Introduction
In the context of this quantitative study, it is important to explain the variety of EFL teachers’ attitudes towards the communicative language teaching method adopted at schools in Saudi Arabia. The functional theory of attitudes that was developed by Daniel Katz in the 1960s has been selected as a theoretical framework for this research. According to this theory, people usually have certain reasons for developing different, positive or negative, beliefs and attitudes regarding particular phenomena and situations (Katz, 1960). Various attitudes serve specific functions for people who demonstrate them, and Katz discussed four types of functions for individuals’ attitudes: instrumental, knowledge, value-expressive, and ego-defensive.
Main text
The reason for selecting this theory for supporting EFL teachers’ attitudes towards the communicative method is that their attitudes and behaviors can be associated with all these functions. The instrumental function can be observed if teachers form their attitude depending on understanding the practical advantage of the method for learners and education in Saudi Arabia in general. Still, if teachers express negative attitudes towards a new teaching method, the reason can be in the knowledge function (Albarracin, Johnson, & Zanna, 2014; Katz, 1960). Thus, they tend to refer to stability and order in teaching even if being guided by stereotypical but familiar visions.
Conclusion
Teachers’ attitudes can also be based on the values they share and try to promote in their work. Finally, teachers can demonstrate negative attitudes towards the teaching method because of the ego-defensive mechanism, as they lack certain skills for using this approach (Albarracin et al., 2014). From this perspective, the functional theory of attitudes is effective to support the examination of EFL teachers’ attitudes towards the communicative language teaching method referring to their motives, knowledge, and awareness of the role of this approach for students (Lee, Martin, Thomas, Guillaume, & Maio, 2015). This theory is appropriate to explain why teachers in Saudi Arabia can express positive or negative attitudes towards the observed change.
References
- Albarracin, D., Johnson, B. T., & Zanna, M. P. (Eds.). (2014). The handbook of attitudes (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Psychology Press.
- Katz, D. (1960). The functional approach to the study of attitudes. Public Opinion Quarterly, 24, 163-204.
- Lee, A., Martin, R., Thomas, G., Guillaume, Y., & Maio, G. R. (2015). Conceptualizing leadership perceptions as attitudes: Using attitude theory to further understand the leadership process. The Leadership Quarterly, 26(6), 910-934.