The Attitude of Grade 12 HUMSS Students Towards

Speaking in English

Aia Cleer B. Alentijo

Dennis Kyle Banuag

Mary Grace E. Monsanto

Abstract

The matter of learner's attitude is acknowledged as one of the most important factors

that impact on learning the language. Hence, this study aimed to determine the attitude

of students toward speaking in English as it employed a descriptive correlational

method to describe their profile and their attitude. It also ascertained the relationship

between the students' attitude towards speaking in English and their profile variables

and the difference of their attitude when grouped by strand and by sex. The data were

collected from Grade 12 students with the use of the English Speaking Attitude

Questionnaire (ESAQ). Results show that both Firm and Fluent section students have a

positive attitude towards speaking in English and that speaking in English is important to

them in general. Interestingly, however, these students admitted that they do not speak

English well, are worried about making mistakes when they speak English, and are

afraid of being laughed at when they make mistakes in speaking. The students also

believe that they need to learn speaking in English because they might need it in their

future job and that practicing it will make them better speakers of English. The study
found no significant difference in the attitude of the students towards speaking in

English when grouped according to strand and sex. The implication of these results

redounds to the emphasis on the importance of classroom motivation to improve

students' attitude towards speaking in English.

Keywords: attitude towards speaking in English, Senior high school, Humss,section

Introduction

English as the global language has undoubtedly dignified its standing in global

communication essentially targeting both oral and written skills. In the Philippines

however, as observed by the researcher, speaking in English seems to be very difficult

most especially to students at the secondary level.

Various factors affect the learning of speaking in English, one of which is attitude.

Attitude is determined by the individual's beliefs about outcomes or attributes of

performing the behaviors (behavioral beliefs), weighted by evaluations of those

outcomes or attributes. The concern on the learners' attitudes towards the target

language was emphasized by Gardner (1985). He stated that the learners' attitudes

towards learning another language play a key role in enhancing and motivating them to

learn that language.

Kara (2009) as cited by Abidin (2012) stated that attitudes towards learning besides

opinions and beliefs have an obvious influence on students' behaviors and

consequently on their performance. It is argued that those students who possess

positive beliefs about language learning tend to increase more positive attitudes

towards language learning. Attitude is considered an essential factor influencing

language performance and received considerable attention from both first and second

language researchers.

There are many reasons why students' attitude toward language learning is important.

Attitude is one of the factors that influence foreign language learning because how

much effort students put into language learning depends partly on attitude (Gardner,

Lanlonde, and Moorcroft, 1985). Thus, it can be inferred that learners with a positive

attitude towards speaking English will be more involved in speaking activities and may

try to make use of more strategies that help them deal with their difficulties in the course

of conversation; and learners with a negative attitude will be less willing to participate in

speaking activities. Conversely, negative beliefs may lead to class anxiety, low cognitive

achievement, and negative attitudes (Victori & Lockhart, 1995).

Moreover, gender has been an important perspective under second language

learning investigations; highlighting females to execute more interests, positive

behaviors, and performances, in comparison to the males (Keller, 1983; Aacken, 1999;

Dornyei & Shoaib, 2005). These gender differences are due to students' unlike levels of

motivation, attitudes, and anxiety towards language learning, further influenced by their

learning characteristics and styles, lesson content and teaching strategies, social

environment and supportive mechanisms, family influences and peer pressures,

cognition levels, and so forth (Williams, Burden & Lanvers, 2002). Thus, investigating

affective aspects has become vitally important, especially under the gender perspective

to enhance students' interests and outcomes in second language learning.

Furthermore, in the study concluded by Cabansag (2013) titled "The Attitudinal

Propensity of Students towards strategies in English Language Learning" it was found

out that a positive attitude towards English may lead to awareness of the importance of

English and learning it as a compulsory subject. The attitude concept is considered an

essential component in language learning. So, a positive attitude should be the umbrella

of language learning. It is so important to study learners' personalities. For that reason,

the effective perspective, especially attitude, should be considered in language

research.

Senior High School students are expected to have better English language proficiency,

especially their oral communication ability.This study looks into the concept of attitude

as one of the major affective factors for success in speaking the English language

amongst students. More specifically, it investigates senior high school students'

attitudes towards speaking in English, taking into consideration their profile variables

such as gender and strand.

The present study aimed at investigating the attitude of the students toward speaking in

English, examining whether the attitude of the students towards speaking in English

significantly differs according to their profile variables such as their section strand and

sex.

Methodology
The method of data collection employed for the present study was stratified random

sampling. There were two sections under the Humss, the section Firm, and the Fluent.

The purposive sampling method was also adopted. As a result, only 47 students were

selected from the two sections (30 from the Firm and 17 from Fluent) with a total of 18

males and 29 females.

As the present study's context is the same as that of Bui and Intarapresert (2013), their

English Speaking Attitude Questionnaire (ESAQ) was used. It was constructed based

on the Language Learning Attitude Questionnaire (2004) and Okert's (2010) language

learning questionnaire. The statements in the ESAQ specifically pertains to their

feelings towards speaking in English, reasons why they speak in English, reasons why

English is important to them as well as their perceived English speaking capability.

