Abstract

This comparative study investigates the learners’ attitudes towards learning English from two comparative education systems (private and public sector) of Pakistan. This study is an attempt to measure the cognitive, emotional and behavioral attitudes of these young learners towards English. The research methodology is quantitative in nature. The tool used for data analysis by the researchers is questionnaire.  Steal’s (2004) questionnaire has been used to measure the attitude of the learners towards English language. The data has been collected from 100 students of four different schools including two private and two public schools in Gujranwala district. The quantitative analysis of the data is executed by SPSS and the findings reveal that the students of private schools show positive attitude towards English language as compared to the public schools’ students. The researchers also suggest a large-scale study from various parts of the country with larger population to know the reason behind the positive or negative attitude of students.

Key Words

L2 Attitude, Public Schools, Private Schools, Gujranwala Pakistan

Introduction

English is the most broadly instructed, learnt and talked dialect in this sphere named South Asia. It is used by more than 40 million individuals as a native language of various countries like, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United States of America and the United Kingdom, and more than 800 million people use English as extra dialect in Asia, Europe, Africa, and Latin America, and the island of these countries (Kachru, 1999).

  Attitudes are the output of governing moral philosophy, concepts and opinions and are gauged from positive-negative range. Investigating word attitudes is a systematic and real method of exploring the departure from the norm of ways everywhere people bear towards a language. The behaviorists and mentalists have imposing and discussed attitudes from diverse angles. Fishman (1998) describes the behaviorist look about science of the mind as socially perceptible phenomenon. Whereas mentalists require that attitudes commit only be deduced as they are mad constructs which are unobservable. Baker (1988) has identified a place of business of variables in the design of explanation attitudes.

Scholarly analysis on attitude began few and far between than a century ago.  As Reid (2006) would put it, the behaviorists in that particular period were caring for complex factors that were hard to measure. Their target was usually to explore those factors that were hard to measure and they aimed to unravel these through statistical measures. Attitudes of the language learners were among the factors that could be studied using different statistical procedures and the behaviorists were able to observe the attitudes of the foreign/second language pupils towards different aspects of the target culture as well as language. Many scholars (Thurstone, 1929) offered significant value to the study of attitudes and considered these a way to peep into the secrets of human mind. Using various tools and instruments, researchers explored the conceivably measured variable of attitude among the individual difference variables. Attitudes are usually result of various situational and environmental factors, however, there can be some personality related traits that can affect characteristics of someone’s attitudes. In many academic contexts, attitudes of the learners towards a target/second/foreign language are directly or indirectly linked to the educational achievement as recognized by many researchers and practicing teachers (Gardner, 1985). 

Various researches had been conducted to catch a glimpse towards approaches of learners during English explanation in distinctive parts of the presence (e.g. Butler, 2007; Deterding, 2005). The present research is about the attitudes of students who are studying in various schools of Gujranwala district (both public and private). This research basically deals with the positive /negative attitudes and the aspects of attitude of the students towards second language acquisition. Moreover, it also makes a comparison between the public and private universities to find that which sector’s students show more positive attitude.  




Problem Statement




The emphasis of this enquiry is to explore the attitudes of pupils in both private and public sector schools of Gujranwala district. Most of the EFL students are not proficient in speaking English language. That is why they fail to develop and exhibit positive behavioristic characteristics towards English language learning (ELL). The study makes a comparison between private and public sector schools of Gujranwala district and explore in which sector the students show more positive attitude. The positive attitude makes the students more proficient which is why the exploration of attitude towards English as a foreign language learning is at the center of this study. 

Objectives

The objectives of this research are:  

1. To explore the attitude of the students from private and public sector schools of Gujranwala district.

2. To make a comparison between private and public area schools of Gujranwala district.

3. To viewpoint the cognitive, behavioral and emotional aspects of attitudes between private and public sector school students of Gujranwala district.




 Research Questions




To attain the main objective of the study, following research question are addressed:

1. What are the attitudes of private and public sector school students towards ELL in Gujranwala district?

2. What are aspects of attitude among the students of private and public sector in schools of Gujranwala district?

3. Which sector’s students show positive attitude towards ELL in Gujranwala district schools?




Significance of Study




This research is of interest towards many researchers focusing on the discipline of English Language and attitude of students toward (L2) second language. First, in spite of the fact that the Pakistan government urges its natives to be proficient in English as it is the official language of Pakistan, the opinions of students have not been analyzed. By giving bits of knowledge into attitudes of students towards the English, this investigation will add to the attitudes of students toward English learning regarding conceivable factors influencing the development of their attitudes. In such manner, the discoveries are important for English instruction strategies creators and executives and additionally for the language instructors.




