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1. International Journal of Arts & Sciences,
CD-ROM. ISSN: 1944-6934 :: 07(03):117–128 (2014)
Copyright c 2014 by UniversityPublications.net
ATTITUDES AND MOTIVATIONS IN LEARNING ENGLISH AS A
FOREIGN LANGAUGE
Mouili Fatiha, Bouhamidi Sliman, Bakader Mustapha and Maameri Yahia
University of Bechar, Algeria
Since the late 1960s and the early 1970s, there has been a significant shift within the field of
language learning and teaching with greater emphasis on learners and learning rather than on
teachers and teaching. It seems a reasonable goal for language teachers to make their students be
dependent at a given percentage from them in order to reach a level of autonomy. It is obvious that
language learning is regarded as the cornerstone of human existence. Acquiring a language, either the
mother tongue or a foreign language, enables us to express our opinions, hopes, and even our dreams. In
foreign language learning context, there are various factors that influence the learning process
such as motivation, attitudes, anxiety, learning achievements, aptitudes, intelligence, age,
personalities, etc.
Keywords: English language learning, Attitudes, Motivations, Learner, Teacher.
Introduction
The importance of the English language has spread around the world, and most of the non- English
speakers are interested in learning it for its value and role as an international language for the sake of
acquiring the modern science and technology. People who are interested in learning English as a foreign
language have different levels of motivation toward that language; similarly they wish to build positive
attitudes in order to achieve higher responses in English. These two concepts, attitudes and motivation,
seem to be necessary elements for the acquisition of the English language, and their relationship has been
considered as a major issue in the field of English learning language.
In the process of English language learning, students are supposed to come to the classroom
either with high motivations or low motivations. These students have different perceptions of their
class, teacher and curriculum; such perceptions are responsible for their attitudes. Of the most important
factors that affect the learners’ when learning the English language are: attitudes and motivations. That is
both of these aspects have positive and negative impact on the learners. Therefore, this paperinvestigates
the attitudes and motivations that the students adopt when learning English as a foreign language. So,
what is meant by attitudes and motivations? What determine the learners’ attitudes and motivations so
that to reach effective English learning? What are the strategies and the goals of attitudes toward the
English language? What are the key motivational factors of both the teachers and the learners? And
finally, what are the factors which influence the learners’ attitudes; and which factors create a variation at
the level of motivations?
117

2. 118 Attitudes and Motivations in Learning English as a Foreign Langauge
Literature Review
Definition of Attitudes
Oxford Advanced Learners’ Dictionary (2008, 84) defines the term attitude as: “the way you think and
feel about somebody or something, and the way that you behave towards somebody or something shows
how you think and feel”.Similarly, Allport (2009, 4) says: “an attitude is a mental and neutral state of
readiness, organized through experience, exerting a directive or dynamic influence upon the individual
response to all objects and situations with which it is related”.(An attitude can be defined as a positive or
negative evaluation of people, objects, event, activities, ideas, or just about anything in your
environment).Individual's attitudes towards something or place can be positive or negative; these attitudes
have three major components which are: cognitive which refers to a person's own beliefs about
something; effective which is a person’s own feeling towards something; and behavioral that is a person's
own behavioral towards something.
Variables of Attitudes
Both the positive and the negative attitudes determine the success or failure of language learning and
target language community;thus, individual's attitudes are divided into two categories of attitudes:
attitudes towards learning language and towards target language community.
A) Attitudes towards Learning Language
Learning a foreign language can be facilitated if the student adapts positive attitudes towards that
language, i.e. if the attitude is positive, language learning will be high; but if the attitude is negative,
language learning will be low. Krachen argued that language is closely related to the attitude when he
says (2009: 27): “a positive language attitude let the learners have a positive orientation towards learning
English”.
1
Gardner also tried to give a clear picture of the fact that attitudes are more highly related to
achievement than others when he adds: “the concepts of attitudes towards learning a second language are
itself complex so perhaps it is reasonable to expect that some aspect of attitudes are more highly related to
achievement than others” (2009:12).
