat of a static variable in that regardles of its determinants it is a relatively stable characteristic of the student. It cannot be changed." Similarly, while acknowledging that the question of whether language ap- titude is or is not fixed or innate is still in need of further research, Carroll (1981:86) observes that, "what evidence I have suggests that foreign language aptitude is relatively fixed over long periods of an individual's life span, and relatively hard to modify in any signifi- cant way.". Thus, it would seem that even though a language teacher might not be able to significantly en- hance a learner's aptitude, something could be done about his/her attitudes and motivation so that the learner can succeed "when the talents he/she brings to the task are only moderate, or even minimal" (Carroll, 1977:2). CHAPTER TWO HYPOTHESES General Hypothesis This study focuses on the relationship of attitudes and motivation to achievement in 2LL.1 It is assumed, in agree- ment with Gardner's model, that the attitudes and beliefs held by the subjects are a reflection of those held by their par- ents, peers and society in general. The general hypothesis is ' that given a predominantly monolingual social environment, the learning of a second language, i.e., Spanish, is encouraged or discouraged by the learner's specific attitudes and be- liefs which serve as motivational support that eventually. leads to achievement in 2LL. Accordingly, it is hypOthesized that some specific favorable attitudes toward (1) the TL culture, (2) the learning of the TL, and (3) toward 2LL will correlate positively with an integrative orientation which in turn correlates positively with second language achievement measured as grade point average (hereafter G.P.A.). Specific Hypotheses Lambert (1972:297) reports data indicating that most foreign language learners in the United States studied foreign languages in order to prepare themselves for the future, that is, because it will help them to get a job. However, in a 17 18 national survey on foreign language study, Eddy and Roth (mimeo- no date) report that 74% of the respondents believe that knowing a foreignlanguage would help an American to have a better awareness and understanding of people from other nations. This might be an indication that the motivational orientation toward 2LL in the United States may be shifting toward a more integrative view. Moreover, it is possible that in a context where the opportunities for contact and communi- cation in the TL are rather limited and where preparing one- self for getting a job is a major concern among students, learners may exhibit a combined motivational orientation (Gardner, 1971:215-19). Accordingly, a first hypothesis is that students of Spanish are not solely integratively nor instrumentally moti- vated; they are likely to exhibit some sort of combination of both motivational orientations that leads to achievement. Thus, integrative and instrumental motivation may not be to- tally independent from one another and neither is likely to be the sole determiner of success in 2LL in the particular context of this study. Therefore, responses to both inte- grative and instrumental statements are likelytxashow posi- tive correlations with achievement scores. A second hypothesis is that an integrative motivation toward 2LL is a more reliable predictor of achievement. That is, it is predicted that learners who are predominantly inte- gratively motivated will do better in their Spanish courses than those who are mainly instrumentally motivated. It is 19 assumed that a strong desire to know more about the TL group is likely to allow the student to devote more time and effort to the pursuit of the goa1<1flearning the language, and therefore lead to good grades, more consistently than the instrumental perception that knowing the language will allow better employment Opportunities. A third hypothesis to be tested is that since individual attitudes seem to affect a learner's motivation as Gardner's model suggests, those learners who value, that is, who exhibit (positive attitudes toward the Hispanic culture‘and language will generally be integratively motivated and be likely to persevere in the long process of learning the language. It is assumed that the close association between attitudes and motivation is such that positive attitudes influence the learners disposition toward learning the language in an inte- grative fashion that allows them to persevere in their studies. In addition, it is assumed that the goal of learn- ing the language is an intermediate one, and that the learner's motivation is based in the ultimate goal of be- coming closer psychologically to the TL community (Gardner et al., 1979:182). It is expected that learners who continue into the third-year courses will exhibit more positive views toward learning Spanish and the Spanish-speakers, while evi- dencing an integrative motivation. 20 Footnotes to Chapter Two Whether or not learning Spanish in the social context Of the present study, i.e., Northern Mid-West of the United States, should be regarded as a second language learning or foreign language learning is an open ques- tion. It would seem that given the limited number of opportunities for close contact and interaction with native Speakers of Spanish outside the classroom this could be best described as a foreign language learning (hereafter FLL) situation. On the other hand, Spanish seems to be one of the most studied and widely spoken languages in the United States (Eddy & Roth - no date). Thus, students in this investigation could also regard Spanish as a second language, to be spoken maybe not in their present social situation, but maybe in a future one. CHAPTER THREE METHOD Measurement Instrument Gardner and Lambert developed a battery of measures which permits a fairly detailed analysis of the attitudinal and mo- tivational characteristics of second language learners. This test battery has been adapted and modified to suit different subject-populations and settings which consequently led to the development of measures of known psychometric properties (Upshur, Acton, Arthur & Guiora, 1978; Gardner & Smyth, 1981). However, the reliability and validity of attitudinal and mo- tivational measurement instruments are still open to question and debate. The use of such instruments in the analysis of the data thus Obtained is then vulnerable to criticism. Conclusions and observations based on such data should be interpreted accordingly. In the present study, a four-part questionnaire (see Appendix) adapted from the Foreign Language Attitude Ques- tionnaire (Gardner & Lambert, 1972:20-27, 147-58; Thompson, 1977:44-49) was used to collect the data. Some of the items were carried over verbatim while others were adapted to fit the particular circumstances of the students and'courses.1 These adaptations were limted to some rephrasing of the 21 22 statements used into a more informal style. Though it could be argued that the items used in other contexts may not be suitable in the context of this particular study, the desir- ability Of obtaining data by means of at least similar measuring instruments is evident. Questions were of four types: 1. Questions on personal data such as age, sex, years of college, current major, total credit hours of Spanish, G.P.A. in Spanish, Oral Pro- ficiency, etc. 2. Orientation Index: to identify the type of mo- tivation of the learners. This is to be calcu- lated by subtracting the instrumental scores from the integrative scores of the learners. A high positive score on this measurement indicates an integrative orientation toward learning Spanish, while a high negative score indicates an instru- mental orientation. This Index consists of six reasons for the study of the language rated on a scale of 1 (lowest) to 5 (highest) indicating the extent to which they are applicable to the student. Reasons 1, 3, and 5 are instrumentally worded, while 2, 4, and 6 are integrative. 3. Motivation Index: is used to indicate the motiv- ational intensity of the learners toward the study ‘of Spanish in terms of their reported amount of effort spent in classroom assignments, the student's perception of the difficulty of the language, and his/her enjoyment Of the course. A high score represents the student's self-report of a high de- gree of effort spent in learning the language. It consists of nine positively or negatively worded statements about studying Spanish rated on a scale of 1 (lowest) to 5 (highest) indicating the extent to which they are applicable. 4. Foreign Language and Culture Attitude Index: indi- cates the learner's evaluative reactions toward 2LL and the TL group, specifically the Hispanic culture and the Spanish-speaking people. A high score indicatesaipositive affective predisposition toward learning Spanish, its speakers and 2LL. Again, these are to be rated on a scale of l to 5 indicating the measure in which they represent the learner's attitudes. This Index consists of a total of sixteen statements. 