Attitudes Toward English in Bosnia and Herzegovina: A Comparative Study

Larger comparative studies into Europeans’ attitudes toward English are scarce particularly those researching southern-eastern European countries. Thus, the present study explores attitudes toward English among 1,179 respondents in Bosnia and Herzegovina, contrasting two emerging attitudinal clusters. Moreover, the study also compares Bosnians’ attitudes with the attitudes of two other national groups, that is, German and Dutch, from Edwards and Fuchs study. The findings show that younger and better educated Bosnian respondents with higher English proficiency are more favorably inclined toward English, whereas older, less educated Bosnian respondents with lower English proficiency are not as well-disposed toward English and express concerns over its consistent presence. Compared to German and Dutch respondents, Bosnians are less confident about the status of their L1, more deeply engrossed in English and like and prefer using it significantly more than two other national groups. They are exonormatively oriented and aim toward native-like pronunciation.