B) Attitudes towards the Target Language Community
Learners who have favorable attitudes towards a language, its speakers and their culture tend to be more
successful in their learning than those who have negative attitudes;Karahan (2009: 33) says in this
respect: “a successful learner is the one who possesses positive attitudes towards the target language”
2
.
Determiners of Learners' Attitudes
The factors which determine the students' attitudes are many. These factors depend on the individual role
as well as the role of the environment, including the parents and the teachers.
1
Outline journal of language studies ,volume9,(2),2009, p27
2
The role of motivation and attitudes in learning English as a foreign language ,p67

3. Mouili Fatiha et al. 119
A) The Individual’s Role
Like parents and educators, individuals or peers are also important mediators in the learner's life. If the
learner's peers show some exiting and interest in that language; they will definitely make a great impact
on the learner with positive attitudes. In contrast, if they are careless or passive; then, they will affect the
learner negatively.
B) The Role of the Parents
Many parents are interested in motivating their children in order to achieve good results in school. One of
the most important techniques that the parents should use is that they must be involved in their academic
life, i.e. they should talk to their children about what they are learning. Children tend to do the same
things as their parents do, and what they say and do in their lives can help them to develop positive
attitudes towards school and learning in order to build self confidence. Also, by showing children the
value of education their lives, they will probably participate better and will have a good feeling towards
the learning process.
C) Teacher's Behavior
The teacher's behavior in the classroom has a great impact on the students' learning attitudes. Teachers
can make a valuable contribution in order to develop a friendly relationship with their students. They
have also an important role in classroom communication, classroom behavior management, and the
achievement of teaching goals. The settings in which effective and successful classroom management is
conducted are closely linked to make a contribution to students' success.Therefore; the teachers should
have specific characteristics which can be summarized as follows:
Ź The teacher should make his lessons interesting so that the learner will not get bored.
Ź He should examine the students' problem.
Ź He has to correct the students' mistakes without offending them.
Ź He must have a good sense of humor.
Ź He should know the students' names.
Ź He must like and appreciate his job as a teacher.
Types of Attitudes
Aspects of attitude include each of: behavioral aspect of attitude, cognitive aspect of attitude, and
emotional aspect of attitude. The first one deals with the way that the learner behaves and reacts in
particular situations. In fact, the successful language learning enhances the learners to identify themselves
with the native speakers of that language and acquire or adopt various aspects of behaviors which
characterize the members of the target language community. Kara (2009) stated that:
“Positive attitudes lead to the exhibition of positive behaviors toward courses of study, with
participants absorbing themselves in courses and striving to learn more. Such students are also
observed to be more eager to solve problems, to acquire the information and skills useful for
daily life and to engage themselves emotionally.”
Cognitive aspect of attitude involves the beliefs of the language learners about the knowledge that
they receive and their understanding in the process of language learning. The cognitive attitude can be
classified under four steps relating the previous knowledge and the new one, creating new knowledge,
checking new knowledge, and applying the new knowledge in many situations. For Emotional aspect of

4. 120 Attitudes and Motivations in Learning English as a Foreign Langauge
attitude; Feng and Chen (2009) stated that: “Learning process is an emotional process. It is affected by
different emotional factors. The teacher and his students engage in various emotional activities in it and
varied fruits of emotions areyield.” Attitude can help the learners to express whether they like or dislike
the objects or surrounding situations. It is agreed that the inner feelings and emotions of FL learners
influence their perspectives and their attitudes towards the target language (Choy Troudi, 2006).
Strategies of Attitudes
Attitudes are generally composed of three major models; these are cognitive, affective, and behavioural.
Cognitive refers to a person’s own beliefs and ideas about something; affective represents our feelings or
emotions toward something; while behavioural means the attendance to behave in certain ways towards
something. This paper also provides a particular overview on the key issues concerning the use of
language learning strategies (LLS) in second and foreign language (L2/FL) learning and teaching.
Weinstein and Mayer (1986) define learning strategies (LS) broadly as behaviours and thoughts that a
learner engages in during learning which are intended to influence the learner's encoding process.
