Judit Hardi: The Attitude And Motivation Of Primary School Children For Learning English As A Foreign Language

The goals of the present paper are to investigate the characteristics of motivation that contribute to Hungarian school children's choice of a foreign language and to explore the motives which are responsible for maintaining the motivational level. The paper is based on an empirical study of 85 primary school children with regards to their attitudes and motivation of learning English as a foreign language. The pupils, between the ages of 9 and 14, were asked to fill in two questionnaires. The first one was designed to measure their likes and dislikes of learning English, putting emphasis on the factors of interest, understanding, and teacher's behaviour. The other one was designed to find out their motives for language choice and language learning. The two kinds of questionnaires complemented each other. The results of this study were compared to the results of a study, which was carried out at the same primary school 9 years ago. The differences seemed to be due to the form of language learning, i.e. when English was optional to learn the instrumental motives dominated among the primary school children, but in the course of compulsory primary education the motives are strongly related to the classroom context. The results also show that primary school children are highly motivated to learn English as a foreign language and reveal the factors that contribute to the motivational level.

MAGYAR PEDAGÓGIA 104. Number 2. 225-242. (2004)

Levelezési cím / Address for correspondence: Hardi Judit, Kecskeméti Főiskola, Tanítóképző Főiskolai Kar, Idegennyelvi Intézet, H–6000 Kecskemét, Kaszap u. 6–14.

 
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