INTRODUCTION OF CHINESE AT UNIVERSITY OF LAGOS: A STUDY OF STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS CHINESE

Abstract

Language attitude is the feelings people have about their own language or the language of others Attitudes towards a language may show what people feel about the speakers of that language. Expressions of positive or negative feelings towards a language may reflect impressions of difficulty or simplicity, ease or difficulty of learning, degree of importance, elegance, social status, etc. Attitude may have an effect on second or foreign language learning. To find out the attitude of students learning Chinese at University of Lagos, a questionnaire is used as a method of data collection. The mentalist approach to attitude is the theoretical framework adopted in this research. The finding shows that students learning Chinese at University of Lagos have positive attitude towards Chinese language. This is a good omen for the future of Chinese language in Lagos.