A Study On The Language Attitude Towards English Among College Students

English education is of great significance in China today. Most of previous studies of English focus on English learning and teaching from the perspective of applied linguistics, with very few from the sociolinguistic perspective, particularly few on the language attitude towards English.Language attitude refers to an individual or some group's evaluations on language or language varieties, including affective, cognitive and conative components. Students'language attitude towards English is closely related to English proficiency and various social factors. How individuals evaluate language and language varieties has been an important topic in the field of sociolinguistics. This thesis, based on the sociolinguistic theories and social psychological theories, attempts to make an empirical study of the language attitude towards English among 400 college students in SCUN. Data are collected through random sampling and questionnaire and analyzed by SPSS for the purpose of revealing a multidimensional picture of college students'attitudes towards English and the correlations between their attitudes and linguistic and social factors.The study focuses on four questions:(1) What is the college students'overall attitude towards English?(2) What particular affective, cognitive and conative attitude towards English do college students hold?(3) What is the relationship between affective, cognitive and conative attitudes?(4) How do social and linguistic variables, such as gender, nationality, academic major, English proficiency and the time of starting to learn English influence college students'language attitude towards English?The main findings go as follows: most of the college students have a positive attitude towards English; their attitudes are influenced by both social and linguistic factors including their academic major, English proficiency and so on; students'positive language attitude towards English are related to language market value, English globalization and cultural identity; the three components of language attitude are interrelated and have some influences on one another.The findings of their attitudes can be furthered described in four aspects:(1) Affective attitude: English proficiency and academic major have great influence on their affective attitude towards English, while gender, nationality and the time of starting to learn English have much less influence.(2) Cognitive attitude: most college students have a positive evaluation of the social status and functions of English in China today, but few associate with a higher personal social status; most of them tend to hold an instrumental attitude to English; their English proficiency and academic major have greater influence on cognitive attitude; most college students don't see the use of English as a threat for the Chinese culture; English popularity in China can be acceptable at the premise of Chinese as a dominant language in China.(3) Conative attitude: most college students are pleased to learn English and practice English in any possible situation.(4) There are certain links between affective, cognitive and connative components. Affective components have little effect on connative components. Behavioral tendency is not a truly reflection of affection, while cognitive components have much effect on language attitude and behaviors.The study will be of help to widen the field of the academic studies of English. The findings will be of value for English teaching and English education planning in China.