THE ROLE OF ATTITUDE IN THE FIRST LANGUAGE ATTRITION AMONG KURDISH BILINGUAL ADOLESCENTS IN TURKEY

Abstract

ABSTRACT The aim of this dissertation is to explore the relationship between attitude and first language attrition, defined as the non-pathological decrease in a language that had previously been acquired by an individual (Köpke & Schmid, 2004). The studies on L2 acquisition have shown the strong impact of attitudes, motivations and other affective factors on linguistic learning. This dissertation, therefore, hypothesizes that attitude has a decisive influence on language attrition and maintenance. Both quantitative and qualitative data have been employed during the process of data-gathering. We used Personal Language Attitude Questionnaire for Bilinguals (PLAQ-B) developed by our research team to assess the attitudes of 134 adolescents towards their first language. PLAQ-B, as the basis for our diagnostic tool, was interpreted in four sub-dimensions determined by Factor Analysis (Factor 1st: Language maintenance and Motivation, Factor 2nd: The second Self-efficacy, Factor 3rd: prestige of the language and Factor 4th: Affective Domain). In order to measure the participants’ first language attrition level, three picture naming tasks and two writing tasks were also used. Finally, Think Aloud Protocol was applied to randomly selected 14 volunteer participants to learn more about the reasons of attrition and to validate all the information obtained from the questionnaire and the tasks. The results have shown that there is not only a significant correlation between attitude and such variables as language maintenance, language choice and the frequency of language use, but also a strong correlation between attitude and the performance of the participants in the picture naming tasks and the writing tasks.