Learning English is Difficult … But

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Vol. 71 No. 3 (2022) http://philstat.org.ph

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‘Learning English is Difficult … But …’: An Exploratory Study into the Attitudes and Motivation of Tahfiz Students in L2 Learning

1Hazlina Abdullah, ²Nur Fattini Mohamad Kamal and ³Haliza Harun

1,3Faculty of Major Language Studies, Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia

2Generic Programme Unit, Centre for Postgraduate Studies, Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

Article Info

Page Number: 1840-1857 Publication Issue:

Vol. 71 No. 3 (2022)

Article History

Article Received: 12 January 2022 Revised: 25 February 2022 Accepted: 20 April 2022

Abstract

With the advent of the 4IR era, English is still an important global language to be acquired owing to its central role in different fields such as business, politics, culture, and education. The need for learning the language has also become more substantial for Tahfiz school students in preparing them to fulfil the essentials of a globalised world. The dualistic educational system in Malaysia diverging from the western and the religious-based streams has left a gap since students who attend religious schools are frequently thought to have poor English language skills. These students are educated with a strong foundation of Islamic knowledge and are expected to uphold the sanctity of Islam within self and the community. The current study aims to provide an insight to further understand the extent of the attitudes and motivation in L2 learning among Tahfiz students. Employing a qualitative research design, data were collected through focus group interviews with selected Tahfiz students to gauge their attitudes and motivation in learning English. Overall, six main themes regarding Tahfiz students’ attitudes and motivation in learning English have emerged from the analysis. The students’ attitudes are found to be positive shown through two main themes:

i) positive tendency towards L2 and ii) students’ beliefs toward learning L2. Additionally, the students are also found to be motivated in learning English shown through four main themes that emerged from the data: i) career prospects ii) achieving high grades in exams iii) desire to integrate with the L2 culture and iv) Islamic drives. The findings in this study are unique in the field of attitudes and motivation because they extend the knowledge by exploring the attitudes and motivation in L2 learning among Tahfiz students, who are aspired to be future Da’ie.

Key words: attitudes, motivation, English, Tahfiz, L2

Introduction

At present, the English language is still used globally. In 2022, there are around 1.5 billion people worldwide who spoke English either as a native or a second language, slightly more than the 1.1 billion Mandarin Chinese speakers (Szmigiera, 2022). A previous study by Nishanti (2018) has highlighted some benefits of learning the English language, such as easing the way of getting in touch and communicating with people from all over the world as it is an internationally common language. Other than that, English skill is a tremendous asset for professional career considering that most companies use English as the medium of communication (Petruta, 2012)

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in Bahasa Malaysia as the national language and language of unity, and in English as the international language of communication. This means that upon leaving school, the student should be able to work in both a Malay and English language environment" (Malaysia Education Blueprint, 2013, p. E10). In conformity with the education policy, the English language is made a compulsory subject at all levels of education implying its existence "side by side with strong indigenous languages, wide use in speaking and sometimes official function, as the language of politics, higher educations, and others" (Thirusanku & Yunus, 2012, p. 2). However, many Malaysian students are still not fully successful in acquiring the language. Several studies reported the problems that students faced in learning the English language. For example, a study by Jalaludin et al. (2008) investigated the morphological and syntactical differences between the Malay language and English, and the researchers concluded that linguistics differences are shown to be one of the major factors influencing students’

inability to successfully acquire English literacy. Another study by Maros, Hua, and Salehuddin (2007) inspected the interference effect of Bahasa Malaysia as an important inhibiting factor in the acquisition of English literacy among Form One students and concluded that the learners have difficulties in using correct English grammar in their writings.

There are many factors that influence students’ success in learning English. Factors which may cause reluctance among them to participate in classroom tasks involving speaking are cultural factors, linguistic factors, and psychological or affective factors (Kukulska-Hulme et al., 2011).

Among the many, motivation and attitude are important factors in determining a student's success in learning English. Further study by Thang et al., (2012) concluded that Malaysian students are still hindered by social factors, such as lack of motivation and the desire to learn English. According to Fakeye (2010), learner’s motivation and attitude are among the most significant factors in language learning. This aligns with Gardner (2007) who also mentioned that motivation plays a key role in a successful language learning process. Furthermore, students’ attitudes and motivation are critical for effective English language teaching and learning (Hsu,2010). Indeed, students’ attitudes and motivation play an important role in learning a second language as the victory, or futility, of it will very much depend on these factors.

