Many official papers and research studies suggest that the low academic performance of science students in Sultan Qaboos University (SQU in Oman may be due to their being taught in a foreign language, namely English. This belief has prompted the researcher to embark on the present endeavour. Since it would be impractical to investigate within a study of this scale all possible factors relating to the problem, three factors highlighted by previous studies, namely, attitudes, motivation and academic self-concept_ were chosen as the focus for this work. This study is a modest attempt to explore the intricacies of the multidimensional nature of attitudes, self-concept and motivation and their relationship to academic performance. Sex, level of education (first and fourth year stages), and also the main subject differences, were also investigated in relation to the above variables. Thus, this study attempts to fulfil the following objectives: 1- ascertaining hat relationships, if any, exist between attitude, academic selfconcept and motivation of students learning science in English. 2- finding out to what extent the above variables are mutually influential. 3- proposing recommendations. The study is limited to the SQU science students, with the sample taken from the five relevant colleges in the university. Three questionnaires were developed and administered to 565 students of both sexes, drawn from the first and fourth years. 39 lecturers were also interviewed.

Many official papers and research studies suggest that the low academic performance of science students in Sultan Qaboos University (SQU in Oman may be due to their being taught in a foreign language, namely English. This belief has prompted the researcher to embark on the present endeavour. Sin...