The Effect of Attitudes Towards Turkish and English Courses on Academic Achievement

Abstract

Learner characteristics form a focus in the recent studies of mother tongue and foreign language. Attitude is one of the prominent concepts within this frame. It has been foreseen that positive attitude towards many learning environments provide easiness and achievement whereas a negative attitude is thought to be in correlation with failure. In this case, determination of learners’ characteristics and attitudes will provide guidance in developing the objectives of education as well. In this study, the influence of eight and ninth graders’ attitudes towards English and Turkish courses on their academic achievement in English and Turkish courses has been examined within the context of EFL students in Ankara, Turkey. According to the findings of the study it has been found that there is a significant relation between students’ attitudes towards English course and academic achievement. However, in Turkish course no relationship has been found between attitudes and the academic achievement. Furthermore, no relationship has been found between the attitude of Turkish and English courses. In addition, it has been observed that there is a significant relationship between the students’ English and Turkish grades. In the light of this finding it is possible to put forward that language achievements are correlated