Factors affecting the learning of English as a second language in Israel

The effects of the attitudes and culture of Israeli-Jewish students learning English on their reading comprehension was explored, using culturally familiar and culturally unfamiliar stories. The participants were 83 Jewish 8th graders from 2 schools in southern Israel. The instruments were an attitude questionnaire, stories in Hebrew and English, and multiple-choice questions about the stories. The students who read culturally familiar texts received higher reading-comprehension scores than the students who read culturally unfamiliar texts. The Jewish students' motivation for learning a 2nd language was instrumental rather than integrative.