Delimitation




This study is delimited to four schools of Gujranwala district (two public, two private) that are situated in urban areas of the district. Due to time constraints, the attitudes of only 200 students is explored to develop overall understanding about the attitudes of these learners towards target language i.e. English in this case. 

Literature Review

Being an important language, English is considered at national and international platforms being an official language and considered important in writing. Because of this, English language dropped to the level of education and has become an important subject to be cleared in examination. The major issues related to English language is that most of its students are actually not interested in learning the language. Most importantly, English language is considered an important subject in local education system to be cleared by all the students to reach in the next standard but it is not easy for most of the students as they do not show positive attitude towards English language and give no importance to English. 

Attitude and motivation are two very common and highly reported issues among the Pakistani students (e.g. Shahbaz & Liu, 2012). Most of the student reported with confidence problem are those who are never supported by the friends, family or any other around them for the particular education they are getting or involved in. According to a research conducted by the PILDAT in 2012, 47% of Pakistani students studying here or in abroad are not studying with the will, motivation or some serious attitude but just to support the family and keep their name higher in the society. On the other hand, they are not getting anything for their personal and educational development that will support them in the professional life; if and only if they got the relevant job in the line. 

There are many researches and studies conducted around the globe for the observations of students’ attitude towards learning language and also in Pakistan (e.g. Shahbaz, Islam & Malik, 2017). There are always different results originated from the results and the reason is that there is significant change in the behaviours of the students that vary region to region. But there are still some factors behind the learning of new languages; researchers believed that they need to be highlighted and practiced in the education of the students for the better learning of the language. For example, learning English is a very tough job for those who are not motivated to learn them as a tool. Now this is quite problematic for them to take part in activities that are based upon the utilization or a very good command over the English language. If students have other course books and material in English and they are not already very good in English speaking, learning, hearing and writing than how can they put their efforts to learn other subject; is a very important thing to consider. For this purpose, it is very important to develop the attitude to learn and adopt English as a tool for better learning. This could only be polished by telling them the importance of the language rather than threatening them of failure.

English is accepted internationally by the multinational organization government department and other organizations that are engaged in multinational activities. For the purpose it is very important to have English language development so that one can go through the medium of selections to secure a job. But it does not ensure that English will help in getting a job. It can help in understanding other cultures and information related to them that is eventually fruitful in learning new things and getting new opportunities. For this particular purpose of developing attitude towards the language and motivation to learn the language, institutes and teachers need to play their role. Developing English department is not a factor that can enhance English language learning among the students. Development of a structure is important that mentor every student of the class to learn English for the goodwill as well to learn other subjects. What the students get in the English class is lecture over the status of English language, not about importance of learning English as another language for the practical life.

Attitude and behaviour of  individuals is usually controlled to a large extent by feelings or emotions one believe to produce positive/negative outcomes or how these feelings pave the ways to lead someone in a particular direction, and these are carefully weighted after evaluations of possible outcomes for oneself. Hence, if a person who strongly believes that outcomes will be in line with her/his aims or objectives, she/he will have positive attitude to move towards the lead (behavioral feelings). In contrast, if someone has strong feelings that opposite results have more chances to come to fruition, then, she/he will display a negative perspective and might avoid the necessary actions required to fulfil the task in given time. It is believed that native English speakers do not even take care of the differences in their language as it is not necessary or important than transmitting information. On the other hand, the same students who are not able to develop an attitude towards learning of English language cannot achieve outstanding result in examination (Mckay, 2006). This rate of examination clearance is very high among the students who came from a balanced and strong setup schooling, pre-schooling, post-college and pre-graduated institutes other than the students who are from government institutes with very basic necessities for the education. This difference in education is the key factor for the development of the attitude in the graduation and then in the masters. Such students normally invested heavy fees to learn English so that they learn some of the part that can help them in understanding the course books and clearing examination. This development of attitude required a whole new setup that must be composed of those who developed language habits with the motivation to learn as a communication tool. It is further discussed as that the main cause of problematic attitude towards English is the hesitation that do not let learners/students express themselves in front of a class or even among the group of mates. There is no remedy for the hesitation other than the personal motivation for the development of the personality. By the close observation as it is used as the research tool; it was observed that most of the students speak English language in classes or presentation as a burden for the sake of getting good marks. This is the negative side of the attitude that is not motivating them to learn the basics of the further development but looking for the shortcuts (Nunan et al, 2000). 

