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LEARNING AND speaking different foreign languages in a globalized society is an unavoidable necessity, a matter of urgency, and even survival (Uribe, Gutiérrez, & Madrid, 2008), due to the fact that national borders are fading away and this is giving place to more of an interconnected and interdependent world. A digital society means that people from diferent countries, cultures, and languages need to interact fluidly and easily with each other for various reasons (economic, political, cultural, scientific, etc.). For this reason, language learning is an incentive for new generations to assimilate customs and knowledge from other cultures. According to Bonilla and Rojas (2012, p. 1) "the learning of foreign or non-mother tongues has served as an effective tool in developing countries to promote their growth not only economic but also social"
In Peru, the importance of learning languages, especially English, is marked by the opportunities it generates to build capacity as it is also a tool for cultural, social, and human development. Therefore, individuals who do not learn a second language will be at a disadvantage when competing in diferent areas, mainly work and professional activities (Bonilla & Rojas, 2012; Sosa, Gutierrez, & Velásquez, 2018). One of the problems is that there are still important obstacles when learning English involving factors as motivation, the valuation of others, and trust (Pontón & Fernández, 2014), the wide sociocultural level (Han, 2019) that provides support for learning, the linguistic place of origin (Del Valle et al., 2014), study time, type of school attended, and how often the language being learned is read (Santana, García, & Escalera, 2016), among others. All these situations make learning English difficult, and those obstacles become the reason for some projects to be postponed. The purpose of this study is to establish the relationship between the attitudes people have when learning English and procrastination. Fifty-five participants who study English in a language institution of Lima, Perú were surveyed to find out about their attitudes towards learning English as a foreign language and the relationship between these attitudes and procrastination.
Theoretical Framework
The main problem when learning a new language would be the attitudes that people have. Attitudes play a fundamental role because they strengthen people's motivation for learning. In turn, they become a motivating factor of the student who is learning a foreign language (Delfín, 2007). However, attitudes vary in the process of learning a language. They may range from patriotism, nationalism or internationalism in regards to the students' home countries (Sullivan & Schatz, 2009) to attitudes regarding motivation, which could be positive, negative or neutral, and encompass cognitive, afective, conative, and evaluative components (Delfin, 2007). In other words, everyone has different reactions when facing the challenges of learning a second language (Lightbrown & Spada, 2006). Some are reluctant since before they started studying the language because of negative experiences they had, even in their attempts at writing English as part of the learning process (Roman-Perez, 2010). Others find resistance due to refusal to change, and still others simply don't want to know anything about a foreign language. Larsen & Cameron (2008) describe the importance and complexity of context in learning English as a Second Language, some factors that influence attitudes for learning English including parents, classmates, teachers, and ethnicity, among others.
Delfín (2007) points out that, within the components of attitudes three stand out: the cognitive ones, including perception and beliefs about language, the affective ones that collect the feelings that individuals have for or against language learning, and the behavioral ones, that involves the reaction people have when they are learning a new language. Similarly, Oroujlou & Vahedi (2011) mention that within this complexity of attitudes, cognitive, afective, conative, and evaluative components, beliefs and opinions about teaching, emotional reactions during teaching and learning, predisposition, and behavior in and out of the classroom are important. Here, the five individual differences of the apprentices proposed by Dórnyei (2006) as: personality, aptitude, motivation, learning styles, and strategies.
Consequently, if the attitudes are biological predispositions and are part of the individual's life, these are involved in the decision-making process of the student to do, postpone, or stop doing certain tasks. This study will be devoted to analyzing the postponement of tasks which is known in the scientific context as procrastination.
Procrastination is the attitude that students have with regards to postponing things, being the same as "postponing responsibilities (tasks or work) and decisions on a regular basis" (Garzón & Gil, 2017b, p. 312). In the academic context, it would be the tendency of individuals to postpone academic tasks and to experience levels of anxiety associated with this postponement. This tendency to procrastinate not only afects the proper completion of academic tasks, but also has negative consequences on students' health (Rodríguez & Clariana, 2017). For Alvarez (2010), procrastination is a construct that has been widely studied and therefore, there is no consensus on its definition, and most studies coincide in reporting postponement of tasks.
