The Importance Of Attitudes In Language Learning

There are several factors that play an important role in learning a language, one of which is attitude. Attitude is acknowledged as one of the most important factors that impacts on learning a language (Fakeye, 2010). Attitude is characterized by a large proportion of emotional involvement such as feelings, self, and relationships in the community (Brown, 2001). It is said that language teachers, researchers, and students should acknowledge that high motivation and positive attitude of students facilitate second language learning. Therefore, learners’ attitudes could be incorporated in language learning because it may influence their performance in acquiring the target language.

Attitudes itself is divided into three factors, namely cognitive, affective, and conative (Baker, 1992). Cognitive concerns with thoughts and beliefs, while affective talks about what people like or dislike towards an attitude object. The last aspect is conative defined as a readiness for action toward language. The way how people have positive or negative attitude may influence on the result in language learning. To sum up, every aspect represents how learners see, act, and have a perspective toward language learning.

Attitudes is also related to learners’ difficulties in learning a language. There is a relationship between attitudes and learners’ difficulties in learning a language (Rifai, 2009). She argues that when the attitudes of learners increase, the more various ways the language learners