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Open Access Knowledge and Scholarship

Date of Award

6-2017

Culminating Project Type

Thesis

Degree Name

English: Teaching English as a Second Language: M.A.

Department

English

College

College of Liberal Arts

First Advisor

Edward Sadrai

Second Advisor

Shawn Jarvis

Third Advisor

Sudarshana Bordoloi

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

Keywords and Subject Headings

integrative motivation, instrumental motivation, EFL, Kazakhstan

Abstract

This study focuses on motivation in foreign language learning among undergraduate students in Kazakhstan. Motivation is an integral part of any skill, and a number of applied linguistic studies have shown that language learning is more successful if the learner is motivated. There are many different factors that cause a learner to be motivated, thus affecting the way one is learning a language. It can be the need to get a well-paid job, a desire to communicate with people from different countries, and so on. There are various factors that affect the way one is motivated. For example, research has shown that gender might play a role here, saying that female learners are more motivated, have more favorable attitudes toward learning a foreign language and, therefore, perform better on achievement tests, while some researchers have argued that the difference between boys and girls’ motivation and performance is insignificant or does not exist at all. The differences in EFL (English as a foreign language) learner’s motivation factors might also be affected by social, cultural, ethnic or political reasons. This study shows how undergraduate students in Kazakhstan identify what motivates them in learning English as a foreign language and what exactly might be causing any differences in the results obtained.

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