70 

 

 

WHY ARE CERTAIN STUDENTS FURTHER FROM ACHIEVING 

THEIR DESIRED LEVEL OF ENGLISH PROFICIENCY? 

 

 

Fëllanza CANOLLI MALLET, MSc. C.  

South East European University, Faculty of Languages, Cultures and Communications,
 
English Language Teaching Department, 

fllanza8000@gmail.com 

 

Article history: 

Accepted 8 July 2020 

Available online 31 August 2020 

 

Keywords:  

Teaching Strategies,  

English Language Learning,  

ELT,  

Proficiency,  

Motivation and Age. 

A b s t r a c t 

 

This study deals with proficiency of students towards English Language Learning.  It includes ELT 

strategies that can properly motivate students to learn the language without betraying where they 

come from. Although many of them are afraid that learning English might assimilate them, therefore, 

they hesitate to learn English due to their Educational system which makes them fearful of losing 

their identity. 

  

 

 

1. Introduction 

One of my concerns regarding certain students relates to their lack 

of success attaining proficiency of the English language in terms 

of comprehension, productive skills, or both.  Although most 

students begin their study of the English language in High School, 

others as early as primary, or even pre-school, the majority still 

fall short of attaining acceptable levels of fluency.  In the context 

of my pedagogical experience, I found that some students, in a 

general sense, do not possess a positive attitude towards the 

English language, often times as a result of the Education System 

in their countries.  This perception and attitude towards the 

language does not transcend the culture among traditionally 

English speaking nations, an affect directly related to the 

globalization of their society.  Educators of the English language 

have discovered that individual motivation of students results in 

their attainment of higher proficiency levels.  This discovery 

leads us to explore and question whether there are any 

circumstances which can be introduced into their methodology of 

teaching that can properly motivate the students to master the 

English language and truly inspire a desire to learn it. 

 

2. Statement of Purpose 

Even though certain students agree that command of the English 

language is helpful and important to properly understand and 

interact with expatriates and their cultures, they do not support 

English as a language of instruction in their schools.  Why?  Why 

aren’t they motivated to effectively learn and master the English 

language?  What circumstances may contribute to the motivation 

of these students to support English as a language of instruction 

in their schools?  What makes these students reluctant to achieve 

their desired level of English proficiency?  Could the Educational 

System be the central hindrance in the encouragement of students 

towards learning English? 

 

3. Importance of Study 

Examining the relationship between certain students’ attitudes 

towards the English language and its acceptance and the extent of 

its use in their countries forms the position of the importance of 

this research.  Mastery of the English language assists people of 

the world in effectively communicating with each other.  It is the 

language of global economy and commerce, of the internet and 

modern technology.  This coincidental fact has inspired citizens 

of the world to learn English.  However, the appreciation for the 

importance of English as a foreign language in many countries 

may be deficient in motivating students to take active steps 

through the learning process and result in their ultimate 

proficiency in the language.  The main incentive that is lacking 

for these students towards learning English is the infrequency of 

use and its minimal impact on their daily lives.  In fact, learning 

English is often delayed to adulthood when it becomes a necessity 

for them to learn in order to successfully function and fulfil their 

professional needs. 

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4. Literature Review 

There are different aspects of the attitude towards language that 

have been studied: the relationship between attitudes and 

motivation (Donitsa-Schmidt et al. 2004, Bernaus et al. 2004, 

Williams et al. 2002), the relationship between attitudes and 

learning strategies (Gan2004), the relationship between attitudes 

and levels of achievement (Graham 2004), beliefs and attitudes 

about targeted language use, first language use and anxiety 

(Levine 2003) and also, attitudes towards English language usage 

among peers (White 2002).  According to Gardern (1985: 10), 

attitudes are a part of motivation in language learning and he 

defines motivation as the summation of effort plus the desire to 

achieve the goal of learning language.  He declares in 1985, 

“Learning a foreign language is determined by personality 

characteristics such as the motivation of knowing foreign people 

in general and also the motivation to adopt particular factors such 

as, cultural, contextual, affective and cognitive, among which 

attitudes have an important place”.  Based on the above review, it 

may be determined that attitude is extremely important for certain 

learners of English to achieve their purpose. The possession of 

the right attitude may be found in a person, which can be aided in 

further development by his parents, friends, family, social 

pressures and perhaps most importantly, by their teachers. 

 

The Aims of this Research are: 

1. To perform an investigation of the relationship of 

attitude to learning a language 

2. To determine the optimal age for beginning to learn a 

foreign language 

3. To analyze the effects of the place where the 

individual started to learn the language within the context of EFL 

Students in Turkey 

 

5. Research Methods 

Data was collected through a questionnaire. The first part of the 

questionnaire requests personal information: gender, their 

approximate age when they started to learn English and the place 

where they started to learn English. The second part of the 

questionnaire asks the students about their attitude towards the 

use of English in their countries. 

 

Participants: 

The subjects of the questionnaire were students of primary school 

where English is taught up to 15 hours per week.  48.5% of the 

group were female students whereas 51.5% of the group were 

male students.  It was revealed that approximately 40.5 % of 

participants started learning English when they were between the 

ages of zero and six, whereas 59.5% began at the age of seven 

and above. 

