The purpose of this study was to explore junior high school students¡¦ attitudes toward learning English and achievement in learning English, and analyzed the significant differences between student came from different backgrounds, students¡¦ attitudes toward learning English and achievement in learning English. Stratified sampling was conducted to recruit 470 junior high school students who are 2nd graders in Kaohsiung city. All participants completed the questionnaire of ¡§attitudes toward learning English scale¡¨ which was developed by the investigator. Descriptive statistics, independent t-tests, one-way ANOVA, spearmann¡¦s rank correlation test and chi-square test assessed the similarities and differences among groups. The initial findings were as follows: 1.The attitudes toward learning English of junior high school students are good. 2.Huge gaps are found in low and high achievers¡¦ achievement in learning English. 3.Female students¡¦ attitudes toward learning English are significantly higher than male students¡¦. 4.Students with longer time spending in learning English showed significantly higher scores in attitudes toward learning English scale than those who spent fewer time in learning English. 5.Students came from families with higher educated parents presented significantly higher scores in attitudes toward learning English scale than those who came from families with lower educated parents. 6.Students who received more support from family members presented significantly higher scores in attitudes toward learning English scale than those who were lack of support from family members. 7.Number of years of learning English showed significant effects on the attitudes toward learning English scale. The more time students spent in learning English, the better achievement they accomplish. 8.Students who attained private English tutoring presented significantly higher scores in attitudes toward learning English scale than those who only learned English from formal school education. 9.There were significantly positive correlations among students¡¦ attitudes toward learning English and achievement in learning English. Results hopefully contribute to further researches in student¡¦s attitudes toward learning English and achievement in learning English. Suggestions are provided to parents as well as school teachers.

The aim of this study is to understand whether Dörnyei’s (2005, 2009) motivational self system fits well with the language learning motivation of the participants in this Turkish university context The study has been carried out in a university in Western Turkey. In order to answer the research questions, the study has adopted a quantitative research design. The study has been conducted using a 109 item Likert scale questionnaire. The total number of participants in the study is 250. The study includes English prep class participants from the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, the Department of Environmental Engineering, the Department of English Language Teaching, the Department of English Language and Literature and the Department of Biology. The results of the study show that the motivational self system partially fits well with the language learning motivation of the participants in this Turkish university context. As the results suggest, the model needs some modifications in order to fit within this context. The three main components of the motivational self system (ideal L2 self, ought to L2 self, and attitudes toward learning English) are seen to be related to the intended learning efforts of the participants, and are confirmed as distinct independent constructs that measure the different dimensions of L2 motivation. However, the two standpoints, own and other, overlap in terms of instrumentality promotion, instrumentality prevention and family influence. The contribution of attitudes toward learning English to the intended learning efforts of the participants is higher than the ideal L2 self, and the effect of the ought to L2 self is questionable. In addition to this, the study shows that family influence is related to the ought to L2 self, rather than the ideal L2 self, but, contrary to Dörnyei’s (2005, 2009) model, milieu does not have any significant relationship with the ought to L2 self. The results also show that instrumentality has two foci: instrumentality promotion is related to the ideal L2 self, and instrumentality prevention is related to the ought to L2 self. Furthermore, imagination is found to be related to the ideal L2 self, as shown in the motivational self system. The results also suggest that the international community is important instrumentally for the imagined selves of the participants. This result supports the discussion that the international position of English attracts the participants’ future selves as suggested in the L2MSS. Key words: motivational self system; ideal L2 self; ought to L2 self; attitudes toward learning English; instrumentality promotion; instrumentality prevention.

This study was conducted to examine the attitudes and motivational intensity of 10th grade vocational high school students and to explore whether there is any significant difference between Anatolian high school and high school sections of vocational high schools and whether there is any significant gender difference in terms of attitudes toward learning English, attitudes toward the Anglo-Saxon culture and motivational intensity. Learners from three vocational high schools in Boz&uuml / y&uuml / k, Bilecik participated in the study. According to quantitative data analysis results, a significant difference was found between Anatolian high school and high school sections of vocational high schools in terms of attitudes and motivational intensity. Students at high school sections were observed to have more positive attitudes and more motivational intensity than students at Anatolian high school sections do. Furthermore, a statistically significant difference was found between female and V male students. Female students tend to have more positive attitudes and more motivational intensity than male students do. Related to the level of the participants&rsquo / attitudes and motivational intensity, quantitative data analysis results indicate that vocational high school students&rsquo / attitudes toward learning English, attitudes toward the Anglo-Saxon culture and motivational intensity are above the average level. Qualitative data analysis of the open-ended responses confirm the participants&rsquo / almost positive attitudes toward learning English / however, it also points out that almost half of the participants were found to have negative attitudes toward expending personal effort to learn the Anglo-Saxon culture and over half of their openended responses did not show any sign of motivational intensity.