Social Factors Influencing Non-English Major Professors' Attitudes in Islamic Azad Universities of Third Area towards Learning English as an Academic Language (Case Study: Babol Branch)

Nowadays, professors of different universities around the world with different majors need to learn English for their academic advancement and research promotion. This requires that they have positive attitudes towards English language learning. In this regard, the role of social factors can be useful. Hence, this study was an endeavor to examine the social factors influencing non-English major professors' attitudes towards English as an academic language. To this end, a questionnaire was used as a research instrument. It was administered to 100 non-English major professors of Islamic Azad University Babol Branch, Babol, Iran. The findings revealed that there was a meaningful relationship between social factors and non-English major professors' attitudes towards English language learning. In this regard, about 44/7 percent of attitudes changes related to the independent variable and the variables of the level of English language proficiency and parents and friends' encouragement are more meaningful than other variables with the probability 99 percent. Also, the role of English language proficiency is more prominent than other variables. Finally, on the basis of the findings, the study recommended that the university policy should stipulated that English should be strictly used as a language of learning and teaching with the aim of helping teachers because they need English for their academic improvement.