Investigating the motivational factors of high school students in Korea in learning English = Investigating the motivational factors of high school students in Korea in learning English

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

This survey-based study investigated the English learning motivation of 222 learners (Grades 10 and 11) belonging to two high schools in Gyeongnam Province, Korea. The study aimed to answer three questions: (1) Which factors impact on high school students' level of intended effort?; (2) How much variance in intended effort is explained by the plausible ideal L2 self, after controlling for integrativeness?; and (3) Do males and females differ in terms of their means on the motivational factors examined by this study? The survey instrument, which was administered in Korean, was based on a questionnaire developed for the Japanese context (see Taguchi, Magid, & Papi, 2009). It included 9 multi-item scales items related to Dőrnyei’s (e.g., 2010) L2 Motivational Self System as well as Gardner’s socio-educational model (e.g., Gardner, 2010). The scales, which were validated in a previous study, included interest in English (8 items; Cronbach’s alpha= .89), instrumentality-promotion (8 items; Cronbach’s alpha= .89), family-activated ought to L2 self (6 items; Cronbach’s alpha= .83), plausible ideal L2 self (6 items; Cronbach’s alpha= .84), cultural interest & attitude toward the L2 community (7 items; Cronbach’s alpha= .84), instrumentality-prevention (4 items; Cronbach’s alpha= .81), English anxiety (4 items; Cronbach’s alpha= .80), and integrativeness (3 items; Cronbach’s alpha= .61). The criterion was intended effort to learn English (4 items; Cronbach’s alpha = .75).
Correlation and regression analyses were used to evaluate the relations among the components and intended effort (the criterion). An inspection of the correlation coefficients reveal that interest in English was most strongly correlated with intended effort (r = .723, p < .01), followed by the plausible ideal L2 self (r = .548, p < .01), and instrumentality-promotion (r = . 525, p < .01). These coefficients are very high since typical correlations in L2 motivation research are in the .30 to .50 range (Guilloteaux & Dőrnyei, 2008). In contrast, no statistically significant correlation was found between English Anxiety and intended effort to learn English. Standard regression analyses were then conducted to investigate the relative contribution of each of the identified motivational components to the criterion. The results indicate that the model explained 57% of the variance in intended effort and Interest in English made the strongest contribution to explaining variance in intended Effort (Beta= .64; p<.000).
Next, a hierarchical regression was completed to evaluate how much variance in intended effort could be explained by the plausible ideal L2 self, after controlling for integrativeness. The average variance in the intended effort measure explained by integrativeness was 27%, with the plausible ideal L2 self explaining only another 10%. This result suggests that, contrary to findings from previous studies (e.g., Taguchi, Magid, & Papi, 2009; Kim, 2011; Kim & Kim, 2012), the replacement of integrativeness by the ideal L2 self construct may not be justified in the Korean high school context.
Finally, a multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was performed to determine possible differences between the scores of boys and girls on motivational factors. Contrary to findings from previous studies (e.g., Lee, 1998; Kim, 2004; Kim, 2012), no statistically significant gender differences were apparent in this investigation. A possible explanation for this result is that previous studies examined the L2 motivation of Korean university students. In contrast, the participants in the present study were high school students, who are more likely to be similarly motivated (or demotivated) because their common goal is to study English for the college entrance examination.