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RESEARCH SUGGESTS THAT LANGUAGE LEARNERS DEVELOP A MORE

POSITIVE ATTITUDE TOWARD THE TARGET LANGUAGE AND/OR THE
SPEAKERS OF THAT LANGUAGE.
Bamford, K. W., & Mizokawa, D. T. (1989). Cognitive and attitudinal outcomes of an additivebilingual program. U.S.; Washington: ED305826
A study compared language skill development and cultural attitudes of second-grade
children taught in an additive-bilingual program setting with those of second-grade children
from a monolingual classroom setting. Zooming in on the attitude question: The
researchers hypothesized that the Spanish-immersion group would be more positive than
the control group on the Cross-Cultural Attitude Inventory (CCAI), an instrument that is a
measure of attitudes toward Mexican-American culture.The results of the analysis
revealed a significant change in attitudes towards Hispanic culture between the fall and
spring administrations in favor of the Spanish-immersion group. In the discussion section,
the authors suggest that the results support Gardners model of language acquisition
which proposes that attitudes towards the target language community may be outcomes of
second language learning.
Peal, E., & Lambert, W. E. (1962). The relation of bilingualism to intelligence. Psychological
Monographs, 76(27, Whole No. 546), 23. from PsycINFO database.
This study compares measures of verbal and nonverbal intelligence, as well at student
attitudes toward French and English communities. The sample included monolingual
[French only] and bilingual [French-English, with French as the native language] 10-year
old children attending 6 Montreal French schools. They were given two attitude
questionnaires, called the Attitude-to-English and Attitude-to-French scales. An
analysis of a subgroup of the sample, matched on socioeconomic status, shows that the
bilingual students scored significantly higher than monolingual students in positive
attitudes toward English speakers.
Riestra, M. A., & Johnson, C. E. (1964). Changes in attitudes of elementary-school pupils
toward foreign-speaking pupils resulting from the study of a foreign language. Journal of
Experimental Education, 33(1), 65-72. from PsycINFO database.
An experimental group of 63 5th grade pupils who had been learning Spanish and a
matched controlled group of pupils who had not been learning Spanish were tested to
determine attitudes toward people of other countries. The experimental group had
significantly more positive attitudes toward the Spanish-speaking peoples they had studied
about than did the group that had not studied Spanish.

HELPFUL RESOURCES ON THE TOPIC OF ATTITUDES AND FOREIGN

LANGUAGE LEARNING:

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Morgan, C. (1993) Attitude change and foreign language culture learning in Language
Teaching, 26 (2), pp. 63-75.
D.E. Ingram (to see Ingrams paper go to http://www.tesolchile.net/documents/sept2005
/DEIngram_fullpaper_Oct2004.htm) refers to Morgans article as one of the most
comprehensive reviews of the relations between foreign language learning and attitude
change (p.3 of Ingrams paper). Morgan reviews articles from as early as 1932 and
makes conclusions regarding the fact that a number of factors were important if positive
attitude changes occurred. Morgans piece and Ingrams piece might be helpful if you
would like to look at features in language learning experiences that may be correlated with
attitudinal change.

Thanks to Amanda Kibler and Sandy Philipose, Graduate Research Assistants of Guadalupe Valds
for assisting in the compilation of these studies.
This information is not designed to provide a comprehensive review of the research studies available
but has been compiled to highlight the benefits of language learning.

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