Differences in Attitude and Behaviour towards Learning English Monolingually and Bilingually: A Rasch Analysis with Banda Aceh Data

ABSTRACT
Many educational variables like motivation, self-concept, self-regulation, learning and so on, have been measured using attitudes and their corresponding behaviours with the same items on a linear scale in the past two decades using Rasch analysis. Supported by the Rasch measures, the theory showed that each attitude item was easier than its corresponding behaviour item. The present study was participated by 780 male and female first-year middle school students (12-13 years old) in 2011, consisting of 394 students taught in bilingual schools and 386 students taught in monolingual schools, which were selected from a number of schools with bilingual and monolingual teaching programs in Aceh. The result of the study showed that attitudes were not always easier than their corresponding behaviours, apparently because students taught monolingually have different attitudes to learning English than bilingually taught students, although both groups of students have similar behaviours towards learning English, as determined by a Rasch measure. This is an interesting finding not previously reported and suggests that Rasch measures of student attitudes by monolingual and bilingual teaching should be further investigated.