ATTITUDE AND MOTIVATION OF STUDENTS TOWARDS LEARNING ENGLISH AS SECOND LANGUAGE IN A SECONDARY SCHOOL IN PENANG

Today, the English language as a medium of instruction and communication has become very important and makes an increased contribution to education and efficiencies of the students and enables them to fulfil the major demands of the institutions and organizations they work in. In Malaysian schools, as the language is not taught from the beginning in the schools, many of the students are not able to grasp the language at a later stage in their lives. Due to various factors, the students are not able to gain the right attitude and motivational level, which is essential to learn and use the second language effectively. Thus, there is a need to understand the attitudes and motivational level of the students in a secondary school in Penang to identify the various factors, which influence their attitudes and motivational levels. Using focus group interviews, this qualitative case study is an attempt to understand the views of students about learning ESL and the attitudes they have developed about the language and its use. This study is also an attempt to understand the motivational levels and the reason behind the motivational level which involve 20 students in a secondary school in Penang. The results of the research confirm that students have developed both positive and negative attitudes and motivation towards ESL due to the lack of proper environment and teaching approaches administered.