2013 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

A Longitudinal Comparative Study on the Changes of Motivational Constructs and English Proficiency between Engineering Majoring Grade 10-12 Students and High School Students

Research Project

Project/Area Number	22520611
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Section	一般
Research Field	Foreign language education
Research Institution	Asahikawa National College of Technology
Principal Investigator	SUZUKI TOMOKI 旭川工業高等専門学校, 一般人文科, 教授 (70342441)
Project Period (FY)	2010-04-01 – 2014-03-31
Keywords	動機づけ / 英語学習 / demotivation / 英語能力 / 意欲減退要因
Research Abstract	This longitudinal study investigated the motivational constructs of a group of engineering majoring Grade 10-12 students (EMSs) and their motivational changes over time, based on the result of a 49-item questionnaire survey. It further explored the source of demotivation by using an open-ended question. The findings are: (1) the motivation declined more significantly than high school students between the 1st year and the 2nd year for the EMSs; (2) their awareness of the need for English, interests, and positive attitudes towards learning English showed negative interactions with each other; (3) a strong correlation was observed between lack of successful learning experiences and decline in interests/positive attitudes; (4) lack of successful learning experiences turned out to be the most demotivating factor.It is suggested that an instructional intervention be implemented to ensure that the students have opportunities to see themselves advance in an unthreatened learning environment.

(4 results)