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AGE-RELATED DIFFERENCES IN THE MOTIVATION OF LEARNING ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE

Judit Kormos and Kata Csizér

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This study describes the motivation for learning English as a foreign language in three distinct learner populations.

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secondary school pupils, university students, adult language learners.

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In this context, most language teachers who work both in the public and private language teaching sectors would admit that adults and adolescents require different motivational strategies.

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 The research’s aims

Firstly, the authors explore possible differences among three distinct learner groups.

Secondly, they also intend to test the role of three main concepts in learning English.

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For the secondary school pupils: in English-language cultural products

that affected their motivation

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For the two older age groups : the L2 as instrumental in getting better

jobs and higher salaries.

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Data

Participants secondary school and university

students as well as adult language learners.

A total of 623 participants were asked to fill in the questionnaires.

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secondary school students0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

malesfemales

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average age 02468

1012141618

years

years

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university students0

20406080

100120140160180

malesfemales

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average age0

5

10

15

20

25years

years

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adults0

20

40

60

80

100

120

malesfemales

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average age05

10152025303540

years

years

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76 questions for secondary school and university students

72 questions for adult learners.

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Aimed to measure the most important factors in L2 learning motivation.

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The questions mainly intended to cover the following three variables:

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1. Integrativeness Example: How much would you like to

become similar to the people who speak English?

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2. Instrumentality Example: How much do you think

knowing English would help your future career?

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3. Cultural interest Example: How much do you like the

films made in the United States?

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Results

Integrativeness University students’ and adults’ scores

showed that they accepted the international role of the English language and regarded the knowledge of this language highly useful in today’s globalized world.

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Results

Integrativeness For secondary school students,

however, this did not seem to be an important factor in learning English.

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Results

Instrumentality

University students and adults seemed highly motivated to learn the language.

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Results

Instrumentality

Secondary school students’ scores on the instrumentality scales were lower.

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Results

Cultural interest Cultural interest was a significant factor

in the secondary school sample.

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Results

Cultural interest It did not seem to give much incentive to

the other groups to learn English or to improve it.

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Discussion

The authors found out that as students get older, the concept of integrativeness seems to be less important for learners and its role seems to be taken over by that of instrumentality.

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Discussion

The results might also suggest that in countries like Hungary, where the national economy is largely dependent on foreign companies and international relations, the role of instrumental incentives play a more important role in learning English.

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Discussion

The language learning attitudes of younger students are primarily based on

classroom experience and are largely shaped by teachers,

older students have clear goals with language learning and are less dependent on their teacher and classroom experiences.

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Discussion

For university students, there is a compulsory factor in language learning, as they cannot receive their diploma until they obtain the language certificates.

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Discussion

The adult learners might learn English in their free time for their own pleasure, yet they might also experience pressure from the job market to have a high L2 competence.