2014 IJRSLL – Volume 3 Issue 2
Author/s:
Sung, Ko-Yin*
Utah State University, USA (koyin.sung@usu.edu)
Tsai, Hsiao-Mei
Utah State University, USA (disappear9541@gmail.com)
Abstract:
In this study, the researchers surveyed 130 language learners enrolled in first-year foreign language classrooms in a public university in Utah, United States. This study intended to address the following research questions: (1) What motivational factors are found among learners enrolled in first-year foreign language courses at the university level in the United States?, (2) Do first-year language learners’ motivations differ based on the following learner variables: (a) gender, (b) language being learned, (c) major, and (d) religion? and (3) What motivational factors predict learners’ interest in continuing foreign language learning? Factor analysis, MANOVA, and multiple regressions were run to answer the questions. The factor analysis results found seven motivational factors: positive learning attitudes/experience and intended efforts, interest in culture, travel, and people, interest in contemporary cultural media, milieu, instrumentality, language requirement, and religion. The MANOVA results showed that major and religion had significant effects on motivation. The results of the multiple regression test indicated that two motivational factors, positive learning attitudes/experience and intended efforts, and interest in culture, travel, and people, predicted the participants’ interest in future L2 study.
Keywords: language learning motivation; religion; major; college learners; survey study
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5861/ijrsll.2013.561
*Corresponding Author