The Attitudes of the English Majors of the Englis Department of An-Najah National University,Toward Learning English as a Foreign Language

The Attitudes of the English Majors of the Englis Department of An-Najah National University,Toward Learning English as a Foreign Language

Ahd Adel Abu A'msheh The Attitudes of the English Majors of the English Department of An-Najah National University, Toward Learning English as a Foreign Language By Ahd Adel Abu A'msheh Supervisor Dr. Mohammed S. Amleh Dr. Odeh Juma'h Odeh 1998 The population of the study was the English majors of the Department of English during the academic year 1996-1997, at An-Najah National University. The entire group was taken as the sample of the study because of the relative small number involved. The number of the English majors, as taken from the Admission & Registration Department, was 197 students. One hundred and ninety-seven copies of the questionnaire were distributed, but only 186 were returned. The researcher used a questionnaire developed by Rita Sadeq (1986), consisting of 41 questions. The copies of the questionnaire were distributed to the students and collected by hand after the students had given their responses. The rate of the returned copies was 94.4%. To convert the responses to a numerical value, a Likert scale of five options was used A reliability equation due to time was used to test the reliability of the instrument and gave a value of 0.89. The results of this study were as follows: The means of the males’ attitudes toward English as a medium of communication, knowledge, self-improvement and self-image were higher than those of the females. And the means of the females’ attitudes to English as a medium of social prestige and toward the external and internal factors that influence these attitudes were higher than those of the attitude of the males. And the mean of the village students’ attitude toward English as a medium of communication was higher than that of the attitude of camp and city. Zajel / An-Najah National University