Abstract:
Abstract
This study aimed to explore the teachers’ and parents’ attitudes towards English language
teaching at Algerian primary schools and their possible reasons for supporting/opposing this
idea. For this purpose, the study employed a mixed method research design, where 2
questionnaires were employed: one for 15 parents and another for 2 teachers in order to
obtain the essential data for the study. Data was then analyzed statistically using SPSS
(Statistical Package for Social Sciences) and qualitatively using descriptive analysis. The
main findings indicated that the study’s participants generally agree with the idea of
introducing English at primary schools because they believe that it makes pupils very
proficient in English, develops their cognitive abilities, leads to a better academic
performance in the future, and increases their learning motivation. While those who opposed
introducing English did so because they thought it is too early for pupils to acquire a foreign
language. The findings of this research imply that the English Language plays an essential
role in developing the pupils’ cognitive abilities and provides them with high gains to manage
their life in the future. Also, the main recommendations were to give English a more
important status in Algeria, giving the choice to children to choose their favorite foreign
language to study, and taking parents attitudes into account.
