Endogeneous Factors In SLA With A Focus On Attitudes

Abstract

The paper aims to investigate endogenous factors affecting SLA with a focus on attitude, while the research interest was centred around German language acquisition. The research goal was to find out about the attitudes towards German language acquisition in terms of the semantic space in lower and upper secondary schools. Moreover, the relationship between achievement and attitude is also examined, while the research focuses on differences between the strength and assessment dimension based on achievement; the semantic differential was used as a research tool. The research revealed rather a negative attitude towards German language acquisition, but indicated strong positive ties to the teacher, who became a central factor in learning.

Keywords: Attitudesforeign languageGerman language acquisition

Introduction

SLA represents a highly individual process that is affected by a number of factors that appear as a major challenge for Didactics. As their division varies, it is important to note that Riemer (1997) differentiates between two groups: endogenous and exogenous. In addition, the exogenous factors are the ones related to the environment in which acquisition takes place, such as the teacher, classmates, methods etc. On the other hand, endogenous factors shape the learner`s personality, emerging from the individual while forming his/her style. These factors are individually distinct and interrelated and so may affect one another.

Innate language abilities, individual competences and social experience with language are also involved in the SLA process (Breyhl, 2000). Dörnyei (2005) expands the list of these factors to include fear, creativity, self-confidence etc. Furthermore, Jeuk (2011) also adds mother tongue acquisition.

Age is undoubtedly one of the most discussed and investigated factors in SLA and Neurodidactics brings the most up-to-date knowledge into this field by linking learning and human brain functions. Therefore, brain plasticity is at the forefront of the field of Neurodidactics. Moreover, current developments in this field show that the brain is flexibly organized and is able to transform. As the brain adjusts and adapts throughout life, there are certain periods when the learning process is far easier. Consequently, Matovcikova (2014) claims that SLA should be more effective in primary and secondary education and a foreign language can be learnt also at an older age.

Motivation is also an important factor as motivated learners are willing to put greater effort into SLA and it also shows the way a person behaves (Dörnyei, 2014). Furthermore, motivation is mostly aimed at the process and not at the product (Stranovská, 2011). SLA is a lengthy process that may sometimes seem like there is no end in sight and so motivation can dissipate fairly easily. The learner should proceed step by step and must also be inspired to make the next step. This theory is also supported by other authors, such as Riemer (2010) and Dörnyei (2014).

Emotions also affect SLA and it is not easy to define them as there are a great number of opinions about this series. Generally speaking, emotion is a mental, feelings-based state that can be positive or negative. Psycholinguistics is therefore focused on perception of foreign language expression, processing emotions and behaviour toward a foreign language and foreign culture. As a result, the teacher should be aware of the emotionality of his/her students, especially in situations where they are able to communicate without any barriers, which can often be caused by an affective filter. Krashen (1982) is the author of the hypothesis of the affective filter, which represents a mental block restricting the learner from perceiving input from the environment. As this fact is related to motivation, needs, attitudes and emotions, pupils` emotions should not be underestimated. It is therefore important to work with emotions and eliminate or minimize negative ones. Hascher (2005) suggests several ways of handling negative feelings: distraction, reassessment of experienced events, problem solving, self-reward etc. Moreover, it is also important to maintain positive feelings, eg. rewarding for positive aspects, prosocial behaviour, experiencing positive feelings.

Our paper is aimed at certain endogenous factors with emphasis on attitudes and exploring them in acquiring the German language. The main aim of the research was to find out what the attitude to German language acquisition was with regard to semantic space, and discovering the attitude in relation to pupil performance in acquiring the language.

Problem Statement

Problem statement aims to investigate endogenous factors affecting foreign language acquisition, while a research interest is centred around measuring attitudes in German language teaching.

Research Questions

The research is aimed at the following research questions:

What are student attitudes to teaching German in relation to a strength and assessment dimension?

How are students attitudes to the German language related to their achievement in the German language?

For the purpose of this research, achievement is perceived as the grade in the German language that is granted to the particular respondent. Pupils were divided according to grades into three groups:

•Grades 1, 2 – excellent

•Grade 3 – average achievement

•Grade 4, 5 – weak achievement

Purpose of the Study

The aim of the study is to find out about students` attitudes towards German language acquisition with regard to the semantic space. In addition, a relation between the performance and attitudes is being examined, while the research is focused on differences between the strength and assessment dimension depending on students` performance.

