Factors affecting Vietnamese education teachers’ cognitive attitudes toward English language learning

This study aimed to identify the factors that best predict the cognitive attitudes of 184 education teachers toward learning English through a four-part survey questionnaire that elicited respondents’ basic demographic attitudes and degrees of ethnocentrism. The data were analyzed via descriptive and correlational methods, such as codes, frequency counts and frequency distributions, Pearson’s r, and multiple regression analysis, to determine the degree of correlation among 4 predictor variables, namely, gender, age, socioeconomic status and ethnicity, and the major criterion variable, namely, cognitive attitudes. The findings revealed that positive attitudes were evident among respondents who were female, young, with low ethnicity and low income with respect to their cognitive attitudes. Notably, gender also had a significant influence on attitudes. The study likewise showed that ethnicity indirectly mediated the influence of gender, age and SES on cognitive attitudes on the basis of multiple regression results. Finally, the study revealed that gender and cognitive attitudes were positive (+0.173). Overall, the study concludes that age, ethnicity and socioeconomic status are significantly correlated with cognitive attitudes toward learning English. It further concludes that gender has a direct effect on cognitive attitudes toward learning English. This study highlights the need to encourage males to participate in English learning programs and to reduce ethnicity levels among them.