A Socio-demographic Study of Attitude/Motivation in Learning English as a Foreign Language

Abstract

This study examined attitude and motivation in teenage Iranian students learning English as a foreign language to explore whether they were instrumentally motivated or integratively. The participants were 85 eleventh-grade high school students who were in the 14 -18 age range. Their language competence was investigated through an EFL test measuring vocabulary, grammar, writing and reading comprehension. They were also asked to fill out a two-part attitude/motivation questionnaire. The SPSS, version 25 and Pearson correlation coefficient were used to analyze data. The results proved that the male participants were equally integratively and instrumentally motivated. The female students were more integratively motivated proving the effect of gender on motivation. They had higher interest and a more positive attitude in learning English than male subjects. Better performance of females in language achievement test confirmed the major part of beginning age in learning English. Moreover, experiencing more dynamic and enjoyable teaching styles had an impact on language learning.

Keywords

• achievement
• attitude
• foreign language
• motivation
• socio-demographic