A COMPARATIVE STUDY ON THE MOTIVATION AND ATTITUDES OF LANGUAGE LEARNERS OF ONLINE DISTANCE AND TRADITIONAL IN-CLASSROOM EDUCATION

Year 2016, Volume: 17 Issue: 4, 0 - 0, 01.10.2016

Gulten Genc , Emine Kulusaklı , Savas Aydın

https://doi.org/10.17718/tojde.44090

Cited By: 2

Abstract

In recent years, the increase in the use of computer and the internet has led to a change in the traditional concept of formal education today. Distance learning as a more student-centered system has been frequently used at universities. In this context, education has been applied to the individuals consisting of all age groups in accordance with their aspirations, expectations and interest in a more flexible way. This study aims to determine and compare the motivation and attitudes of language learners of online distance and traditional in-classroom education, in a state university in Turkey. Participants were 500 undergraduate university students in various disciplines. About 250 (half) of the participants studied English as a foreign language through traditional in-classroom education whereas the rest of the participants (250) studied English through online distance education in the same university by the same instructors. Two questionnaires (one to evaluate motivation level and one to evaluate attitudes of the participants related to English as a foreign language) and a background information form investigating individual information of the participants were used to collect data from the students of nine faculties at the University (including Faculty of Dentistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, Faculty of Education, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Faculty of Fine Arts and Design, Faculty of Law, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Faculty of Engineering, and Faculty of Medicine). According to the nature of the research, the study used descriptive statistics (frequencies, range, means, and standard deviations), t-test and ANOVA as the statistical analysis methods. All collected data were coded and computerized using the SPSS software and the alpha level for the tests was set at .05. After calculating each participant’s motivation and attitudes scores, their scores were compared to the variables selected for the study and each other. The findings indicated statistically significant relationships between motivation and attitudes of the participants and some individual variables. Some conclusions were reached based on the findings of the research and some recommendations and suggestions were made for future research into areas not covered by this study.