Attitudes and Motivation

Gardner (2001) posits that motivation includes three elements involving effort (the effort to learn the language), desire (wanting to achieve a goal) and positive affect (enjoying the task of learning the language). Within this view, Gardner (1985) highlights the concept of orientations as ‘goals’, aimed to arouse motivation and direct it to achieve the goals. Gardner and his associates introduced two orientations in particular, integrative orientation and instrumental orientation, which have been extensively discussed and explored in L2 motivation research. In this instance, instrumental orientation is defined as learning an L2 for practical purposes, such as getting a better job while integrative orientation is defined as a positive attitude toward the L2 community and a desire to become close to and even a member of that community (Gardner, 1985). Meanwhile, Gardner (1980, p. 267), defines the term attitudes as “an inference which is made on the basis of a complex of beliefs about the attitude object”, which means that attitudes are complex, with some attitudes being more likely to be based on feelings, while others being

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more likely to be based on behaviours or beliefs. Further discussion by Gardner (1980) expands Likert’s (1932) definition by describing attitude as "the sum of a man’s instincts and feelings, prejudice or bias, preconceived notions, fears, threats, and convictions about any specified topic" (cited in Gardner, 1980, p. 267).

However, Wenden (1991) suggested a broader understanding of the term "attitudes.".

According to him, the term "attitudes" refers to three different elements: cognitive, affective, and behavioural. A cognitive component consists of beliefs, ideas, or opinions about the subject of the attitude. The affective one refers to one's feelings and emotions toward an object, such as "likes" or "dislikes," "with" or "against." Finally, the behavioural component refers to the individual's actions or behavioural intentions toward the object. Accordingly, such contiguous relationship has resulted in both the attitudes and motivation to be often investigated together (Mihaljevic, 2012).

The learning of English among Tahfiz students

In the context of Tahfiz schools, there are two distinct streams: solely Tahfiz education of fully Quranic teaching, and an integration of Quranic teaching and academics (Bani et al.,2016).

Tahfiz education of fully Quranic teaching are Tahfiz schools that focus more on the memorising of the Quran and religious studies such as Fiqh (Islamic law based on Quran and Sunnah), Hadith (sayings and teachings of prophet Muhammad S.A.W.) and Nahu and Soraf (Arabic grammar). In contrast, the integration of Quranic teaching and academics combines the Tahfiz curriculum with the standardised mainstream curriculum to produce a generation that excels in religion, science, and technology (Ulul Albab) (Che-Hassan et al., 2015). Even so, according to Abdullah (2011), the Islamic studies students speak Arabic as their second language and English is considered as a foreign language for them.

With the ever evolving and globalised world that we live in today, it is unavoidable not to use the English language, including for the religious and Tahfiz school students. These groups of students are educated and equipped with a strong foundation of Islamic knowledge and are expected to uphold the sanctity of Islam within self and the community. Today, we have many capable Da'ie or preachers who can disseminate Islamic teachings in the Malay language but lack the ability to converse well in English, which is an important global language. If this is ignored, our Da'ie are not fit to handle any cascading problems regarding religion, and may miss critical issues resulting in lost knowledge, and further damage the Islamic reputation. The increasing number of Muslims in the next coming of years will demand for larger number of Da'ie who are able to explain Islamic teachings with good command of language, especially to the larger global audiences. In response to this, the current study proposes to investigate the attitude and motivation of learning English among Tahfiz students.

Attitudes and motivation in learning English

As stated earlier, attitude is defined as the sum of instincts, feelings, prejudices, preconceived notions, fears, threats, and convictions regarding any given topic, while motivation refers to the three elements involving effort, desire, and positive affect. In the context of attitudes and motivation in learning the English language, many studies revealed that attitude and motivation

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are important for language learning and have an impact on how well students learn a language (Duc & Thuan, 2021). Additionally, according to Oroujlou and Vahedi (2011), attitudes and motivation play important roles in increasing students' competency and efficiency in language learning.

