GASPRO International Journal of Eminent Scholars

ABSTRACT

English and French are two important international languages taught as mandatory courses at

Wisconsin International University. Therefore, examining attitudes of students to these two

languages was appropriate for reasons of improving its teaching and likeability by students.

Four hypotheses were tested and results indicate that gender had a significant effect on students’

attitudes to the study of English; where females showed a better attitude to the two languages

than their male counterparts. However, gender had no significant effect on students’ attitudes to

the study of French, thus no significant difference exists between males and females in their

attitudes to French. It was also found that age had no significant effect on students’ attitudes to

the study of both English and French. Further it was revealed that level of students had no

significant effect on students’ attitudes to the study of English and French. Likewise, language

background had no effect on students’ attitude to the study of English; however, the results

showed that language block had a significant effect on students’ attitude to the study of French.

Francophone students indicated a much positive attitude to the study of French than their

Anglophone counterparts. The results of this study are a firm indication that interventions should

be made in encouraging male students to appreciate and develop the right attitude to the study of

the two languages. Special attention should be given to the Anglophone students in the French

lectures with the view of improving likeability and achieving a much positive attitude to the

language.

KEYWORDS: Students’ Attitudes, English, French, Gender, Age, Level, Language

background