University Students’ Attitudes Towards EFL: A Case From the South of Chile

Published

2020-01-01

La actitud de estudiantes universitarios hacia el inglés como lengua extranjera: un caso del sur de Chile

Keywords:

Attitudes, Chile, English as a foreign language, undergraduate students (en)
actitud, Chile, estudiantes universitarios, inglés como lengua extranjera (es)

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Authors

Eric Gómez Burgos Universidad San Sebastián
Soledad Sandoval Molina Universidad de Los Lagos

Abstract (en)
Abstract (es)

Attitude towards English as a foreign language is a new field of study in tertiary education in Latin-American countries, especially in Chile. However, its importance in the process of learning a language has been reported upon around the world. The aim of the current study was to identify the attitudes towards English as a foreign language of 131 university students from different educational institutions in Chile; the students’ programs included English courses as part of their study plan. The three components of attitude were analyzed by means of the participants’ replies to the statements of a questionnaire. Results gave evidence that university students hold a positive attitude towards English as a foreign language; nonetheless, the behavioral aspect of attitude obtained the lowest average of agreement among the respondents.

La actitud hacia el inglés como lengua extranjera es un nuevo campo de estudio en la educación universitaria en los países latinoamericanos, especialmente en Chile. Sin embargo, su relevancia en el proceso de aprendizaje de una lengua se ha investigado alrededor del mundo. El presente estudio busca identificar las actitudes hacia el inglés como lengua extranjera de 131 estudiantes universitarios de diferentes instituciones educativas del sur de Chile, cuyas carreras de pregrado incluyen cursos de inglés como parte de su plan de formación. Se analizaron los tres componentes de la actitud por medio de las respuestas de los participantes. Los resultados evidenciaron que los estudiantes tienen una actitud positiva hacia el inglés como lengua extranjera, especialmente en el dominio cognitivo; no obstante, el aspecto conductual obtuvo el promedio más bajo entre los encuestados.

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