Taalattitudemeting in Theorie en Praktijk (TAS)

Empirical investigations of the so- called affective factors in foreign- language teaching /learning processes regularly make use of instruments which are designed to measure the general attitude towards foreign- language learning. They frequently consist of ad hoc construc-ted, often insufficiently refined scales. The step- by-step construction of a Likert- type foreign- language attitude scale (TAS: Taal-Attitude-Schaal) is discussed. Though originally conceived to meet certain scientific needs, TAS may also be used in educational practice. The results of a first investigation concerning the predictive validity of TAS and the determination of the initial attitudes of pupils at the beginning of the first year of the secondary school are reported. They fehow that the predictive power of the general attitude towards foreign-language learning (as measured by TAS> is rather weak.