Literature review

A qualitative study on the topic: “Why do people learn English? What is the main motivation of people? Is it extrinsic or intrinsic?

Umman Novruzlu

EF International Language Center in Cambridge.

Table of contents:

Introduction________________________________________________3

Literature Review____________________________________________3

Methodology_______________________________________________4

Results____________________________________________________5

Conclusion_________________________________________________6

References_________________________________________________7

Appendices_________________________________________________7

Introduction

Language is a means of communication which makes relationships stronger, brings business to an international scope and helps us to understand different cultures and nations. English has become a global language of the world since the last century. There are approximately 1 billion people who speak English as a second language.(Grddol, 2000) The question is to identify what makes people learn this language. The following study will focus on the learning process as well as students motivations. The main stress will be on student’s motivation: whether it is extrinsic or intrinsic. I have been interested in this topic since I started to learn English in high school. As a student in international language school in Cambridge, it might be quite interesting to research and find out the reasons: why do people actually learn English? Is it personal interest and satisfactory or is it all for future career? We might hypothesize that for the majority of people the answer will be future career. In addition, the difference between genders will be taken into consideration and appropriate comparisons between male and female learners will be made. Finally, not only motivation itself, but also the levels of student’s incentive will be examined.

Literature review

There has been done a great deal of different researches on the language topic. I have investigated several researches on this field. One of them was made by the students of Concordia University, Montreal. The topic was “First and second language knowledge in the language classroom”. The purpose of this study was to understand how the teaching method can be developed by using the first language in acquiring the second. The results showed that there were some cognate relationships between French (first language) and English (second language) which makes learning English easier.(Horst, White, & Bell, 2010)

Another investigation was made by Hungkuang University and Da-Yeh University students about: “Personality type, perceptual style preferences and strategies for learning English as a foreign language” topic. The idea was to find out how these variables influence acquisitioning English as a second language. As a result they made a graph with different elements of learning process due to these variables. Thus, students with different personality types and cultural background showed diverse level of obtaining English.(Mei-Ling & Li-Mei, 2012)

These are all relevant to my topic; however, the most suitable research for me was the following: Dr. Azhar Mahmood and Ms. Sara Iqbal, students of International Islamic University, Islamabad (PAKISTAN), made a research on the next subject: “Difference of student anxiety level towards English as a foreign language subject and their academic achievement.” The work was mainly focused on the difference between genders anxiety level. Firstly, it describes anxiety and the role of anxiety in learning language. After, the definition was given and description of anxiety as a psychological construct was provided. Further, two different types of anxiety were explained. The main issue was to compare the levels of anxiety between genders. The findings revealed that female students are more likely to have high anxiety level than male students. Over all, the results presented that students with low anxiety level showed more academic achievement.(Azhar & Sara, 2010) This study is related to almost all English learners as everybody experience the feeling of anxiety when learning it. My study is focusing on motivation while learning language. Therefore there is cognate relationship between my study and foundational reference.

Methodology

Presently, there are three main methods are distinguished: Qualitative, Quantitative and Mixed Methods Research.(Dawson, 2009) In current research qualitative method was chosen among these approaches. The decision was made on the base that the purpose of the study is to understand the motivation of people for choosing English as a second language. And inasmuch as motivation, experience, thoughts and behaviors of people are all related to Qualitative research corresponding decision was made. The study doesn’t focus on proving a hypothesis or identifying the target market, therefore, quantitative method couldn’t be chosen as a methodology as well as mixed methods as it contains both methods together.

Another, but no less important aspect of a good research is an appropriate method. The qualitative method was chosen because the motivation of students was to be examined; therefore, unstructured interviews were preferred as the tool to collect the data. The reason for it was that in order to satisfy the topic question open answers and in-depth explanation were preferred. There are also other methods: questionnaires, focus groups and participant observation. However, we couldn’t use them as they are for proving (questionnaires) and discovering (focus groups) facts. Likewise, participant observation was not suitable, because this method is usually used to understand deeply the other society or culture. Thus, interviews suited the best for current issue.

Furthermore, choosing participants to interview is also very serious decision. To decide properly the research population the sampling techniques were applied.Among the available choices which are: probability and purposive sampling techniques, purposive was taken as a base. In order to get more diverse knowledge from different groups, quota sampling method was utilized. The participants were chosen with different academic goals, whether they are going to study university in English speaking country or not. Additionally, gender and the level of English were taken into consideration when choosing participants.