23 Subjects Subjects for this investigation were 92 students enrolled in seven sections of first- and third-year Spanish (i.e., SPN 102 and SPN 311) at Michigan State University. Since this study focuses on general attitudes and orientations toward the learning of Spanish, and not on specific estimates of popula- tion distributions, accidental, rather than random, sampling was used (Selltiz et al., 1976:536). That is, because the present study is not concerned with testing actual estimates of population distributions but rather focuses on the correla- tions of certain attitudes and motives with achievement, a less representative sample (an accidental sample) is adequate. It follows that the results should be so interpreted. A total of 124 questionnaires were distributed to the students in the Spanish courses mentioned above, out of which 56 (or 45%) first-years students and 36 (or 29%) third-year students returned the completed questionnaires. Respondents include 20 (or 22%) males and 72 (or 78%) females. A similar male/female ratio is observed in most language courses. The students' ages ranged from 18 to 26 yrs. with a mean of 20.2 yrs. They averaged 2.3 years of college studies and 14.2 credit hours of Spanish. The mean general G.P.A. of the sample is 3.14 and the spanish G.P.A. is 3.5._ Generally speaking, first-year students seem to have a higher G.P.A. in Spanish, while third-year learners a higher general G.P.A. The sample's average Oral Proficiency Rating (self-assessed 24 25 on a scale of 1 to 5) is 2.8. Only 31 students out of the total sample had some knowledge of an additional foreign language. The learners came from 21 different majors -- only 7% were majoring in Spanish. Assessment of Spanish Proficiency There were two basic measureSVxESpanish proficiency. One was the student's Spanish G.P.A. which was expected to be an indication of the learner's knowledge of the language. These were self-reported. In addition, students were asked to rate their own Spanish oral proficiency. This rating would indicate the learners' perception of their progress in the learning task. It must be noted that self-perceptions of proficiency have been found to be reliable measures of actual attainment (Gardner & Smythe, 1981:519). Procedure Questionnaires were distributed to the students during a regular class session, and were filled in and returned with- in a two day period. Sixty percent of the students turned in their responses by the end of the class period in which they were distributed. In an effort to encourage honest responses, learners were advised that this was not part of their course evaluation, that their answers would not be discussed with their instructors, and that they were not to write their names. In addition, specific instructions were given for each section. Students were urged to rate the items in the Questionnaire in terms of their own opinions 26 and not according to what is generally believed or expected by others. 27 Footnotes to Chapter Three Only certain parts of the Foreign Language Questionnaire were used and of those parts only a given number of items. The basic motivation for this selection was the limited scope of this study and the fact that certain items were unapplicable to the learning situation of the sample, e.g., Learning (Language X) will allow me to emigrate to (Country X). Also some of the items used were rephrased in a more colloquial style, i.e., Item 4, Sec. I -- "Any learned person knows at least one foreign language," into "Any person who is cultured knows at least one foreign language." CHAPTER FOUR FINDINGS Data relevant to the hypotheses were examined in three ways. First we determined which items in each Index re- ceived the higher ratings in order to identify which of the statements more strongly represent the learners' motivation- al orientation, motivation intensity, and attitudes (see Tables 1, 6, 10). Second, correlations of items in each Index with other items and with G.P.A. in Spanish were calculated (Tables 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, ll, 12). Finally, we. examined the students' total scores in each of the different Indices and further classified them in terms of their Spanish G.P.A.'s. The first hypothesis, that students were likely to ex- hibit a combination of both integrative and instrumental orientation that leads to achievement in 2LL, was partially supported. Data relevant to this hypothesis appear in Table 1. Here reasons for studying Spanish were rated on a scale of l to 5. A rating of 4 or 5 would be interpreted as the item being very applicable to the student. Reasons 1, 3, and 5 are thought to be instrumental, while reasons 2, 4, and 6 are considered to be integrative (Gardner & Lambert, 1972:148). It is clear from these data that there is no 28 29 Table l. Orientation Index- Reasons for studying Spanish. Entries in columns 1-5 represent number of students who chose this rating (N = 92). RATINGS REASONS l 2. 3 4 5 Mean 1. It will be helpful in getting a job 4 5 21 30 32 3.9 2. It will help me to better understand the Spanish-speaking people and their 4 l3 14 31 26 3.6 way of life. ‘ 3. Any person who is cultured knows at least one foreign language. 22 17 18 l7 17 2.9 4. I will be able to meet and deal with different kinds of people. 4 2 10 31 45 4.2 5. It satisfies college requirements. 37 l3 16 ll 15 2.5 6. I will be able to think and behave more like a Spanish-speaking person. 40 22 24 4 2 1.9 significant difference in total scores of the combined 1 This sug- ratings of instrumental vs. integrative reasons. gests that both orientations are present in the learners and that they are of about the same strength. Figures in Table 2 show the inter-correlations of the integrative vs. instrumental reasons, indicating the extent to which the hypothesis was supported. Significant positive correlations among reasons 1, 3, and 5 would indicate that students are mostly instrumentally oriented, while signifi- cant positive correlations between reasons_2, 4, and 6 would indicate that learners in this sample are mainly integratively oriented. Significant positive correlations between both sets of reasons would indicate a combination of both orien- tations. These data show no significant correlations among 30 Table 2. Matrix of intercorrelations among reasons for the study of Spanish. Numbers 1-6 represents reasons numbered in Table 1. REASONS l 2 3 4 2 .2489** 3 .0824 .2269** 4 .3080* .5966* .3141* 5 .0700 -.ll93 -.0218 -.l738 6 .1535 .4327* .2557** .2167 .*Significant at .01 level **Significant at .05 level the instrumental reasons. On the other hand, positive corre- lations were obtained among integrative statements and be- tween the integrative and the instrumental reasons (p < .01). Thus it seems that both types of orientations are not mutually exclusive and that students tend to exhibit a sort of combin- ation of both motivational reasons for the study of Spanish-- as it was hypothesized earlier. However, the highest positive correlations are found between integrative statements, which may indicate that while having both orientations, learners are more strongly integratively oriented.2 Moreover, it must be noticed that integrative reason (4) received the highest rating in this Index, indi: cating the strong integrative desire: the majority of the students in the sample (82%) have to meet and befriend "dif- ferent kinds of people." A corresponding response was Ob- tained for a similarly worded statement (no. 5) in the Atti- tude Index (Table 10). Thus, it seems that most students 31 share a strong integrative motivation toward learning Spanish. This result is further supported by the rather high score obtained for integrative reason (2). The low score for (6) --the lowest in this Index-- indicates that while most students may shareaistrong integrative motivation, they value more highly their own language and culture and do not want to totally assimilate into the TL group. If this is so, then maybe the concept of integrative motivation as de- fined by Gardner (1981:105-10) might be in need of revision. On the other hand, instrumental reason (1) -- which re- lates 2LL with employment -- received the second highest ra- ting. This suggests that a significant percentage (68%) of the sample study Spanish because Ofaulutilitarian motive -- namely, its perceived usefulness in obtaining a job. The low ratings Observed in reason (5) indicate that for the students in this sample (representing twenty-one different majors), fulfilling a college requirement is not a major motivating reason. In addition, it seems that students do not necessar- ily perceive the study of Spanish as a means of acquiring prestige or as necessary for being cultured (indicated by the low ratings in reason 3). Thus, the basic instrumental mo- tive for the study of Spanish among most of these subjects is its apparent usefulness for Obtaining a job. Hypothesis 2 predicted that integrative motivation was a reliable predictor of high achievement in 2LL. It was assumed that an integrative orientation translates the learner's de- sire to learn the language and to know more about the TL 32 group not only into perseverance, but also into a heightened concentration or intensity of attention (effort) which in turn produces more learning (Richards, 1976: 131; Gardner & Smythe, l974a:l4-15). Table 