The Effect of Attitudes and Emotions on the Desire to Use Arabic in Communication: Case Study of the Learners of Arabic as a Second Language at the Malysian University of Islamic Sciences

Abstract

The main purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of attitudes and emotions on the desire to use Arabic in communication in a second language learning context, in this case learners of Arabic as a second language at the Malaysian University of Islamic Sciences. A number of 225 students from the Islamic Science University of Malaysiavoluntarily participated in the study. The students represented four faculties of the University. A model of "willingness" to communicate in the second language was tested using Structural Equation Modeling and was found to accurately fit the data. The study found that language competence was antecedent of language communication confidence, while language confidence significantly and statistically correlated with willingness to communicate and consequently with language proficiency. The study also showed that male learners are more liable to language anxiety which was found to be negatively correlated with language competence and consequently lack of ability to use the target language. The study recommends that teachers provide learners of Arabic as a second language with greater opportunities to use the language inside and outside the classroom and to make their teaching more task-orientedinstead of lecture-oriented.