There are various factors that influence a student’s success in learning English.
Those factors may come from the internal or external condition of the learner. It may be part of individual personality or influenced by socio cultural situation around the learner.
One of those factors is Attitude. Attitude which is known as opinion, has relation with motivation. They are different in some ways; hence they are hard to be distinguished.
This chapter discusses about attitude, motivation, and achievement in language research.
2.1 Attitude
Attitude is described as self opinion and perspective towards something. Attitude influences motivation in various ways on his study. Attitude is the most common characteristic on personality of person (especially in educational section) (Bohner and
Wanke, 2002:13). Many experts have defined the meaning of attitude in language learning. They also find the significance factors that influence the change of attitude.
2.1.1 Definitions of Attitude
Attitude is well known as opinion towards something. Attitude covers a large area in learning process. The following are definitions of attitude according to some experts.
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
Gardner defined attitude as 'an evaluative action to some object, individual opinion about the object' (Chambers, 1999:27).

According to Crystal (www.sil.org), attitude is people’s feelings about their native language and other languages.

Fazio in Albarracín, Johnson, Zanna (2005:746) defines attitude as association between an object and an evaluation in memory.
2.1.2 Influences on Attitude
Although attitude is believed as basic character in learning process, attitude can be changed. The changes varied by the influencing factors below. Some of them correlated with external factors such as parents, school, and the community or internal factor such advantages.
Teacher - student relationship
Teacher – student relationship has an important role in maintaining a good atmosphere of the teaching environment; and this relationship influence the quality of learning itself (Chambers, 1999:35). Some experts suggest that teacher-student relationship is the most important variable that affects students’ attitudes towards foreign language learning.
A teacher has to create a good relation with the students in order to emerge a good environment for the learning process. To attain this situation, a teacher has a special approach to attract the students to get involved in class activity. The teacher also has various creative approaches in order to be close to the students. The approaches
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which are used in the learning process construct ‘teaching styles’ inside teacher student relationship. Teachers may guide the students with exemplify themselves to be role models.
Various approaches are used in different situation depends on learners’ types and their needs in groups (Chambers, 1999:38). Through this way, students will have a positive perception about their teacher and their activity. On the other hand, teacher has to maintain the distance between teacher and students. To make it happen, teacher still uses discipline to keep the students’ behavior.
The approaches include assessment, feedback and rewards. Oliver in Chambers
(1999:40) stated that teachers should measure students’ progress and provide feedback.
This activity makes students see their progress themselves and take pride in that.
Another effect is the students may develop their responsibility of their own learning process. While for rewards, teacher may give more attention or give encouragement to the students.
Advantages
Chambers (1999: 27) defined attitude as a set of values that a student has in foreign language learning experience and it is obviously seen that the student expecting the advantages from what he has learnt. This finding is proposed by Schiefele
(Chambers, 1999: 37). He distinguished the aim of learning in primary and secondary school. In secondary school, students tend to learn objectively, they will focus on subjects they feel more important and are suitable with their needs; while in primary school, students learn everything that is given to them. He calls this as ‘expansion’,
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where at the early stage, students are not yet aware of the relevance between the subject and the use of it.
Clark and Trafford find that students tend to find the link between their learning and the application outside. One of the interviewee in their study says:
It’s good to put into practice what you’ve learnt, you know, then you feel satisfied, I mean now we’ve learnt all this but we haven’t put it into practice because we haven’t been to France or anything.
(Chambers,
1999:37)
Socio-cultural factors
Attitude is related to socio cultural factors in language learning context (Brown,
2000: chap.7). Both teacher and learner of foreign or second language must have a deal with cultural differences. It has relation with personal perception of the learner towards the country of the target language. In other words, can be said that how a learner likes a country and its culture will affect how well he is motivated to learn the language.
Besides considering the perception towards the cultural issues of the target language, social situation were the learner lives has a role to play. This is related to environmental situation of the leaner such as economics, politics and social values.
Deeper, this issue involves social status of his parents. These factors will influence chances to learn other language. Pritchard in Chambers (1999:44-5) concluded that it needs more effort to motivate children from low socio economic group to learn foreign language.
It is difficult to children from low socio economic groups to learn foreign language and introduce, and it is hard to motivate the new language learners.
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Gardner’s socio educational model shows that socio cultural factors are important in learning new language. The various cultural beliefs influence attitude, aptitude, and motivation in language learning. This manners influence the experiments within learning process and the application in life.
OUTCOMES SOCIAL
MILIEU
INDIVIDUAL
DIFFERENCES
Intelligence
SECOND LANGUAGE
ACQUISITION CONTEXT
Formal language training
Cultural beliefs
Language aptitude
Motivation
Informal language experience
Situational anxiety
Figure 2.1 Gardner Socio Educational Model (Chambers, 1999:21)
Parental influence
Linguistic
Nonlinguistic
Since parents are important parts in children’ lives, it also can be important in their education process. Parents give a big effect to their children; parents-children are connected every time. It is different with teacher which has limited time only in classroom. It is believed that parental influence has a connection with significant determinants of attitude, personal experience (experience with society or mass media)
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and integrative motivation (to be a part of target language community). Parents are able to create a positive attitudinal atmosphere at home.
To create such atmosphere, parents may help their children by facilitating, giving support and manifesting a positive perspective in learning the target language. Parents may become the role model in the learning process for their children because human model are highly regarded, respected, admired and credible in what they say and do
(Baker & Jones, 1998:178-9).
Self-esteem
Someone, who has a positive attitude towards learning something but finds that he is not as eligible as he think, will change his positive attitude gradually. He will think that he is not able to do it then stop learning. This illustration describes self-concept about self-ability influence on attitude and it commonly happens not only on ability but also socio-economic status. In the other hand, the awareness of self-ability may lead someone to have positive attitude to learn.
Majority group members sometimes defend their egos by denigrating a minority language. Fearing that the minority language group will be given privileges or received positive discrimination, majority groups may hold negative attitude towards such minorities to enhance their own self-worth and retain privileges and status.
(Baker & Jones,
1998:178)
2.1.3 Consequences of Attitudes
On the previous, there are some factors that influence attitude such as (parents, advantages, self-esteem, community, and school factors). Next, Attitude also influences
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students’ affective, behavioral, and cognitive responses (Bohner & Wänke, 2002:5).
This following figure (Figure 2.2) is called ABC models of attitudes.
Attitude
Cognitive
Knowledge and beliefs
Affective
Feeling and emotions
Behavioural
Overt behavior
Figure 2.2 ABC models of Attitudes (Augoustinos, Walker & Donaghue, 2006:115)