3 shows no significant correlations be- tween either type Of motivational reason and G.P.A. All cor- relations were bélow the .267 critical value required for a sample this size (p < .01).4 Since none of the correlations Table 3. Correlations between Spanish G.P.A. and reasons for studying Spanish. REASONS 1 2 3 4 5 6 G.P.A. in -.0115 .1213 .0627 .0339 -.ll64 .0964 Spanish were significant it can be concluded that there is no linear correlation between motivation and good grades and that these are totally independent from each other. However, when the same correlations were computed using the learners' self-assessed level of oral proficiency as an indicator of achievemnt in learning the TL (Table 4), reasons (1) and (4) showed low but significant positive correlations at the .01 level, while reasons (2) and (3) were significant at the .05 level. Therefore, though it was hypothesized that an integrative orientation would correlate more significantly with achievement, results indicate that both an integrative and/or an instrumental orientation can lead to learning the second language (in this case, at least with regard to oral proficiency). That is, in this particular learning setting where opportunities for actual use of the language and contact 33 with native speakers and the TL culture are limiteds, learning Spanish is significantly related to having either type or. both types of motivational orientation. However, it must be noted that while the analysis of the data in Table 1 suggest- ed that the learners' integrative orientation was stronger than an instrumental motive, results in Table 4 clearly indicate that it is instrumental reason (1) -- the statement with the highest single positive correlation with oral pro- ficiency -- which serves as an even more reliable predictor than any single integrative motive. . Table 4: Correlations between Oral Proficiency and Reasons for studying Spanish. REASONS l 2 3 4 § 6 Oral Pro- .3833* .2380** .2256** .2970* -.1411 .1721 ficiency *Significant at .01 level. **Significant at .05 level. All in all correlational data suggest that a motivational orien- tation, be it instrumental or integrative, can serve as a predictor of achievement in terms of oral proficiency but not in terms of grades. Possible explanations for these re- sults are discussed in Chapter Four. Notice that when the sample population is divided in terms of motivational orien- tation6 and further sub-classified according to their G.P.A. _scores, we find that indeed most students in the-sample seem to be integratively oriented and that students with an instrumental motivation also do well in their courses. 34 Though no significant correlations were Obtained between the individual items in the Motivational Index and grades, it seems that this could be due to the fact that most students got good grades in their classes regardless of type of moti- vation. Maybe it is a strong motivation (integrative, instru- mental, or both) which leads the learner to success as shown in Table 5. Table 5. Motivational Orientation and G.P.A. Figures in the center column represent learners who scored the same on both sets of motivational reasons. Clas- sification of learners was based on their scores in the Orientation Index. INTEGRATIVE INSTRUMENTAL G.P.A. # % # % # % 4.0 21 22.8 5 4.5 11 11.9 3.5 17 18.5 7 7.6 9 9.8 3.0 10 10.3 3 3.3' 4 4.3 2.5 2 2.3 O 2 2.2 2.0 0 0 1 1.1 Total 50 54.3 15 16.3 27 29.3 *#'s are the number of students in each level. **%'s are the percentages for the total sample (N=92). Data in Table 6 show that most learners have a high mo- tivational intensity for the learning of Spanish. Responses to items (1) and (2) indicated that most learners (77%) share the feeling that they are doing well in their courses and that they (87%) enjoy the study Of Spanish. An equally high 35 number (81%) plan to continue studying the language. If scores for the remaining negatively worded statements are reversed (a rating of 5 in a given item becomes the least applicable and a rating of 1 becomes the most applicable)7, ratings indicate that approximately 80% of the sample devote a significant amount of time and effort to doing homework and preparing for class (items 4 & 6). Learners do not perceive Table 6. Motivation for studying Spanish. Entries in columns l-5 repre- sent number of students who chose the rating. Motivation 1 2 3 4 5 Mean Mode 1. On the whole, I feel that I am doing well in Spanish. 4 2 15 36 35 4.0 4 2. I enjoy studying Spanish. 1 l 11 27 52 4.4 5 3. I plan to continue studying Spanish in the future 2 5 10 17 58 4.3 5 4. In my Spanish class, I am gen- erally not prepared unless I know the teacher will ask for the ‘ assignment. 40 24 18 10 1.9 l 5. Spanish is the course I least like. 71 12. 7 l l 1.4 l 6. I resent having to spend so much time on Spanish at the expense of other studies. 64 ll 11 5 1.5 l 7. I wish there were less emphasis in speaking in my Spanish class. 69 19 4 1.3 l 8. The Spanish language is particu- larly hard for an American to learn. 51 25 15 l 1.6 l 9. I am.embarrassed to speak Spanish because it is so hard to pronounce. 50 21 17 3 1 1.7 l 36 the course as difficult (item 8), they like to speak Spanish and .would like to spend more class time engaged in actual use of the language (items 9 & 7). Results in Table 7 show that when the items in the Mo- tivation Index were correlated with G.P.A. in Spanish, only four do so significantly (p < .01). Items (1) and (2) cor- relate Significantly with grades indicating that the more the students enjoy their study and the more they feel they are doing well, the better their grades. Results for items (5) and (6) are also significant and indicate that the more the students like their Spanish course and the less they resent spending time on it at the expense of other studies, the bet- ter their grades. In order to further test the hypothesis that an inte- grative orientation is a reliable predictor Of achievement, the motivational intensity items were correlated with the items in the Orientation Index. Figures suggest a number of significant positive correlations between some of the items. These correlations appear in Table 8 and indicate that motivational intensity correlates significantly with integrative reason (4), followed by reasons (1), (3) and (2). This may be an indication that both motivational orientations generate sufficient amounts of effort on part of the students to Obtain good grades. That is, the learner's integrative desire to know more about the TL group and the instrumental motive of knowing Spanish for Obtaining a job go hand-in-hand with the learners' enjoyment of the course. The perception 38 seed. heed. ease.- aree.- meee.- «are.. a Heme. heed. ~meo.- Hmre.- mete. redo. a knee. made. ere~.- mee~.- mmem.- maee.- 5 same. team. e-e.- Hre~.- Neoe.- anee.. e meH~.- ream. enme.u when.u oea~.- ~mae.u m «sea. kNeN. . aene.- ~eee.- meaa.- neme.- a meme. eeeH.- Adam. «was. dead. ends. m ease. aem~.- Gene. seam. mmmm. damn. a some. oene.- amen. Nash. tare. ease. a e n e m N e soaumu60fluo Honouuo>auoz .Am THATH aw OBOuHV huwmsousa Hmsoaum>auoz can Aa OHAOH nu mama“ momv cowuuuaowuo Hmsowum>auoz monsoon meowuoamuuoo .m magma .Ho>mH me. an eddeamadmamrr .Hd>oe He. he udneaeadmamr gmwdmdm con.I mHNH.It«m~o~.I «oenm.l «moom.l mnwo.l Nada. «camN. «anon. ow .<.m.o m m n o n c m N H coauo>fiuoz .msoomou hufiosOusq Hmsowum>auoa tam .<.m.u :mfismdm comauOb msOfiuoHOuuoo .n manna 39 that the learning experience is valuable, easy, and pleasant, and the total amount of effort spent learning the language, are conducive to good grades. This observation may well go the other way around, that is, maybe the better grades, the more the students enjoy their courses and the more they feel they are doing well. Rather than contradictory, these obser- vations are likely to be complementary since, as suggested by Gardner's model, this is a cyclic phenomenon (recall Fig- ure 2). Figures in Table 9 Show that most students in the sample do have a strong (or high) motivation to learn the language and that most of them do obtain good grades.8 Table 9. Motivational Intensity for the Study of Spanish and G.P.A. HIGH LOW G.P.A. # % # % 4.0 32 34.8 5 5.4 3.5 28 30.4 5 5.4 3.0 14 ' 15.2 3 3.3 2.5 l 1.1 3 3.3 2.0 0 _ l 1.1 Total 75 18.5 17 18.5 The students' responses in the Attitude Index (Table 10) indicate that most students tend to have positive attitudes toward language related activities (items 1, 2, 3), and that they would like to travel to a Spanish-speaking country and 40 Table 10. Foreign Language and Culture Attitudes. Entries in columns 1-5 represent number of students who chose this rating: 5- strongly agree, 4-agree, 3-nO opinion. 2-disagree, l-strongly disagree. Attitudes 1 2 3 4 5 Mean Mode l. I enjoy reading Spanish literature. 4 11 '21 39 17 3.6 . I enjoy listening to Spanish music. 6 l4 16 34 22 3.6 4 . I actually enjoy speaking Spanish. 1 8 42 41 4.3 I wish I had the chance to travel to a Spanish-speaking country. ___ ___ ___ 15 76 4.8 4 5. I wish I had the chance to meet and make friends with Spanish- speaking people. ___ ___ 10 29 53 4.5 5 6. I expect to study and use Spanish after leaving the University. 