'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
Thinking skills
Modern Foreign Languages

How was the study designed?

A questionnaire was administered to 228 pupils attending three schools in South-West England. The schools were: a rural Community College (1263 pupils), a large Community College (2260 pupils) in a medium-sized town and a small Community College (673 pupils) in a small town. Nine classes, three in each school, were involved: five year 7 classes (three learning French and two learning German) and four year 9 classes (two learning French and two learning German). All classes were composed of boys and girls. Two of the schools set their pupils according to ability from Year 7, the third school set from Year 9.

The questionnaire focused particularly on pupils' feelings of responsibility for their own learning, a previously relatively unexplored area of motivation which the authors refer to as agency. Other areas investigated were attitudes (their interest and enjoyment), identity (their perceived ability), and external factors such as teachers and parents. The pupils rated each item on the questionnaire using a four-point scale ranging from definitely not true to definitely true.

Twenty-four pupils were subsequently interviewed to follow up aspects of interest arising from the results of the questionnaire. The researchers analysed the quantitative findings from the questionnaires and supplemented them with extracts from the interviews.

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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 How was the study designed? A questionnaire was administered to 228 pupils attending three schools in South-West England. The schools were: a rural Community College (1263 pupils), a large Community College (2260 pupils) in a medium-sized town and a small Community College (673 pupils) in a small town. Nine classes, three in each school, were involved: five year 7 classes (three learning French and two learning German) and four year 9 classes (two learning French and two learning German). All classes were composed of boys and girls. Two of the schools set their pupils according to ability from Year 7, the third school set from Year 9. The questionnaire focused particularly on pupils' feelings of responsibility for their own learning, a previously relatively unexplored area of motivation which the authors refer to as agency. Other areas investigated were attitudes (their interest and enjoyment), identity (their perceived ability), and external factors such as teachers and parents. The pupils rated each item on the questionnaire using a four-point scale ranging from definitely not true to definitely true. Twenty-four pupils were subsequently interviewed to follow up aspects of interest arising from the results of the questionnaire. The researchers analysed the quantitative findings from the questionnaires and supplemented them with extracts from the interviews.