It is precisely in the university environment where procrastination presents an important problem, since not having acquired academic habits earlier, distraction is sometimes a factor to consider in Second Language learning, as Hwang et al. (2016) indicate. Some of the causes listed would be poor time management (Garzón & Gil, 2017b), maladaptive perfectionism (Kurtovic, Vrdoljak, & Idzanovic, 2019), also the lack of effective monitoring and control of academic assignments by the professor, as well as the efort to improve informational competencies by the student (Sureda-Negre, Comas-Forgas, & Oliver-Trobat, 2015), the professor's teaching method (Clariana, Cladellas, Badía, & Gotzens, 2011), disorganization and lack of cognitive and metacognitive strategies by the apprentice (Howell & Watson, 2007), and teaching and learning methods during high school and university (Rodríguez & Clariana, 2017).
According to Steel (2007), between 80% and 95% of university students have procrastinated at some point, and 75% of them acknowledge it. In that sense, it is not necessarily due to these causes described above, but it is one of the generalized behaviors that everyone at some point in life engages in. However, these causes result in poor academic performance and higher university dropout rates (Garzón & Gil, 2017a; Sirois & Kitner, 2015), poor professional training, lack of competencies when entering the workforce, among others.
The problems and consequences described above become catalyzers and motivation to continue deepening the knowledge of these variables to understand them properly and try to guide students. That way students can improve their attitudes towards language learning and time management and avoid procrastination. In that sense, the objective of this work lies in determining the relationship between procrastination and attitudes towards learning English in students of a private educational institution that specializes in teaching foreign languages in the city of Lima, Peru.
Method
Research Questions and Hypotheses
There are three research questions: (1) What are the levels of attitudes towards learning English according to their dimensions? (2) What is the relationship between relative attitudes for English language learning and procrastination? (3) Finally, what is the relationship between the dimensions of relative attitudes for English language learning and procrastination? The hypotheses based on these research questions are: (1) There is a high level of attitudes towards learning English according to their dimensions. (2) There is a significant relationship between the dimensions of relative attitudes for English language learning and procrastination. Finally, (3) There is a significant relationship between the dimensions of relative attitudes for English language learning and procrastination.
Type of Research and Design
The type of research presented is basic-cross-sectional, and the design is non-causal correlational, as its purpose was to describe the level of English language learning and academic procrastination, as well as establishing the association between the two variables in a particular context.
Participants
A sample of N=55 English language students at the basic level of learning was utilized for this study. 20 were women and 35 men, all from a private educational institution, were included in the study. The participants' average age was 31.65. Participants belong to professional careers as Industrial Engineering (9), Systems Engineering and Computer Science (7), Administration (15), Accounting (8), Medicine (8) and Law (8). It is important to point out that N=55 was a convenience sample from a small population that facilitated the data-collection process and access to the site.
Instruments
The instrument used in this study was the Cuestionario de Actitudes hacia el aprendizaje del idioma inglés [Questionnaire of attitudes toward learning English], which is a questionnaire developed by Uribe, Gutiérrez & Madrid (2008), presenting a general reliability, using Crombach's Alpha of .943. The questionnaire has 4 dimensions and presents 73 items in total. The number of items per dimension and the reliability through Crombach's Alpha for these dimensions is: related to the teacher: 17 items and a reliability of .837; related to the workbook: 16 items and a reliability of .855; related to homework and class exercises: 21 items and a reliability of .879; and finally, related to the English class: 19 items and a reliability of .855. On the other hand, Busko's academic procrastination questionnaire (1998), which is one-dimensional (Alvarez, 2010), has a reliability of .778 in the Crombach's Alpha test. All this indicates that the instruments have high reliability and can be used without problems in the Peruvian population.
Process
For the current research, the administration of the academic institution was previously and officially informed to obtain authorization for admission to the classrooms. These previous arrangements enabled the researchers to collect the data from the students of the basic level of English during the morning and afternoon shifts. It is important to note that the questionnaires were applied during the first and second week of classes. The students were informed about the purpose of the investigation and were asked for their voluntary collaboration by signing an informed consent document. Both questionnaires were administered, giving the students approximately 30 minutes to answer the questions. Subsequently, the questionnaire that lasted approximately 30 minutes between both tests was administered. Once the data were collected, the statistical analysis was carried out using the SPSS statistical software package V25.
Results
Before analyzing the results, the normality test was carried out to verify that the sample had a normal distribution. Table 1, shows that the level of significance is greater than 5% in each case, indicating that Pearson's correlation (p) can be used.
