Home> Archive> 2017> Volume 7 Number 4 (April. 2017)
IJSSH 2017 Vol.7(4): 233-238 ISSN: 2010-3646
doi: 10.18178/ijssh.2017.V7.826

Examining the Impact of Gender and Students’ Parents on Attitudes towards English: The Case of Saudi Arab Students and Their Parents in Al-Kamel College of Science and Arts

Jamel Ben Youssef Mtawaa

Abstract—Measuring attitudes towards English language has been proven decisive for improving the teaching of the language and its appealing to learners. Therefore, this study aims to examine male and female Saudi students’ attitudes towards English and the attitudes and perceptions of parents on the importance of English. Two instruments were used to accomplish the research objectives: 1) Students’ questionnaire; and 2) Parents interview. The findings of the study indicate that both students and parents have positive attitudes towards English. Means and standard deviations show that male students have more positive attitudes towards English than their female counterparts. The findings also reveal that parents perceive English positively as the international language of science, technology and business. However, this perception was not found in line with their children’ attitudes towards English as a foreign language (EFL). The major conclusion of this study is that parents’ involvement in their children education and the adoption of new approaches in EFL teaching and learning such as, the English for specific purpose (ESP) approach might be significant to raise students' awareness of the world language and improve students’ proficiency level in English.

Index Terms—Attitudes, gender, parents .

Jamel Ben Youssef Mtawaa is with Faculty of Computing and Information Technology, University of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; and University of Sunderland, London, United Kingdom (e-amil: mtawajamel@gmail.com).

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Cite: Jamel Ben Youssef Mtawaa, "Examining the Impact of Gender and Students’ Parents on Attitudes towards English: The Case of Saudi Arab Students and Their Parents in Al-Kamel College of Science and Arts," International Journal of Social Science and Humanity vol. 7, no. 4, pp. 233-238, 2017.

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