Motivation and Attitude for the Acquisition of Language in Primary School Students

Abstract

[eng] The terms motivation and attitude have been studied for many years in relation to second language acquisition and their influence on language learning. It is true that for a language to be acquired both motivation and attitude have to be positive, for this reason, the learning environment plays a key role in the process. The aim of this paper is to examine the perception that primary school students in Ireland have when learning both Irish and English. In order to complete this objective a study was carried out in Timoleague NS to 5th and 6th class students. A questionnaire on motivation and attitude was the instrument of the study. After analysing the results, the conclusions obtained proved that regarding Irish learning, there is still room for improvement and, although students showed positive attitudes towards the language, the lack of motivation is leading to detrimental effects on their learning.