Table 1 Kolmogorov-Smirnov a. Test for Normality
| Kolmogorov-Smirnova | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Procrastination and dimensions of attitudes toward English language learning | Statistical | gl | Sig. |
| Procrastination | 0.088 | 55 | 0.2 |
| Attitudes related to the teacher | 0.077 | 55 | 0.2 |
| Attitudes related to the workbook | 0.127 | 55 | 0.128 |
| Attitudes related to classwork and homework | 0.103 | 55 | 0.2 |
| Attitudes related to English class | 0.108 | 55 | 0.164 |
Note: a. Lilliefors significance correction.
Based on the results obtained, the hypothesis formulated at the beginning of the study will be rejected since there is a predominance of the medium to higher level of attitudes towards the learning of English.
The results were analyzed descriptively and inferentially. At a descriptive level, 20% (11) of the students have a low level of attitude towards learning English, 61.8% (34) have a medium level, and 18.2% (10) have a high level. As it can be appreciated, there is a significant percentage of students who have a low attitude towards learning, although most would have a good attitude to learn.
Regarding the attitudes towards learning English that students show according to the career of the respondents, out of the Industrial Engineering students who represent 16.4% of the sample, 1.8% have a low level of attitude towards learning English, 9.1% have a medium level, and 5.5% have a high level. Out of students of Systems Engineering and Computer Science representing 12.7% of the sample, 3.65% have a low level, and 9.1% have a medium level of attitude toward learning English. When looking at the Administration students representing 27.3%, 3.6% have a low level, 16.4% have a medium level and 7.3% have a high level of attitude towards learning English. Out of the Accounting students representing 14.5% of the study sample, 3.6% have a low level and 10.9% have a medium level of attitude toward learning English. About the Medicine students that represent 14.5% of the sample, 5.5% have a low level, 7.3% have a medium level and 1.8% have a high level of attitude towards English learning. Finally; for Law students representing 14.5%, 1.8% have a low level, 9.1% have a medium level, and 3.6% have a high level of attitude towards learning English. As it can be seen in these results, the students of Administration have a slight advantage in attitudes compared to the other careers, which implies that an important difference cannot be singled out.
Depending on the age of the participants, those in the age range that goes from 20 to 24, representing 7.3% of the total study sample, have a medium high level of attitude towards learning English. Those in the age range that goes from 25 to 38, represent 76.4% of the total sample, out of which 16.4% have a low level, 45.5% are in the middle level, and, 14.5% have a high level of attitude towards the language. Students who are in the age range that goes from 39 to 52 represent 16.4% of the total sample, out of which 3.6% are in the low level, 10.9% are in the medium level, and 1.8% show a high level of attitude toward English language learning.
Regarding gender differences, men representing 36.45% of the sample, show 10.9% as having low level attitudes, 21.8% as having a medium level and 3.6% as having a high-level attitude towards learning English. In women, 9.1% have a low level, 40% have a medium level, and 14.5% have a high-level attitude towards English language learning. Therefore, it can be concluded that women have a better attitude to learn English compared to their male counterparts.
Regarding the level of procrastination and generally speaking, out of 100%, 21.8% (12) show a low level of procrastination; 63.6% (35), have a medium level, and 14.5% (8) show a high level. Therefore, it is observed that there is predominance of students with a tendency to procrastinate towards a high level, and only 21.8% are located at a low level of procrastination.
In terms of the level of procrastination by career, industrial engineering students represent 16.4% of the total sample and predominantly have a medium high level: 10.9% medium level, and 3.6% high level, and only 1.8% of the sample is at the low level. Systems and Computer Engineering students represent 12.7% of the sample and show a medium level of 10.9%, and a low level of 1.8%. Administration students represent 27.3% and have a high level of procrastination with 21.9%, and show 5.5% at the low level. Accounting students represent 14.5% of the total sample and are predominantly 9.1% at the medium level, 3.6% at the low level, and 1.8% at the high level. Medical students represent 14.5% of the total sample, 12.7% of these are also predominantly in the medium level, and only 1.8% at the high level. And finally, law students representing 14.5% of the total sample, are predominantly at the low level with 9.1%, at the medium level of 3.6% and 1.8% at the high level of procrastination. It is therefore concluded that procrastination levels by career, in most of them, does not present significant differences; there is only one difference in Law and Administration students where procrastination levels are low. However, the biggest trend is in the medium level, which is consistent with the other careers.
