The Attitude and Motivation of Islamic Studies Students towards Learning the English Learning

Abstract

The aim of this study is to shed lights on The Attitudes and Motivation in English Language Learning among the Islamic studies students in National University of Malaysia (UKM). Majority of the Malaysian students still have low proficiency level in English language consider that English language has been applied for more than ten years long in Malaysia education system. Plus, English is placed as the second language in Malaysia (Gill, 2002) and in line with the education policy; English is taught as a second language whereas in UKM, the Islamic studies students claimed that Arabic is their second language and English is a foreign language to them. The theory that govern this research is Behaviorist view by Skinner (1990), who noted that behaviorism is the way to measure attitudes and level of motivation. Ironically, despite having English as a foreign language to the students of Islamic studies, from the findings, it is presumed that generally the Islamic studies students have positive attitudes in English language learning, and they also intrinsically motivated towards English language learning.