CHALERMPHONG THAM-NGARN -

MOTIVATION AND ATTITUDE TOWARD LEARNING ENGLISH AMONG NOVICE STUDENTS : TEACHING YOUNG LEARNERS

This study investigated motivation and attitude levels toward learning English among the novice students of Pali Satit School. The sample was 40 novice students from grades 10 to 12 selected by purposive sampling. The data were collected from Gardner's international version of the Attitude/Motivation Test Battery adapted questionnaire. The questionnaire was divided into five parts: 1) Demographic Data, 2) Emotional Aspect of Attitude, 3) Behavioral Aspect of Attitude, 4) Instrumental Motivation, and 5) Integrative Motivation. All the questionnaires, excluding demographic data, were in the form of a five-rating scale. The data were analyzed using percentages, mean, and standard deviation. The finding revealed that novice students' overall motivation and attitude levels toward learning English were high, with Instrumental Motivation beginning with the highest mean score, followed by Integrative Motivation, Behavioral Aspect of Attitude, and Emotional Aspect of Attitude. The most common factor that inspires novice students to study English is their future education. In addition, students were encouraged to learn English as they wanted to participate in English-speaking environments and activities. The students also realized that English doesn't help only with their future education; it also helps improve their personality and behavior.

Asist. Prof. Chalermphong Tham-ngarn, Department of Languages and Communication, Rajamangala University of Technology Lanna, Chiang Mai