Enest Juliano Chaia Tema

Socio-Psychological Factors in EFL Learning: An Exploratory Study on Pre-

University Mozambican Students

Degree of English

Second year distant learning

Púnguè University

Tete

2023

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 Enest Juliano Chaia Tema

Socio-Psychological Factors in EFL Learning: An Exploratory Study on Pre-

University Mozambican Students

Degree of English

Second year distant learning

Field work to be submitted at Púnguè University, faculty

of education sciences, as a requirement for the evaluation,
for Didactics General, subject, English degree course.

Lecturer:

Dr. José Fato Sabonete

Púnguè University

Tete

2023

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Índex
Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 3
Development ......................................................................................................................... 4
Definition.............................................................................................................................. 4
1. Motivation ........................................................................................................................ 4
1.1Motivational theories and variables .................................................................................. 5
1.2 Basic types of motivation ................................................................................................ 5
2 Attitudes ............................................................................................................................ 6
3 Stereotyping ....................................................................................................................... 7
4 Pedagogical factor .............................................................................................................. 8
Teacher’s Skills and Qualifications ....................................................................................... 8
Poverty (economical factor ) ................................................................................................. 9
Over fullness class .............................................................................................................. 10
Conclusion .......................................................................................................................... 11
References .......................................................................................................................... 12

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Introduction
The topic being dealt with is : Socio-Psychological Factors in EFL Learning: An
Exploratory Study on Pre-University Mozambican Students. The major obstacle in a
student’s growing personality consists of the mental and social hindrances that crop up
in learning English in Mozambican schools . English has been regarded as the common
means of international communication for various purposes. Unquestionably, English
has turned into a world language as opposed to the language of just the English
speaking nations on the grounds that it is spoken more as the other tongue than the
mother tongue. Mozambique has been directly and indirectly affected by English on
every professional domain to name only one :English.

The main objective of this research is to mention the socio-psychological factors in

schools of Mozambique when it comes to learning English.

The methodology used to garner up this scientific knowledge is bibliographical

reference as a way of substantiation of the information therein.

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Development

Definition
Social factors include general factors at the level of human society concerned with
social structure and social processes that impinge on the individual. Psychological
factors include individual-level processes and meanings that influence mental states.

Socio-psychological factors are important role in the process of learning a second or

foreign language. English can be difficult when taught in a foreign language setting,
where authentic language input may not be readily available outside the classroom.

The factors affecting English learning for Grade 11 and 12 socially and mentally in
Mozambique are:

1. Motivation
In Mozambique mostly for Grade 11 and 12, there’s lack of motivation to kindle the
interest in students having seen that motivation is the basis of good knowledge
acquirement and participation in class.

According to Brown (1980), “Motivation is an inner drive impulse, emotion or desire

that moves one to a particular action; motivation is a task-oriented.”

Motivation represents one of the most appealing, yet complex variables used to explain
individual differences in language learning” (MacIntyre et al. 2001: 462).

Motivation has been broadly recognised by scholars, researchers, and teachers as one of
the major variables that determine the level and success of second language learning. As
emphasised by Dornyei (2001:116), “teacher skills in motivating learners should be
seen as central to teaching effectiveness” Motivated learners are enthusiastic, eager to
work hard, concentrate on the tasks given, do not require constant encouragement,
willingly confront challenges, and could even motivate others, facilitating collaborative
learning. The motivation of learners greatly affects their willingness to take part in the
process of learning.

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1.1Motivational theories and variables
Motivational theories and variables that influence motivation in language learning
according to Al-Bustan& Al-Bustan, 2009:454 :

 Attitudes (i.e. sentiments towards the target language).

 Beliefs about self (i.e. expectations about one’s attitudes to succeed, self-
efficiency, and anxiety).
 Goals (perceived clarity and relevance of learning goals as reasons for learning).
 Involvement (i.e. extent to which the learner actively and consciously
participates in the learning process).
 Environmental support (i.e. extent of teacher and peer support).
 Personnel attributes (i.e. aptitude, and language learning experience).

Many communities do not speak English in Mozambique. English is only a target

language at school not at home. There is no mutual collaboration between school and
community.

1.2 Basic types of motivation

Two basic types of motivation are instrumental and integrative motivation.