Later; Mayer (1988)refers to: behaviours of a learner that are intended to influence how the learner
processes information.Many definitions and meanings are given to language learning strategies (LLS).
Tarone (1983) defined a learning strategy as: an attempt to develop linguistic and sociolinguistic
competence in the target language -- to incorporate these into one's interlanguage competence. Rubin
(1987) suggests that Learning strategies are strategies which contribute to the development of the
language system which the learner constructs and affect learning directly. O'Malley and Chamot (1990)
defined Learning Strategies as the special thoughts or behaviours that individuals use to help them
comprehend, learn, or retain new information.
Oxford dictionary (1990)views that language learning strategies are the specific actions, behaviours,
steps, or techniques that students (often intentionally) use to improve their progress in developing
language skills. These strategies can facilitate the internalization, storage, retrieval, or use of the new
language. Strategies are tools for the self-directed involvement necessary for developing communicative
ability. At the same time, we should note that LLS are distinct from learning styles, which refer more
broadly to a learner's natural, habitual, and preferred way(s) of absorbing, processing, and retaining
new information and skills Reid (1995). LLS has therefore an important role in enhancing language
learning and it help to develop language competence, as reflected in the learner's skills in listening,
speaking, reading, or writing the L2 or FL. Cohen (1990) insists that only conscious strategies are LLS,
and that there must be a choice involved on the part of the learner. Transfer of a strategy from one
language or language skill to another is a related goal of LLS, as Pearson (1988) and Skehan (1989) have
discussed.
Goals of Attitudes
Attitudes are essential factors which influence language performance achievement in a target language not
only on intellectual capacity, but also on the learner’s attitudes towards language learning. Among the
goals of attitudes of learning English as a foreign language are the obvious advantages of being able to
communicate across cultures with people who speak that language. You can travel to places where that
language is spoken and get a real sense of how everyday life is lived because you can understand what
people are saying in the tongue they use to communicate about their daily lives. You can also conduct
business with companies operating in those countries more easily because you will be able to
communicate directly with your foreign counterparts without intermediaries, eliminating a potential
source of misunderstandings and mistakes. Additionally, you will be able to consume foreign art,
literature, and information more easily.

5. Mouili Fatiha et al. 121
Every language expresses ideas differently, and one of the advantages of learning a foreign language
is gaining the ability to compare the perspectives of your native tongue and the foreign language in order
to gain new insights and see the world from a slightly different point of view. This can spark creativity
and give you an exciting new window through which you can view the world and make decisions. As a
consequence, you will become more dynamic and improve your problem-solving abilities through the
benefits of learning a foreign language. Learning another language also improves a person’s
understanding of the world, communication skills, and cultural literacy. Other benefits of learning another
language are the new perspective you will attain to see the world from a different point of view.
Every language has its own way of expressing ideas, and these differences can contribute to a
broader understanding of the world as well new ways of processing information and thinking about the
types of problems we encounter every day. Beyond these benefits of learning another language, the
student of a foreign language will expand his or her vocabulary and work toward a more diverse and
tolerant view of world cultures.At a more practical level, the benefits of learning another language also
include an improved ability to communicate with people who speak the language you are learning. As a
result of this improvement in communication, you will be able to access cultural information, including
literature and oral histories, that you did not have access to before. In addition, you will be in a better
position to conduct business in lands were the language is spoken because you will be able to deal with
people who speak that language on their own terms. These benefits help the student to expand his/her
horizons and make it more likely that the student will be successful in his or her cross-cultural
interactions.
Attitudes toward the English Language
Some students have negative attitudes toward their learning or toward English language. We all know that
English language has become the international language. It is widely adopted for communication
worldwide, as it became a tool of communication between native and non-native speakers. Many learners
use English in order to be in contact with its culture and its people.The attitude of learning may be
positive, the reason for that is historical, cultural and also economic ones which have effect on the
learners. It may also be also negative; for example some students hate English and even the one who
teach it. Thus, this kind of learners starts to show their bad behaviour. Success in learning foreign
languages, particularly English, is related to the attitudes of community toward the speakers of that
language. It is for these reasons that the social psychology of language had been developed into an
important discipline in its own right. The field of language includes social relation between members of
society.
