4.

0 FINDINGS & DISCUSSIONS

In this section, the findings and discussions are established by the answers collected from our
respondents. Figures shown below represent the analysed data on the surveys by Google
Form distributed.
Firstly, L2 are distinguished based on an individual’s usage which could lead to have
passive or active role. As affirmed by Krashen (1985), there is a non-intellectual barrier
between learners and the environment that is constrained by affective factors, and he terms
this non-intellectual barrier "affective filter," which is by unconsciously but regulates the
input that learners engage and absorb.
Following the theories on attitude towards L2, we had gathered our respondents’
answers to contribute to the understanding of attitude on L2 based on the 15 questions that is
related to our research topic conducted.

3.9%

Figure 1
From a linguistic term of L2, a one’s L2 is a language that is not the speaker's native
language or mother tongue (L1) but is acquired later typically a foreign language, but it can
also be a language spoken in the speaker's home country (Hoque 2017). Hence, in Figure 1,
we gathered the L2 of the respondents’ varied though they are all Malaysians. We can
observe that the English language are the L2 of most of our respondents (74.5%), followed by
Malay and Mandarin (9.8%), Chinese which in Malaysian context are the dialects of Chinese;
Cantonese, Hokkien and Hakka (3.9%) and lastly Tamil (2%).
 From the ‘What is your L2?’ question in our questionnaire we found that the L2 of the
respondents are all the languages spoken in Malaysia. This result could be due to English
language is the second language in Malaysia as accorded to Article 152 (Nor Hasimah et al.,
2008). Hence the findings on this questions corresponds with what Hoque (2017) asserted.

Figure 2 Figure 3

Culhane (2004) stated that the “attitudes individuals held toward the relative
desirability of integrating into the lager society were found to be significant determinant”.
Also the culmination of the contextual approach in L2 motivation research can be observed in
interest in the basis of language acquisition (Dornyei, 2005)

Figure 2 presents the number of respondents who answered the questions ‘Second
language (L2) learning is important for me’ and ‘I enjoy speaking in my second language
(L2)’. Out of 51 respondents, 80.4% choose 5 as in ‘strongly agree’ and the remaining choose
4; for the former, and for the latter question 72.5%, 10 out of 51 respondents answered 4 and
the rest result to 3 which is neutral. While Figure 3 shows the result for question ‘I am excited
to learn my second language L2,’ and ‘I got praised for speaking in my second language,’;
the result for the former showed a majority of 66% (chose 5) and 20% (chose 4) of the
respondents are excited to learn about their L2 while only 7 respondents are neutral on the
question. Therefore, based on Figure 2 and Figure 3, it showed positive attitude towards L2
from the learners themselves.
 Figure 5

Figure 6 Figure 7

Reid et al. (2018) believed that learners’ attitude “diverged under negative bias”.
Hence we include questions relating to the attitudes of the respondents environment’s
response when they use L2.

Figure 5 shows the question ‘I get praised for speaking in my second language (L2)’
which most of the respondents (79.4%) do usually got praised on using L2 and the remaining
chose 3 and 2 by means they are not getting praised at. While Figure 6 and Figure 7 shows
the questions relating to the negative reactions from using L2 and the questions received
mixed responses; some of them do received negative reactions in using L2 and some of them
did not. For question ‘I feel unpatriotic for speaking in my second language (L2)’ 29 out of
51 respondents chose strongly disagree (1), in other words for them by speaking L2 it does
not affect their patriotism while 3 respondents chose strongly agree that using L2 makes them
feel unpatriotic. This analysis demonstrates the attitudes other people and inner self towards
L2.
 Figure 8

The increased of L2 input at home which according to previous studies, may not assist
in L2 acquisition. Thus we include question ‘I use my second language (L2) at home’ to
observe how many of the respondents practice L2 with their family. From Figure 8 we can
really see that the responses varies as 16 from 51 respondents frequently used at home and in
contrast 6 out 51 respondents do not use L2 at home at all and the other respondents chose the
2, 3 and 4 we could see almost 30% of the respondents chose 3 as their answer which by
means they do not really practice L2 at home. The result could be relate back to Figure 5,
while they are good at using L2 does not mean it is fully practiced with family members too
which affirmed to the previous studies.

Figure 9 Figure 10

Figure 12

Figure 11

Bartley (1970) supported that “students who have positive attitudes towards the
target language tend to have more perseverance towards the language”. Based on Figure
9, 10, 11 and 12 majority of the 51 respondents use and practice their L2 in their daily
routines. Only a number of them do not really apply L2 in their daily life; from what
we can observe from question ‘I am willing to use my second language (L2) for future
jobs,’ in Figure 11 and question ‘I am willing to use my second language (L2) to go
abroad’ in Figure 12, the responses are favourable towards strongly agree which is 3 to
5 though there is 1 out of 51 respondents answered 2 in the question in Figure 12, by
meaning the respondent does not really want to use his or her L2 abroad.

All in all from our findings, eventhough some of the respondents did get
negative reactions from using L2 but because they themselves have positive attitude
towards the language, they would still use it regardless. Therefore, this affirmed to
what Bartley said.
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Culhane, S. F. (2004). An Intercultural Interaction Model: Acculturation Attitudes in Second

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