 

Findings: 

Table 1. Result of Descriptive Statistics 

Attitudes 

towards 

English in 

general 

Gender 

The age of 

starting to 

learn  English 

The place 

of 

starting 

to 

learn 

English 

        

         F
e
m

a
le

 

M
a

le
 

0
-6

 

7
+

 

In
 sc

h
o
o

l 

In
 p

r
e
sc

h
o
o

l 

 

Beautif

ul 

4.25 

% 

3.22

% 

4.34

% 

2.45 

% 

2.55

% 

2.58

% 

 

Musica

l 

5.72

% 

4.12

% 

5.52

% 

3.35 

% 

3.23

% 
4.5% 

 

Import

ant 

6.15
% 

5.72
% 

5.9% 
4.71
% 

4.76
% 

4.83
% 

 

Rich 
8.44

% 

6.43

% 

8.25

% 

10.54

% 

10.61

% 

10.47

% 

 

Interes

ting 

9.72

% 

8.33

% 

9.31

% 

13.45 

% 

13.53

% 

13.67

% 

 

 

Regarding gender differences female students were found to have 

a more positive attitude toward English than male students.  The 

students who started learning English between the ages of zero 

and six in pre-school possess an attitude towards English as a 

beautiful, more musical language and important as a language of 

culture, but students who started to learn English from the age of 

seven and above found it more interesting and rich.  Both groups 

were shown to have more supportive attitudes towards the general 

value of English, however, they did have a more negative attitude 

toward having course books written in English. 

 

6. Result and Discussions 

Regarding the observed negative results found in the Turkish 

students’ attitude towards the English Language in Turkey, EFL 

teachers must come up with new ideas to inspire these students to 

be more accepting towards English as a language of instruction in 

their schools.  This can be achieved by implementing appropriate 

methods and activities of teaching English effectively.  Certain 

students wish to have more fluent and accurate English speaking 

skills in order to help them to understand other cultures.   

 

This is also a good indication for EFL Teachers to use the 

communicative approach in their classrooms to encourage 

students to collaborate and discuss their experiences regarding 

language learning.  It will also improve their attitude, passion and 

enthusiasm to properly acquire their desired fluency in the 

English language.  Furthermore, Educators should meet the needs 



 

 72 

and consider the interests of their students so as to adapt to their 

different perceptions about learning second languages.   

 

Differences in gender, age of exposure to the English language, 

etc.  Additionally, motivations should be encouraged based on the 

students’ needs, or reasons for learning a language.  Following 

the pragmatic values of learning a new language can be conducive 

to formulating a genuine and special interest among students for 

a targeted language and the culture of those who speak it. 

 

7. Conclusion 

The results of this study show that although the students have a 

slightly positive attitude towards the English language, they do 

not have a positive attitude towards speaking English to one 

another.  An example of one of their greater oppositions is, “If I 

use English, it means that I am not patriotic”.  It is very strange 

that students are not tolerant of each other speaking English.  The 

role of the educator must be that of establishing an environment 

where students are encouraged to practice speaking English with 

each other.  It becomes noticeable that in different EFL contexts, 

certain students want to learn English to find a well-paying job 

and earn more money, have a higher social status and be well 

connected to the global community, but they do not accept 

practicing English with one another.  As the Internet is 

increasingly diffusing the boundaries on maps, even the smaller 

businesses in different places are selecting more bilingual 

employees.  If students want to attract attention in today’s job 

market, if they want to be significant, an International perspective 

is critical.  When students speak two languages fluently it opens 

immensely more doors to opportunities for jobs domestically and 

abroad.  Regarding their attitude towards Western cultures, the 

findings indicated that more than half of them displayed an 

interest in the culture of the English speaking world as 

represented through film.   

 

These results might be further characterized by the students’ 

desires to experience and understand the culture of the West, but 

not to fully integrate into that culture.  Analysis of the data 

collected shows the majority of students did not feel that learning 

the language was submitting to biculturalism, or an acceptance of 

the cultural practices of the English speaking world.  A significant 

amount further articulated their wish to learn about Western 

culture and broaden their horizons through familiarizing 

themselves with that culture.  Positive attitude and motivation 

share a connected role in the acquisition of a second language.  

Despite the fact that there was no direct influence found that 

attitude contributed to the learning process, it does occupy an 

important role in the development of motivation.  So, a positive 

attitude should be viewed more as a catalyst to language learning.   

 

When a student possesses an enthusiastic attitude towards 

learning a language, their motivation for learning that language 

tends to increase and simultaneously decrease when the attitude 

towards learning that language is more negative thus making the 

process of learning more demanding for them.  All EFL teachers 

should take into consideration their students’ perceptions, beliefs 

and behaviour prior to assessing their cognitive abilities.  The 

English syllabus and classroom activities should be formed upon 

effective purposes according to their students’ needs and their 

individual differences in order to strengthen, among some, and 

create, among others, a positive attitude towards English.  It is 

crucial to study and account for learners’ personalities.  Increased 

performance and proficiency will be accomplished if these 

students maintain a positive attitude and appreciation for mastery 

of a targeted language.  This is the basis for reaching the 

conclusion that proper perspective and inspiring a positive 

outlook towards language learning should be considered when 

implementing curriculums among educators. 

 

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http://www.appling.ucla.edu/jschumann/acculturation.pdf