| dc.description.abstract | This is a two-part study involving an enquiry and
an experiment into the role of attitudes and motivation,
on the one hand, and into the learning strategies of the
foreign language learner, on the other hand. Tests were·
carried out to determine the relationship between these
factors and achievement in French and an attempt was made
to discover the possible effects of these factors on achievement,
by conducting an experiment in the teaching of
motivation and learning strategies, using instructional
materials only.
The population was: a stratified random sample of intact
groups drawn from seven national and non-national
schools; the 2.51subjects were Form I children of approximately
13 years, begInning French in state secondary
schools, from rural and urban homes, from a wide range of
linguistic communi ties and socio-economic backgrounds.
They were divided into three groups: two experimental
groups and one control group.
At the outset of the investigation it was considered
important to study the total multicultural context of the
learner in order to appreciate his attitudes towards the
French Language; Therefore an analysis was made of the
learner's attitudes towards his first language, towards
Kiswahili, tow.ards English and finally towards French.
Learners, were,'also questioned on their attitudes towards
familiar' and foreign peoples and towards Francophones and
French people. Motivational orientation, attitudes towards
the teacher', levels of ethnocentrism and various other
.factors wexeincluded in the study.
An important feature of this investigation was the
development of French achievement tests for Kenya (cloze
tests) and the designing of instructional materials on motivation
and Learning strategies. These materials consisted
of eight booklets which were given to the two experimental
groups in the absence of the researcher. The effects of
these materials were then measured.
It.was found that significant (p.<.01) relationships
existed between motivation, learning strategies and achievement;
in French; that, specifically, attitudes towards the
teacher,overall academic achievement, achievement in English,
sex, area of origin (rural/urban), primary and secondary
school environments and achievement in French were positively
correlated (girls, and students from rural homes and
low-cost. primary schools generaly did best in French in
secondary school); that there was a tendency towards a negative
correlation between achievement in French and favourable
attitudes towards the first language and Kiswahili.
Attitudes towards African languages became more positive
during the first year of French but the entering attitude
profile nevertheless pointed to some cultural conflict at
the outset of learning.
• The. results of the experiment showed that strategy
teaching, thr.ough instructional materials, can be effective
in French learning in Form I in Kenya. The outcome of
motivation teaching was however more ambiguous: favourable
attitudes towards French were increased significant
antly in the relevant experimental group , but the in
crease did not automatically produce better learning. It
was concluded that without the intervention of strategies
teaching and or the teacher, increasingly motivated learn,
ers. do not necessarily become more successful learners,
since (a) they may need attitude reinforcement from the
teacher and since (b) they do not necessarily know of or
practise appropriate learning strategies.
Having taken into consideration the results of similar
studies in other parts of the world, careful interpretation
of the findings of this study, together with the aid
of a.theoretical model developed here, resulted in the conclusion
that. successful motivational orientation type can
be :gredicted from a description of the socio-cultural context.
A third motivational type was added to the now classic.
integrative and instrumental types: patriotic type.
These findings emphasize the cultural complexity of
the language learning task in Kenya and produce fresh evidence:
to support the now wide literature: on education in
Africa which indicates that the learning environment, the
school, would seem to be,the most important determinant in
learning outcomes. | en |