 Instrumental motivation refers to motivation that requires learning a language as

a means for attaining instrumental goals, furthering a career, reading technical
materials, translation.
 Integrative motivation is found in students who admire and want to identify with
the people whose language they are studying. It is employed when a learner
wishes to integrate himself within the culture of the second Language group, to
identify himself with and become a part of that society.

Provided there is a dream or a yearning to identify themselves with the native speakers,
there would have been too much competitivityin English learning as a motivational
factor.

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2 Attitudes
Language attitudes are evaluative reactions to different language varieties. They reflect,
at least in part, two sequential cognitive processes: social categorization and
stereotyping. First, listeners use linguistic cues (e.g., accent) to infer speakers’ social
group membership(s). Second, based on that categorization, they attribute to speakers
stereotypic traits associated with those inferred group membership(s). Language
attitudes are organized along two evaluative dimensions: status (e.g., intelligent,
educated) and solidarity (e.g., friendly, pleasant). Standard varieties are those that
adhere to codified norms defining correct usage in terms of grammar, pronunciation,
and vocabulary, whereas nonstandard varieties are those that depart from such norms in
some manner (e.g., pronunciation). Standard and nonstandard varieties elicit different
evaluative reactions along the status and solidarity dimensions. Status attributions are
based primarily on perceptions of socioeconomic status. Because standard varieties tend
to be associated with dominant socioeconomic groups within a given society, standard
speakers are typically attributed more status than nonstandard speakers. Solidarity
attributions tend to be based on in-group loyalty. Language is an important symbol of
social identity, and people tend to attribute more solidarity to members of their own
linguistic community, especially when that community is characterized by high or
increasing vitality (i.e., status, demographics, institutional support). Language attitudes
can be socialized through various agents, including educators, peers, family, and the
media.

Attitudes, like all aspects of the development of cognition, affect in human beings ,
develop early in childhood and are the result of parents ‘ peers attitudes, contact with
people who are different in any number of ways, and interacting affective factors in the
human experience. These attitudes form a part of one’s perception of self, of others and
of the culture in which one is living. By so saying, lack of attitudes towards English
language in pre-university schools of Mozambique is due to lack of motivation towards
the language in school and outside the school. If English is considered the master
language in ranking the social status of the students, English would have been held at its
supremacy.

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3 Stereotyping
Stereotyping about social groups shape children’s beliefs about what is expected for
their group members. These beliefs can influence children’s developing beliefs about
themselves (self-perceptions) and is a factor which can help them identify itself with
others. If they look at English language as their identity, they will work hard to dovetail
with the native speakers. However, many language teachers particularly in English has a
Foreign Language context ignore the fact that effective communication In a foreign
language is related to raising learners’ awareness about cultural stereotypes (Cheng,
2012; Byram, 1997). As a result, they exclude this intercultural component from their
teaching. This might be due to teachers’ lack of knowledge about how to integrate
cultural stereotypes issues into English teaching. Therefore, foreign language teachers
have to be equipped with the skills that go beyond the knowledge of the subject they
teach regarding target language cultural stereotypes before incorporating it into their
teaching. Particularly, teachers should be able to investigate stereotypes for
their values in raising foreign language learners’ cross-cultural awareness, and
understand how to design activities to incorporate stereotypes issues into their teaching.
With regards to its incorporation to English learning , it is important to note that
stereotypes should not be used only to promote discussion among learners in the
classrooms about the difference between one’s own with other cultures. For the reason
that making comparison between a target language culture with learners’ culture
may lead to promoting stereotypes instead of learning. Rather, the main goals of
incorporating cultural components (in this case is cultural stereotypes) into English are
to assist learners to recognize their own complex culture, to promote cultural curiosity,
and to provide them with opportunities to cope with cultural differences related to
the stereotypes(Abrams, 2002; Byram, 1997; Jedynak, 2011). Specifically, teachers are
not supposed to teach learners other cultures, but to offer strategies that can
help learners to improve . One strategy is to raise learners’ awareness of how group
cultural stereotypes influence their judgments and behaviors. As a result, they may have
a better understanding of other cultures and typical stereotypes around them and may be
able to hold immediate judgments caused by the stereotypes. Another strategy is to
improve their language skills particularly in exchanging information about their own
cultures and expressing preferences in an appropriate way. Thus, integrating cultural
components (i.e. Stereotypes) into English learning may play an important role
to develop learners’ intercultural communicative competence.