Factors Influencing Attitudes Development
The idea of learning English to the non-native English speaker or speaker from a foreign country can
create a great deal of both havoc and potential inspiration and means for success in a person’s life.
Specifically, it takes a lot of courage, dedication and a positive attitude to create a positive personal space
for English learning. Attitude factors aside, the work that is involved in learning English is great, and
without at least a sense of what will happen at the end of the long road of studying English, the learner
could potentially grow frustrated and give up the effort to learn English. In addition, the potential student
of English may be well greeted by dissidence among family and friends, where he is encouraged to go
along with the norm and study in one’s home country in one’s native language. But, if one has the
determination and personality that can be described as an “English learning attitude” one should take the
task of learning English very seriously and ignore those who wish for another path for the person. Or
explain that the importance of learning English is to succeed in the global economy, or in going to school
in an English-speaking country.

6. 122 Attitudes and Motivations in Learning English as a Foreign Langauge
Definition of Motivation
Motivation is not an easy term to define as Gardner (2009:31) states “motivation is very complex
phenomenon with many facets”. But, he also creates an equation to motivation that he summarizes as:
Motivation = effort +desire to achieve a goal +attitudes
3
.
Similarly, Dörnyei (2001) sees that motivation explains why people select a particular activity, how
long they are willing to persist in it and what effort they invest in it. These three components of
motivation correspond to goals and the initiation and maintenance of learning effort. People have
different reasons toward learning a foreign language. According to Jermy Harmer(2011:06) motivation is:
“an internal energy that leads someone to pursue a goal”, which means something we wish to achieve, if
the goal is very professional; in this case we are strongly motivated to reach that goal.
Variables of Motivation
Motivation has two important variables; these are instrumental motivation and integrative motivation.
A) Instrumental Motivation: learners with an instrumental motivation want to learn a language because
of a practical reason such as getting a salary bonus or getting into college. Many college language learners
have a clear instrumental motivation for language learning; they want to fulfill a college language
requirement as Gardner (2008:11) refers: “to those reasons which stress the pragmatic aspects of
learning the second language, without any particular interest in communicating with the second
language community”
B) Integrative motivation: an integrative motivated learner wants to learn a language so that he can better
understand people who speak that language; he is also interested in the culture associated with that
language. Gardner states in this respect (2009: 2):
“learning language because of the learner wishes to identify himself with or became integrated
into society” which means the learners with integrative motivation tend to identify themselves
with the target language community ;so the integrative motivation is the key component to
develop certain in the English language use .
Determiners of Learner's Motivation
Motivation is the most important factor that influences the students' performance in learning; it has indeed
many determiners which can affect the learner's success or failure in learning. These determiners can be
summarized as:
A) Interest: here the teachers can make their lessons interesting to motivate their students in order to
know more, hear or learn about it by using different new techniques and approaches, i.e. any motivated
student has interest and desire to learn.
B) Classroom Environment: the classroom is a formal place for the students to learn. Teachers should be
aware how to manage the classroom and consider it as a best place to learn and make the students feel
free to behave and use their language skills.
C) Society: society can highly influence the learners' attitudes towards learning a specific language, i.e.
society can create or destroy the learners' desire to learn. Any general attitude could be positive or
3
Journal of language and learning ,volume5 1 2006,p2

7. Mouili Fatiha et al. 123
negative, so students before coming to class, they bring with them that attitude towards that language
which is positive or negative.
Types of Motivations
Motivation is present in everyday life functions; it includes two types which are referred to as intrinsic
motivation and extrinsic motivation
A) Intrinsic motivation
This type of motivation is internal and takes place when people are compelled to do something out of
pleasure or desire. People are involved into activities in order to satisfy their interests and generate
enjoyment. Motivation comes from the pleasure or from the sense of satisfaction in completing or even
working on a specific task. The person works on the task because there is some reward involved, such as
a prize, a payment, or in the case of students a grade. If you can get someone to believe in an idea you
want, then you have set very powerful motivation in place.
