'French is the language of love and stuff': student perceptions of issues related to motivation in learning a foreign language

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Gender
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Modern Foreign Languages

Are there differences in motivation between pupils of different ages?

A comparison of the Year 7 and Year 9 pupil scores for the questionnaire showed that pupils' wish to identify with speakers of foreign languages, their feelings about the competence of their teachers and the perceived importance of learning a foreign language diminished as they grew older. Perceived success, perceived ability, use of metacognitive strategies and the amount of effort expended in language learning also significantly decreased over the first three years at secondary school.

Some Year 9 pupils explained how they felt about learning foreign languages during the interviews: "I just find it [German] boring - all the exercises and stuff. We need a lot of help with that. She thinks we can work it out".

"Learning the new vocab [is boring] 'cause you got to write it all out, then say it, then write it all out again".

"I probably wouldn't learn it [German] if I didn't have to".

The findings are consistent with other research cited by the authors, who suggest that the results reflect a much wider trend of a general disenchantment with secondary schooling, and decreased motivation to learn, among adolescents as they progress through school.

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Research Home Themes \| Find digests \| About the digests resources glossary researchers contact TRIPS Introduction How motivated are British pupils to learning a foreign language? Are there differences in motivation between pupils of different abilities? Do boys and girls differ in their motivation to learn a foreign language? Are pupils more motivated to learn some languages than others? Are there differences in motivation between pupils of different ages? How could teachers improve pupils' motivation? How was the study designed? What are the implications of the study for schools and teachers of modern languages? Where can I find out more? Definitions of technical terms used in the study Send us your feedback Collated digests To view/remove/add notes and save your collated digests click here Get Word Reader 'French is the language of love and stuff': student perceptions of issues related to motivation in learning a foreign language This digest found in Gender Thinking skills Modern Foreign Languages Send to a friend Word doc 60KB Printer friendly Collate for later Are there differences in motivation between pupils of different ages? A comparison of the Year 7 and Year 9 pupil scores for the questionnaire showed that pupils' wish to identify with speakers of foreign languages, their feelings about the competence of their teachers and the perceived importance of learning a foreign language diminished as they grew older. Perceived success, perceived ability, use of metacognitive strategies and the amount of effort expended in language learning also significantly decreased over the first three years at secondary school. Some Year 9 pupils explained how they felt about learning foreign languages during the interviews: "I just find it [German] boring - all the exercises and stuff. We need a lot of help with that. She thinks we can work it out". "Learning the new vocab [is boring] 'cause you got to write it all out, then say it, then write it all out again". "I probably wouldn't learn it [German] if I didn't have to". The findings are consistent with other research cited by the authors, who suggest that the results reflect a much wider trend of a general disenchantment with secondary schooling, and decreased motivation to learn, among adolescents as they progress through school.