Moreover, to ensure that the respondents knew the purpose of investigation and

answered the questionnaire with less fear and honesty, which, as stated by

lntaraprasert (2000), is very important, the questionnaires' general instruction followed

Dörnyei's (2003) suggestion. This involved providing information on the purpose, the

importance of the study, and the organization responsible for conducting the study,

stating there is no right or wrong answer, requesting honest answers, promising

confidentiality, and expressing appreciation.

The ESAQ was administered to students from the two different stection (Firm and

Fluent). The researchers themselves carried out the process strictly following the

sampling plan so as to achieve the desired number and qualified responses.

Results and Discussion

The data collected were analyzed in quantitative method such that the (1)

information about the students' profile which includes strand was coded with numbers;

(2) information about the students' attitude towards speaking in English was coded with

numbers; (3) the data about how the attitude of the students towards speaking in

English significantly differs according to strand was processed using T-Test, and (4) the

data about determining the relationship between the attitude of the students towards

speaking in English and their academic strand were processed through Spearman-rho .

As shown in table 1, 63.8 percent of the respondents are from the Firm section while

36.2 of the remaining respondents are from the Fluent section. This is because, in the

school where the researchers conducted the study, the population of Firm students is

three times the population of Fluent students.

Table 1. Profile of the respondents when grouped according to section.

FREQUENCY PERCENT(firm) CUMOLATIVE

PERCENT

FIRM 30 63.8 63.8

FLUENT 17 36.2 100

TOTAL 47 100.0
Table 2 shows that 38.3 percent of the total number of respondents are male while 61.7

percent of the remaining number of respondents are female. Accordingly, there are

relatively more female than male students in the two sections.

Table 2. Profile of the respondents when grouped according to sex.

FREQUENCY PERCENT

MALE 18 38.3

FEMALE 29 61.7

TOTAL 47 100

Table 3 presents the attitude of the students towards speaking in English. As gleaned

from the table, statements 11 and 17 received the highest mean. Students believe that

speaking English is important because they might need it later for their job as suggested

in statement number 11. In general, speaking in English is important to the students.

More so, they think that if they put much effort into practicing, they can speak English

well. However, findings also indicate that the students are worried about making

mistakes when speaking in English. Along this line, Batang and Temporal (2018) opined

that the negative attitude of students could be ascribed to their inhibitions in using the
English language especially when they are with people who speak English well. They

would rather not speak than commit mistakes and be laughed at by their interlocutors.

Students' feeling of intimidation could also be spelled from the worries and discomfort

they experience both in and out of the classroom.

Many other studies have been conducted to explore the nature of students' attitudes

towards learning foreign language in general compared with the studies concerning the

attitudes towards speaking in English.

For instance, Shams (2008) conducted a study attempting to investigate students'

attitudes, motivation, and anxiety towards the learning of English. The findings

underlined that the students had affirmative attitudes and high enthusiasm towards

English. This also highlighted that most of them showed positive attitudes towards

English language and its learning which, in turn, emphasized the value of English

language efficiency in the daily life.

The findings of study by Al-Tamimi and Shuib (2009) on Petroleum Engineering

students' motivation and attitudes towards learning English revealed that they had

positive attitudes towards the use of English in the Yemeni social and educational

contexts. They also showed affirmative attitude towards the culture of the English-

speaking world.

Generally, Grade 12 Humss students have positive attitude towards speaking in

English as Speaking in English is important to them. These students are on their last

year in the Senior High School and are candidates either for employment or further

studies in college, thus they already realized the importance of being able to speak in
English for their future careers. Attitude is a very significant factor that could tell the

success of learning something but it must not end there. As suggested by Rastegar and

Gohari, 2016, improving the positive attitude of the students towards a particular

academic subject may increase their desire to learn it and an ability to apply what they

have been taught. The academic subject is much like Speaking in English.

According to Ellis (1985), language teachers should foster a high positive attitude in the

learners by paying a lot of attention to the way the learners find their way throughout

learning the language and should provide the lively and dynamic class environments

where can help students learn the language as best through the creation of a positive

attitude towards the language being learnt and towards the environments in which it can

be learned.

Also, the respondents admitted that they are worried about making mistakes when

speaking in English and therefore afraid of being laughed at when they make mistakes

at speaking in English although they are willing to learn speaking in English. It might be

one of the factors why despite the "Speak in English" rule applied by the researcher

inside the class, the students find it hard to keep up with the rule. Tsui (1996) found that

students' reticence is attributed to students' lack of confidence and fear of making

mistakes and being laughed at. Consequently, the students were reluctant to answer in

front of the whole class, and when called on by their teacher spoke in a barely audible

voice.

