Relations between various measures of attitudes toward self, the native language group, the target language group, reasons for learning ESL, reasons for traveling to the U.S. and attained proficiency in ESL were investigated. Attitudes toward self and the native language group were positively correlated with attained proficiency in ESL. (CHK)

Examines: (1) correlations between attitudes of Japanese students toward various variables, and their proficiency in English; and (2) the validity of attitude measures. (Author/AM)

Discusses three possible sources of nonrandom but extraneous variance in self-reported attitude data, and demonstrates that these data may be surreptitious measures of verbal intelligence and language proficiency. (Author/AM)

A return to basic inductive research methods is recommended. Specifically, the scientific method of "strong inference" ought to be applied in attempts to prove hypotheses concerning the relationship that may exist between attitude variables and the learning of a second or foreign language. These hypotheses, drawn from the literature and discussed…