The relationship between ethnocentrism and achievement in beginning learners of French as a foreign language

Ethnocentrism, the perception of one's ingroup as superior to outgroups, visibly increased in the United States recently as evidenced by a rise in both expressions of patriotism toward the U.S. and negative attitudes toward arabs during and following the Gulf War. Given this rise in ethnocentrism, foreign language instructors may be motivated to know if their students' identification with an ingroup {The United States) influences their ability to perform well in a foreign language classroom. Thus, this study investigates the relationship between ethnocentrism and achievement among beginning learners of a foreign language. Thirty-eight students in French 102 at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign served as subjects. The relationship between ethnocentrism and achievement was analyzed with correlational analyses. Results revealed a fair correlation between ethnocentrism survey scores and final grades. Additionally, subjects rated French people more negatively than most outgroups. Although this study was conducted with American students of French, the pedagogical implications of these findings as well as suggestions for further research concerning the relationship between ethnocentrism and achievement in other foreign language classrooms are addressed.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.A.

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Teaching English as a Second Language

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

1993

Author dc:creator

• Greene, Mary Carter

Contributors dc:contributor

• Davidson, Fred
• Mack, Molly

• Teaching English as Second Language
• Ethnocentrism and Language Learning Foreign Language Achievement
• Cultural Attitudes in Education

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright by Mary Carter Greene, 1993

Language dc:language

eng

Handle dc:identifier

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/125886

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/125886