Students’ Motivation Towards Language Learning: Changes During a Four-Year-Long Undergraduate English Program
Regina Cláudia de Souza Silva | 2010
Second language learners diverge considerably in their ultimate level of proficiency in the target language. Bearing this fact in mind, researchers in the area of Second Language Acquisition point out that motivation plays a significant role in this process because motivation is responsible for the primary effort students make to learn a second/foreign language and for their persistence in learning this language. Therefore, the present study aimed to examine which factors influence students‟ motivation and whether it changes or not during an undergraduate English program. The data collection counted on 22 participants of a Brazilian university who were asked to respond a questionnaire during their class time. The results demonstrated that aspects related to the course, the teacher and the group influence motivation making it change after a period of time. Thus, it is important to consider these factors in order to increase students‟ motivation during their academic life.