engleski

Attitudes of Croatian learners towards learning English, German and Spanish in a formal environment

Modern society is a global society that is undergoing constant changes and the importance of language as a communication medium cannot be overlooked. At the same time there is a practical need for foreign language learning for employment purposes, personal development and social adaptation. The foreign language learning process is a dynamic process that can be approached from multiple theoretical and methodological perspectives and in various contexts. Numerous theories on language acquisition are constantly being tested and redefined. In modern language learning theories the focus is on the learner, his needs, expectations, attitudes and beliefs, motivation and learning strategies. Learner attitudes and beliefs towards foreign language learning are considered to be among the key factors for successful language acquisition. Few research projects in Croatia have dealt with the differences in beliefs regarding the learning process among various groups of learners. In this paper the results of research carried out in the school year 2012/2013 among students from the Tourism and Catering School in Dubrovnik (N=321) have been shown. The aim of the research was to provide an insight into the beliefs and attitudes of the learners towards the process of learning three standard languages in a formal environment: English, German and Spanish. The results obtained were compared and interpreted in the Croatian social and educational context. The research instrument applied was BALLI – Beliefs About Language Learning Inventory (Horwitz 1987). The Croatian translation of the questionnaire (Mihaljević Djigunović 1998) was adapted and administered for this research. A separate part of the questionnaire collected some general data on the respondents. Identification of learners’ beliefs and attitudes towards foreign language learning in a specific social-educational context gives a wider perspective and a better insight into the learning and teaching process. Consequently, better understanding of the process could be achieved and more effective teaching forms could be found attributing thus to achievement of the desired learning results. In conclusion some guidelines for further research are offered through which more comprehensive data on the learners’ attitudes and changes in attitudes in a particular social-cultural context may be obtained as a contribution to understanding the process of language acquisition.

Attitudes, beliefs, language acquisition, formal education

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