Mono and Bilingual Iranian University Students’ Attitude, Motivation and Test Anxiety towards Learning English Language

Abstract

Purpose: In today’s world learning a second language, especially English, has become vital for success, both academically and professionally. Yet, learners’ characteristics like affective features and linguistic background may impact either the ultimate level of achievement.  Methodology: This study was carried out to determine whether there is a difference in test anxiety, attitude, integrative and instrumental motivation of the monolingual and bilingual university students in English.  To this end, 227 questionnaires obtained from freshman university students majoring in various fields from 125 bilingual students at the University of Payame Noor and Islamic Azad University of Meshkin Shahr and 125 monolingual students at the Payame Noor University of Qazvin in Iran.  Three Independent t-tests were run to compare these two groups’ attitude, instrumental and integrative motivations and test anxiety. Findings: The findings revealed that the bilingual students had a significantly more positive attitude and showed a significantly higher integrative motivation towards learning English. However, no significant difference was observed among the two groups regarding their instrumental motivation and test anxiety.  Discussion: Pedagogical implications of the study will be discussed. The bilingual students possess a higher level of motivation towards learning English language than do the monolingual students.