A study by Karahan (2007) explored the relationship between attitudes towards the English language and its use in Turkey. The researcher found that students have mildly positive attitudes toward English language learning. Another study by Copper and Fishman (1977) analysed the attitudes of high school students from Jerusalem through the language attitudes, usage and proficiency, and the results showed positive attitudes towards English. Another study by Al-Quyadi (2000) looked at Sana'a University English majors’ motivation and attitudes toward learning English and results showed that the students had high levels of both instrumental and integrative motivation toward the English language. With regard to their attitudes, the findings indicate that the students had positive attitudes towards the English language and the use of English in the Yemeni social and educational contexts. Vaezi (2009) also claimed that Iranian students had very high motivation and positive attitudes towards learning English, and they were more instrumentally motivated.

In the Malaysian context, extensive studies have been conducted in investigating the relationship between motivation and attitude with the learning of an L2 (second language) specifically that of English among learners of different levels of education. In a study conducted by Kadir et al. (2020) involving undergraduate students from four different higher institutions around the country, namely, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia, and Universiti Malaysia Pahang, the level of motivation found reflected that of high integrative and instrumental motivations. More specifically, the students' integrative motivation was discovered to be higher than their instrumental motivation, and the study also revealed that the participants are positive towards learning English. Similar findings were also reported in an earlier study by Abdullah & M.

Shah (2014), in which the motivation and attitudes towards learning English among undergraduates at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia showed that instrumental motivation is the primary source for encouraging students to study English. Additionally, the study also found that positive attitudes towards the use of English were reflected in the use of English in education, society, and culture.

In addition, there are also studies regarding attitudes and motivation in learning L2 that centred around secondary level students. Thang at el., (2011) investigated students' views and motivation about learning English as a second language (ESL). According to the findings of this study, there is a correlation between students’ higher competence levels and positive attitudes toward learning English. The researchers concluded that attitudes and motivation are the factors that influence students to reach proficiency level. Another study by Ganapathy (2016) confirmed that a lack of an appropriate setting and teaching methods led to students developing both positive and negative attitudes and motivation for ESL. This study has demonstrated that the appropriate setting and the teachers' instructional strategies have an impact on students' attitudes and motivation.

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On the other hand, a study on attitudes and motivation among religious school students towards learning English by Ahmad, Abdullah & A. Ghani (2014) revealed that students who attend religious schools typically have inferior English language skills. The dualistic educational system in Malaysia leaves a gap since students who attended religious schools are frequently thought to have poor English language skills while the learning of other languages, such as Arabic language is high. In a study conducted by Ibrahim and Abd Rahman (2018), it was found that the level of understanding of Arabic grammar and morphology of the Quran among Tahfiz students was high. This may be due to the fact that the Arabic language is the language of the Holy Quran, hence, in the context of Islamic and Tahfiz school students, Arabic is more popular and also very much emphasised.

Accordingly, it is noteworthy to highlight that, English has become an important language to be acquired due to its integral role in different fields such as business, politics, culture and especially education. Thus, the need for learning the language has also undoubtedly become more significant for Tahfiz school students in equipping them to meet the needs of a globalised era. Thus, the current study serves as an insight to further understand the extent of the attitudes and motivation in L2 learning among Tahfiz students in ensuring that they are not left behind.

The study is guided by the following research question: What are the attitudes and motivation of Tahfiz students in learning the English language?

Methodology

To ascertain the existing attitudes and motivation in learning the English language among Tahfiz students, this study employed a qualitative research design involving data collected from interviews conducted with a group of students from selected Tahfiz schools. More specifically, these Tahfiz schools are operationalised under the administration of the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (JAIS), known as Maahad Integrasi Tahfiz Selangor (MITS). Similar to other mainstream schools in the country, these Tahfiz schools (MITS) also utilise the Malaysian mainstream curriculum endorsed by the Ministry of Education Malaysia, with added components of Tahfiz (memorising of the Quran) plus other Islamic-specific subjects.

This study took place at MITS A and MITS B (pseudonyms are used to ensure confidentiality), two (2) out of four (4) MITS (at the time the research was conducted) located in Selangor.

There were six students from each MITS which were from the low, mid, and high ability groups as identified and suggested by their English subject teachers. Each MITS was represented by six (6) participants—three (3) boys and three (3) girls from each respected group bringing the total number of participants to 12 students altogether. The varieties will help the authors to gauge the overall perspectives of the students regarding their motivation and attitudes toward learning English. Demographic information of the participants is presented in Table 1 below. .