B) Extrinsic motivation
This type refers to the performance of people which comes according to some external factors which in
turn leads them to behave in certain way to achieve their goals.For example, people go to work every day
in order to have some financial rewards. Extrinsic motivation, therefore, is another factor that forces the
individual to do something, perhaps learners need motivation in order to succeed. The teacher should use
some motivational techniques in order to increase his students’ effort. It is clear that the teacher has to
create good environment for people who are not motivated.
Motivational Strategies
Motivational strategies of English language learning are many; their main goal is the help the learner to
acquire the English language as well as to facilitate its application in the field of study and work. Those
strategies can be summarized as follows:
1. Stay Active: this means that our bodies adapt what we do and how we live. If we don’t do any effort
into life, our body stays static, but if we are active then our body wants to achieve more activities
2. Hang Around with Motivated People: here you may have heard the statement of “your income is the
average of the 5 people you spend the most time with”. This brings up a powerful point which can be
applied to nearly every aspect of life.
3. Have a Goal: sometimes it can be hard to do things that seem boring, difficult, or complicated. It is so
easy to put them off until tomorrow instead of dealing with them now. One way to deal with this is to
start creating your plan in life and have a goal.
4. Let Others Know Your Goal: we all want to appear smart, talented, and clever in front of other people.
Nobody wants to show his failure. Letting other people know what your goal is, is really a way that you
can use this basic human principal to your advantage.
5. Realize That We All Have Bumps in The Road: Everybody hits bumps in the road. The greater your
goals are the bigger those bumps will be, but these bumps do not have to defeat you. In order to be
successful you have to realize that bumps in the road will not stop you from reaching your goals as long
as you are motivated enough to keep pushing forward and doing what you can to achieve those goals.

8. 124 Attitudes and Motivations in Learning English as a Foreign Langauge
6. Read Motivational Quotes: one more thing you can do is reading motivational quotes about life. This
act can inspire you and get you ready to take action.
7. Do the Hardest Thing First: sometimes we ignore some things simply because we do not want to do
the hardest thing in our life. When we have something that we just don’t want to do all of these
motivational strategies can go out the window.
8. Make it Fun: no matter if you do something fun; after all if we enjoy what we are doing it is a whole
lot easier to keep doing it.
Key Motivational Factors
Effective motivation requires given factors which can be structured in the form of the following elements:
a) Positive Attitude towards L2 Community
People all around the world seem to have an idea about the importance of the attitude towards the L2
community if the learner wants to reach the native speaker competence of that society. So, nice attitude
towards that society motivate you to enjoy learning the language of that community.
b) The Enjoyment of Learning
The student who wants to learn L2 must enjoy learning that language. Intrinsically motivated students
have much more ability to go on their studies .On the other hand, extrinsically motivated students have
not. Integrative motivated students are more likely to learn culture as well as the language.
c) Ideal Self
It represents what an individual would like to achieve in the future. Individual’s image of their future will
involve instrumental qualities such as employment and lifestyle, and integrative qualities such as wishing
to be a sophisticated, well educated, and globally aware person.
d) External Pressures
There are other factors that motivate the learner to learn an L2; whether it is parents, receive get a reward,
the student is motivated to satisfy some external pressure. Noels link extrinsic and instrumental
motivation by suggesting that they both, [refer] to the desire to [learn] a second/foreign language because
of some pressure or reward from the social environment (such as career advancement or a course credit),
internalized reasons for learning an L2 (such as guilt or shame), and/or personal decisions to do so and its
value for the chosen goals (2001, in Liu, 2007:128).
Teacher's Motivation
The teacher plays an important role in developing student's motivation throughout his personal behavior.
Considering all the actions that are done by the teacher, there is a very good trace and influence on
student's motivation. It is very important for the teacher to sustain student's motivation; the teacher has,
therefore, a lot to do with his physical appearance in the classroom. He has to be careful about how to
respond to his students, especially when he is giving them instructions, feedback, and correcting their
mistakes. In other words, the teacher should facilitate interaction and try to make good rapport between
his/her students, use warm up to get all students involved in the activities.
