SOCIOLINGUISTICS

ASSIGNMENT

Compiled By:
Jemario Mestika (090705028)

Faculty of Letters
English Department
North Sumatra University
2011
Factors Influencing Language Attitudes

The prestige and power of the language

In many countries around the world an enthusiasm to learning English is not
uncommon. Some people assume that learning a foreign language (English,
for example) will correlate with declining the national loyalty of the learners.
But since the numbers of English users around the world is so large, speakers
of other languages see the situation as a pressure from the dominant group
(English supporters). Thus, government of a country may consider it
necessary to release some regulations in order to protect the language of its
people from the English domination.

1. Historical background of nations

Some Middle East people may not want to study English because they learn
from their history that western people were colonialists. The view is possibly
strengthened with some complicated contemporary disputes between the
Western and Arabic (Muslim) cultures. Thus, both of the Middle East people
and Japanese hold a negative attitude towards English as an International
tongue because of some historical background.

2. The social and traditional factors

In the society where a diglossic situation is found the higher variety of the
language is normally considered as a better form than the lower one. In the
society with a traditional polygossia, a negative attitude may be demonstrated
towards the use of language associated with a higher class, especially if it is
perceived as instrumental for controlling pr downgrading the other people.
Thus, in order to maintain the tradition the society believe it to be necessary to
learn and use the higher as well as the lower variety of the language.

3. The language internal system

People often show positive attitude towards learning a language because the
grammar, pronunciation, and vocabulary are relatively easy. A negative
attitude might also found towards learning Chinese with its complex tonal
pronunciation and orthographic system.
Attitudes in Language Learning
Learners’ attitudes towards the language being learned have been
researched many times by language teachers and psychologist. Based on the
researches done in the context of language learning, two types of language attitude
are distinguished, namely integrative and instrumental language attitude.

1. Integrative language attitude

An integrative language attitude is an attitude which is characterized with

some desire and behaviors of the learners to ‘integrate’ themselves with the
language being learned. Learners with this attitude not only learn a language
to have a proficiency in it, but also wish to know, imitate, or adapt themselves
to the culture related to the (native) speakers of the language. Researchers
have claimed that learners with this attitude are more likely to succeed in
mastering the target language than those who are not.

2. Instrumental language attitude

An instrumental attitude is identified when the learners study a language in

order to fulfill only material needs, but has not the need of being ‘part’ of the
culture related to the language. They never have an interest on reading
books, magazines, or watching a movie in which the language is used. This
attitude is also usually followed with no desire to interact with the native
speakers of the language even when there is actually a good opportunity to
do so. With this attitude the learners tend to be less successful in reaching the
goal of learning