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taught at school, the desire to remain within one's own peer group
and to maintain previously established behavioral patterns over
shadows the integrative motivation for learning a second language.
Both Krashen (1978) and Schumann (1978) believe that attitude toward
the target language speakers is more important than aptitude in second
language acquisition.
An analysis of students' and parents' self-rating of language
proficiency did provide some interesting data. Students' self-ratings
of their ability to speak, understand, read, and write English were
significantly correlated with oral and total English scores. Only
reading and oral English and writing and total English were not
significantly correlated. No significant correlations were found for
the students' self-ratings with rank on oral and total Spanish. Parents'
self-ratings in speaking and writing Spanish are significantly correlated
with students' rank on oral Spanish scores. Although the relationship
is tenuous, it may be parents' reinforcement of Spanish language skills
in the home is another significant factor influencing English learning.
The analyses indicate that there is a relationship between fluency
in one language and acquisition of the second. Parents' self-ratings
of Spanish language are significantly correlated with students' rank
on oral Spanish skills. Rank on Spanish skills is significantly cor
related to rank on English skills. These statistically significant
correlations indicate a need for further research to determine how
parents' attitude and ability in first language may influence second
language acquisition. Wells' (1981) work suggests some explanations
for the first language relationship between parent and child language.