Michael Rost (2006,p3) claims that teacher should monitor as closely as he can so as to be sure that
each student, especially the shyer and weaker ones, remains active. It’s important to have everyone on
board. He also proposes to include inductive learning in his lesson and to be sure that the students have an

9. Mouili Fatiha et al. 125
opportunity to discover things on their own grammar points, pragmatic patterns, new vocabulary, to give
students a chance to reflect. The teacher has to take into account the plan, good lessons, classroom
arrangement and students grouping. Before starting any lesson, he should be a wear of his students’
background their levels of motivation, and their different learning styles hoping to get to the point “What
will the learner achieve”. The teacher needs to provide regular lessons because they will get bored if they
spend a lot of time on one activity, as he should strive to make his lesson interesting.
Student's Motivation
Teachers have a lot to do with their students' motivational level. A student may arrive in class with a
certain degree of motivation. But the teacher's behavior and teaching style, method and informal
interactions with students all have a large effect on student motivation. Many students are physically
present in the classroom but mentally absent; they fail to discover themselves fully in the experience of
learning. Students’ motivation naturally covers the reasons or goals that underlie their involvement or non
involvement in academic activities. It has also a relation with students' desire to participate in the learning
process. But it also concerns the reasons or goals that underlie their involvement or non involvement in
academic activities.
Although students may be equally motivated to perform a task, the sources of their motivation may
differ. A student who is INTRINSICALLY motivated undertakes an activity for the enjoyment it
provides. An EXTRINSICALLY motivated student performs IN ORDER TO obtain some rewards such
as money. Motivation to learn a second language is a competence acquired by experience, and direct
instruction especially from parents and teachers. Children's home environment shapes their attitudes that
they develop toward learning. When parents tend to encourage exploration, they are giving their children
the message that learning is fun and satisfying. Student’s motivation is influenced by both internal and
external factors. Internal factors include the individual characteristics that students bring to their learning,
such as their interests, responsibility for learning. The external factors involve the variables in learning
conditions and environment, or change in student’s motivation. Another way to increase motivation is
through positive connections to others. Students are more engaged in learning when they are active over
the learning process that is related to their interests.
Individual Variations in Motivations
Students’ variation depends on age and gender; these are the most important levels that create differences
in students’ level of motivation.
a) Age: according to Jeremy Harmer, the teacher has to take into account the age of the students because
everyone has his own needs, competences and cognitive skills. Usually children are much more likely to
learn languages faster than adult do.
b) Gender Difference: there are a lot of studies and theories which indicate that female have a higher
integrative orientation and positive attitude towards foreign language learning than their male
counterparts. The motivational orientation of East Asian language learners in the United States was
explored by Yang (2003), whose results indicated that female students had higher integrative motivational
orientation than male students. In contrast, Shaaban and Ghaith’s (2000) study 180 undergraduate
Lebanese learners of English and found no gender difference in integrative motivation
4
. As a result, there
is no general agreement among a group of people about gender differences in instrumental orientations.
4
Integrative versus Instrumental Orientation among On-line Language Learners;Mark Warschauer.p3.

10. 126 Attitudes and Motivations in Learning English as a Foreign Langauge
Development of Attitudes and Motivations in English Language Learning
The last half-century has been marked by substantial advances inthe understanding of second
language learning, energized by developments in linguistics and bolstered by the realization that other
fields too are critically implicated in the process . One of these advances is the addition of the concepts
of attitude and motivation to models ofsecond and foreign language learning, and how the learners
develop their attitudes and motivations.
A) Development of Attitude
Attitudes usually develop from human needs and the values people place upon objects in order to satisfy
those perceived needs. Attitude is one of the most important aspects of an individuals' personality. Having
the right attitude makes it all the difference. If you take a close look at the most successful people out
there, you will see that the individuals in any career have positive attitudes. It is important to cultivate
positive attitude towards life in order to achieve success in both professional and personal aspirations.
