Language learner attitudes have been linked to motivation, willingness to communicate, and attainment in second language (L2) learning research. Yet, explorations of learner attitudes remain scarce, especially concerning learners’ perspectives on the language instruction they receive in schools. To contribute to a more complete picture of L2 English instruction, we gathered data from 2,721 adolescent learners of English in German, Norwegian, and Polish schools through the English Language Teaching (ELT) Survey. Our measures of attitudes included summarized ratings of classes, semantic differentials, and responses to a reflective scale, all of which we subjected to inferential analyses. To explore the reasons behind learners’ attitudes towards L2 English instruction, we supplemented quantitative data with qualitative insights and interpreted attitudinal differences in the three countries. Although the evaluations of English lessons appeared relatively positive, participants’ perceptions of their L2 English instruction were largely unfavourable. English lessons were most often labelled monotonous by students learning in German and Polish schools. This remains in stark contrast to earlier findings on learners’ attitudes to English as a school subject from various countries. At the same time, our analyses revealed statistically significant differences across the three countries, with students in Norwegian schools being the most enthusiastic about their L2 English classes, and students in Polish schools being the most critical. These differences were largely parallel to the variation in participants’ self-assessment of attainment in English and, to some extent, their most recent marks in English. In the process of a reflexive thematic analysis, we identified five main themes illustrating explicit criticism related to a narrow scope of teaching methodologies, limited opportunities for communication, lack of real-life relevance, teacher-related challenges, and little emotional-motivational support. These qualitative insights allowed us to explain reasons behind learners’ generally negative attitudes. Our findings highlight the need to consider learners’ voices in research on attitudes to L2 instruction.

中文翻译：

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德国、挪威和波兰学习者对英语教学的态度：来自 ELT 调查的见解


在第二语言 （L2） 学习研究中，语言学习者的态度与动机、交流意愿和成就有关。然而，对学习者态度的探索仍然很少，特别是关于学习者对他们在学校接受的语言教学的看法。为了更全面地了解二语英语教学，我们通过英语教学 （ELT） 调查收集了德国、挪威和波兰学校的 2,721 名青少年英语学习者的数据。我们对态度的测量包括对类的总结评分、语义差异和对反思量表的反应，所有这些都是我们进行推理分析的。为了探索学习者对 L2 英语教学态度背后的原因，我们用定性见解补充了定量数据，并解释了三个国家的态度差异。尽管对英语课程的评价似乎相对积极，但参与者对他们的 L2 英语教学的看法在很大程度上是不利的。在德国和波兰学校学习的学生最常给英语课贴上单调的标签。这与早期关于不同国家学习者对英语作为学校科目的态度的调查结果形成鲜明对比。同时，我们的分析揭示了三个国家之间的统计学显著差异，挪威学校的学生对他们的 L2 英语课程最热情，而波兰学校的学生最挑剔。这些差异在很大程度上与参与者对英语成绩的自我评估的差异平行，在某种程度上，也与他们最近的英语成绩相平行。 在反思性主题分析的过程中，我们确定了五个主要主题，这些主题说明了与教学方法范围狭窄、交流机会有限、缺乏现实生活相关性、教师相关挑战以及情感激励支持很少相关的明确批评。这些定性见解使我们能够解释学习者普遍持消极态度的原因。我们的研究结果强调，在研究对 L2 教学的态度时，需要考虑学习者的声音。