Does Type of School Affect Motivation of Students to Learn English? A Comparison of Private and Public Schools

Does Type of School Affect Motivation of Students to Learn English? A Comparison of Private and Public Schools

Motivation is one of the fundamental issues in second language learning and different studies have been conducted by scholars to tackle the link between motivation and language learning. The current study aimed at examining the role of school type in forming motivation among students to learn English. To this end, 73 (N=73) Iranian male and female EFL learners of A1 up to C2 proficiency levels filled out a standard motivation questionnaire (Dornyei, 2009), and a standardized orientation questionnaire, in order to collect data on motivational level of students, as well as their attitudes toward established courses of institutes and schools in terms of their books, methodologies and teachers. The results of analyses revealed that the courses offered by institutes led to motivation of the students toward learning English, while no relationship was observed between courses offered by schools and motivation to learn English. The paper discusses further findings and implications for language pedagogy.

Motivation is one of the fundamental issues in second language learning and different studies have been conducted by scholars to tackle the link between motivation and language learning. The current study aimed at examining the role of school type in forming motivation among students to learn English. To this end, 73 (N=73) Iranian male and female EFL learners of A1 up to C2 proficiency levels filled out a standard motivation questionnaire (Dornyei, 2009), and a standardized orientation questionnaire, in order to collect data on motivational level of students, as well as their attitudes toward established courses of institutes and schools in terms of their books, methodologies and teachers. The results of analyses revealed that the courses offered by institutes led to motivation of the students toward learning English, while no relationship was observed between courses offered by schools and motivation to learn English. The paper discusses further findings and implications for language pedagogy.