Research Methods

The method of a semantic differential was used in the research. It is a method that was developed by Osgood (1957) in the 1950s; this standardized method was originally used in psychology but can be modified also for different purposes. In linguistics it is being used to investigate connotations. Each series contains denotative and connotative significance. While denotative meaning represents the obvious, generally valid significance of a word, connotative meaning describes the subjective, hidden meaning of a word. The role of a respondent in this method is to express their attitudes to a particular series on a 7 degree scale, while he/she gets bipolar adjectives for it. Afterwards, it is possible to place the series into the semantic space.

Findings

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Figure 01 illustrates attitudes to German as a foreign language though the individual series. In semantic space these series move in the dimensions of strength and assessment. Pupils perceive a German teacher positively, regarding him as good and strong. The German teacher appears as a central variable in the foreign language acquisition process. Regarding the strength and assessment dimensions, the teacher variable proved to be one of the strongest factors in creating positive attitudes towards German language acquisition. A paradoxical finding is that even though a teacher represents the central variable in German language acquisition, his lessons are not in the strength dimension compared to an ideal German language lesson.

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Figure 02 portrays respondent attitudes in relation to German language acquisition in respect of their grades. Axis X shows grades (1-4) and axis Y attitudes. The lower the number on axis Y, the more positive the respondents’ attitudes. The place where the points are more concentrated represents a place with a higher density of answers.

The graph shows that pupils with weaker achievement (grades 3 and 4) display a worse relationship to German language acquisition. Most pupils with average achievement (grades 1 and 2) do not show a clear relationship to German language acquisition. Most of them described their attitude to the language as average or negative, while a positive attitude was described only occasionally.

Most of the pupils with average achievement (grade 3) classed their attitude to German language acquisition as average, with some students even indicating it as negative.

Conclusion

Research showed that attitudes strongly correlate to achievement and motivation in a foreign language, meaning attitudes and overall endogenous factors affect foreign language acquisition. The perception of the semantic space in respect of German language acquisition can be deemed disputable. Findings showed that student attitudes to German language acquisition are mostly negative. Most of the series involving German language acquisition are perceived by respondents as average or negative, but there were three who were found in the semantic space in the positive quadrant.

As the pupils showed strong positive ties to the teacher in particular, we can assume that the teacher plays a dominant role in the German language acquisition process. The teacher should therefore be focused more on motivating the individual components of learning. We agree with Dorny (2014) and Riemer (2010) who try to integrate previous motivation theories (intrapsychical motivation dimension, which should reveal the quality of motivation) and the complexity of motivation. These models are mostly multidimensional, observing interaction between various internal and external motivation dimensions. Respondents also showed positive ties to the ideal German lesson and to Germany as a country.

Respondents showed weak ties mostly to German grammar, vocabulary and music. German grammar seems abstract to students and more time is required to grasp and process it. Similar German words often represent a very complicated system for pupils, which they need to adopt and which is distinct from their mother tongue. Respondents come into contact with German music minimally, as it is distant for them and does not represent any source of entertainment or learning. These might be the reasons why these series came at the end the ranking and it might also be related to the ontogenetic perspective of pupils.

The second part of the research question showed the difference in attitudes related to grades. The higher the grade (3-5), the worse the achievement and the more negative the attitude was to the German language. Negative attitudes were found in students with a grade 4. However, students with a better achievement (grades 1 and 2) did not display a particularly positive attitude to the German language. We agree with Riermer (1997) who claims that the correlation between attitudes and achievement is not clear, as a positive attitude does not automatically ensure achievement in learning a foreign language. It therefore seems that achievement in German language acquisition is semantically bound to the teacher`s personality in dependence on the assessment and strength dimensions.

In conclusion, we can categorically state that it is necessary to deal with attitudes of pupils in SLA. If students don`t have positive attitudes to learning a foreign language, they need to be supported in the learning process by a teacher to whom they have a positive attitude, with this proving a dominant factor to learning. This area opens up a channel for further research, which could be centred around the teacher and his/her competence in relation to student attitudes and the teacher`s need for structure and its impact on pupils` attitudes.

Moreover, we cannot assume that a positive attitude will automatically ensure achievement in learning a foreign language. This draws the question as to whether a positive attitude predicates achievement in learning the German language or if success in learning predicates a positive attitude in pupils. The interaction of attitude and attained success certainly merits further investigation.

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Slovak Research and Development Agency under the contract N° APVV-14-0446.

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