Investigating Students Attitudes and Preferences towards Learning English at Kuwait University

This study is performed by conducting a survey analysis to investigate students’ attitudes and preferences towards learning English at Kuwait University in non-English major ESL students. The sample size will be roughly 21-22% of a total of 4950 college level English Language Learners at Kuwait University where specific English courses are part of the required University curriculum. The results of this survey will thus enable us to review some causes that may have hindered University English learning in the past, and focus on students” perspectives about learning English. One of the by–product of this study will be to illustrate students academic preference within the Language process in which in return will assist us as educators to promote learning motivation. Researchers, ESL teachers and administrators need to consider the fact that they need to have keys for knowing their students’ attitudes and preferences towards learning English for motivation purposes. This research, will provide are some of the most significant keys available. ********** Though much research focusing on language teaching, learning theories, teaching materials, teaching approaches…. etc, is being conducted, regularly, much of it has been constrained by western cultural assumption. Little research has been directed towards the topic of how the local education / teaching environment has influenced students’ learning where the students are not English majors but studying English as non-majors due to educational requirements and professional needs. This fact may at least lead to the conclusion that local English learning obstacles remain unsolved for long periods of time. Plainly, the obstacles to learning English as a second language at the university level far exceeds the limits imposed by the students ability and background. Methodologies established in the past do not often take the reality of the importance of the learners willingness to study a language. There must be some facts that require re-examination at a more fundamental level. Understanding the many reasons why students avoid hard work is important but understanding alone is insufficient to alter the situation. Other steps must be taken. The expectancy to learn a language and succeed depends on what individuals attribute their past and present success or failure to, whether to stable factors such as ability, and / or to less stable factors such as learning attitudes, learning preferences, past experience, task difficulty. Language teaching is most often illustrated and discussed from the point of view of scholars or/and teachers. “However while learning is the goal of teaching, it is not necessarily the mirror image of teaching. Learners, too, bring to learning their own beliefs, goals and attitudes, and decisions, which influence how they approach their learning” (Richards, 1995, p52). Generally speaking, people tend to have certain beliefs and preference in their approaches to learning tasks. Various researches suggests that most of us learn best when information is presented in the way that matches our learning preferences. In this paper we will examine some causes that may have hindered the effects of English learning for university students in Kuwait, and to a wider extent the Arabian Gulf, since the role of English in the education systems across the Gulf area are highly similar. Through survey data analysis, students’ perspectives about English learning and the fears of learning English that may have grown out of previous experiences are documented. This project has involved 787 ESL students who declared their preferred certain language skills while learning English on the basis of a questionnaire, which has so far raised many interesting issues. Two main points of consideration have promoted the authors to start investigating English learner’s learning preferences. First, it would be very beneficial and valuable to investigate the students’ preference and attitude in the language learning.