Attitude affect on Affective
Affective consists of feeling, moods, sympathetic and emotions. This is believed that one’s opinion towards subject; influence his positive feeling to the subject. Someone who has positive attitude towards a subject, may increase his positive emotion to accomplish the subject

Attitudes affect on behavior
Behavior includes actions and intentions to act and get some influence from attitudes. One’s attitudes towards some object will affect his behavior towards the object. Even thought the relationship between attitudes and behavior is complex, researchers in this study continue with the question on the relationship between attitudes and behavior
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
Attitudes affect on cognitive
Cognitive contains thought and memory and memory is the essential part in learning process. Some researchers believe that attitudes affect cognitive aspect in learning process.
Balance theory, Heider in Millon et al (2003:263) certain cognitive states are associated with pleasantness where as other states are associated with unpleasantness.
According to Heider, when people like something, they will try to be close with the object. But, when they find something that is not suitable with them, they will try to avoid it.
Even thought attitudes affect those aspects, the result varied by the attitudes strength. For instance, a student who likes English very much and a student who merely likes will give different responses. It depends on the level of attitudes strength that they have toward the object.
2.1.4 Types of Attitude
There are some types of attitude according to Baker & Jones (1998:174), on the study of language. They are attitude to specific to minority or majority language, attitude to language variation, attitude to language lessons, and attitude to learning a new language.

Attitude to specific to minority or majority language
Attitude in this study focuses on favorability or unfavorability of specific language.
The study may concern on native speaker or second language speaker towards their
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minority language and the language description (language status and language planning). The difference of gender and ages may be involved in this study.

Attitude to language variation
Language variation involves dialect and speech styles. This study examine why people use specific accent to specific words in their utterance. The aim of this study is locating the different attitudes in the difference of languages and accents.

Attitude to language lessons
Commonly the study focuses on students attitudes towards language learning.
Students may be asked about their opinion towards language learning activities.
This study concerns on second or foreign language learning success.

Attitude to learning a new language
This study discovers people reason and opinion towards learning a new language. It may involve the use of first and second or foreign language in their life.
2.2 Attitudes and Motivation Differences
Attitude and motivation are related to personality factors. Both have similar definition and description. In this study, there are some distinctions that will be shown.
They are different, but they influence each other; one can not exist without another. This situation also influences other characteristics of the students.
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2.2.1 Definition of Motivation
Motivation has been defined in various ways by various experts. It is defined as the effort, desire, and willingness to learn (know) something. In this case, 'something' is related with second or foreign language.

Gardner defines motivation as a combination of effort and a desire to achieve a goal plus attitudes towards learning language (Williams & Burden, 1997:116).