1 2 14 28 47 4.3 5 7. I would like to study an addition- al foreign language in the future. 6 8 18 29 31 3.8 5 8. I feel that studying Spanish is a worthwhile experience. -__ ___ 2 22 68 4.7 5 9. There should be a foreign language requirement for graduation in Amer- ican colleges and universities. 5 7 17 23 40 3.9 5 10. There should be a foreign language requirement for admission to Amer- ican colleges and universities. ll 16 29 16 20 3.2 3 11. Learning a foreign language should be required in junior high or high schools in the U.S. 5 ll 19 29 28 3.7 4 12. Compared to Americans, Hispanics are more interested in culture. 5 14 43 21 9 3.2 3 13. Compared to Americans, Hispanics are warmer and affectionate. 8 17 41 17 8 3.0 3 14. Compared to Americans, Hispanics are less dependable and efficient. 19 22 44 6 ___ 2.4 3 15. Compared to Americans, Hispanics are more excitable and less rational. 19 18 43 ll .__ 2.5 3 16. Compared to Americans, Hispanics are less interested in progress. 19 23 43 5 1 2.4 3 41 have the chance to meet and interact with Spanish speakers (items 4 and 5). In addition, most students (97%) believe that they would like to continue studying the language or an additional foreign language in the future (items 6, 7, 8). When asked about foreign language requirements for high schools or universities, nearly 60% of the sample responded that a foreign language should be required in junior high or high schools in the United States. About 38% considered that it should be required for admission to American universities and colleges, and 68% believed that it should be required to obtain a degree (items 9, 10, 11). Responses to items (12) through (16) indicate that most learners do not have a very clear opinion of the TL culture or that, most likely, they resist making these types of cultural judgments. It must be noted that this might be an indication of the need for caution in the interpretation of data collected by means of self- reported responses. These items might have been useful in some other contexts or with younger learners, but not neces- sarily so in situations where older students are involved. These older students may be more reluctant to judge according to stereotypes. Hypothesis 3 predicted that learners who exhibit positive attitudes would generally be integratively motivated. That is, attitudes do not correlate with achievement but they rather support the learners' motivation through the lengthy process of learning a second language. Data in Table 11 support this prediction since signficant correlations between 42 Correlations between Spanish G.P.A. and attitudes toward the Table 11. Hispanic language and culture and toward foreign language learning. Attitudes l 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 G.P.A. in 9 10 ll 12 l3 14 15 16 -.0571 -.1087 -.0329 -.ll45 .1455 -.24l8*-.0751 -.Ol3l *Significant at the .05 level. Table 12. Correlations between Motivation Orientation (Items in Table 1) and Attitudes (Items in Table 9). Motivational Orientation l 2 3 4 5 6 l .2044 .4003 .2232 .2418 -.3419 .2115 2 —.O403 .3124 .0609 .0113 .0545 .2222 3 .3354 .3122 .2948 .4496 -.1431 .1808 4 .2471 .2002 .0208 .2898 -.0776 .1552 5 .1639 .3230 -.0154 .3777 -.O686 .2921 6 .3681 .3980 .1629 .3859 -.2222 .2111 7 .2237 .2902 .2723 .3176 -.2031 .1996 3 8 .3218' .3496 .2013 .3527 -.1017 .1366 E 9 .0701 .2201 .4444 .1733 -.1944 -.0988 g 10 . 1417 .2024 . 3977 . 2432 -. 0896 -.0213 11 .0824 .1341 .3427 .0525 -.0613 -.0770 12 .1208 .0541 -.0439 -.0665 .0992 .0894 13 -.0584 .0753 .1696 -.0731 -.0213 .1641 14 -.0742 -.2867 -.0380 -.0747 .0374 -.0310 15 -.1000 -.0801 .0549 -.0467 .0947 .0949 16 -.0390 -.2886 -.0470 -.l320 .1089 -.0419 43 attitudes and G.P.A. occur only in two instances (i.e., items 6 and 14). Notice, however, that even these two correlations are only significant at the .05 level. On the other hand, data in Table 12 show higher significant correlations between attitudes and type of motivation (p < .01) which supports the above hypothesis.9 That is, the data suggest a Stronger association between attitudes and motivation, whether inte- grative or instrumental. Further data appear in Table 13. Here learners were classified according to their G.P.A.'s. These data indicate no apparent differentiation between positive or negative at- titudes and the students' grades. Table 13. Foreign Language and Culture Attitudes and G.P.A. POS IT. IVE NEGATIVE G.P.A. # % # % 4.0 19 20.6 18 19.6 3.5 18 19.6 15 16.3 3.0 9 9.8 8 8.7 2.5 0 4 4.3 2.0 0 1 1.1 Total 46 50.0 46 50.0 However, if the figures in Table 13 are broken down further for first- and third-year students, we find indirect 44 evidence that suggests that learners may rely on their attitudes for motivational support. These data are pre- sented in Table 14. Table 14. Attitude differences and level of study. lSt 3rd year POSITIVE 18 23 19.6% 30.4% NEGATIVE 3 8 8 41.3% 8.7% The above data indicate that the majority of first-year learners in the sample have more negative attitudes while most of the third-year students exhibit more positive atti- tudes. This might be an indication that in order to perse- vere in the learning task for an extended period of time, positive attitudes are necessary. 45 Footnotes to Chapter Four Integrative reasons 2, 4, and 6 had a mean rating of 3.2. Instrumental reasons 1, 3, and 5 had a mean rating of 3.1. These data could be due to the fact that instrumental statements refer to different and probably independent reasons for studying Spanish. Integrative statements, however, seem to refer to closely related things (e.g., items 2 and 4). This might be an indication of the difficulty in assessing these sort of affective variables ' and a major handicap of the use of.questionnaires as measurement instruments. Any observations are therefore made with an understanding of the suggestive nature of these data. It is certainly possible that this statement could repre- sent an instrumental more than an integrative motive for some learners. It is feasible that some students may want to study Spanish because it will provide them with an advantage or power when dealing with others (Gardner & Smythe, l974a:20-21). However, other items in the Questionnaire seem to indicate that the students in the sample tend to be mostly integratively oriented. For example, responses to item (5) in Table 8 indicate the willingness of 89% of the students to meet and befriend with TL-speakers. Moreover, when this item was corre- lated with items in the Orientation Index, results show high positive correlation with item (4), suggesting the high integrative content of such statements. See Johnson (1980:574). With regard to previous exposure to the Spanish language (See Appendix), 71% of the sample have had only class- room experience, 25% have had the chance to travel in a Spanish-speaking country, and only 17% have had a Spanish-speaking friend. Obtained from scores in the Orientation Index as described under "Method" in this paper. See Randhawa & Korpan (1973:27-28). Figures obtained from scores in the Motivation Index. See "Method" in this paper for further details. Though differentiating between attitudes and motivation may to some extent present operational problems, the present data provide indirect evidence that suggests that attitudes and motivation are related but distinct aspects 46 of the psychological domain. The relationship is indicated by high positive correlations shown in Table 12, where attitudinal and motivational statements are compared. The distinctiveness of these concepts is evidenced by the data in Table 14 which shows the ab- sence of correlations between most of the attitude statements and grades as well as figures in Table 13 that indicate no apparent relationship between positive and negative attitudes and grades. It should follow that if these concepts refered to the same socio- affective aspects of 2LL similar patterns would have been obtained. CHAPTER FIVE DISCUSSION The Questionnaire used in this study was intended to measure the learners' motivational orientation, motivational intensity, and attitudes toward the TL, its speakers and 2LL. However, as mentioned earlier, any interpretation of the data must first take into account the reliability and valid- ity of attitudinal and motivational measurement instruments. The main criticism of these measures is their reliance on self-report. Such responses could be influenced by-a number of extralinguistic variables ranging from an approval motive, self-flattery, or a desire to be consistent, to additional variables such as first- or second-language proficiency, and/ or verbal intelligence (Oller, 1977:180-3; Oller & Perkins, l978b:418—22; Oller et al., 1980:237-40; Oller, 1981: 17-22). On the other hand, it has been argued also that this criticism is unfounded since there is sufficient "statistical, contextual, and conceptual evidence" to indicate that atti- tudinal/motivational measures are both reliable and valid and that they consistently demonstrate a causal relationship be- tween socio-affective variables and 2LL (Gardner, 1980:264- 68). It is claimed that these measures have been developed "with an eye to