The level of procrastination by age presents interesting results. Students who are in the age range of 20 to 24, representing 7.3% of the total sample, generally show a low level of procrastination of 3.6%, 1.8% at the medium level and 1.8% at the high level. Students who are in the range of 25 to 38 years of age, who represent 76.4% of the sample, are located at the level below of 14.5%, the average level of 50.9%, and the high level of 10.9% of procrastination. Students between the age ranges of 39 to 52 years of age show procrastination levels such as low level of 3.6%, medium level of 10.9%, and high level of 1.8%. This shows a predominance in the level of procrastination in students between the age ranges of 25 to 38 years of age, compared to students under 24 years of age and over 39 years of age.
Regarding procrastination level according to gender, it can be appreciated that in the case of men, 12.7% have a low level, 18.2% have a medium level, and 5.5% have a high level. On the contrary, in the case of women, 9.1% have a low level, 45.5% have a medium level, and 9.1% show a high level. Therefore, there are significant differences in favor of men, given that they are the ones that show the least level of procrastination unlike women who show that they maintain a medium level; that is, they do not always comply, and neither do they cease to comply with academic homework on time.
Regarding the analysis by dimensions of the variables, in Table 2 it is evident that the students do not show marked differences in attitudes towards learning English.
Table 2 Levels of Attitudes Towards English Language Learning, According to Dimensions of Attitudes for English Language Learning.
Regarding the inferential results in the relationship between attitudes toward English language learning and procrastination, the observed significance value p=.01 is less than the theoretical significance value α=.05, (Table 3), so it can be stated that there is a positive median relationship (.693) between English language learning and procrastination. Based on the results obtained, the hypothesis of the current study will be accepted.
Table 3 Relationship Between Relative Attitudes for English Language Learning and Procrastination.
| Attitudes toward English language learning | ||
|---|---|---|
| Procrastination | Pearson correlation (p) | ,693** |
| Sig. (bilateral) | 0 | |
| n | 55 |
Note: ** The correlation is significant at the level 0.01 (bilateral).
According to the results shown in Table 4, the hypothesis presented in the current study will be accepted. It is important to point out that there is a significant relationship between the relative attitudes towards the learning of English and procrastination, implying that there is predominance of the attitudes that the teacher have regarding the postponing of work by their students.
Table 4 Relationship Between the Dimensions of Relative Attitudes for English Language Learning and Procrastination.
| Dimensions of relative attitudes for English language learning | Procrastination | |
|---|---|---|
| p | Sig (bilateral) | |
| Attitudes related to the teacher | .468** | 0 |
| Attitudes related to the workbook | .393** | .003 |
| Attitudes related to classwork and homework | 530** | 0 |
| Attitudes related to English class | .440** | .001 |
Note: ** The correlation is significant at the level 0.01 (bilateral).
Discussion
In general, students have slightly positive attitudes towards learning English. These results agree with the reports by Uribe and Gutierrez (2008), who claim that students are still prejudiced when it comes to learning English. This could be due to different reasons, among them: previous experiences, the cultural environment where you live, personal interests, pressure, among others (Larsen & Cameron, 2008). However, despite these factors students try to learn the language since they think that it will be very useful in their futures (Antes, 1999) given the predominance of this language in different aspects of life. Learning a new language gives the students some advantages that others, who do not know it, will never have. Also, according to Lasagabaster (2002), these students who learn the language develop positive attitudes towards the native community of the language they are learning, and have a desire to interact with native speakers and be part of the community.
As it can be appreciated, the students of Administration have a slight advantage in attitudes, compared to students of other careers. Results in favor of this group would be due to the need to learn the language, because the activities they are going to carry out in their area of expertise require them to master languages in general, and most of the companies where they are going to be working demand close contact with international markets. Likewise, these students will have to deal with the international economic, social, and political needs of this century (Bonilla & Rojas, 2012; Córdova, 2011). Therefore, language learning is always an advantage and opens a window to better opportunities.
Students who are 25 to 38 years old represent better attitudes towards learning English and those who are between 20 and 24 years old have the lowest levels of attitudes. Some reports indicate that there are no negative effects on the cognitive and linguistic development of students (Cenoz, 2003) when teaching and learning language at an early age; quite the contrary, there are more positive attitudes (Agulló, 2006; Gálvez, 2001; Littlewood, 2001). However, if you learn the language later in life, because of prior educational or labor requirements, it can be evidenced that there are negative attitudes, which improve as students at the age of 25 or older already need to learn English because of their profession, business, or travel obligations. This, of course, improves the attitude toward learning the second language.