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Table 1: Demographic information of participants

Participant Gender Age Parental Background

Father Mother

1 Fika Girl 16 Engineer Housewife

2 Aulia Girl 16 Operator Deputy Principal

3 Fatin Girl 16 Not mentioned

4 Amir Boy 16 Lecturer Teacher

5 Uwais Boy 16 Information Technologist Housewife

6 Hakim Boy 16 Technician Teacher

7 Gery Boy 16 Van Driver Food science officer

8 Halim Boy 16 Lecturer Teacher

9 Iwan Boy 16 Food health officer Student finance officer

10 Jamilah Girl 16 Officer at school Teacher

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11 Kaly Girl 16 Accountant Housewife

12 Lili Girl 16 Lecturer Teacher

Prior to the focus group interview sessions, all the necessary arrangements were made such as writing letters of approval to conduct the research to JAIS and MITS, as well as attaining consents from parents and students. As it is “important to have some means for structuring the interview and taking careful notes” (Creswell, 2008, p. 233), an interview protocol was prepared, and pilot-tested on a comparable group of students. The participants were interviewed based on the list of questions provided, and additional questions were asked to obtain further answers from the participants. The interview sessions took about forty-five minutes to an hour each. The sessions were voice-recorded and then transcribed verbatim to allow for data analysis

The data were analysed using the thematic analysis technique, following the six phases of reflexive thematic analysis by Braun and Clarke (n.d.), which “involves a reflexive, recursive engagement with the dataset, to produce a robust analysis”. The authors have come up with several emerging themes by familiarising ourselves with the dataset; coding; generating initial themes; developing and reviewing themes; refining, defining, and naming themes; as well as completing the writing up. Accordingly, analysis of the themes generated six main themes which are explained in the succeeding section.

Findings and Discussion

Overall, there are six main themes which surface regarding Tahfiz students’ attitudes and motivation in learning English. The students’ attitudes are found to be positive shown through two main themes: i) positive tendency towards L2 and ii) students’ beliefs toward learning L2.

Meanwhile, the students are also found to be motivated in learning English shown through four main themes that emerged from the data: i) career prospects ii) achieving high grades in exams iii) desire to integrate with the L2 culture and iv) Islamic drives. Figure 1 below shows the main themes generated from the data.

Attitudes & Motivation of Tahfiz Students in Learning English

Attitudes Motivation

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Positive tendency towards L2 Career prospects

- Learning English because of the environment

- Learning English to acquire new language High exam grades - Learning English for personal aims

Integration with L2 culture Beliefs toward learning L2 Islamic drives

Figure 1: Recurring themes on Attitudes and Motivation of Tahfiz Students in Learning the English Language

Attitudes of Tahfiz students

i) Positive tendency of students towards L2

In line with the study by Ajzen et al (2005), individuals with a strong desire to do something are positive. The findings revealed that the participants' attitudes were interrelated with their motivation (students’ motivation will be discussed subsequent to this point) that leads to a favourable attitude towards learning the language. Therefore, the participants with positive attitudes show that they are motivated to work hard to improve their English, and view English as a language that all people should acquire. Learners like these always create a positive attitude towards learning English (Musa et al., 2012).

Based on the findings, all 12 participants gave very positive feedback. Among the positive tendencies shown by the Tahfiz students are reflected in three further sub-themes which are:

learning English because of its classroom ambiance, as well as for the purpose of acquiring new knowledge and learning English for personal aims.

Learning English because of the environment.

As stated, all 12 students demonstrated a positive attitude toward learning the language.

“I enjoy English because English subject always have a relaxed learning environment and there is no syllabus to memorise” … (Excerpt 1, Fatin)

The tendency that she showed towards learning the English language was positive which leads to language learning. This is supported by Dorman, Aldridge & Fraser (2006) who stated that students learn better when they view the learning environment as positive and supportive.

Excerpt 2 indicates a similar pattern. Fika said that even though she is weak in the English subject, she enjoyed learning it.

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Learning English to acquire new knowledge

Excerpt 3 shows Jamilah mentioned that she likes to learn English because she can acquire new knowledge, for example the English culture.

… “I like English too, because I like to learn other things, we used to speak Malay, but if it's English, we can learn about the culture of people abroad, so we have to use English” (Excerpt 3, Jamilah).

Excerpt 4 highlights the reason that Amir watches live or recorded contents of media from the native language, is because he has the intention of speaking like them and wants to improve his English.