B) Development of Motivation
The development of motivation refers to motivation relating to personal development or personal
satisfaction, motivation to learn a second or foreign language because of positive feelings toward the
community that speaks that language. It has got three main components: the first one is interactiveness
which includes integrative orientation, interest in foreign languages, and attitudes towards the target
community that show the learner’s willingness and interest in interacting with the people of the other
communities. The second one is attitudes towards the learning situation, which covers attitudes towards
the teacher, the course, the course materials, and extra-curricular activities. The third and the last one is
motivation which includes effort, desire and attitudes towards learning.
Attitudes of Learning English as a Foreign Language
Learners of foreign languages adopt different attitudes towards those languages; such attitudes may
influence language learners pushing them to behave in certain manners towards the language itself.
Attitudes are traced particularly in the field of education, mainly towards the use of English as a second
language and a language of learning and teaching in schools. It is a speculative idea that represents an
individual’s behaviour toward someone or something. It is generally a positive or negative view of a
person toward a place, an event, or a language. Attitudes toward foreign languages are social judgments.
Attitudes can be positive or negative; and they both have an influence on the learning progression and
advance.
The Role of Motivations in English Language Learning
The issue of motivation has been central in language learning research. One of the most
important variables which determine the individual differences in shaping language learning
outcomes is learner’s motivation. Today, new technologies provide learners with wide
opportunities which allow them to study and learn languages, but since these opportunities are
largely available on a voluntary out-of-school basis, they further highlight the importance of
learner motivation. For this reasons, the learners who are strongly motivated are much more
likely to succeed mainly in foreign language learning. Learning and teaching English as a foreign
language in one speech community require specific motivational factors so as to achieve high
responses.

11. Mouili Fatiha et al. 127
The Goals and Difficulties of English Language Learning
The majority of the students acknowledged the importance of language learning for employability, skills
development, travel, enjoyment, cultural understanding, and communication. There are also some specific
goals of learning English such as: English language learning helps you to be more open-minded towards
other cultures, it enables you to study abroad, it develops your problem-solving skills, and it gives you a
wider understanding of world affairs. But, English is a difficult language because it is not really so
recognizable to the languages it is related to, for example: English has many Germanic words, Latin
words, and French words, but people of those languages cannot understand fully what someone who
speaks English says, unless they know English. Another difficulty is the pronunciation; in which it is
sometimes so hard to pronounce words that are written. English words are not really pronounced as they
are spelt, for example. Cough, Weigh, Weight, live, etc. The English vowels have many different sounds.
Unlike most languages where the vowels are usually articulated as they are written, for example final a
is always an /a/ sound. Where as in English a can have different sounds, for instance: the /a/ in Car, and
Cat are different. There is no specific rule which explains the reason why it is pronounced in that way, but
it is just how the speech of the language has evolved.
Conclusion
A great emphasis has been made in the field of attitudes and motivations and their effects on
second/foreign language acquisition. This means that both of attitudes and motivation have deep
impact on students in shaping attitudes towards the target language. Their motivation can greatly
influence their attitudes towards the learning and language achievement. Attitude has been defined as is
the way you think and feel about somebody or something, and the way that you behave towards
somebody or something, it can be positive or negative. Similarly; motivation is the psychological feature
that arouses an organism to action. The strategies of attitudes concentrate on understanding the nature of
the students; they partly determine students’ choice of language learning strategies and proficiency levels
they achieve. In addition the goals of attitudes can be illustrated in being able to communicate across
cultures with people of the target language; and also being able to consume foreign art, literature, and
information more easily.
This paper investigated also the positive attitude towards l2 community; ideal self and external
pressure is therefore the most key motivational factors. The learner’s attitudes can be influenced by many
factors, such as: positive attitude that helps to create positive personal spaces for language learning, in
addition to potential students of language learning which will be greeted by audience among family and
friends. This paper also studied attitudes of learning English as a foreign language. Students therefore
have certain reasons for learning the language and hold significant attitudes toward the use of English
language, and it could be positive or negative. Finally; this analysisshows that attitude is considered as an
essential component in language learning; so positive attitude should be the umbrella of language
learning. Moreover, motivation effects students' foreign language acquisition, and shows that the foreign
language teacher's personality and his/her way of teaching affect students' motivation.
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