It can also be concluded that women have a better attitude to learn English compared to their male counterparts. These results are consistent with other reports (Kobayashi, 2010; Lai, 2007), where is evidenced that women's attitudes towards English language learning are generally more positive than men's attitudes. These differences are marked by motivational aspects and the consequent achievement: women state that they learn languages to build academic relationships and to favor intercultural learning, while men do so for travel and fun (Mitchell & Myles, 2004).
On the other hand, regarding the procrastinating behavior, the results show that there is a high tendency to procrastinate. Only a percentage of 21.8% show evidence that they do not procrastinate, confirming findings of a previous study (Onwuegbuzie, 2004). This behavior may be due to multiple factors described in previous studies as: the teacher's teaching method (Clariana, Cl-adellas, Badía, & Gotzens, 2011), disorganization and lack of cognitive and metacognitive strategies by the trainee (Howell & Watson, 2007), teaching and learning methods during high school and university (Rodriguez & Clariana, 2017), and low beliefs of self-efficacy by the students (Steel, 2007), among others. These results are repeated in the majority of students regardless of the type of career they have. The only difference found among students from different careers shows that Law and Administration students have lower average procrastination levels. This difference is also due to the knowledge, responsibilities and duties that are required of these professionals in their professional lives.
Also, there is predominance in the level of procrastination for students in the age range of 25 to 38, compared to students under 24 years of age and over 39 years of age. These results contradict studies as those of Rodriguez and Clariana (2017), who point out that the highest level of procrastination occurs in students under 25 years of age. Therefore, the results of this research would be due to the type of sample utilized where only 7.3% of the total sample are under 25, and most are in the range of 25 and 30 years of age, being the ones who have the most procrastination compared to students who are older. In this sense, it is important to note that older students tend to procrastinate less than younger students, as the previous reports point out. In addition, we must bear in mind that most of the students have jobs or are university students, so they give more importance to the activities of their workplace or to academic tasks of their universities.
Regarding gender, results show that there are significant differences in favor of men, given that they are the ones who procrastinate less, unlike women who procrastinate more. These results are also contrary to previous studies (Meisenberg & Woodley, 2015; Ozer, Demir, & Ferrari, 2009), which report that women tend to procrastinate less than men, due to more self-regulated academic behavior and demands perceived, in contrast to their male peers. These results in favor of women are contrasted in studies as those by Demiroren, Turan, and Oztuna (2016) that confirm that women have higher scores in responsibility compared to men.
Regarding the inferential level, it is observed that the relationship between attitudes related to English language learning and procrastination shows a positive median of .693; that is, while the attitude to learn the language improves, the level of procrastination also increases. This result not only occurs at a general level, but at the level of each of the dimensions of the attitude of learning English. This means that the student always procrastinates, regardless of whether or not the student complies with the tasks of class-if the teacher is good or bad, if the classes are interesting or not, and if you have to develop the exercises in the book or not. The first impression is that one can think that this postponement behavior is given by a lack of interest or motivation on the part of the student. However, there are studies that report the opposite, that this postponement is because of the lack of interest or motivation of the students (Cerino, 2015; Lee, 2005), but due to beliefs of self-efficacy and greater confidence in their own abilities, under the logical principle that "later is better".
Considering its dynamic nature (Ackerman & Gross, 2007), procrastination changes over time. Procrastination is also related to educational variables; however, within a complex system where context and learning strategies must also be included (Qingquan, Chatupote, & Teo, 2008). This means that the characteristics of the sample in this study should be taken into account. In the context of non-formal education, procrastination is an unintentional situation that still happens because people have several other commitments that they must fulfill.
Conclusions
Although students have positive attitudes towards English language learning, they also have a high rate of academic procrastination. This correlation is due to the characteristics of the sample studied, including in the majority professionals or those who are following professional careers. Considering that the demand for tasks in these students is excessive, the behavior of procrastination is not because of a lack of interest but to the same burden of tasks that students have. This leads to postponement of the course tasks until just before reaching a deadline.
The methods utilized in this study were entirely quantitative methods because they lent themselves to the accessibility and promptness of the sample that was available, so the survey was convenient. However, the space for additional (complementary data), could be created by using qualitative of mixed methods. A semi-structured interview would be a good approach as the prompts that the interviewers could use in that context would open the conversation to the type of interaction where the experiences of students would be known more in depth. The triangulation of the quantitative and qualitative methods would enrich the data obtained in the end.
