Attitudes toward English and its functions in Finland: A discourse‐analytic study

Abstract

With the second cognitive revolution, a new paradigm is emerging in (social) psychology: positivism is giving way to social constructionism. Consequently, this paper argues for a redefinition of terms and reconsideration of methodology in research on language attitudes. More specifically, it argues that mentalistic definitions of attitudes be replaced with social ones, and experimentation with the matched‐guise technique with discourse‐analytic research. These developments are illustrated with a qualitative study concerning the attitudes or views held by college students towards English in Finland, based on their written responses to a letter‐to‐the‐Editor that basically argued against the use of English in the country for a number of reasons.