The Correlation of Parents' and Students' Attitudes With Hebrew Language Achievement

Abstract

This study investigated correlations between parents' and students' attitudes towani the Hebrew language; and the correlation between students' attitudes toward, and achievement in, the Hebrew language. Additional&, duferences in attitudes between boys and girk and between students in Levek 3 and 4 were investigated. The sample conskted of Ulstudents in the thiniand fourth years Of Ekbmt~ i m t m C t O f & andthUWRna f m m f o w a P plementary Hebrew schools in the Chicago area. S M e n t s a d m e n e wwvadminktemiattitude W-The role of attitudes in the acquisition of second language has been explored by many resmhers in the last 30 years. Studies investigated the nlationships between students' and parents' attitudes, and between students' and teachers' attitudes and student achievement (Anisfeld & Lambert, 1; Dockrell& Bn>sseau, 3; Feenstra, 4; Gardner, 5 and 6; Macnamara, 8.) In addition, several studies explored the effect of teachers' attitudes on students' attitudes and achievement (Feenstra, 4; Gardner, 6 Awidely-held opinion is that the home environment and parents' attitudes toward a second language correlate positively with their children's attitudes (Gardner, 5). Feenstra (4) sees the students' orientation as based upon the family-wide orientation.Parents may playpassive or active roles in shaping their child's attitude toward, and acquisition of, a second language and in the child's attitude toward the other ethnic groups (Gardner, 5). In the active role, "the parent monitors the child's language learning performance, and ... attempts to promote success" (Feenstra, 4, p. 9). The passive role, which involves the parents' attitudes toward the second language community, is more subtle and the parent may not be aware of its impact (Gardner, 5, p. 110).Research has shown that there is a correlation between the child's attitude toward, and achievement in second language. Gardner (6) summarized several studies done in Canada and the US., and concluded that, in all these studies, "The results clearly indicate a particular pattern of attitudinal-motivational com- Less conclusive were the results from several studies (Anisfeld & Lambert, 1; Dockerell & Brosseau, 3) which did not find a clear pattern of correlation between students' attitudes and various measures of second language achievement. Macnamara (8) for one, opposes the commonly-held belief that an integrative attitude is more likely to lead to success than an instrumental attitude. He emphasizes the practical aspects of learning a language, and suggests that if language is for communicating, we should stop talking about attitude and start talking about communication.Another variable studied in connection with second language acquisition is the sex of the learner. l3artley (2) investigated the differences between students who dropped out of second-language courses after junior high school and those who continued their studies in high school, and found that the two groups differed in attitude, the girls in both groups being more favorably dispos...

Youth and the Study of Foreign Language: An Investigation of Attitudes

“…The gender results support those of Ravid (1987), who foundin a study of attitudes toward Hebrewno significant differences in the mean attitude scores of American boys and girls, and contradict the findings of Koizumi (1993) and Pritchard (1987). The gender results support those of Ravid (1987), who foundin a study of attitudes toward Hebrewno significant differences in the mean attitude scores of American boys and girls, and contradict the findings of Koizumi (1993) and Pritchard (1987).…”

“…While there seems to exist a belief among Americans that girls have more positive attitudes toward FL than do boys, the data from this study do not support this belief. The gender results support those of Ravid (1987), who foundin a study of attitudes toward Hebrewno significant differences in the mean attitude scores of American boys and girls, and contradict the findings of Koizumi (1993) and Pritchard (1987). The mean attitude scores of girls and boys in this study did not differ significantly.…”

“…These findings correspond with widely held beliefs that "languages are a 'girls' subject" (Pritchard, 1987, p. 65) and that girls have more aptitude for FL learning than do boys. However, in a Chicago study of elementary students' attitudes toward Hebrew, Ravid (1987) found no difference between boys' and girls' mean attitude scores. However, in a Chicago study of elementary students' attitudes toward Hebrew, Ravid (1987) found no difference between boys' and girls' mean attitude scores.…”

“…Sung and Padilla (1998) also found that female students reported greater motivation for FL study than did their male counterparts. However, in a Chicago study of elementary students' attitudes toward Hebrew, Ravid (1987) found no difference between boys' and girls' mean attitude scores.…”

“…A t-test was computed between questionnaire results of male and female students (for other studies using t-tests in the analysis of FL attitudes, see, e.g., Ravid, 1987, or Samimy & Tabuse, 1992. Although the mean total score for females was somewhat higher than the male score (F = 74.01, rn = 71.63), there was no significant gender effect found ( t = -0.765; df= 157.3; p < .45).…”