In general, Tsui's (1996) findings have been supported by a number of other studies of

foreign-language classroom situations (including content-based contexts) either in Hong

Kong (Flowerdew et al., 2000; Jackson, 2001, 2003; Liu & Littlewood, 1997), Mainland
China (Cortazzi & Jin, 1996; Zou, 2004), or Thailand (Thein, 1994). In Jackson's (1999)

and Liu and Littlewood's studies, the students expressed willingness to participate in

classroom discussions in the target language but remained reticent and passive in

class. Some students in Jackson's (2002) study even perceived themselves as active in

class just by listening to others.

Interestingly, although speaking English is important to them, they admit that they do

not speak English well but with practice, they can improve their speaking in English. In a

research done by Goktepe (2013), it was found out that the students, who were 9th-

grade public high school learners commonly believed that they could not speak English

fluently. Therefore, these results gave us some reasons to think the students were

aware of the problem.

Table 3. Attitude of the respondents towards speaking in English.

Statements Mean Description

l) You enjoy speaking English. 1.94 Agree
2) Speaking English is fun. 1.91 Agree
3) Being able to speak English often makes you happy. 1.91 Agree
4) Being able to speak English gives you a feeling of
success. 1.81 Agree
5) Speaking English is important to you in general. 1.72 Strongly Agree
6) You speak English because it will make your parents or
your teacher proud of you.
2.40 Agree
7) You speak English because you want to do well on oral 2.02 Agree
tests.
 8) You speak English because you want to communicate
with foreigners.
2.40 Agree
9) Speaking English is important to you because you want to
make friends with foreigners.
2.28 Agree
10) Speaking English is important to you because you might
study overseas.
2.17 Agree
11) Speaking English is important to you because you might
need it later for your job.
1.30 Strongly Agree
12) You speak English because all educated people can do 2.21 Agree
that.
13) You speak English because you have to do it. 1.98 Agree
14) You think you speak English well. 2.60 Disagree
15) You like to mimic other people's accents. 2.32 Agree
16)You can mimic other accents well 2.40 Agree
17) You think if you put much effort in practicing, you can
speak English well.
1.51 Strongly Agree
18) At school, if you didn't know how to give an answer in
English for sure, you'd still answer out loud in class anyway.
2.38 Agree
19) You are not worried about making mistakes when you
speak English.
2.64 Disagree
20) You are not afraid of being laughed at when you make
mistakes in speaking.
2.58 Disagree
Category Mean 2.13 Agree

Table 4 shows the T-test result on the difference on attitude when grouped according to

section and sex. With P-values more than 0.01 and 0.05, the hypotheses are accepted.

This study similarly pictures the study of Dennison (2006) who looked into the effects of

gender stereotypes in language on attitudes toward speakers which made use of 58

women and 30 men and considered the differences and relationships of their sex to

their attitude.

It was found out in this study that there is no statistically significant difference on the

attitude of students towards speaking in English and their sex although females have

higher mean than males.

Fakeye (2010) investigated the correlation between attitude and achievement in English

among 400 senior secondary students selected randomly from five secondary schools.

The findings revealed that there was a significant relationship between attitude and

achievement. Additionally, it was explored that students' attitude is not gender-related.

Thus, there was not a statistically significant difference in the attitudes of male and

female students. However, the descriptive results show that the attitudes of female

secondary school students towards English are slightly higher than that of male ones.

Table 4. T-test result on the difference in attitude when grouped according to section

and sex.

Independent Variable T-value Prob. value Decision

Section -.007 .995 Accept

Sex -.299 .667 Accept

Conclusion
The study concludes that Grade 12 Humss students have positive attitude towards

speaking in English and that they view speaking in English as important in general.

However, speaking in English is feared by most students because they are afraid of

being laughed at when committing mistakes in speaking. They may not like to speak the

language because they lack self-confidence on their conversational ability.

Nevertheless, they think that they can speak English well if provided opportunities to

practice.

Recommendations
In the light of the findings of this study, it is recommended that language teachers

should maintain the positive attitude of the students towards speaking in English. The

students are already aware of the problem of why they stop speaking in English, it is

because of their fear of committing mistakes and being laughed at. Learners need

encouragement and they need to know when they are making mistakes that might

cause other people not to understand or misunderstand them. Language teachers

should therefore provide these students ample opportunity to speak with the imposition

of it's alright to commit mistakes. Being aware of the importance of students' attitudes

might help language curriculum and instruction designers to invent language teaching

programs that generate the positive attitudes which lead to having more successful

language learners (Gardner & Lambert, 1972). Additionally, it can assist material writers

in inventing and instructors in picking up tasks that tackle students' attitudes (Midraj,
O'Neill, & Sellami, 2008). In connection, material writers should provide more speaking

tasks in the Grade 12 students said that they can speak English well through practice.

When speaking activities are incorporated into the curriculum, there is no way that these

students will not improve their speaking skills. Also, what should be provided are

meaningful tasks, creating situations in class where students have real-life

communication, activities related to their daily life, and meaningful tasks that give them

the chance to practice oral language. Lastly, the Speak in English policy inside the

class must be done not only by English teachers but by other subject teachers as well. It

is still one way to increase students' chance of practicing to speak in English. Besides,

every teacher is expectedly a language teacher.

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