MOTIVATION TO LEARN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE AND THE CORRELATION WITH STUDENT GENDER

Abstract

Motivation is an individual difference which affects Second Language Acquisition. “Motivation is responsible for why people decide to do something, how long they are willing to sustain the activity, and how hard they are going to pursue it”( Dörney 2000: 15). The aim of this paper is to investigate university students’ level of motivation and attitudes towards learning English and its correlation with student gender. The study uses a modified 44 – item survey adapted from Gardner (1985). The study reveals that students in South East European University are more instrumentally than integratively motivated to learn English as a foreign language. It seems that female students are more motivated to learn English than males but the correlation between gender, attitudes and motivation is not so significant in their levels of achievement in English classes. The study suggests that teachers play an important role in increasing student level of motivation. Therefore, they should discuss the goals and attitudes with their learners in order to make them aware of the reasons why they learn English.

Keywords: Second Language Acquisition, motivation, age, integrative, instrumental, gender.