Arab Students Attitudes Towards Western Culture

Motivation is important for learners of a §2nd language. Attitude towards the target language, §its culture, & its people have proved to have a §bearing on the motivation to learn the §language. Positive attitudes towards speakers of §another language and their culture increase the §learners'' motivation. On another front, teaching §another language encompasses teaching another §culture since language cannot be taught in a vacuum, §and must be learned in a social & cultural context. §This study examines the relationship between Arab §students'' motivation to learn English and attitudes §towards Western culture. Results show that there is §a positive relation between attitude towards the §target language, its culture & its people & the §motivation to learn the language. §It also suggests that Arab students who participated §in this study wished to learn English for economic §and prestigious reasons, and felt un-easiness §towards the dominance of English in the world. In §addition, it supports the hypothesis that Arab §students do not want to be fully assimilated into §the target language culture and that over-§acculturation de-motivates them to learn English.