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Attitudes and anxieties of business and education students towards English: some data from the Basque Country / Alaitz Santos, Jasone Cenoz, Durk Gorter. // Language, Culture and Curriculum Volume 31, 2018 - Issue 1
2018
p. 94-110

The aim of this article is to focus on university students’ attitudes towards English and their anxieties concerning the use of English in the Basque Country, a multilingual context where exposure to English is limited but internationalisation is an important aim. Participants were 360 undergraduate university students of business (N = 180) and education (N = 180) at the University of the Basque Country. The results of the questionnaires indicate that business students had a more positive attitude(s) towards English than education students. The findings also indicate that female business students have a relatively positive attitude in comparison to male business students but also a higher level of anxiety. The results are discussed as related to the situation of English-medium instruction in Southern European bilingual areas and previous studies on gender, attitudes and anxiety.

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Choice of language in education: do we know what South Africans want? / Steven Lawrence Gordon, Jaqueline Harvey // Language and education Vol. 33-No 3/2019
2019
p. 226-243

A key factor in providing quality education is the main language of instruction (M-LoI). This creates a challenging situation for education policymakers in post-colonial multilingual countries such as South Africa. Language-in-education policies must valorise indigenous languages and redress their exclusion in past education systems while ensuring access to any economic opportunities afforded by colonial languages. Public attitudes have a bearing on individuals’ interactions with language policy as well as the education system as a whole. This article examines attitudes towards the M-LoI in education. Data from the South African Social Attitudes Survey (SASAS) for the period 2003–2016 were used. We hypothesised that preferences for M-LoI would be associated with support for other forms of societal racial transformation in South Africa. However, a majority of the general population favoured English as the M-LoI in education and M-LoI preferences were not related to the degree of support for other forms of racial transformation. The limitations of the SASAS dataset and current method are then described and possibilities for new research presented. The article concludes by discussing how post-colonial education policies and implementation can nurture multilingualism and promote the valorising of indigenous languages.

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EL perfil del alumnado y profesorado en un grupo de institutos con resultados destacables en inglés. / Isabel Pahissa, Roger Gilabert, Neus Serra,... // Lenguaje y textos. 2014, Vol. 39.
2014
tr. 91-99.

Based on results from the English test for university entrance exams (PAU), six state secondary schools in Catalonia with the best results were selected to analyse the features of the students and teachers at these schools. The instruments used were a student questionnaire (n=312) and a teacher questionnaire (n=12), and the findings show that what makes these schools more effective is mainly the students good academic orientation as well as their positive attitude towards English. In addition, the profile of teachers with a good command of the foreign language, good communication skills and a sense of vocation towards the profession were also found to be contributing factors.