The Relationship between General Motivation and Situation-Specific Attitudes and Beliefs Related to Learning English for Academic Purposes: It’s Impact on Academic Success

Öz

The present study aims to document students’ perceptions of their learning experiences in an English-medium university, how certain situation-specific and learner-related variables are active in shaping these attitudes, and finally what is the impact of these variables on participants’ academic success. Participants’ Englishlearning background starting with secondary education as a variable yielded significant and positive associations with their academic success and their attitudes toward English-medium instruction. Positive attitudes that loaded on several factors correlated significantly and positively with each other and negatively so with factors of demotivated attitudes. Learner variables also proved to have a significant impact on participants’ attitudes. The article concludes by making suggestions to policy makers in the ministry of education and concerned universities.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• foreign-language instruction, situation-specific variables, learner variables, student attitudes to English-medium education, tertiary education

Genel Güdülenme ile İngilizcenin Akademik Amaçlı Öğrenilmesine İlişkin Duruma-özgün Yaklaşım ve İnançlar Arasındaki İlişkinin Akademik Başarı Üzerine Etkisi

Öz

Bu çalışma öğretim dilinin İngilizce olduğu üniversitelerde öğrencilerin öğrenim deneyimleri ile ilgili görüşlerini, bu görüşlerinin oluşturulmasında etkili olan duruma-özgü ve öğrenciye-özgü değişkenlerin belirlenmesi ve bu değişkenlerin öğrencinin akademik başarısı üzerindeki etkisini belirlemek üzere yürütülmüştür. Orta öğretimden başlayarak İngilizce-öğrenme deneyimleri ile öğrencinin akademik başarısı ve İngilizce ortamında öğrenim görme ile ilgili düşünceleri arasında anlamlı ve olumlu bir ilişki ortaya çıkmıştır. Birkaç faktör altında toplanan olumlu görüşler arasında yüksek oranda olumlu ve anlamlı korelasyon varken olumsuz güdülenme faktörleri ile arasında da zıt yönde ve anlamlı korelasyon ilişkileri gözlemlendi. Öğrenciye-özgü değişkenlerin de öğrenci görüşlerini etkilediği belirlendi. Makalenin sonunda milli eğitim bakanlığı ve yükseköğretim kurumlarındaki yetkililere sonuçlarla ilgili önerilerde bulunulmakta

Anahtar Kelimeler

• yabancı dil ortamında eğitim, duruma-özel değişkenler, öğrenci değişkenleri, İngilizce ortamında eğitime öğrenci yaklaşımları, yükseköğretim

Kaynakça

1. Au, S. Y. (1988). A critical appraisal of Gardner’s social-psychological theory ofsecondlanguage (L2) learning. Language Learning, 38, 75-100.
2. Brown, H. D. (1990). M & Ms for language classrooms? Another look at motivation. Paper presented at the Georgetown Round Table on anguages and Linguistics,Washington, DC.
3. Clément, R. (1986). Second language proficiency and acculturation: An investigation of the effects of language status and individual haracteristics. Journal of Language & Social Psychology, 5, 271-290.
4. Clément, R., Gardner, R. C., & Smythe, P. C. (1980). Social and individual factors in second language acquisition. Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science, 12, 293-302.
5. Clément, R., Dörnyei, Z. & