Exploring Iranian EFL Learners’ Attitudes towards English Language Norms and Their Impacts on Ideal L2 Self, Criterion Measure, Cultural Interest, and Integrativenes

This study investigated the Iranian EFL learners’ attitudes toward English norms (standard vs. nativized). Moreover, the roles played by these attitudes in some motivational factors were examined. The study utilized a mixedmethods approach (QUAN→qual). To this end, four participants were interviewed for the QUAL part and 162 EFL learners were selected for QUAN phase from different private language institutes and universities in Mashhad and Nyshaboor, two cites in northeast of Iran. They were asked to complete a battery of two questionnaires: 1) Attitudes towards English language norms in the expanding circle questionnaire (Khatib & Rahimi, 2015) and 2) Dornyei’s L2 motivational self-system questionnaire. The results of structural equation modeling (SEM) indicated that attitudes to English language norms positively and significantly predicted all the motivational components: Ideal L2 self (β= .32, t= 4.09), criterion measure (β= .29, t= 3.85), cultural interest (β= .33, t= 5.12), and integrativenes (β= .28, t= 3.33). The results of interviews were in line with those of quantitative phase. The conclusions and pedagogical implications of the investigation as well as limitations and suggestions for further research were discussed. KeywordAttitudes to L2 Norms; Ideal L 2self; Integrativeness; Cultural Interest; Criterion Measure; Sem Analysis


INTRODUCTION
It is generally accepted that English is a language being used as a first, second, or a foreign language in most countries around the world. The reason behind this fact, to some extent, is related to the colonialism and migration in the 19th century and the growth of technology in some countries in which English is used as the language of science, economics, technology, politics, etc. Graddol (2007) [21] stated that a more acceptable reason for English becoming a world language is that it is used as a lingua franca for the recent years, for international relations, for the world networks news, for international vacation industry, as well as for tourism, science and technology and education. Weber (1999) [45] and Al-dosary (2010) [1] noted that it is no surprise that over 150 million children English learners in primary or secondary schools study as a foreign language universally, or as an obligatory or optional language in most countries.
Therefore, English as a world language is used progressively all around the world. It has triggered several debates about English language norms. For many years, emulating native speaker norms or Standard English, British or American English has been the common question in language pedagogy. On the other hand, with the advent of notions such as English as a global language (Crystal, 2003;Gnutzmann, 1999 [20]), English as an international language (Jenkins, 2000) [24], world Englishes (Jenkins, 2006[25]; Kachru, 1985Kachru, , 1990), and English as a lingua franca (House, 1999[23]; Seidlhofer, 2001[42]), standard norms, which suppose that non-native speaker norms are inferior to native-speaker norms, have been attacked on the basis that localized norms should be employed to suit the needs of the local communities (Canagarajah, 2006[5], as cited in Khatib & Rahimi, 2015[32]). This in turn has led to the debate on whether the native English norms (standard norms) should be used or not.
In this regard, learners' attitude about these norms is presumed to have impact on the learners' Motivation. In SLA, Dornyei and Otto (1998) [10] defined motivation as a dynamic process that is located within the individual learner who selects, prioritizes, and operationalizes activity based on "dynamically changing cumulative arousal," (p.65). Cohen and Dörnyei (2003, p.172) [7] posited that motivation is often seen as the key learners' variable because without it, nothing much happens.
The most comprehensive work on language attitudes is by Baker in 1992. Baker provided attitude's theory and research practice and models in order to assess language, explaining the significance and importance of attitudinal research for language policy and language planning, "In the life of a language, attitudes to that language appear to be important in language restoration, preservation, decay or death. If a community is grossly unfavorable to bilingual education or the imposition of a 'common' national language is attempted, language policy implementation is likely to be unsuccessful." (Baker, 1992, p. 9) [2]. Another key figure on attitudinal disposition is Kachru. He explains, "A frequent usage is not always the usage that is attitudinally or socially accepted." (Kachru, 1986, p. 87) [27]. After independence, India has had to answer major questions about which variety of English should be used in modern English teaching. Had it better for British English to stay as the teaching norm or should Indian English be recognized as an appropriate model? Scholars have discussed that the British English variety has retained its control on the education system despite the elimination of the British (Krishnaswamy, 2006). Kachru also stated this point, "Teaching materials and teacher training programmes do not generally present a 'linguistically tolerant' attitude towards non-native localized varieties, or towards the speakers of varieties considered different from 'standard' ones." (Kachru, 1986, p. 87) [27] English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) Seidlhofer at university of Vienna organized a descriptive study in 2001 under the title of "Closing a conceptual gap: the case for a description of English as a lingua franca". Seidlhofer (2001) [42] discussed that "now that the right to descriptions in their own terms has finally been recognized for nativized varieties of English, it is high time that we granted the same right to ELF" (p.138). Her argument is that we must overcome the (explicit or implicit) assumption that ELF certainly could be a universally distributed, granted copy of ENL. Also it must be considered and acknowledged that ELF is being spread and developed independently, with different variation but enough solidity to be possible for lingua franca communication. English as a Foreign Language (EFL) Rrgarding the comparison among different varieties of English such as (world Englishes, ELF, ESL, EFL, EIL), EFL is considered the traditional models of English. Foreign language definitions imply that it is a customary word intended for the use or study of the English by non-native speakers in which English is not a local medium of communication in that countries. EFL, English as a foreign language, indicates the learning of English in a non-English-speaking country. Thus, it is usually learned in settings where the language of the community and the school is not English. English as a Foreign Language (EFL) corresponds approximately to the Expanding Circle concept which is described fully by Kachru in "Standards, Codification and Sociolinguistic Realism: The English Language in the Outer Circle" (1985). English as an International Language (EIL) Accordingly, the role of English goes beyond just the language of international communication, the language in which the learners should reach to degree of proficiency to expose their qualities and embrace academic and professional opportunities. It should be mentioned that, relying merely on an ELF approach, which emphasizes international intelligibility as the most important standard in English learning and teaching cannot acquaint the learners with a comprehensive model of language learning in order to fulfill both international intelligibility and intranational needs.
In the same way, Garcia (2013) [12] critically reviewed and talked over English as an International Language (EIL), as an alternative to the traditional models of English as a Foreign Language (EFL), and English as a Second Language (ESL). World Englishes The term World English (or World Englishes) revolves around the English language which is widely used throughout the world. It is also known as international English and Global English. Recently, English is spoken in more than 100 countries all around the world. One of important figures in this field is Kachru. He has divided the varieties of World English into three concentric circles: inner, outer, and expanding circles (Kachru, 1997).World English has been viewed by Brutt-Griffler (2002) [4] as a period in the history of the English language. This duration includes the transformation of English as a native language of many countries to nonnative speakers of other countries. The diversity of models is the product of widely spread of English. It is important to consider that these varieties result not from the unreliable, defective, and imperfect learning of the nonnative speakers, but from the nature of the process of micro acquisition, language spread and change.

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
The purpose of the present study is to delve into attitudes towards English language norms among a sample of EFL university's and institutes' students. This study incorporated both qualitative and quantitative approaches (QUAN→qual). In quantitative part, a relevant questionnaire measuring EFL learners' attitudes towards English norms was distributed among participants. It has five subscales (linguistic instrumentalism, communicativity, ethno validity/ethnorelativity, language maintenance, and language prestige). In qualitative part, a number of participants (four participants) were interviewed to unlace their attitudes towards L2 norms.It seeks to examine the role of these attitudes in their motivational disposition, including, ideal L2 self, criterion measure, cultural interest, and integrativeness. . To obtain reliable data, after a brief explanation about the items, instruction, and the purpose of this study, the researcher reassured them that their replies would be kept confidential; Furthermore, the participants were required not to write their names on the questionnaires. They were assured that their responses would be confidential. Moreover, the questionnaires were coded numerically and the participants were asked not to write a name on them.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS
In addition, the participants were asked to write some demographic information such as age, gender, place of education, and educational level. All of them had the Iranian nationality and from different cultures and social classes but mostly the same background. Some of the participants of present study were both teachers and students. As teachers, they were teaching in language institutes, and as students, they were studying at universities. They participated voluntarily.

Instruments
To conduct the study, the following instruments were employed. The QUAN part of study was conducted by the use of two questionnaires as follows: a. Attitudes towards English language norms in the expanding circle questionnaire The first instrument is a newly developed questionnaire designed and validated by a team of Iranian researchers (Khatib & Rahimi, 2015)[32] to investigate Iranian EFL learners' attitude towards the use of native versus nonnative English language norms. It contains 26 items and five factors including linguistic instrumentalism, communicativity, ethno relativity, language maintenance, and linguistic prestige. Table 1 represents the reliability indices of the scale.  [15].  Ethno relativity: This component is defined as the desire on the part of language learners to look like native-speakers of English and start a relationship with them through using English as genuinely as possible without giving up their own cultural beliefs, which is closely associated with integrative orientation in language learning (Gardner & Lambert, 1972) [15].
 Communicativity: It is based on the concept of intelligibility (Jenkins, 2000;Nelson & Smith, 1985)[39] and used in its broadest sense to mean both "intelligible production and felicitous interpretation of English" (Nelson 1995, p.274) [38] in terms of linguistic properties including grammatical, phonological, and morphological aspects of language. Nelson notes that "being intelligible means being understood by an interlocutor at a given time in a given situation" (1982, p.59).  Language prestige: It refers to people's judgment about a speaker's social statues such as education and intelligence, made on the basis of a language or a language variety used by those speakers.
According to accent prestige theory, people use a speaker's accent or specific dialect or variety of a language as a cue for judging the characteristics of the people (Fuertes, Potere, & Ramirez, 2002) [11].  Language maintenance: it is defined as preserving the linguistic properties of English language and protecting them against any change. Conformity to conventions and preserving the stability of English language lies at the heart of this component, which has its root in linguistic purism or protectionism. According to Thomas (1991) [43], purism "is the manifestation of a desire on the part of a speech community (or some section of it) to preserve a language form, or rid it of, putative foreign elements or other elements held to be undesirable"(p.12). Sample items for each subscale are as follows:   Papi (2010) was utilized in the present study. This questionnaire is composed of two major parts: the first part consists of 76 items measuring the learners' attitudes and motivation concerning English learning and the second part consists of 10 questions about the learners' background information (as cited in Ghanizadeh & Rostami, 2015) [19]. Five subscales out of 10 factors were selected for this study (Ideal L2 self, criterion measure, attitudes to L2 self, cultural interest, and integrativeness). Table 2 displays the reliability indices (measured via Cronbach's alpha) of the questionnaire in the original study (Papi, 2010) [40]. The definitions of these subscales are as follows: (1) Criterion measures assess the learners' intended efforts toward learning English.
(2) Ideal L2 self refers to the "L2-specific facet of one's ideal self"(Dörnyei, 2005, p. 106) [6]. (7) Attitudes to learning English measures situationspecific motives related to the immediate learning environment and experience. (9) Cultural interest measures the learner's interest in the cultural products of the L2 culture, such as TV, magazines, music and movies. (10) Integrativeness measures attitude toward the second language, its culture and the native speakers of that language.

Data collection
The target study aimed to explore the Iranian EFL learners' attitudes toward English norms by utilizing SEM and interview. Therefore, in order to conduct the QUAN part of the study, two different questionnaires were used. The first questionnaire consisted of 26 items to measure the Iranian EFL learners' attitudes to L2 norms. The second questionnaire was adopted from Dornyei that measured their motivational disposition. The target data was gathered between spring and winter of 2016. It took about six months. It was carried out in two different contexts and cities. Some of the data were collected from university students and some of them from institutes' students. Data collection was done during the time of instruction mostly with the presence of their teachers. After setting special time to fill out, their papers were gathered. The required time for filling out both questionnaires was about 15 minutes. The required data for the QUAL part were gathered from interview with four participants (two males & two females). After setting special time for each interview (about 10 minutes) and asking four questions, semi-structured interviews were conducted with the aforementioned participants.

Data analysis
The quantitative data collected by means of the questionnaires were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 21.0 as well as LISREL 8.50 statistical package. The inter-reliability of the items was calculated by the Cronbach's alpha. In addition, the possible relationships between variables were identified by SEM and Pearson correlation coefficient. In addition, descriptive statistics, including means and standard deviations, were used to summarize the data. As the researcher utilized mixed-methods approach, for the analysis of the QUAL phase of the study interview protocols were coded and analyzed.
To examine the structural relations, the proposed model was tested using the LISREL 8.50 statistical package. A number of fit indices were examined to evaluate the model fit: the chi-square magnitude, which shouldn't be significant, Chi-square df ratio, which should be lower than 2 or 3, the normed fit index (NFI), the good fit index

RESULTS
The study intended to investigate the effects of learners' attitudes toward English language norms (Standard vs. nativized norms) in learners' motivational disposition, including, ideal L2 self, criterion measure, cultural interest, and integrativeness. There was one independent variable: attitudes toward English language norms with five subscales (linguistic instrumentalism, communicativity, ethnorelativity, language maintenance, and language prestige). Effects of this independent variable on four dependent variables, ideal L2 self, criterion measure, cultural interest, and integrativeness were examined. As discussed in Chapter 3, six research questions were formulated from the research purpose and the literature review. The results are presented in two separate sections: quantitative analysis (via SEM) and qualitative analysis (via interview analysis).Tables and figures provide detailed descriptions of the findings.

Quantitative Phase
Descriptive statistics including number of participants, mean, standard deviation, minimum, and maximum were measured for all required factors of the applied instruments in the current study. Tables 3 presents' descriptive statistics of attitudes to English language norms and its comprising factors. As the Table indicates, attitudes to English language norms have a mean score of 113 and the maximum score is 150.

Results of Structural Equation Modeling
Structural equation modeling (SEM) is a family of statistical methods designed to test a conceptual or theoretical model (Kaplan, 2007). Some common SEM methods include confirmatory factor analysis, path analysis, and latent growth modeling. The term "structural equation model" most commonly refers to a combination of two things: a "measurement model" that defines latent variables using one or more observed variables, and a "structural regression model" that links latent variables together. The parts of a structural equation model are linked to one another using a system of simultaneous regression equations (Kline, 2011).
To assess research questions number (1-4) Structural Equation Modeling was conducted. Figure 1 indicates the schematic representation of the relationships among the variables. As stated earlier, attitude toward English language norms with five subscales linguistic instrumentalism, communicativity, ethnorelativity, language maintenance, and language prestige) is the independent variable. Effects of this independent variable on four dependent variables, ideal L2 self, criterion measure, cultural interest, and integrativeness were examined. To examine the structural relations, the proposed model was tested using the Lisrel 8.5 statistical package. A number of fit indices were examined to evaluate the model fit (Schreiber, et al. 2006). The acceptable criteria for fit indices are presented in Table 5. The correlation coefficients among the variables are presented in Table 6. As can be seen, attitude to English language norms has significant but weak correlations with all motivational components: Ideal L2 self (r=.38, p<0.05), criterion measure (r=.30, p<0.05), cultural interest (r=.834, p<0.05), and integrativeness (r=.28, p<0.05).

Results of the interviews
Qualitative content analysis was conducted in this study. The data including interviews were analyzed through reading, coding, and revising the codes. In this way, we hope to answer research questions 5 and 6 or better to say QUAL research questions. QUAL research questions: 1. What are learners' attitudes toward English language norms? (Standard or native norms) 2. How might attitudes toward English norms influence on motivation to learning? Primarily, in the actual analysis, the researcher read transcripts repeatedly and highlighted the parts that appeared to be relevant. The researcher coded each part manually and identified recurrent codes. The researcher then went through the codes and identified recurrent patterns. Finally, identified patterns were presented and discussed. During this process, quotations were made from the highlighted parts, and the researcher translated the quoted parts into English. It was tried to retain as much of the essence and intention of what the interviewees said as possible, rather than attempting a word for word translation.

Individual interviews
In this section, the semi-structured individual interviews with four participants of both gender were administered face-to-face, either on location or by telephone. Each interview lasted about 15 minutes. A topic list was used to structure the interview questions. These topics included the general attitudes toward norms and a list of some questions related to motivational factors. They were two males and two females of two different related contexts (universities and institutes). They were from Mashhad. Participant A was a woman from Imam Reza International University with MA degree in English teaching. She was at the same time, both teacher and student, she was teaching in institute and graduating at university as a MA student. Participant B was a male student from Azaran private institute with BA degree on civil engineering. Participant C was a female teacher from institute with BA degree on English teaching. In addition, the last participant was a BA male student from Imam Reza International University in English teaching. Their age range was between 20 to 38 with more than four years of English teaching or learning experience. Thus, attempt was made to cover all demographics information such as age, level, and major. In general, on the basis of the findings set out in the previous section, their opinions were in line with QUAN phase. The requests of interview rings around the theme of attitudes toward norms and their roles on some factors of motivation include: criterion measure, cultural interest, ideal l2 self, and integrativeness. The researcher aimed to bring their ideas on the sub heading of each variable. Attitude toward norms (standard vs. nativized) 1. What are learners' attitudes toward English language norms? (Standard or native norms) In general, participants' attitude toward English norms was quite positive. Three out of four participants' attitudes had tendency toward standard norms which means they preferred British or American norms rather than nativized norms. So, three of participants agreed with the use of standard norms. Each of them had his/her own hypothesis on that subject. According to the participant C, the reason was the rules and the regulations of the institutes which were imposed on the teacher, forcing him /her to accept and obey the law of institute. She said that: Admittedly, the rules of teaching in institutes are adjusted on the basis of standard norms. In this regard, supervisor occasionally goes to the class and observes whether a teacher had had a mistake especially in pronunciation; his /her carelessness immediately should be condemned. In the similar vein, participant D said that: In my opinion, it is better to use standard norms, because when a word pronounces accurately its meaning also sounds precisely. By contrast, the participant B has neglected the implication of standard norms. Thus, there is just one negative attitude among four points of view. Overall, it implies that expert teachers of English have tendency toward standard norms. Only participant B preferred using nativized norms. In response to this question that if you prefer standard norms or localized and nativized one according to our culture and first language, he articulated that: I think it is not necessary to use standard norms certainly. When we utilize nativized norms, it does not cause problem especially in communication with non-native speakers. In order to explore the participants' idea about some motivational factors, the researcher utilized Dornyei's questionnaire on motivation. Briefly, we will bring some questions developed for Iranian EFL students as well as participants' corresponding responses to the following question: 2) How might attitudes toward English norms influence on motivation to learning? Ideal l2 self • I can imagine myself studying in a university where all my courses are taught in English.
• Whenever I think of my future career, I imagine myself using English. • I can imagine myself speaking English with international friends or colleagues. • I can imagine myself living abroad and using English effectively for communicating with the locals. • I can imagine myself speaking English as if I were a native speaker of English. • I can imagine myself writing English e-mails/letters fluently. For some of them the world of imaginations changed to reality in the way that they were using English for career, speaking English or writing e mail/letters. For example, participant A and C were using English for their professional occasion. However, participants D and B, they did not make use of English, explain their opinion in this way:

Cultural interest
• Do you like the music of English-speaking countries (e.g., pop music)? • Do you like English films? • Do you like English magazines, newspapers, or books? • Do you like TV programs made in English-speaking countries? As for another factor studied in the present study, the participants' ideas toward the cultural interest were positive. All of them liked English speaking media such as films, books, magazine, etc. However, some of them confessed that they were not fond of reading English magazines and newspapers. Only they had to study their instructional books; instead, they preferred watching movies. Here we will review the participant B ideas on English movies, which was interesting for researcher. He explained that: I like English movies because most of the fascinating movies are in English. If it were not for the sake of training aspect, I watched them with Farsi subtitle; on the other hand, if it were or was an instructional movie, certainly without subtitle even if it would be more challenging.

Explanation of the interview analysis
As can be seen, interview protocol analysis demonstrated that our participants had different attitudes on norms. Regarding the affective value of their attitudes, it is important to note that even the negative ideas should be appreciated and have their own value. Our analysis reveals that there is often a tendency toward standard norms in our context, which is not in line with current notion of world Englishes, albeit consistent with the mainstream SLA. The patterns and other related issues identified in the interview data can be summarized into the following major findings: The participants' perceptions of English norms were generally favorable. Most of the participants' attitudes were weighed toward standard norms rather than localized or nativized norms. They preferred using American or British norms in the classes. The main reason for such retardation lies in the concept of EFL. A possible reason is that English in the context of Iran is learned as an EFL rather than ESL. The finding is consistent with Dornyei (2005Dornyei ( , 2009 [6] [8]. Also, as for L2 learning motivation, the concept of the ideal L2 self was proposed in the L2 Motivational Self System (Dornyei ,2005(Dornyei , , 2009 [6] [8], suggesting that L2 learners can achieve desirable levels of L2 proficiency when they create vivid ideal L2 images. It can enhance criterion measure as well, in the way that most of important exams in the context of Iran such as IELTS and TOFEL is based on standard norms. Thus, they do more effort in order to achieve desirable level of proficiency with the purpose of being successful in their exams. In addition, when learners create ideal L2 image, they can communicate more accurately. Therefore, when learners pay more attention to norms, they can create vivid ideal L2 self as well. In this regard, motivational factors may account for enormous variation in EFL teachers' personal styles, as Dörnyei noted if teachers are motivated themselves, they can motivate learners, too (Dörnyei & Kubanyiova,2014) [9]. Thus, if the teacher, at the microsystem of the classroom, changes his/her personal styles consistent with the students' needs and the classroom environment, she/he can stimulate the learners, too which can exert a ripple effect on the other dimensions of the ecosystem as well. Regarding cultural interest, as was mentioned in the previous chapter, most of participants had a great tendency toward English cultural materials such as books, magazines, films and so on. Watching movies and reading books in English were important for them. Therefore, this study is in line with the concept supported by Gardner (1985) contended that language learners' dispositions towards the target culture and its people have a significant impact on their learning achievement.

DISCUSSION AND INTERPRETATION OF THE FINDINGS
As stated earlier, in the proposed model, learners' motivation is composed of four sub-components: Ideal L2 Self, integrativeness, cultural interest, and Criterion Measures. The concept of the ideal L2 self has the potential to overcome the distinction between instrumentality and integrativeness (Gardner, 1985) [13]. The ideal or hoped-for self is the image L2 learners would very much like to become and may envisage themselves of being a person competent in the L2. Moreover, Dörnyei (2009) asserted that ideal L2 self has a promotion focus and learners with strong ideal L2 selves are likely to align their aspirations to L2-related attributes expected in L2 use situations. According to Gardner, integrativeness reflects a 'genuine interest in learning the second language in order to come closer to the other language community. At one level, this implies an openness to, and respect for other cultural groups and ways of life. In the extreme, this might involve complete identification with the community (and possibly even withdrawal from one's original group), but more commonly it might well involve integration within both communities' (Gardner, 2001, p. 5) [14]. Cultural interest is the appreciation of cultural products associated with the particular L2 and conveyed by the media; (e.g. films, TV programs, magazines and pop music). Finally, criterion measure assesses the learners' intended efforts toward learning English, in other words it seeks to what extent learners like to spend time studying English. The results of the present study revealed the positive and direct association between learners' attitude and learners' motivation justifying the plausibility of considering the role of learners' attitudes in shaping learners' motivation.
As the results of this study revealed, if students have favorable attitudes towards English norms, they would be more motivated in learning English in terms of integrativeness, ideal L2 self, criterion measure, and cultural interest. A possible reason can be the fact that English in the context of Iran is learned as an EFL rather than ESL. The finding is consistent with Dornyei (2005Dornyei ( , 2009 [6] [8]. Also, as for L2 learning motivation, the concept of the ideal L2 self was proposed in the L2 Motivational Self System (Dornyei 2005(Dornyei , 2009 [6] [8], suggesting that L2 learners can achieve desirable levels of L2 proficiency when they create vivid ideal L2 images. Another related notion in activating the ideal L2 self is keeping the vision alive. Very little is said in the literature about activating and re-activating the ideal self, but this is an area where language teachers obtain, a great deal of experience. Classroom activities such as warm up and icebreakers as well as various communicative tasks can all be effective ways of keeping the vision alive, also playing films and music, or engaging in cultural activities can all serve as potent ideal self-reminders. It can enhance criterion measure as well, in the way that most of important exams in the context of Iran such as international English language testing system (IELTS) and test of English as a foreign language (TOFEL) are based on standard norms. Thus, they do more effort in order to achieve desirable level of proficiency with the purpose of being successful in their exams. In addition, when learners create ideal L2 image, they can communicate more accurately. Therefore, when learners pay more attention to norms, they can create vivid ideal L2 self as well. Moreover, Dörnyei (2009) [8] asserted that ideal L2 self has a promotion focus and learners with strong ideal L2 selves are likely to align their aspirations to L2-related attributes expected in L2 use situations. According to Gardner, 'Integrativeness reflects a genuine interest in learning the second language in order to come closer to the other language community. At one level, this implies an openness to, and respect for other cultural groups and ways of life. In the extreme, this might involve complete identification with the community (and possibly even withdrawal from one's original group), but more commonly it might well involve integration within both communities' (Gardner, 2001, p.5) [14]. Therefore, learners try to respect other community and say welcome to related culture when they display favorable attitudes towards L2 norms.

PEDAGOGICAL IMPLICATIONS
Based on the results of this study, it appears that attitudes toward English norms deserve specific attention and the role of these attitudes on affecting learners' motivation should not be neglected. It means to create any kind of motivation, teachers should consider learners' attitudes. To this end, teachers should be aware of learners' attitudes toward norms. Hence, if teachers utilize some strategies to create positive attitudes, this will in turn lead to a change in students' thought patterns. Accordingly, educational policy makers are recommended to present intervention programs making teachers familiarized with their students' attitudes and helping them enhance motivation on the part of learners. At the organizational levels, the strategies might include, reducing degree of polarization in the classroom; reducing number of pupils per class, and changing teaching plan. Additionally, improving learners' motivation for the organizational level could include creating a supportive atmosphere in the school; opening channels of communication; involvement in decision making, and developing a positive and open organizational environment (Ghanizadeh & Jahedizadeh, 2015b) [17].
Also, teachers should be encouraged to provide students with occasional exposure to different varieties in order to change learners' negative attitudes toward these varieties as well as familiarizing them with these varieties and their cultures.
In addition, the most remarkable result of this study for teachers will be making them treat the material and textbooks they are teaching more critically. Such critical view will be of special significance, while associated with teaching the English culture. In this regard, teachers would be more careful not to advocate American and British cultural values and pragmatic norms, which are presented in the textbooks. Instead, they would introduce them along with our cultures. In this manner, they would focus on an intercultural communicative competence and highlight the potential of English for representing different cultures.

CONCLUSIONS
The present study examined EFL learners' attitudes and its impact on their motivational disposition within the microsystem of the Iranian EFL classroom context. The major contribution made by this study lies in the description and understanding of norms and application of its impact on motivation in English learning in Iran. Findings may arouse attention on this issue, enhance English teachers' professional knowledge, and benefit English learners in Iran in the long run. More studies are needed in other region in Iran and in other countries in order to present a more holistic image of EFL learners' perception towards norms in English education.
The results of the interviews and questionnaires are highly indicative of the fact that most of the participants considered American and British English to be the best and standard variety and quite superior to the other accents. They also revealed the preference on the part of learners on acquiring and speaking with these accents. The main problem with such view is that, as Kirkpatrick (2007) mentioned it, "accents are closely bound up with feelings of personal and group identity" (p. 37). Still, according to these results, participants preferred the exclusive use of English in the class. In addition, they were quite unwilling to get familiar with nativized variety of English and using them. Finally, the participants highlighted American and British cultural norms and considered it as an important aspect of learning English.
The most important implication of this study could be an awareness of both teachers and learners of there being no best and standard variety of English, (i.e., American or British English). Both of them are two varieties of English just the same as its other varieties, with no higher status.
According to the Kachru's theory of World Englishes which gives importance to the diversity of English language, there is no one Standard English  [29]. Thus, the results demonstrated that most Iranian learners' attitudes are in contrast with the key concepts and tenets of the theory of "World Englishes" and that, their teaching and learning practices are far from this theory. These findings are in line with the claim that Iran's ELT still lives in the modernist era by believing in standard norms rather than nativized norms.
Brutt-Griffler (2002) [4] noted that the development of English into a world language links it to the field of ELT. In her arguments, English as a world language is the result of ELT, and yet also its context. She continues that the former is based on the fact that English would not become world language without ELT and the latter also is correct, because ELT now lives on an ever expanding international space. Currently, on the one hand, with widening range of using of these tools (English and ELT practices and norms) in different cultures, and on the other hand, with showing huge preferences for learning English , indeed, the Iranian society is not an exception to the rule.