Abstract:

The increasing use of English as the main language across academia and professional fields has called for changes within the general English course designs. As a result, universities have started designing and offering tailor-made English courses for professional and academic purposes to better equip their students with both linguistic and pragmatic skills and competencies that would ensure them better competitiveness in the global marked. However, the success of students’ acquiring these skills is highly correlated to their motivation. Thus, research in the field of language-learning has tried to unfold the effects of affective variables on learning English as a foreign language (EFL), as both motivation and positive attitudes have been recognized as two of the most important determinants of second language (L2) achievement and students’ overall success. Although both terms represent distinct factors that play an important role in L2 learning, there is no doubt that they are highly interrelated, as there cannot be favorable attitudes without having a positive energy to sustain them, as well as there cannot be positive behavior without a proper mindset. The aim of this research was to analyze the relationship between affective variables and their effect on students’ language proficiency. The study sample consisted of 354 (266 male, 88 female) second- to sixth-semester students aged 18-20 (X ̅ = 19.04 ± 3.55) from the School of Sport Organization (FOD) of the Autonomous University of Nuevo Leon (UANL), who were enrolled in English courses offered by FOD. To maintain representative proportions of students based on gender and semester sampling technique based on stratification and proportional affixation were applied. S-AMTB and English language proficiency test were employed to collect the data. Our findings showed that students’ achievement was significantly associated with their motivational intensity, their attitude towards learning English and their desire to learn it, as well as with their opinion of English native speakers and their perception of the quality of the English course. Secondly, instrumental orientation, motivational intensity, attitude towards learning English, and students’ perception of the quality of the English course were found to be predictors of achievement. Interestingly, teachers’ abilities did not enter the model, putting the emphasis on the need for properly planning course curricula and creating attractive activities over teachers’ teaching ability, or their emotional connection with students. Past research has confirmed that strategies such as cooperative learning and tailored material are two of the key factors to ensure success in ESP courses. In line with our results, creating a culturally enriching in-class environment based on student-centered strategies could have a positive impact on students’ proficiency more than teachers’ teaching abilities and in-class attitude.

Keywords:

Affective variables, motivation, attitudes, English proficiency socio-educational model.