Ahmad (2015) did a research with 137 English non-major students at UKM Malyasia to highlight their attitude towards English. The investigation focused mostly on the dispositions of learners towards English dialect taught at university, their thinking about local Bahasa/Malaya, their opinions about English speakers and their perceptions about courses offered at UKM about English language pronunciation. The investigation highlighted that UKM learners exhibit uplifting states of mind towards learning English dialects. 

Another study in Malaysian context (Mahreez & Ghani, 1994) explored inspiration and demeanours of UUM (University Utara Malaysia) towards English through survey method. The investigation studied Chinese-Malaysian learners’ mentalities and inspiration towards English in contrast to Indian and Malay students. The outcomes demonstrated that dispositions and inspiration of Chinese-Malaysian students are strong and instrumental in nature. This group of learners performed better and illustrated positive attitudes compared to Indian and Malay students. 

  Latifah et al., (2011) carried out a nationwide survey (N=757) to explore how different components like inspiration, instrumental orientation, state of mind, discomfort and uneasiness all play significant role in affecting students’ achievement in English language dialect attainment course at department of languages and human sciences at a public university in Malaysia. This investigation highlights the important role played by all the above-mentioned elements and how these factors strongly correlate with efforts of learners for successful execution of the task i.e. foreign/second language learning. It is possible that individual inspiration that learners can benefit from it to some extent, however, individual’s state of mind positively affects the accomplishment of desired results in English language dialect acquisition among the studied population.

Likewise, in another study in Bangladeshi context, researchers (Al Mamun et al., 2012) collected data through a pole from seventy-nine randomly designated students from Non-English Major classes at undergraduate level at University of Khulna. They focused to understand the demeanour of these learners towards EFL/ESL. The results of this exploration depict that learners demonstrated positive inclination for native English dialect and the causes of their motivation were basically instrumentally oriented.

Galloway (2011) conducted a research on 116 students from a private college of Japan (International Studies University of Kanda) to understand attitudes of these Japanese learners of English and how these learners behaved with native English instructors in application of English as the most widely utilized language in classroom and on campus. From data, Galloway concludes that this group of learners gave value to English and they depicted positive attitudes because they wanted to use English local speakers of English and they regularly require to use English in local contexts for a smooth flow of life. The study concludes that various variables are in play to manipulate the attitudes of learners including social, psychological and cultural.

Goktepe (2014) analyzed ninety sophomore students from business major classes studying in a private college in Istanbul, Turkey. The author aimed to understand their existing state of mind and inspiration for English language dialect as an outside factor. The results shed light on the complex nature of attitudes of these learners who are mostly motivated to learn English for job-related instrumental motivation (instrumentality promotional), conversely, some learners illustrate inclination for integrative orientation with strongly positive attitude toward culture and language of English people. 

Research Methodology

This section deals with the process and methodology to conduct the research. It also explains the process to measure the attitudes of the students and responses towards learning of English language with the help of questionnaire. In this section, the specific procedure has been presented to collect and analyse the data in order to get the answers of research questions. It includes research design, data collection, data analysis procedure and data analysis tools.




Research Design  




This research is quantitative and descriptive in nature. Descriptive research is referred as a type that helps in describing something or context of some particular thing under consideration. Two standards in particular subjective and quantitative research approaches decide the heading of an examination venture, from the earliest starting point to the last advance of composing the exploration report. The refinement amongst subjective and quantitative is essentially the qualification between non-numerical and numerical information. In meaning of subjective research, (Heppner, 2004) clarified, "Subjective specialists are keen on catching the person's perspective through numerous techniques, for example, meeting and perception" (p. 139), though a quantitative approach enables the analyst to gather information from different sources that could be important to an expansive scope of specialists inside the field. Quantitative research had been found more appropriate to conduct this research. The main purpose of this research was to investigate the attitude of the students of public and private schools of Gujranwala. To satisfy this objective; Quantitative Research Methodologies considered and for this purpose a questionnaire has been used suggested by Steal (2004). 







