This meta-analysis investigates the relationship of second language achievement to five attitude/motivation variables from Gardner's socioeducational model: integrativeness, attitudes toward the learning situation, motivation, integrative orientation, and instrumental orientation. These relationships were examined in studies conducted by Gardner and associates using the Attitude/Motivation Test Battery and various measures of second language achievement including self-ratings, objective tests, and grades. In total, the meta-analysis examined 75 independent samples involving 10,489 individuals. Two additional variables, availability of the language in the community and age level of the students, were examined to assess their moderating effects on the relationships. The results clearly demonstrate that the correlations between achievement and motivation are Preparation of this article was facilitated by a doctoral fellowship (752-uniformly higher than those between achievement and integrativeness, attitudes toward the learning situation, integrative orientation, or instrumental orientation, and that the best estimates of the population correlations are greater than 0. Neither availability nor age had clear moderating effects.One avenue of research on the role of motivation in second language acquisition is that conducted by R. C. Gardner and associates. This research is driven by Gardner's (1985aGardner's ( , 2000 socioeducational model of second language acquisition and generally makes use of the Attitude/Motivation Test Battery (AMTB) to measure the major components of the model. In the socioeducational model, a distinction is made between two classes of attitudes, integrativeness and attitudes toward the learning situation, and a third component, motivation. The model proposes that integrativeness and attitudes toward the learning situation are two correlated variables that support the individual's motivation to learn a second language, but that motivation is responsible for achievement in the second language. This conceptualization implies that integrativeness and attitudes toward the learning situation are related to achievement in the second language, but that their effect is indirect, acting through motivation.There are a number of hypotheses raised in the literature about the relations of attitudes, motivation, and orientations to achievement in the second language (see, for
Much research in second language acquisition (SLA) centres on the relationships among individual difference measures such as language attitudes, motivation, anxiety, self-confidence, language aptitude, learning strategies, field independence, and measures of achievement in the language. Numerous studies have supported the proposed influences of these individual difference variables on achievement, and a number of models have been developed to explain the relationships among subsets of these variables. However, there is a lack of research examining the relationships among all these variables simultaneously. In the present study, we investigate a large number of individual difference measures to determine their underlying dimensions, to contrast their predictive validities, and to evaluate their contributions in a causal model of SLA. Our study was based on a sample of 102 university students enrolled in introductory French. The results indicated substantial links among the affective measures and achievement. Support was found for these connections in the proposed causal model. MANY VARIABLES HAVE BEEN SUGGESTEDas possible characteristics of individuals that will influence how successful different individuals will be at learning another language. Among them, the most frequently investigated appear to be language anxiety, language aptitude, attitudes and motivation, field dependence/independence, learning strategies, and self-confidence, and each of these classes of variables has been shown to relate to measures of achievement in a second language (L2). Although the relationships between some of these variables have been investigated, no study has considered them together in the same sample of L2 learners. The purpose of the present study is to do just that.
The initial impetus for this investigation was a discussion between the two authors about comments and criticisms in the literature concerning the role of attitudes and motivation in second language learning. It was noted that some researchers seemed to feel that such variables were important, while others felt that they were not, and some even felt that the relationships reported in the literature were too inconsistent to draw any firm conclusions. The senior author suggested that someone should do a meta-analysis to see exactly what the empirical data revealed and challenged the junior author to do so. In the following weeks, the enormity of the task became apparent. There were many articles that were identified with many different conceptualizations and measurement strategies, many different cultural settings, many Preparation of this article was facilitated by a doctoral fellowship (752-
The research examines attitudes toward immigrants and immigration policy based on a random sample of 2,020 New Zealand households. The analyses revealed that New Zealanders have positive attitudes toward immigrants and endorse multiculturalism to a greater extent than Australians and EU citizens. In addition, structural equation modeling produced an excellent fit of the data to a social psychological model commencing with multicultural ideology and intercultural contact as exogenous variables, leading, in turn, to diminished perceptions of threat, more positive attitudes toward immigrants, and, finally, support for New Zealand's policies on the number and sources of migrants.
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