their psychometric properties" (Gardner & 47 48 Smythe, 1981:510) and they they are derived not only from the insights of teachers and researchers alike, but also from established psychological notions (Gardner et al., 1978: 180-185; Gardner, 1980:269). In View of this controversy, it can be concluded that though carefully constructed instruments could adequately measure attitudes and motivation, the questioning of the re- liability and validity of such instruments is valid and that the results thus obtained should be interpreted with caution and flexibility. It seems, nevertheless, that until better instruments are developed, research in this area of 2LL will have to rely on self-reported measures. As Tucker (1981:32) concludes, We may simply have to accept the fact that we may not be able to test, in such an elegant fashion as we might desire, the power of the theories that we generate. Therefore, although the results obtained in this study may be far from conclusive, they may still serve as a source of further hypotheses. In addition, any analysis must be made with a clear understanding of the nature of correlational data on which most motivational studies base their conclusions. First of all, it should be clear that correlations are rather a math- ematical indication of the strength of a linear relationship between given variables. This does not mean that there nec- essarily is a cause-and-effect relationship (Johnson, 1980: 103). Any inferences on the direction of the relationship 49 in question is open to alternative interpretations. In the case of 2LL, Gardner (1981:104) observes that at least three sorts cf relationships could be considered in regard to the role and effect of attitudinal and motivational factors: namely, (a) attitudinal-motivational variables influence achievement levels, (b) achievement level results in particular attitudinal-motivational characteristics, or that (c) their relationship is due to some other third factor such as verbal intelligence, approval motive, etc. Gardner further states that "to design research to determine which if any is the correct interpretation" iS'a complicated task. The value of the present model lies precisely in that it provides an explanation of the relationship of motivation to a number of variables involved in the complex process of learning a second language. Nonetheless, results should be interpreted rather as indicators of the presence and not the direction of a relationship. The firSt interpretive task it to account for the combined integrative and instrumental motivation reported in the data. These data indicate that the overall scores for integrative vs. instrumental reasons do not differ signif- icantly (Table I), thus suggesting that both types of orien- tation are present and of about the same strength. However, a more careful examination of the student's responses showed that the highest score was given to an integrative state- ment -- namely, the desire to meet and befriend different kinds of people. On the other hand, the instrumental 50 perception that knowing Spanish is useful in obtaining a job received the second highest response followed closely by the integrative motive of wanting to better understand the Spanish-speakers and their culture. Thus it seems that although both motivations are present, the integrative mo- tive is stronger. This may be a product of prevailing social beliefs that regard the integrative motive as posi- tive.1 However, no significant correlations between grades and motivational orientation are observed in the data. These results warrant discussion since they are contrary to the findings of previous studies and the hypothesis being tested here. I First to be considered is the size of the sample. While most studies in this area have included hundreds of students, the present sample consists only of 92 subjects. Thus, the obtained results could be partly due to such a small popu- lation since this means a higher critical value when deter- mining the significance of the correlations (Johnson, 1980: 99-105).2 It is possible that given the nature of attitudes and motives, low but significant correlations could still have important theoretical implications (Gardner et al., 1978:175). However, in the present study the figures were not significant at all (p < .01) when achievement was measured as G.P.A. Though this could lead to the conclusion that in the present context of learning there is no relation- ship whatsoever between attitudinal/motivational variables and achievement in 2LL, other factors of a non-statistical 51 nature could account for the above results For example, consider the possible effect of age and level of study. There is some data that suggest that the reliabil- ity of motivational measures as predictors of achievement tends to decrease with the age of the students (Lambert et al., 1963; Gardner et al., 1979). Since the sample in this study consists of college students (mean age: 20 yrs.) and most of the research on the affective domain of 2LL has focused on elementary and secondary level school populations, it is possible that an important factor might have been overlooked. Age might have some sort of diminishing effect on the rela- tionship between motivation and achievement.3 On the other hand, level of study may also have a simi- 1ar constraining effect on the relationship mentioned above (Lambert et al., 1963:365-6). It has been suggested that the association between motivation and success in learning a second language is stronger at the initial stages (Gardner & Smythe, l974a:20-31; l974b:4l-4), and that at advanced lev- els, students are more susceptible to a different set of socio-cultural factors. This might mitigate the effect of attitudinal/motivational variables (Gardner et al., 1979: 318—9; Gardner & Smythe, 1981:524). The precise nature and effect of these factors has not been studied yet. Compara- tive studies where the age of learners is the central vari- able would be quite useful. Another variable to take into account in the explanation of results is the reliability of G.P.A. as an indicator of 52 achievement. It may well be the case that course grades are not synonymous with achievement as concluded by Chastain in an earlier study (1975:159). That is, course grades may not necessarily represent the student's level of proficiency in the TL. Furthermore, in the present sample over 70% of the students had a G.P.A. of 3.5 or above, this does provide a rather restricted range for comparison. Though it is cer- tainly possible that only ”good" students returned the Questionnaires,4 or that simply most of the students taking Spanish that year were good learners,5 we must also consider the possibility that the high percentage of high grades is the product of evaluation procedures that favors such grades. Thus, G.P.A. yields a narrow basis for comparing achievement -differences. 'Data regardingcorrelation between motivation and G.P.A. should therefore be interpreted as suggestive rather than conclusive. Pertinent to this discussion is the question of what course grades really stand for. A number of studies have demonstrated that motivational orientation is more closely related to skills that can be used for communication, while aptitude is more important for the acquisition of skills related to formal classroom instruction -- i.e., grammar and vocabulary (Gardner, 1968:143; Lambert, 1972:293; Gardner, Smythe, et al., 1976:200; Krashen, 198lb:26). Though a measure of oral proficiency in the TL is incorporated into the grade students receive for their courses, in the case of firsteyear classes, assessment of oral proficiency made up 53 only about 15% of the final grades. Consequently it is feasible that the results shown in Table 3 are due not to absence of a relationship, but due to the fact that grades do not adequately represent the learner's level of oral proficiency in the TL. This observation issupported by the data shown in Table 4. Here correlations were calculated between integra- tive and instrumental reasons and a measure of the student's oral proficiency.6 Figures indicate low but significant correlations between a numbercmfreasons and oral proficiency. Notice, however, that though it was hypothesized that an integrative orientation was a reliable predictor of achieve- ment it is actually instrumental reason (1) which has the highest correlation followed by integrative reason (4). Thus it seems that though an integrative orientation is'useful in predicting success in learning to speak Spanish, an instru- mental motive is a stronger predictor of achievement in the context of this study. Given that the sample was found to be rather integrative- ly motivated, the above findings may seem somewhat contradic- tory. However, once we consider that in a social context where actual interaction with speakers of Spanish and their culture is infrequent, we may look at the possibility that learners' stronger integrative orientation could sometimes yield to a more utilitarian motive. Since the opportunities for getting a job may be associated with being able to speak the language, having this orientation can lead to success 54 in the learning