“I Sounded An American to a Native Speaker, so Wow”: Saudi Women’s Attitudes and Motivation in Learning English

In second language (L2) learning, a range of complex affective factors come into play such as attitudes towards the L2, L2 speakers and first language (L1) group affiliation (Gardner, 1985; Gatbonton, Trofimovich, Magid, 2005; Polat Schallert, 2013). The various positions that learners take when facing such elements influence—directly or indirectly—their L2 learning behavior and ultimately their L2 acquisition (Gardner, 2001). Such issues would be interesting to investigate in a monolingual context such as Saudi Arabia (SA), where there is not only no contact with a salient L2 group but also high national pride in a language that is considered sacred because of its bond with Islam (Alrahaili, 2013). However, learning English in SA is gaining importance for social standing, spreading religion across cultures, and career-related purposes (Aljuaid, 2015). Therefore, as more Saudis understand the significance of English language for education, career advancement, and personal gain, this research will explore the forces that are necessary to generate motivation for L2. Interestingly, Saudi women are shown to have more positive attitudes towards learning English than their male peers, warranting further investigation into the relationship of attitude and motivation with features such as L2 pronunciation, as the latter can be a strong linguistic marker for sociocultural identification (Labov, 1972).