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As an exemplar: black students who are told that white students tend to perform better
on given math tasks (thereby activating the stereotype that black students are weaker in
English than white students) underperform on those tasks. It’s an undervaluing of one’s
capacity and potential illusioned by false justification. It’s using stereotypes to
negativity. This personality toward English learning is a contributive factor to lack of
English mastering since they are defeated mentally that they can’t master it. They live
the conquest to others and belittle themselves mentally.

4 Pedagogical factor

Teacher’s Skills and Qualifications

While many things can be done to create a context for good teaching, teachers
themselves are the ones who ultimately determine the success of a program. Good
teachers can often compensate the deficiencies in the curriculum or the resources they
use in their teaching. These should have the following components;

a) Practical knowledge: the teacher’s repertoire of classroom techniques and

strategies;

b) Content knowledge: the teacher’s competence of grammar, phonology, second

language acquisition, teaching theories;

c) Contextual Knowledge: familiarity with the school context, norms, cultural and
other relevant information;

d) Pedagogical knowledge: ability to restructure content knowledge for teaching

purposes and to plan, adapt, improvise.

e) Personal knowledge: the teacher’s personal beliefs and principles, and her/his
individual approach to teaching;

f) Reflexive knowledge: the teacher’s capacity to reflect on and access his/her own
practice when describing teacher’s skill it is possible to compare teachers according to
whether they are novice or experienced. For example, basing on (UNESCO: 2000:85)
the UCLES Certificate in Language Teaching to Adults is a widely thought initial
qualification for language teachers focuses on 6 areas of basic teaching skills:

1) Language awareness;

2) The learner, the teacher and the teaching/learning context;

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3) Planning for effective teaching of adult learners of English;

4) Resources and materials for teaching;

5) Classroom management and teaching skills;

6) Professional development

It is suggested that, compared to experienced teachers, non native teachers tend to work
from the textbook rather than in terms of pupils achievement levels; they lack routines
to keep pupils a task, they are less able to select which information is more important
when planning a lesson, and they lack knowledge of what to expect of pupils, with
challenging to set and what difficult to anticipate. (UNESCO: 2000:86)

Opportunities to develop these skills and try obtaining more teaching can be provided in
different ways, including observation of more experienced teachers, practice teaching
under the mentor’s supervision, taking specified courses ( seminar), watching training
videos. Many teachers who teach English aren’t well versed and have to undergo some
training to be better than their students since some are worse than their students.

Poverty (economical factor )

Basing on MACLEAN (1966:54) thoughts, physically and psychosocially healthy
children learn well. Healthy development in early childhood, especially during the first
three years of life, plays an important role in providing the basis for a healthy life and a
successful formal school experience. Adequate nutrition is critical for normal brain
development in the early years, and early detection and intervention for disabilities can
give children the best chances for healthy development. Prevention of infection, disease
and injury prior to school enrolment are also critical to the early development of a
quality learner. Poverty is detrimental to motivation in learning and engenders dull
uninterested pupils.

This includes lack of textbooks, lack of libraries to help students do better and lack of
technological motivation in conducting lessons through videos, debates and to promote
speaking and reading skills.

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Over fullness class
Too many students in the class is a hell to the teacher. He can’t be able to monitor every
students performance. Some are left to their luck and aren’t given good attention. Too
many students means to many unmonitored.

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Conclusion
In general, socio-psychological factors show that there is a strong relationship between
second/foreign language learning and factors like motivation, attitude, and stereotyping
and so on . These factors are recognized as one of the major variables that determine the
level and success of foreign/second language learning. As for definition it has been
made clear that social factors include general factors at the level of human society
concerned with social structure and social processes that impinge on the individual.
Psychological factors include individual-level processes and meanings that influence
mental states.

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References
 Abrams, Z.I. (2002). Surfing to cross-cultural awareness: Using internet-
mediatedprojects to explore cultural stereotypes
 Mohit Kumar, Problematics of Teaching and Learning Communication Skills in
Professional Colleges, International Journal of Advance Research in Science and
Engineering, Vol. 4, Issue 1, March, 2015, 723-728.

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