Language attitudes

Learner attitudes towards a target language and its speakers as well as the use to which the language is put is fundamental in defining levels of success for the learning of that language. Ghana is dominated by several indigenous local languages. However, the official language as a medium of instruction in schools in Ghana is English language. Notwithstanding the use of English language as both official language and medium of instruction in our schools, disciplines specialize in the study of Ghanaian languages as a programme of study at the tertiary level. The study investigated the attitude that Ghanaian students have towards the study of Ghanaian indigenous languages and the motivational factors for the study of these languages at University of Cape Coast. Using a quantitative approach, the study employed 100 questionnaires which were administered to 50 Ghanaian language students and 50 non-Ghanaian language students in the University of Cape Coast. First, the analysis showed that students have positive attitudes towards the study of Ghanaian indigenous languages. Second, students have instrumental reasons for the study of the language. The findings of the study have implications for theory and policy makers.

Given the large population of non-Arabic speaking Muslims in the world, the translations of the Qur’an are of crucial importance. While there has recently been a surge of interest in reader response to translations of various genres, less attention has been given to the readers' reception of the Qur’an translations. The aim of the current study was to examine whether attitudes towards the source and target languages in translation (i.e. Arabic and Farsi) constitute distinct factors in the reception of Qur’an translations by readers in a multilingual setting. To achieve this aim the first step was to construct a questionnaire to measure the three key constructs of the study, namely, attitudes towards Arabic, attitudes toward Farsi, and translation reception. To collect the required data, in-depth interviews were first conducted, which led to the generation of an item pool for the noted questionnaire. The questionnaire was then administered to 96 native speakers of Arabic and Farsi for a detailed statistical analysis. Data analysis was conducted using FACTOR software and Smart PLS3. Specifically, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted. Results attested that translation reception, and attitudes towardsource and target languages constitute three distinctive factors. In addition, findings pointed to the moderating role of language attitudes in the reception of the Qur’an translations, with favourable attitudes towards Farsi being associated with more favourable reception of the translations.