Abstract This study examines the problem of high attrition rates after the introductory compulsory year for students studying LOTEs in Australian high schools. Two major sources for this problem were hypothesised: variables related to students’ socio‐cultural background and those related to the affective domain. It was hypothesised that the affective domain, i.e. a barrier to learning created by attitudes, motivations, and personal attributes, might explain a significant amount of the variance related to LOTE student retention/drop‐out rates. A quantitative study was conducted in grade 8 in three suburban high schools in Queensland using a questionnaire which collected information on a student's background, contained seven scales related to affective domain variables and asked about the student's intention to continue with language studies in the following year. Test analysis was used to check the reliability of the affective scales. A discriminant analysis between students intending to continue language ...