EXPLORING THE SPECTRUM OF MOTIVATION IN SECOND LANGUAGE SETTINGS: IDENTIFYING AND EVALUATING NEW FORMS OF MOTIVATION IN COLLEGE FOREIGN LANGUAGE COURSES

Abstract

The main objectives of this study were: to determine if college students in foreign language classes had more external motivation than internal motivation; to investigate the strength of motivation in college foreign language settings; to determine differences in primary-goal motivation (PGM) and in secondary-goal motivation (SGM) in college foreign language settings. This study also examined the validity and reliability of the newly-created motivational constructs via the Motivation in College Foreign Language Courses (MCFLC) questionnaire designed for the purposes of this study. The general research implications of the study were: defining and evaluating the different constructs of motivation in college foreign language settings. For the purposes of this research, I created, pilot-tested, and administered the MCFLC survey to college foreign language students during 2010 - 2011 school year. I used randomly selected responses from a total of 60 participants in beginning and advanced Spanish (as a foreign language) classes. The MCFLC consisted of 51 items and included a demographic section (8 items) and motivation scales (43 items). The motivation section was comprised of four different motivational categories, five different scales measuring different components of motivation, and an index linked to future foreign language acquisition goals. The research findings demonstrated decisively the validity and reliability of the motivational concepts. The results also confirmed that primary-goal and secondary-goal motivation manifested at the significant level in college foreign language environment. The results of the study also indicated explicitly that college students in advanced foreign language classes had higher levels of motivation to gain foreign language skills (MGFLS); and learners with more MGFLS at both levels of foreign language acquisition seemed to be more willing to continue their foreign language education than the rest of their peers. Furthermore, all of the participants displayed higher levels of PGM than of SGM, and participants in the advanced group had more SGM than their fellow students in the beginning group. Finally, the research findings added to the understanding of motivation in second language, and substantiated further examination of new motivational constructs and questionnaire in future studies on motivation in the field of second language acquisition.