“At home, I'll usually watch the stream in English. As a result, the language we learn near this school, as well as the native speaker's speech, differ greatly from the one in the book. So, I feel more like trying to learn. The longer you understand, the better. In the beginning, I did not understand anything of what he said. If the native speaker speaks fast and has their own slang, as time goes on, it improves” (Excerpt 4, Amir).

Based on the results, all participants showed their positive attitudes towards learning the English language. The results found that they enjoy learning the English language even though English is quite a difficult subject for them. In line with this, many studies have found a positive relationship between student’s attitude and behavioural intention, which in this case refers to motivational factors, meaning the greater the intention to execute the activity, the more likely the behaviour will be accomplished, (Hyllegard et al., 2009; Kim, 2008; Prendergast et al., 2008; Tarkiainen & Sundqvist, 2005). Adding to that, based on the excerpts, the participants showed a desire to improve the English language and also the desire to speak in the target language.

Learning English for personal aims

Excerpt 5 indicates Gery saying that he worked hard on the English subject because he wanted to study abroad. The motivation to study abroad has led him to put much effort in order to achieve his ambition by acquiring the target language. In this case, having a goal in life will help maintain the positive attitudes of the participants.

“It can be said that I work hard because when I want to study abroad, we also have to learn about outsiders and their culture, and we have to know the culture of outsiders. If I was at home, I would read the English-to-English dictionary. I like to read dictionaries, then I like to watch English movies. I will open the subtitles and I will know what it means” (Excerpt 5, Gery)

Largely, the results have shown that the attitudes of the participants are all positive towards learning the English language. A past research by Mohd-Asraf (2005) also found similar

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findings which highlighted that almost all Malay Muslim students view English as important

“to help increase (their) knowledge” (p.111).

However, another study by Ahmad, Abdullah & A. Ghani (2014) found that religious background students show negative attitude towards learning English, mainly because of their nationality and religion. The study highlights several important conclusions about factors influencing ESL learning in the context of students from religious schools. But in the context of the current study, the participants are from integrated Tahfiz schools under the State Government, where the students are specially chosen through tests and interviews which means that they are good and selected students. The students in these Tahfiz schools undergo the national mainstream curriculum, with an additional Tahfiz curriculum. Furthermore, these Tahfiz schools are science stream, with additional Tahfiz subjects or curriculum. Many Tahfiz schools are targeting to increase a generation of Ulul Albab (to integrate Quran and Science education in their curriculum) (Hassan et al, 2015). These Tahfiz schools are equivalent to a modern Tahfiz where they implement both Tahfiz curriculum and science subjects according to the mainstream education system. Their aspiration is to produce professional Huffaz which in this case has significant value of a Muslim community with creative thinking ability, critical and innovative in science, accompanied with another plus-point which is the power of appreciation towards the Quran and teaching of the Quran (Mohd Shahril, 2013).

ii) Students’ beliefs toward learning L2

In line with Lee et al. (2011), an individual’s attitude is determined by individuals’ beliefs about an object or person. The second emerging theme related to students’ attitudes, describes that their beliefs influenced their positive attitudes in learning the English language. All participants indicate that due to its global importance, the English language is a language that everyone should learn.

This is shown through one of the participants, Jamilah, who stated that English is important, and everyone should acquire the language.

“English is a second language, and it is important. For me, the English language is a skill that we need to master because when we go to university and work later, if we can speak English, it's an advantage and a power” (Excerpt 6, Jamilah).

The participants were very much aware of the importance of English and held the belief that acquiring the English language could give them more benefits. The participants’ awareness towards the importance of English in Malaysia corresponds with how English is viewed at the tertiary level education and demanded for job entry requirements (Nich, 2005; Shanta, 2000;

Ball and Chick, 2001).

Excerpt 7 indicates Lili’s similar view whereby she believed that English is an important language.

“This second language is important in our country Malaysia. Learning English is like learning the same level as Malay because it is a second language” (Excerpt 7, Lili).

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English language are all positive which principally supports L2 learning, as stated by Aziz (2007) that students’ attitude towards language learning is regarded as one of the key factors that motivate the students to learn a language.

