A comparative study of attitudes toward English language held by Grades 7-10 students at no.1 Mindat High School, Chin State, Myanmar

Abstract

The purpose of the study was two-folded: firstly, to determine the levels of attitudes toward learning English, in terms of four subscales (i.e., English language teacher, English language class, English language textbook and English language work), of Grades 7-10 students at № 1 Mindat High School, Chin State, Myanmar; and secondly, to determine if there was a significant difference among Grades 7-10 students at the target school regarding their attitudes toward learning English language in terms of the aforementioned subscales. This quantitative study used the questionnaire originally developed by Uribe, Gutierrez & Madrid (2013), in order to examine students’ attitudes toward English language. The respondents were 529 Grades 7-10 students from № 1 Mindat High School, Chin State, Myanmar, during the academic year 2017-18. The research findings indicated that, on average, Grade 7, Grade 8 and Grade 9 students showed positive attitudes toward English language, whereas Grade 10 students, on average, showed neither positive nor negative attitudes toward English language. A Games-Howell post hoc multiple comparison test revealed a significant difference in attitudes toward English language between students from Grade 7 and Grade 9, Grade 7 and Grade 10, Grade 8 and Grade 9, and Grade 8 and Grade 10. Contrarily, it was not found a significant difference in attitudes toward English language in students from Grade 7 and Grade 8, or Grade 9 and Grade 10. Finally, recommendations for teachers, students, administrators and future researchers are presented.