Introduction: Language is never a neutral medium of communication. It carries social meaning, signals identity, and often becomes a basis for judgments about intelligence, credibility, education, and belonging. These judgments –whether explicitly stated or implicitly enacted– shape opportunities in classrooms, workplaces, public institutions, media, and everyday interaction. The study of language attitudes offers critical insight into how languages, accents, dialects, and multilingual practices are evaluated, and why such evaluations matter for individuals, communities, and societies.

This book introduces “language attitude” as a central topic in applied linguistics and sociolinguistics, with particular attention to their role in education, language learning, identity construction, and social inequality. It is intended for undergraduate and graduate students, teacher-education programs, and readers seeking a clear and structured entry into the field. No advanced background is assumed; rather, the text invites readers to question taken-for-granted assumptions about “good” and “bad” language, correctness, legitimacy, and linguistic asymmetry.

The chapters are organized to move progressively from theoretical foundations to empirical approaches and from individual-level attitudes to institutional, pedagogical, and policy-level implications: Chapter 1 introduces the concept of attitudes in language research and explains why language attitudes are central to understanding social interaction, inequality, and language-related decision-making. It distinguishes language attitudes from linguistic ability and highlights their relevance across domains such as education, public life, and language policy. Chapter 2 focuses on how language attitudes can be studied. It reviews major methodological traditions, including direct measures, indirect techniques such as the matched-guise method, and broader societal approaches that examine discourse, institutions, and public representations of language. Particular emphasis is placed on the challenges of measuring attitudes and the importance of methodological triangulation.

Chapter 3 investigates the key social factors that shape language attitudes and explain why evaluations vary across individuals and communities. Topics include stereotypes, cultural orientation, gender, age and generation, urbanization and mobility, and learning motivation. Rather than treating these factors as isolated variables, the chapter emphasizes their interaction in producing patterns of prestige, stigma, and exclusion. Chapter 4 examines the relationship between language attitudes and identity. It explores identity as a dynamic and socially negotiated process, showing how evaluations of language shape legitimacy, participation, and belonging. Concepts such as linguistic insecurity, investment, group membership, and ethno-linguistic vitality are discussed in relation to interactional and educational contexts.

Chapter 5 turns explicitly to language attitudes in language learning. Drawing on research in second language acquisition, sociolinguistics, and educational studies, the chapter examines learners’ attitudes toward global languages, minority and heritage languages, and accent and pronunciation. It addresses native-speaker ideology, teacher beliefs, assessment practices, motivation, anxiety, willingness to communicate, and the emotional dimensions of language learning, with particular attention to multilingual and Iranian EFL contexts. Chapter 6 explores the broader societal implications of language attitudes. It examines how attitudes intersect with power, prestige, and inequality, and how they are embedded in institutional practices such as education and language policy. The chapter highlights policy as an attitudinal framework that legitimizes certain languages and varieties while marginalizing others, and it considers future directions for research in increasingly multilingual and digital societies.

Throughout the book, the goal is not only to describe language attitudes as an abstract concept, but also to clarify how attitudes operate in real social contexts and how they may be challenged. Research on language attitudes has practical implications for education, policy, and social justice, offering tools to question discriminatory norms and to promote more inclusive and equitable linguistic futures.

Keyword: An Introduction to Language Attitude, Approaches to Study Language Attitudes, Factors Affecting Language Attitudes, Language Attitudes and Identity Construction, The Effects of Language Attitudes on Language Learning, Societal Implications and Future Directions