Motivation of Tahfiz students

In terms of motivation, the results revealed that generally all participants admit and are aware that English is an important language, and it becomes more crucial when they want to pursue their studies at the tertiary level. In this case, many of the students showed a desire to learn the English language efficiently, as they use the language for the purpose of successfully completing a certain task such as getting good jobs in the future, passing their exams, and wanting to know people from different culture.

i) Career prospects

The Tahfiz students are motivated to learn English to fulfil their future ambition. In this case, all participants are highly motivated toward learning English when they have a certain desire to have wider career prospects in the future. The following excerpts exemplify how learners exhibit such a high motivation towards learning the English language because of career prospect.

Excerpt 8 indicates Uwais’ responses that he wanted to learn English because he would like to take a computer course in the future.

“I like to study English. First, because I am interested in computers. So, if I want to study computers, most of the forums or anything I search for on Google are in English. So, I will read in English and I must study English.” (Excerpt 8 – Uwais).

Mastering English to further his studies in the future refers to a career prospect as he holds his ambition as a motivation to achieve his goal, which is enrolling in a course of his choice.

Also related to learning English for the purpose of ambition, Amir stated that he wanted to learn English because he is aspired to be an accountant in the future which requires him to be fluent in English to communicate with foreigners.

“The thing that motivates me is my ambition. My ambition is to be an accountant, so my mother told me to become an accountant. When we become accountants, we always meet people. So, I need to communicate not only with us but also with foreigners who will probably be there.

So, we must have English in ourselves to communicate with outsiders” (Excerpt 9, Amir).

Another example, of how English is important to the students is because of their aims to successfully carry out specific tasks in fulfilling their ambition. For instance, excerpt 10 shows how Hakim has always been motivated to learn English because of his ambition to be a doctor, and his dream to study overseas.

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“I want to be a doctor, so mostly the term will be used in English, so that's what motivates me the most. Because if I want to continue studying, I want to study abroad” (Excerpt 10 – Hakim).

This notion is very much evident as stated in excerpt 11, where Aulia claims that the reason many students are motivated to learn English is because of ambition.

“Our highest motivation is because of our ambition” (Excerpt 11 – Aulia).

ii) Achieving high grades in exams

Gardner (1985) believes that learners’ attitudes toward learning the target language are expected to be more relevant to obtaining a high grade in target language proficiency compared to other types of reasons. The current study supports this, as majority of the participants stated that they would be more motivated to learn English due to examination purposes. The following excerpts illustrate how learners are highly motivated, mentioning one of their aims which is to ace their exams.

Excerpt 12 indicates Halim’s response that he wanted to learn English because he wants to improve his exam scores.

“It's because of the exam marks. Every time I take the exam, I don't want a C. There is a sense of wanting to improve, right” (Excerpt 12, Halim).

Halim believed that English subject was a difficult subject to score. His motivation became high when learning English because of the exam.

A similar pattern is illustrated in Excerpt 13, where Iwan uttered that he also had the same reason which is to do well in exams.

“I also have the same reason for the exam. I will be motivated more during exam time. I have high motivation, but not much effort” (Excerpt 13, Iwan).

It clearly shows that all participants highlighted in the interview that the reason they were highly motivated is because of the purpose of the exam. The participants also mentioned that they would be more motivated during the exam period because achieving higher marks in the exam would promise them better academic results. Hence, to improve their grade, they would be motivated to learn the English language passionately.

iii) Desire to integrate with the L2 culture

Another theme that emerges from the analysis is the desire to integrate with the L2 culture. To be able to fit in the L2 culture is also one of the participants’ motivation when learning the English language. Saricoban and Metin (2000) assume that it would be advisable to use more meaningful and popular songs with adult learners that might both introduce various grammatical points and some cultural aspects of the target language. Besides, Khorsheed (2021), also stated that such attachment to English television programmes has increased students’ motivation to learn the English language.

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working, try listening to an English song. When we hear the song, try to look for the meaning that was conveyed in the song. I learn the vocabulary and I try to learn English from the songs I hear” (Excerpt 14, Hakim).

He identified how native speakers use and pronounce English words through songs, and he was intrigued to try speaking like them. Learning that way, he felt that his language proficiency has improved tremendously.

Another example is a desire to befriend with people from all over the world which has motivated Amir to improve his English.

“I like to play games and e-sports. So, because my teammates are from all over the world and English is the only language that can be used, I usually communicate with them in English to get to know them” (Excerpt 15, Amir).

In order to get to know more of his friends, the motivation inside him grew stronger. Besides, excerpt 16 shows Fatin also mentioned the reason she wanted to learn English was because she wanted to have international friends.

