Learners’ Attitudes, Perceptions and Efforts towards English at Mosque Course

Abstract

This paper examines the attitudes and perceptions of learners towards English language learning as a second language course in a short course named ‘English at Mosque’. In Malaysia, English language short courses are often offered as remedial class for specific target groups. Nevertheless, most of the students are still unable to communicate well in the language upon completion of the course. This quantitative research employs questionnaire and purposive sampling technique as the methods of collecting data. The sampling involves 20 students near the Muhammadi Mosque area in Kota Bharu, Kelantan. This paper discusses learners’ attitudes and also highlights their perceptions towards English language learning environment and their efforts to enhance the mastery of English during the learning period. The findings revealed that majority of the respondents seemed to show positive attitudes towards English, such as their willingness to promote the course to their friends and determination to continue to learn the language after the course. However, majority of the students were found to have feelings of anxieties while learning English. Thus, the anxiousness arose during the language class has no apparent effect on their language learning as they claimed. As a whole, this research suggests that language instructors should seek ways to motivate the students to improve their speaking skills especially through group learning strategies.