Investigating the Relationship between Students' National and Religious Identity and Their Attitude towards Learning English

In addition to communication, language can play different roles in society. The role of foreign language on identity has been confirmed by researchers such as Whorf and Sapir. Hence, the main purpose of this study is how attitudes towards learning English and the national and religious identity of the students. The data used in this study were collected through two questionnaires: Lotfabadi’s religious and national identity questionnaire and Gardner's attitude. The statistical population included 130 students of Islamic Azad University, Shiraz branch, who were randomly selected. The results of the research showed a positive correlation between the attitude towards learning English and national identity (r=0.597) as well as religious identity (r=0.662) at a reliability level of 99%. In this article, the attitude towards learning English as a foreign language is investigated in Iran. Since the impact of language and its learning is not separated from the human cognitive and perceptual system, it is fundamental to examine issues such as identity and language. According to Maskub (1373), Iranianness, identity and Iranian national sense are based on the two pillars: language and history.