task. This finding is in agreement with previous studies that concluded that in the United States an instrumental orientation is a more reliable predictor of achievement in 2LL (Lambert et al., 1963; Lambert, 1972). However, when course grades are used as measures of achievement, it seems that a strong motivation -- integrative or instrumental -- can lead to success (Table 5). Further support for this observation is found in the data in Table 7 where a number of both types of motivational reasons correla- ted significantly with statements reflecting motivational intensity (i.e., effort). The learners' strong motivation is apparently translated into effort, enjoyment of the course, class participation, etc., and these lead to good grades (Table 9). Again, although it could be argued that good grades influence motivation, it may well be that they do so indirectly (Gardner & Smythe, 1981:523-24). That is, good grades may be more likely to influence the learner's atti- tudes toward the learning task, or his/her self-perception of proficiency. These attitudes may intnrn provide support for the learner's motivation which will allow for perseverence and will promote learning. The next question of interest is the relationship be- tween attitudes and motivation. Data suggest that positive attitudes toward learning Spanish and toward 2LL tend to V correlate significantly with both integrative and instrumental reasons. Thus, attitudes may not generally correlate with achievement measures (Table 12) but they may serve as 55 motivational support as was hypothesized. The low but signifi- cant correlations (p < .05) obtained in items (6) and (4) may be due to the close relationship that exists between attitudes and motivation (Gardner, 1979:206-8, 218; 1981:101- 8). The possibility that the Questionnaire used in this . study is inadequate for capturing the complexities of a learner's true feelings and beliefs should not be disreganded in explaining these data.7 Perhaps the attitudinal/motiva- tional measures developed by Gardner & Lambert (1972) are not sensitive enough or are in need of a revision (Johnson & Krug, 1980:248). However, when the students were grouped according to year of study and their scores in the Attitude Index an interesting pattern Was uncovered (Table 14). It seems that most first-year students had more negative attitudes, while most third-year learners had positive attitudes. This could be an indication that a learner's attitudes may change as he/ she advances in his/her study of the TL,8 due to a number of reasons. For example, exposure to the language may lead the students to know more about the speakers and their culture allowing the students to become psychologically closer to the TL group (Mueller & Miller, 1970:319; Gardner et al., 1976a: 207-9) and thus strengthen their integrative motivation. Another possibility is that as students advance in their studies and become more able to communicate in the TL, their feeling of achievement may generate positive attitudes toward learning that helps students to continue their studies. In 56 a similar fashion, course grades may initially provide the students with a sense of achievement and encourage them to continue until factors like language exposure and communica- tive ability come into effect (Mueller, 1971:296-7; Gardner, 1979:206). Thus, at the advanced level of study the motiva- tional support needed to continue studying may be provided by a change in the learner's attitudes caused by exposure to the TL and a feeling that communication with TL speakers is facilitated. On the other hand, at initial stages of language learn- ing, good grades might serve to encourage the students to persevere in their study of the language by influencing their attitudes which would provide the motivational support (Arendt, 1972:199). That is, it is also possible that good grades and a growing ability to communicate in the TL could provide the learner with a self-perception of proficiency that would influence his/her motivation in a particular way at different levels of study. This could in turn lead to further proficiency which would also continue to influence the learner's attitudes (recall Figure 2). It is pertinent to point out that though figures for student-dropout are not available for first-year courses, the fact that third-year students scored higher in all three Indices does provide some basis for further hypotheses despite the possibility that they may be the product of self- selection. It follows that a longitudinal study where the attitudes and motives of first-year learners are monitored 57 through the whole length of their learning experience, would be desirable in order to identify and explore sources of attitude change and motivational support (Gardner & Smythe, 1981:519). In addition, we must consider how sex may be related to motivation and achievement in 2LL. A number of studies (e.g., Jones, 1949, 1950; Bartley, 1970; Randhawa & Korpan, 1973) found that females tend to score higher than males in atti- tudinal-motivational measures and achievement tests. It was concluded that females performed better in language learning because in most cases they were predominantly integratively motivated. The present study found no significant differences be- tween males and females in terms of their G.P.A., Oral Pro- ficiency, Motivational Intensity, or Attitude Index scores. That is, both males and females performed similarly in their study of the TL. Nonetheless, a slightly higher percentage of males reported studying Spanish for instrumental reasons such as fulfilling a requirement or for being a cultured person. A higher percentage of females, on the other hand, reported studying Spanish mainly because it would enable them to meet different kinds of people and because they considered Spanish useful for getting a job. It Seems that most females are slightly more integratively oriented. How- ever, in both cases, it seems that a strong motivation to learn led to good grades. It is possible that the results of earlier studies were 58 a reflection of prevailing social stereotypes which regard females as better language learners (rather than good at math) and which also influenced the females' interest and motivation to learn. It is also possible that females scored better than males in achievement measures because they enjoyed language learning more than males (for whatever reason) which provided a strong motivation (Mueller & Miller, 1970:297-8; Mueller, 1971:290-1). All in all, it is likely that any hypotheses regarding sex differences and affective variables may be in need of more detailed investigation. A final consideration is the usefulness of Gardner's model in explaining the 2LL process. From the above dis- cussion of findings it should follow that this model faces a significant number of shortcomings. A fundamental limi- tation is the need for more detailed clarification of the concepts of attitude and motivation. It seems that to some extent they refer to overlapping areas of the affective do- main. This might have a significant effect on the data obtained and on any conclusions derived thereof. The lack of more adequate defintion of the concepts under investiga- tion might have been a major cause for the discrepancies of results in earlier studies. Another problem with this model is that it does not clearly allow for a bi-directional relationship among its components. It relies too heavily on the cyclic effect from left to right (recall Figure 2) and may therefore be unable to account for probable interactions among the components of 59 the model in an opposite direction. That is, grades acting on motivation, motivation acting on attitudes, etc. This possibility might be worth exploring in future studies. An additional limitation is that there is a need for more adequate measurement instruments. The model draws too heavily on data from questionnaires. These data might be affected by a number of factors as reported by Oller (1977: 180-3). Moreover, the items used in these questionnaires need to be constantly revised and adapted to fit a given sample in a given social milieu in order to more adequately assess the feelings and motives of the given population. It may well be that the items used in this study are not precise enough to capture the subtle characteristics of affective variables. (This might, again, be a reflection of the lack of more adequate definitions for these concepts.) Achievement or proficiency measures are also a major drawback of this model. How do we measure achievement? What aspects are to be taken into account at each level or stage in 2LL? What would be the most adequate measurement instru- ments to assess the learners' progress and success in achiev- ing a given set of goals? Though Gardner's model predicts that a strong motivation will lead to achievement in 2LL, it fails to specify what this achievement would be or how it is measured (cp. Figure 1). It may well be that at different stages or levels the relationships outlined by this model vary in intensity or length causing, maybe not a different outcome, but actually varying degrees within it. 60 Apparently, significant variables