Abstract
School culture is found to be a significant factor that can moderate the relationship between indigenous peoples’ language attitudes and the level of indigenous language usage among college students. Using the mean scores, results revealed that Indigenous students generally hold a favorable attitude towards their indigenous language. They have also shown moderate use of their indigenous language, as indicated by their regular use of the language and sense of commitment to its preservation. Moreover, the school, where they are enrolled, has a culture that supports intentions and behaviors in the use of the indigenous language by the students. Using moderated regression analysis, the causal relationship between students’ attitude toward the indigenous language and their usage of the language was found to be significant at low and average levels of school culture (p-values =0.004 and 0.001, respectively) but became insignificant at high level of school culture (p-value=0.397). These findings implied that the school’s support of the use of indigenous language, up to an average level, can strengthen the causal relationship between students’ attitude toward their indigenous language and their usage of the language. However, at a high level of support, school culture can no longer moderate the causal relationship between the two variables. This study emphasizes the importance of the school calibrating its support of intentions and behaviors of students towards their indigenous language if it wants to affect the strength of the relationship between the two variables.
