The Importance of  a Positive Attitude in Foreign Language Learning and Teaching 

Damián Francis

     Beyond theories, myths, and beliefs about effective approaches, methods, and techniques applied for developing communicative competence in a foreign language, attitude is an aspect that has to be taken into account. The teaching of English and French is included in the curriculum of the Dominican Republic, but when students finish their studies, they do not develop the expected competence in those languages. Besides factors, such as motivation, exposure, interaction, and methodology, attitude also determines the success of learning the target language.

     According to Oroujlou, and Vahedi (2011), attitude is a set of beliefs that individuals have toward an object. These beliefs determine likes and dislikes.  When it comes to foreign language teaching and learning, attitude plays an important role in order to accomplish the goal of communicating ideas in the target language. A lot of language experts believe that the negative attitude problem is only on students’ side, but the fact is that educators, coordinators, and school principals' attitudes interfere in students learning.  

     In those schools where the principals have a traditional mindset, the most important for students is to learn the four subjects taken into account for the standard test they take when finishing secondary school (Spanish, Mathematics, Social Studies, and Science). That is the reason why those directors do not do anything in favor of supporting foreign language teachers for them to improve their teaching practice. The school principal is the person in charge of leading the school, they have to make sure all the policies get carried out. If they have an attitude with foreign languages, so it will not be possible for students to achieve the goal established in the curriculum concerning English and French. Some principals view foreign languages as a simple subject, not as a language in which students should develop the capacity to use for listening, speaking, reading, and writing.

     When it comes to coordinators, these professionals are in charge of helping the teachers to improve their teaching practice. If coordinators have a negative attitude, they will not be able to motivate their educators. When a new foreign language teacher is hired to work for a public or private school, they need to be trained, in most of the cases, teachers do not teach what they are supposed to because there is no plan or clear goal for developing communicative competence on students. For this to be possible, there should be a philosophy and a vision. 

     In the case of the students, their attitude toward language learning is the consequence of the attitude their teachers have. When foreign language teachers get together in a meeting, they tend to say that is difficult to develop communicative competence on their students because they do not show any interest in the class. This lack of interest mostly has to do with what teachers do in the classroom for motivating their students to fall in love with the language, “so to speak”. Incredibly, students have a negative attitude toward foreign languages because their teachers do not take into consideration their interests and needs, they do not make their classes attractive and the worst of all is that in some cases, educators tend to underestimate students’ capacity for learning the target language.

     A high percentage of foreign language educators believe that most of the public school students will not be able to learn the target language because they think that their negative attitude toward the target language is innate, but it is just a myth. According to Oroujlou, and Vahedi (2011), in their study about motivation and attitude and their influence on effective language learning, the negative attitude in students may be modified because it is acquired, not innate.

     Ortega (2013) explains  that the negative attitude toward language learning might be due to it makes no sense for students to focus their attention on that.  It is quite difficult to understand how in a developing country, students could think that learning a foreign language, especially English, makes no sense, considering the importance it has for professional growth and as a source for making their living.

     From my viewpoint, students fail in their attempt to learn a foreign language in public and private schools because they have a negative attitude due to the lack of motivation and conditions for developing communicative competence in those learning centers. This is the consequence of a wrong mindset developed by school principals, coordinators and foreign language educators.