such as age, be it biological or psychological, are not taken into account by this model (again consider Figure 1). It is likely that this variable plays a significant. role in 2LL and moreover in terms of the relationship between motivation and achievement. For instance, it is likely that at different points:h1time and in different learning contexts, the motives of learners may vary considerably. This variability in motivation is not elaborated. A major component of this model is the "social milieu component." This component was expected to incorporate the effect of social beliefs prevailing in the learning context as well as bilingual vs. monolingual situations. How- ever, it does not clearly explain the role or effect that a second language vs. a foreign language learning context would play. Gardner discusses this component basically in terms of additive vs. subtractive bilingualism and their effect on attitudes and motivation for 2LL (1979:194-5). Nonetheless, the situation in the United States does not generally fit into any of these categories. Moreover, it would seem that the learning context would vary from state to state, or city to city, particularly in the case of Spanish. Thus, though the model does incorporate signifi- cant aspects of 2LL, it fails to elaborate into how variation in context would affect the other components. Gardner (1980:98), observes that attitudinal/motivation- al factors would account for about 14% of the variability 61 observed in 2LL achievement. He argues that given the nature of attitudes and motives this is a significant per- centage that can- be subject to modification by the teacher or the instruction program. This, however, is a matter of interpretation. The fact remains that the model has a varied number of weaknesses that leads us to question its reliability as an alternative explanation for achievement differences in 2LL. Nonetheless, the value of a model should not be measured only by the number of exceptions it is unable to account for. This sort of judgment requires consideration of additional factors such as the number and nature of the components it involves, how accurate is it in explaining the interrelationships between them, and, above all, how success- ful it is in providing a framework (or paradigm) for future research. This later consideration would be most desirable in terms of efforts aimed at understanding 2LL. In doing so Gardner's model has proven to be quite successful. The conclusions for the present study follow this section. Despite the inconclusiveness of the results, they nonetheless hint to the sort of relationships predicted by this model, thus providing some sort of indication as to how attitudes and motivation interact with success in 2LL in a monolingual social context. Footnotes to Chapter Five .The effect of prevailing social attitudes on the moti- vation of the students should not be overlooked since it has been demonstrated that they are instrumental in the formation of individual attitudes (Thompson, 1975; Gardner et al., 1978). A study done by Eddy & Roth for the President's Commission on Language and Area Studies reported that out of 962 respondents to a telephone interview, 74.3% responded positively to the statement that "knowing any foreign language helps American to have a better awareness and understanding of the people from other nations." Though only 43.6% responded to the statement that "Knowing a foreign language helps a person get a good job in this country," perhaps most students in the sample for the present study hold this view. It could be argued that a representative sample would produce, regardless of size, the same range of varia- tion in the correlations. Though this is certainly valid, no actual population distributions were re- searched in this study, but rather the presence or absence of relationships between specific attitudes and motives to achievement. Schumann (1975:228-32) addresses the problem of age in 2LL. He points out that this may be a significant variable in the relationship of affective variables to achievement differences and that it still needs to be researched in detail. He concludes that "social and psychological maturation may be as important or even more important than neurological maturation in account- ing for difficulties in adult second language learning." The study of these difficulties, taking into consider- ation "critical period" hypotheses and hypotheses about socio-affective factors, would be useful in further clarifying the ancient nature vs. nurture controversy in language acquisition. A total of 32 students did not return the Questionnaire. Perhaps most of these had lower grades. However, in most sections all students turned in their responses, so it could be assumed that indeed most of the subjects have good grades. Figures obtained from the Department of Romance and Classical Languages at Michigan State University indi- cate that for Spring 1981 the mean grades for SPN 103 (N=134) and SPN 311 (N=47) was 3.4. This, according to a department official, was unusually high. 62 63 Though the use of self-assessed measures is subject to criticism in terms of its reliability as a representa- tion of actual oral proficiency, it is likely that the student's perception of his/her success in the learning task is closely related to actual attainment (Gardner & Smythe, 1981:519). Consider for example item 5 in Table 1. At a univer- sity with a foreign language requirement, this item could be interpreted as an instrumental reason. On the other hand, at Michigan State not all programs have a language requirement and responses to this item may be interpreted as having an integrative (a low rating) or instrumental (a high rating) value. Since only 28% of the students in the sample rated this item affirmatively, it could be assumed that fulfilling a college requirement was not a major reason for studying Spanish. It could also be argued that these results are the product of self-selection among third-year students and not due to a change in attitudes.' However, what is more relevant here is the fact that the majority of the students at this level did exhibit positive atti- tudes and either because of self-selection or because of a change in attitudes, positive attitudes might be needed to persevere in language study (c.p. Bartley, 1970; Gardner, 1973; Gardner & Smythe, l974b; Gardner, Grinsberg and Smythe, 1976; Clement, Gardner and Smythe, 1976; Clement, Smythe and_Gardner, 1978). CHAPTER SIX CONCLUSIONS. The research reported herein is by no means totally original nor exhaustive. It is rather a modest attempt to examine the relationships between socio-affective variables --i.e., attitudes and motivation -- and achievement in the learning of Spanish as a second language by American university students. The findings are more suggestive than conclusive. Though tenuous, they seem to support the hypo- thesis suggested by Gardner's model that positive attitudes toward learning Spanish, toward Spanish-speakers, and toward 2LL serve as motivational support which eventually leads to success in learning the TL. Specifically, results suggest that the students in this sample are not solely integrative nor instrumentally motiva- ted. A.combination of both orientations was found in most learners. Though results indicated that most of the students have a strong integrative orientation toward learning Spanish. an instrumental reason was found to be a better predictor of achievement in 2LL defined as self-reported oral proficiency. We suggest that in the learning context where actual contact and interaction with native speakers of Spanish and their culture is rather limited, students relied more on the 64 65 perception that the language is useful for obtaining a job as a reason for perseverance. Most likely, discrepancies in the results of earlier studies on this subject could be clarified if the prevailing attitudes and beliefs in the so- cial milieu of the learners were taken into account. Both integrative and instrumental motivations appear to be conducive to a high motivational intensity (i.e., effort). This effort, in turn, may be a significant factor leading to good grades. Thus, having a strong motivation to learn cor— relates positively with the learners' enjoyment of the course, with their perception that it is a worthwhile experience, with preparing for class in advance, and with a willingness to speak the language without embarassment. All of these seem to help the learners in the present sample to succeed in learning the TL. Motivational orientation seems to be more closely rela- ted to verbal or communicative skills rather than to grades which mainly represent scores in grammar and vocabulary tests. It may be that in addition, G.P.A. is not necessar- ily the best indicator of proficiency in 2LL and that there is a need to develop more reliable measures (Oller et al., 1981:240). Disagreement in results of earlier studies may be due to the lack of such adequate and cohesive measures. It is also possible that the type of attitudinal/motivational measures used in the Questionnarie may not be sensitive enough to accurately identify the learner's feelings