Attitudes and behaviour in second language acquisition: A social psychological interpretation.

Four behaviors involved in the acquisition of a 2nd language are achievement in the language, the decision to remain in the language program, behavior in the classroom, and social contact with members of the 2nd language community. In general, these behaviors have been considered in isolation of formal psychological models and of each other. The present authors review research relevant to each of these behaviors, examining them within the theoretical frameworks proposed by M. Fishbein (1967), Fishbein and I. Ajzen (1975), and K. Lewin (1951). It is suggested that a better understanding of the role of attitudes in 2nd language acquisition can be achieved by postulating a general motivational syndrome, the integrative motive, which involves a complex of attitudinal/motivational variables. This model is related to the formulations of Fishbein and Ajzen, and Lewin, and the general approach appears to have implications for situations concerned with the interplay of attitudes and behavior. (French summary) (48 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)