English abstract
The present study aimed at investigating the first secondary school students' attitudes towards learning English. This study also aimed at investigating the effects.. of gender, students' achievement levels in English and parents' educational levels on students' attitudes towards learning English. • To achieve these two aims, the study attempted to answer the following research questions:
1. What are the attitudes of the first secondary school students towards
learning English? 2. To what extent do these attitudes differ due to gender, achievement levels
and parents' educational levels?
The population of this study consists of all - first secondary school students (6666 students) in the Interior Region in the academic year 2001/2002. The sample of. this study consisted of 486 students (247 males and 239 females) selected from the above population (7.3% of the total population) using random.cluster sampling For the purpose of this study, the researcher developed an attitude questionnaire to measure students' attitudes towards. English, towards the teacher of English and towards the English textbook.
. The findings of the study indicated that the general attitude of the first secondary school students in the Interior Region towards learning English was moderate.
However, the findings showed that there is a significant difference (P<.009) between the attitudes of female students and the attitudes. of male students towards learning English in general. It also revealed that female students have positive attitudes towards learning... English. (M=3.58, SD=.85) while male students have moderate attitudes (M=3.26, SD=94)
The findings from the one way. analysis of variance ANOVA showed that there was a significant difference. (P<0.001) between the mean scores of high achievers' attitudes towards learning English in general, medium achievers and low achievers. This difference was in favour of high achievers while the difference between the mean scores of medium achievers' attitudes towards learning English in general and low achievers was in favour of medium achievers.
The one way analysis of variance ANOVA was also used to see the effect of Parents' (fathers and mothers). educational levels on students' attitudes towards learning English. The findings of this analysis indicated that the more educated the parents (fathers and mothers) are, the more positive attitudes the students have...
Finally, in the recommendation section, the researcher pointed out that the effects of the economic and social factors, the culture of the family and the teachers, classroom environment and English language curriculum, upon developing positive attitudes towards learning English, are worthy of investigation.