toward 2LL and the need for exerting caution in the interpretation 66 of results. .Similarly, this has also been suggested by Johnson & Drug (1980:248). . Age and level of study seem to be some of the factors in need of detailed investigation since they may be respon- sible for the lack of association between motivational orien- tation and G.P.A. It may be that advanced students are like; ly to respond to other goals, priorities, teaching methods, etc., which may not equally affect younger students. Also, along with age comes a degree of social and psychological maturation that might have a significant, but unspecified, effect in the process of successful 2LL. It follows that there is a need for longitudinal study of the effects of age and level of study on motivation-achievement relationships. Difference between first- and third-year students suggest that exposure to the TL may be a factor that leads to positive attitudes which in turn strengthen the learners' motivation needed to persevere in the study of the language. Another factor possibly related to a change in attitudes may be achievement itself. If it is true that "nothing suc- ceeds like success," maybe good grades and the feeling that one is proficient hithe TL would "promote an increased level of motivation" that could lead to achievement (Gardner & Smythe, 1981:519). Perhaps some learners tend to rely on good grades to continue studying until factors such as TL exposure or the feeling that they have learned enough to communicate successfully come into effect. If this is so, language teachers should devote time and effort to clarifying 67 the goals and objectives of the language course to the stu- dents and provide them with adequate feedback on the progress of their learning. It must be noted that is the feeling of having attained the goals for the given level of study to- gether with the growing ability to use the language effec- tively in communication what is likely to motivate the student (Mueller, 1971:296-7). Regarding sex differences, it seems that females may be more integratively oriented than males, while most males are mainly instrumentally oriented -- at least among the subjects of the present study. No particular reasons were identified for this difference. However, both sexes showed no sig- nificant variation with regard to G.P.A. or oral proficiency (self-assessed). It may well be that individual differences within a sex rather than between sexes might be more relevant in explaining achievement differences in 2LL. Any further hypothesizing is hindered by the lack of data and a more adequate sample. Finally, though most students want to learn Spanish with the purpose of meeting and befriending Spanish speakers, they also do not want to think and behave totally like them. That is, learners in the sample do not want to become totally integrated into the TL and the TL-culture. It follows that in a context where the TL has a more social or political relevancy to the learners -- e.g., the French language in Canada or the EngliSh language for a Mexican coming to the United States -- the desire to integrate into the TL group 68 may be much stronger. Feelings like anomie, which may sig- nificantly affect 2LL, may arise in such context (Schumann, 1978). It is also possible that a classroom environment allows for approaching 2LL:h1a detached fashion, at the same time allowing the students to retain their ethnocentric values as suggested by Thompson (1977:38-39). In sum, though these findings are rather tenuous, they are suggestive of trends and some of the variables that may affect 2LL. Above all it is clear that socio-affective var- iables should not become a "catch-all" term for explaining success or failure:h12LL. Precise description and measure- ment remains a serious problem (Tucker, 1981:21). What research is available does suggest a relevant relationship 'between social milieu and socio-affective variables in 2LL. Given that language is indeed a form of social behavior (Labov, 1972:183), it follows that language learning must be closely related to the context in which the learning takes place and to the social beliefs prevailing in that context‘ regarding the language in question and the community of speakers it represents. Any theory which is intended to explain the 2LL process should be examined against different settings in order to adequately assess its applicability. From this viewpoint, Gardner's model does provide a suitable framework from which to explore such areas and test such theories. Finally, we note that language is a symbol of social identity and a means of obtaining social recognition or 69 gaining access to jobs or prestige within a society. It .follows that language learning, be it first or second, would likely be related to the social bonds and beliefs shared by the community of speakers of the language learners. Relating such considerations to socio-affective variables provides an area from which to probe the human mind as it approaches the language learning task. Such an approach brings into close interaction the cognitive and socio- psychological domains. This is a rather appealing approach to the study of language and language use. This is, after all, a major goal of linguistic research. It should follow that 2LL is not a linear phenomenon made of independent or isolated components. It is rather a wholistic process that must be studied accordingly. As research in 2LL advances, a greater understanding of social- psychological phenomena will be required to more fully appreciate the social meaning of language behavior. Indeed, the socio-affective domain seems to be a more than adequate area in which to bring into close relationship the fields of socio- and psycholinguistics. Thus, despite the diffi- culties which must necessarily accompany this type of re- search venture, the applicability of the obtained results in enhancing our understanding of second language learning is evident, because as Giles (1979:2) remarks, ...if we are to understand why individuals ac- quire, use, and react to language and its var- ieties in the way they do, we require a greater understanding of the dynamics of attitudes, mo- tivation, identities and intensions, that is, social psychological phenomena. APPENDIX APPENDIX SPANISH LANGUAGE ATTITUDE QUESTIONNAIRE AGE YEARS OF COLLEGE. GENERAL G.P.A. SEX CREDIT HOURS IN SPANISH ORAL PROFICIENCY (use a 1 'poor' to 5 CURRENT MAJOR G.P.A. IN SPANISH 'excellent' scale) KNOW ANY OTHER FOREIGN LANGUAGE?: YYES NO IF "YES" HOW WELL?" 1. JUST GREETINGS 2. CAN SPEAK SOME 3. READ & WRITE— BEFORE COMING T0 THE UNIVERSITY, WERE YOU EXPOSED TO THE SPANISH LANGUAGE: YES__ No__ IF "YES" WHERE?: 1. AT SCHOOL__ 2. TRAVEL IN A SPANISH-SPEAKING COUNTRY____ 3. STUDY IN SPANISH SPEAKING COUNTRY____ 4. SPANISH- SPEAKING FRIENDS____ I. Below are some reasons frequently given for studying Spanish. Please read each reason carefully and rate it on a scale of 1 (lowest) to 5 (highest) indicating the extent to which it is applicable in your own case. - 1. It will be helpful in getting a job. 1 2 3 4 5 2. It will help me to better understand the Spanish-speaking people and their way of life. 1 2 3 4 5 3. Any person who is cultured knows at least one foreign language. 1 2 3 4 5 4. I will be able to meet and deal with different kinds of people. 70 71 5. It satisfies college requirements. l 2 3 4 S 6. I will be able to think and behave like a Spanish-speaking person. II. 72 Below are seven statements made by students of Spanish. Please read each one carefully and indicate the extent to which it is applic- able in your own case by rating it on a scale of 1 (least applicable) to 5 (most applicable). 1. On the whole, I feel that I am doing well in Spanish. 1 2 3 4 5 2. I enjoy studying Spanish. 1 2 3 4 5 3. I plan to continue studying Spanish in the future. 1 2 3 4 5 4. In my Spanish class, I am generally not prepared unless I know the teacher will ask for the assignment. 1 2 3 4 5 5. Spanish is the course I least like. 1 2 3 4 5 6. I resent having to spend so much time on Spanish at the expense of other studies. 1 2 3 4 5 7. I wish there were less emphasis in speaking in my Spanish class. 1 2 3 4 5 8. The Spanish language is particularly hard for Americans to learn. 1 2 3 4 5 9. I am embarrassed to speak Spanish because it is so hard to pronounce. III. 73 The following statements are frequently made by students of Spanish. Please read them carefully and indicate the extent to which they represent your own feelings: . strongly disagree . disagree . no opinion . agree . strongly agree 1. I enjoy reading Spanish literature. fill-#LANH 1 2 3 4 5 2. I enjoy listening to Spanish music. 1 2 3 4 5 3. I actually enjoy speaking Spanish. 1 2 3 4 5 4. I wish I had the chance to travel to a Spanish-speaking country. 1 2 3 4 5 5. I wish I had the chance to meet and make friends with Spanish- speaking people. 1 2 3 4 5 6. I expect to study and use Spanish after leaving the University. 1 2 3 4 5 7. I would like to study an additional foreign language in the future. 1 2 3 4 S 8. I feel that studying Spanish is a worthwhile experience. 1 2 3 4 5 9. 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