Arab ESL Secondary School Students’ Attitude Toward English Spelling and Writing

Abstract

Learners’ attitude is considered a key motivational component and an important nonlinguistic factor that influences second-language learning. The primary aim of the current study is to explore Arab secondary school students’ attitudes toward English spelling and writing. To collect the data, a 52-item attitude questionnaire was administered to 70 Arab students studying English as a second language (ESL) in the Saudi School in Malaysia. The questionnaire comprises two scales: (a) attitudes toward English spelling and (b) attitudes toward writing in English that includes four writing purposes: (a) School Use, (b) Social Use, (c) Official Use, and (d) Creativity. The findings of the study revealed that the Arab ESL secondary school students have a high positive attitude toward English spelling and writing. The findings also indicated that the students’ attitude toward the Social Use of English is the highest, whereas their Creativity in writing is the least mean among the four purposes. In addition, the study revealed that there is a significant positive relationship between the students’ attitude toward spelling and writing. The findings suggest that English literature, that is, stories and literary activities, should be integrated in the curriculum to develop the students’ creativity in ESL writing. The study also recommends that other studies may investigate Arab students’ spelling error analysis as well as address other important aspects of writing such as brainstorming, drafting, revising, and editing.