“Reason I like English language is because during MCO, I made a new friend, an online Korean friend. I want to interact with her, I'll have to do so in English. So, that is why I prefer English”

(Excerpt 16, Fatin).

iv) Islamic Drives

Additionally, another new theme—Islamic Drives—that is specific to the context of the current study has also emerged. Within this special theme, it is discovered that Tahfiz students are even more driven to learn English because of their commitments to their religion, such as preaching to a larger audience and enhancing their knowledge of Islam through an international language.

The findings show that Tahfiz students possess a special attitude in learning English which is driven by Islamic motives or goals.

“English is also important if Muslims want to preach. So, it will facilitate our communication with people who can speak English. When they see the tahfiz students, they will remember that we are not fluent in English” (Excerpt 17, Halim).

Excerpt 17 illustrates how Halim mentioned about the importance of the English language for Muslims. He claimed that the English language is important for a preacher because if one is not able to use the English language fluently, there will be a communication barrier for the preacher to convey messages about Islam.

Based on the findings on students’ motivation, it could be synthesised that the first three themes, namely career prospect, achieving high grades in exams, and desire to integrate with the culture, are in line with the past study by Gardner and Lambert (1972) who stated that there are two types of language learning motivation, which are instrumental motivation and

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integrative motivation. Looking further into the findings of the current study, the motivation of the Tahfiz students correspond with the two types of motivation often discussed in the literature. The types of motivation revealed from the analysis indicated that two types of motivation i.e., instrumental, and integrative motivation are present in these Tahfiz students in relation to learning the English language.

Conclusion

Further scrutiny shows that the themes of career prospect and achieving high grade in exams are compatible with Gardner’s (1983) definition of instrumental motivation that is “Learning a language because of someone or less clearly perceived utility it might have for the learner” (p.

2003). More specifically, a learner is instrumentally motivated when s/he has the desire to learn a language “to pass an exam, to use it when visiting a foreign country and to get a well-paid job.” (Wilkins, 1972, p.184).

Career prospect and achieving a high grade in exams are categorised under the instrumental motivation, whereby those goals are more effective for the participants to acquire the target language. Instrumental motivation occurs when the aim of language learning is to achieve a certain reward, prize, or promotion (Gardner, 2001; Dornyei, 2005). The findings reveal that each participant has their own instrumental motivation for learning the language, which has driven their desire to achieve the goal. It is found that the participants hold instrumental motivation, which is the desire to learn a language to attain certain goals. In the current study, Tahfiz students are also found to have instrumental motivation in learning the English language. Despite facing difficulties learning English and having additional packed schedule compared to non-Tahfiz students, the instrumental motivation that they have for learning the English language has motivated them to reach their language learning objectives. The finding is also consistent with the study by Pham & Pham (2021) who stated that the instrumental motivation is associated with a desire to learn a second language for pragmatic gains such as getting a better job or a higher salary.

Apart from instrumental motivation, Tahfiz students also displayed integrative motivation, which is evident through, another theme that emerged, which is desire to integrate with the L2 culture. This matches a past study by Dornyei & Gardner (1985), who said that integrative motivation refers to a favourable attitude toward the target language community, making it possible to wish to integrate and adapt to a new target culture through the use of the language.

This type of motivation is categorised under integrative motivation as it refers to the positive attitude of the language learner towards the language speaking community and the desire to integrate into the group (Gardner, 1959; Chalak & Kassaian, 2010). In other words, the urge to communicate with a specific culture or self-interest is known as integrative motivation, and it occurs when learners want to speak in the target language and adapt to it. Learners with integrative motivation want to learn the language so that they can better understand and get to know the people who speak that language (Hong & Ganapathy, 2017). The integrative motivation of the participants has proven to be a significant contributor to the students' language learning.

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Islamic drives has emerged as a unique finding of the Tahfiz students, whereby they strongly feel that the responsibility to uphold Islam, as well as to preach and disseminate the Islamic virtues are major reasons that motivate them to learn the English language. To this end, the discoveries in this study are unique and special in the field of attitudes and motivation and fill the gap by exploring the attitudes and motivation in L2 learning among Tahfiz students, who are aspired to be future Da’ie.

Acknowledgement

This work was supported by Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia through the USIM Grand Challenge Grant 2019 (PPPI/UGC_0119/FPBU/051000/13719).

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