Arab World English Journal (AWEJ) Volume 12. Number4 December 2021 Pp. 142-152
DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.24093/awej/vol12no4.10
EFL Learners’ Language-Specific Time Attitudes
Majid N. Al-Amri
Department of Curriculum and Instruction
College of Education,Taibah University, Madinah, Saudi Arabia
Email: majid_yic@yahoo.com
Received: 8/11/2021 Accepted: 10/26/2021 Published:12/15/2021
Abstract:
The present study investigated the time attitudes (TAs) of EFL learners and their willingness and preference to share their TAs with peers and EFL instructors. Limited research has explored willingness and preference to share their TAs —a distinct and meaningful part of their temporal perspective that encompasses their positive and negative feelings about the past, present, and future experiences of English language learning. Participants were 229 students of technical and administrative diploma programmes at a Saudi industrial college in the western region of the country. Data were collected through questionnaires. Findings indicated that (1) students’ responses differed mostly on feelings about the past; (2) participants are more willing to share their feelings with peers than with instructors; (3) students are more willing to share with both peers and instructors their combined past, present, and future experiences; (4) students prefer to share their feelings about their present experiences with peers and instructors compared to their past or future experiences; (5) students prefer to share with peers both negative and positive feelings about their past, present, and future experiences; and (6) students prefer to share only negative feelings with instructors.
Keywords: English as a Foreign Language, foreign language education temporal perspective, language learning motivation, language-specific time attitudes
Cite as: Al-Amri, M. N. (2021). EFL Learners’ Language-Specific Time Attitudes. Arab World English Journal, 12 (4) 142-152.
DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.24093/awej/vol12no4.10
Begic, I., & Mercer, S. (2017). Looking back, looking forward, living in the moment: Understanding the individual temporal perspectives of secondary school EFL learners. Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching, 11(3), 267–281. doi:10.1080/17501229.2017.1317261
Berk, L. E. (2001). Infants, children, and adolescents. Bosten: Allyn and Bacon.
Bowles, T. (1999). Focusing on time orientation to explain adolescent self-concept and academic achievement: Part II: Testing a model. Journal of Applied Health Behaviour, 1(2), 1–8.
Dörnyei, Z. (2005). The psychology of the language learner: Individual differences in second language acquisition. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Dörnyei, Z., Muir, C., & Ibrahim, Z. (2014). Directed motivational Current: Energising language learning through creating intense motivational pathways. In D. Lasagabaster, A. Doiz, & J. M. Sierra (Eds.), Motivation and foreign language learning: From theory to practice (pp. 9–29). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Feryok, A., & Mercer, S. (2017). Introduction to the special issue on time. Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching, 11(3), 203–206. doi:10.1080/17501229.2017.1317255
Frisby, B. N., & Martin, M. M. (2010). Instructor–student and student–student rapport in the classroom. Communication Education, 59(2), 146–64. doi: 10.1080/03634520903564362
Hagenauer, G., & Volet, S. E. (2014). Teacher–student relationship at university: an important yet under-researched field. Oxford Review of Education, 40(3), 370–388. doi: 10.1080/03054985.2014.921613
Lens, W., Paixão, M. P., Herrera, D., & Grobler, A. (2012). Future temporal perspective as a motivational variable: Content and extension of future goals affect the quantity and quality of motivation. Japanese Psychological Research, 54(3), 321–333. doi: 10.1111/j.1468-5884.2012. 00520.x
Lewin, K. (1942). Temporal perspective and morale. In G. Watson (Ed.), Civilian morale (pp. 103–124). Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin.
López, M. G. M., & Aguilar, A. P. (2013). Emotions as learning enhancers of foreign language learning motivation. Profile, 15(1), 109–124. https://revistas.unal.edu.co/index.php/profile/article/view/37872
Mello, Z. R., & Worrell, F. C. (2006). The relationship of temporal perspective to age, gender, and academic achievement among academically talented adolescents. Journal for the Education of the Gifted, 29(3), 271–289. doi:10.1177/016235320602900302
Mello, Z. R., & Worrell, F. C. (2007). The adolescent time inventory-English. Unpublished Scale. University of California, Berkeley.
Mello, Z. R., & Worrell, F. C. (2015). The past, the present, and the future: A conceptual model of temporal perspective in adolescence. In M. Stolarski, N. Fieulaine, & W. Van Beek (Eds.). Temporal perspective theory: Review, research, and application: Essays in honor of Phillip G. Zimbardo (pp. 115–129). Zug, Switzerland: Springer.
Oxford, R. (2017). ‘The craft so long to lerne’: Aspects of time in language learning.’ Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching, 11(3), 282–297. doi:10.1080/17501229.2017.1317262
Sica, L. S., Crocetti, E., Ragozini, G., Sestito, L. A., & Serafini, T. E. (2016). Future-oriented or present-focused? The role of social support and identity styles on ‘futuring’ in Italian late adolescents and emerging adults. Journal of Youth Studies, 19(2), 183–203. doi: 10.1080/13676261.2015.1059925
Waller, M., Franklin, A. E., & Parcher, D. B. (2020). Time perspective balance and team adaptation in dynamic task contexts. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 41(3), 263–275. doi:10.1002/job.2431
Zimbardo, P. G., & Boyd, J. N. (1999). Putting time into perspective: A valid, reliable individual-differences metric measurement. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 77(6), 1271–1288. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.77.6.1271