Data Collection Resources




Four schools have been selected for collection of data that includes two public and two private school. The students of 9th and 10th were taken into consideration for the collection of the data. 




Population




The target population of this study is all the students of Gujranwala but the sample is delimited to 200 students of four schools. 




Sampling




The sample of 200 students has been selected from these four schools by systematic sampling. A number of 50 students are taken from each school by choosing nth number.   

Public School Sample of 100 students

Private School Sample of 100 students 

A complete introduction had been given to the respondents regarding the research, its main purpose and importance in this present era.




Research Ethics




All the research ethics are taken into account during the study. The questionnaires were filled by the students after their consent. Moreover, the permission was taken from the principals of all the schools before the data collection. However, all the principals, schools and students were assured of anonymity in the study. The students and the teachers were also instructed about the questionnaire and how to fill it by the researcher. 

Data Analysis

For achieving the required objectives quantitative data has been investigated with the help of statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) and percentages. 




Data Collection Tools




One of the most powerful research tools considered in quantitative research is questionnaire. The questionnaire helps in gathering the data of individual studying in the program. Moreover, questionnaire can be directed in many structures, for example, by means of email, by telephone, through mail-in-frames, and also face to face, permitting the scientist a more noteworthy level of adaptability in the information gathering process. In view of the structure, surveys can give both subjective bits of knowledge and quantifiable information, and along these lines are exceptionally adaptable for use in a scope of research (Macky & Gass, 2005). For this study, the questionnaires were distributed among the respondents and prior to that the respondents were instructed about the questionnaire. 

Data Analysis and Discussion

This portion of the study compares the students from private and public schools of Gujranwala regarding English Language Learning. First, there is a brief description of the number of participants who responds to the questionnaire. This is followed by a detailed description of analysis, as well as their results, and how they relate to the learners’ attitudes towards English Language Learning and prediction of either positive or negative attitude towards English. It also presents a link between the results of previous studies and this study regarding attitudes of L2 learners. The analysis is presented as numerical data in the form of mean and its graphs. 

Figure 1

Behavioral Aspects of Attitude

This graph shows the behaviour of the public and private sector students towards English. The results extracted from SPSS shows the mean score of the students of public and private school students. Moreover, it shows positive behaviour for English language. In this bar chart, blue bar represents the behaviour of public school students towards English regarding the asked questions. If we analyse question no 5 to measure the behaviour for students towards English, the data reveals public students do not practice English by themselves when them listen someone speaking English with the mean score 1.9 . Whereas the mean score of private students is 3.7 which shows a clear difference between the behaviour of public and private school students. The results show that the students of private school practice English speaking at their own when they listen someone speaking English. 

Figure 2

Cognitive Aspects of Attitude

This graph highlights the cognitive aspects of attitude towards learning English among public and private school students. The cognitive aspect questionnaire comprises 12 questions and the data reveals that public school students are less motivated for learning English. The mean score of Q5 is 2.0 on the part of public-school students whereas private school students believe that English helps them getting knowledge and they link this knowledge to the previous one. The mean score of private school students is 3.0 which shows their positive attitude towards English as compared to public school students. 

Figure 3

Emotional Aspect of Attitude

The graph shows the emotional aspect of attitude towards English language learning. Q5 inquires if the students enjoy the activities in English. The mean score of public school students is 2.3 while the mean score of the students of private school is 3.0. The difference in the mean score reveals the attitude of the public and private school students which clearly shows the emotional aspect of attitude is positive on the part of public school students.   

Conclusion

This comparative study is conducted to know the attitude and its aspects among public and private school students. Steal’s (2004) questionnaire is used to measure the attitude of the students. The data taken from the questionnaires is quantified with help of SPSS. The statistical analysis of SPSS shows the mean scores of all the aspects of attitudes by public and private students. The findings show that private school students have positive attitude in all the aspects of attitude i.e. behavioural, cognitive and emotional as compared to public schools. This study offer recommendation for the future researchers to find the reasons behind the difference of the attitude among private and public-school students for learning English. 

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