In total, 8 students were questioned, which were equally divided in terms of gender. The research population was small as in qualitative research it doesn’t necessarily have to be big. However, more in-depth opinions were required from participants. On behalf of being able to analyze the data properly, a good recording was provided. There are several ways of recording: visual and audio, note taking and box-ticking. High-quality audio equipment was used for 2 reasons. Firstly, to ensure that the interview was conducted without interruptions and destruction of the participant’s mind. Secondly, in order to be able to analyze the data correctly and freely. Taking ethics into account, the participants were asked before the interview if they agree or disagree with audio recording. However, none of them disagreed. The duration of an interview was approximately 10 minutes. Meantime, the basic information (age, gender, country of origin) was written down.

All researches involve ethics in one way or another, especially qualitative research. The key to success was to be ethical – to treat participants with respect and honesty, and to be aware of sensitive topics. Simply, the awkward situations, which could occur by asking complex or sensitive questions, were avoided. Firstly, I introduced myself and gave them basic information of what kind of research I am doing and why. When they accept to take part, the explanation of what they had to do was given. Before starting an interview the Code of Ethics was provided. When necessary, the meaning of each part of the code was explained. My interview schedule was prepared carefully with a logical flow of questions. To ensure maximum quality of an interview it was held in a quiet place. Moreover, in order to make participant feel at ease, comfortable place and several amenities (coffee, tea or another drinks) were organized. After each interview participants were provided with my business card with contact information on it. At the end of an interview I was grateful for the time they allotted for me.

Results

The findings revealed that the reasons even within the small group of people varied. Overall 3 students are learning English because of personal interest, 4 for future career and 1 who consider both grounds equally.

“-…the final question: what mostly motivates you to learn English: the future career or personal interest?

-future career! Yeah.. To work.. To grow up!” (Appendices 1, age 18, male)

“…I think both of them equally. But may be mostly is future job.” (Appendices 2, age 24, female)

“-so the final question for you! What mostly motivates you to learn English: is it more for future career or personal interest?

Participant 3: - personal interest!” (Appendices 3, age 19, male)

In terms of gender differences the results were relatively significant. Only one female learner mentioned that she would learn English even if she doesn’t have career prospective. Conversely, 3 out of 4 male students claimed that they are learning English self-satisfaction mostly. In fact, nearly for all the participants their personal goals were the same as their future career. In other words, their dreams were to have successful future careers:

“Yes of course! But I think it’s from the same hand, because my dreams are work and do big things and it’s the same.” (Appendices 1, age 18, male)

All participants are perfectly aware of the importance of English in current society and in the modern world:

“…it is the principal language, you know, I mean if you want do something else out of your country you need to learn English. You need to speak English.” (Appendices 1, age 18, male)

“…it’s necessary to learn English, to know well English.” (Appendices 2, age 24, female)

“…being an international business language, you can go everywhere and speak English and they mostly understand you.” (Appendices 3, age 19, male)

Despite the different reasons for learning English, the importance of it in international scope was emphasized by all the students.

Conclusion

In my opinion the research was successfully completed, as the hypothesis was proven and the objective of the study was implemented: the majority of people learn English for career prospective. Speaking generally, the research went well. The main problems were about time management and lack of experience. After few interviews I realized that for some questions I get the same answers and some participants were confused. Of course the main causes for these problems were limitations such as: time, finance, equipment and the main lack of experience and knowledge. The biggest challenge for me, however, was the word amount. In future projects I will try to manage my time so that I can investigate deeply in the topic, collect the data and have time to analyze it. Especially, I will focus on more detailed analyzing.

References

1. Azhar, M., & Sara, I. (2010). Difference of student anxiety level towards English as a foreign language subjct and their academic achievement. International Journal of Academic Research, 199-203.

2. Dawson, C. (2009). Introduction to Research Methods. Oxford: How to books Ltd: Oxford.

3. Grddol, D. (2000). The future of English? London: The British Council.

4. Horst, M., White, J., & Bell, P. (2010). First and second language knowlege in the language classroom. International Journal of Bilingualism, 331-349.

5. Mei-Ling, C., & Li-Mei, H. (2012). Personality type, perceptual style preferences and strategies for learning English as a foreign language. Social Behavior & Personality: An International Journal, 1501-1510.

Appendices

Research schedule:

Дата добавления: 2015-10-31