Keller in Graham (1997:98) states that motivation refers to choices people make to be their goal or to be avoided and decision of the level of effort they will use to attain it.
2.2.2 Facts Related to Motivation
Gardner & Lambert (Brown, 2000:181) defined attitudes as a part of motivation.
Motivation is made of attitudes and motives. Attitude is classified into socio cultural factor that affect language acquisition (Brown, 2000:180). On the other hand, motivation is classified into personal factors. The scope of motivation is larger than attitude. It is influenced by various factors and dealt with individual values.
There are some differences between attitudes and motivation. From figure 2.2, there are some significant distinction between motivation and attitude. Gardner &
Lambert in Brown (2000:162) defines motivation as a factor of a number of various attitudes and motives. While the difference between attitude and motive is clearly seen.
Attitude tends to be disposition (character) and habit which can stay longer (even though attitude can be changed also) than motive.
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MOTIVATION
ATTITUDES MOTIVES
(disposition, habit, (immediate-stimulate; idiosyncratic, relatively) justify; determine)
Tension of purpose Situational attraction
(Spontaneous motive) (Reactive motive)
Figure 2.3 Schiefele motivation model (chambers, 1999:26)
Attitudes also tend to be idiosyncratic which means habit that is peculiar to a person or individual. It is different with disposition, because of the peculiarity. Here, peculiarity of idiosyncratic is related with the physical or the mental constitution, especially susceptibility toward drugs, food, etc. Motives in the other hand, is justifying and determining and also depending on purposes of the learner.
2.3 Achievement
In education, achievement is mostly known as academic ability. It is written as a range of degree. There are some types of achievement that are cognitive, affective, and psychomotoric. (www.smccd.net) Cognitive is related with knowledge, comprehension and student’ development of intellectual skill; affective includes manner, emotions, values, appreciation, and behavior; and Psychomotoric consists of physical movement, coordination, and practice. A student who gets high score will be placed on high range of achievement. Because achievement includes various aspects, intellectual and non-
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intellectual, there are various instruments (tests and assessments) to measure the score.
Each instrument is used to measure specific achievement, depending on its need.
2.3.1 Definition of Achievement
Achievement is accomplishment and attainment with effort through task, practice, test, and perseverance. The accomplishment level is evaluated by the teacher through tests or assessments (Mandel & Marcus, 1988:1-2). It is also depends on judgment, opinion and standard of the achiever.
Construct representative describes achievement as a competence in intellectual and non-intellectual variables (this study focuses on the first form). Intellectual variable includes memory capacity and cognitive ability. The cognitive analysis of achievement means to get into the experimental study of memory storage and retrieval. Nonintellectual includes experimental experiment. In experimental place, achievement referred to as acquisition, learning, or knowledge representation, sometimes depending on theoretical bias. (Algarabel & Dasi, 2001: 3-4)
2.3.2 Theory of Achievement Motivation
Theory of achievement refers to a person’s efforts to master a task, achieve excellence, overcome obstacles, perform better than others, and take pride in exercising talent. These characteristics show that achievement is an extrinsic motive for someone to learn something.
Theory of achievement orientation includes the need achievement theory, the attribution theory, the achievement goal theory, and the competence motivation theory
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(Weinberg & Gould, 2007:74). These theories are related to ego enhancement (the need of acknowledgement from others, and to be accepted) (Brown, 2000:161). As a student wants to appear good in front of his friends, he will do something better than others by getting some achievement.
The need achievement theory is mostly known as Atkinson theory. According to
Atkinson, this theory is made of five elements; those are personality factors (to attain success or avoid failure), situational factors (he difficulty of the task), resultant tendencies, (individual’s achievement motive level) emotional reaction (how much pride and shame someone has) and achievement related behavior (how those four elements work) (Weinberg & Gould, 2007:61-2).
The attribution theory discuss about the relationship between the success and failure. This theory was introduced by Fritz Heider. People with high achievement motivation will have a desire to do better than they did. This refers to the cause that makes them perform better. Commonly the causes are success and failure that they get in achieving their goal (Williams & Burden, 1997:104). In this theory, internal attributions dominate the process. Internal attributions include ability and effort. For instance, someone has failed in accomplishing his task but thinks that he did less effort and used a wrong strategy; he may take a chance to perform better and take another opportunity to reach his goal.
The achievement goal theory explains about someone’s purpose to accomplish an academic task or assignment. This theory related to classroom goal structures which concern on classroom setting and students’ attainment. (Alexander & Winne, 2006:371)
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The competence motivation theory believes that the thought of being worthy and competent is important. It means that the feeling of self-worth and self-esteem may support the students to perform better in their learning process and attaining their goals.
If they have high self-esteem (feel that they have enough ability) and feel competent when they do their task or assignment, it will make them enjoy doing their activity. This pride they have may increase their opportunity to achieve something. (Weinberg &
Gould, 2007:67-8).
2.4 Attitude and Language Learning: Related Research
Attitude is often connected with "like" and "dislike". In language learning, this opinion has an important variable influencing the language acquisition success
(Chambers, 1999:28). Some large scale studies have been conducted by John Oller and his colleagues (Oller, Hudson & Liu1977; Chihara & Oller 1978; Oller, Baca, & Vigil
1978) (Brown, 2000:181). They studied about the relationship between Chinese,
Japanese, and Mexican students' achievement in English and their attitudes. They also studied the relationship between the students and the factors that affect the students’ attitudes in learning English, and their opinion about traveling. The result was the researchers were able to find meaningful correlation between attitudinal variables with language success.
Other research was conducted by Brustall and her colleagues (1974). She studied about the development of young learners' attitudes towards French in primary school.
The respondents use English as their first language. Her findings about the learners who like French were they tend to:
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






 want to learn other language want to continue learning French find that French is easier than other subjects feel that everybody needs to learn French think that French will be useful after they left school have parents who support them learning French want to visit France want to make French friends
Learners who dislike French tend to:
 feel that learning other subjects are more useful
 feel that French is difficult
 think that English is better than French
 think that the French should learn English
 think that the ones who are good at it, learn it
(Chambers, 1999:28-9)
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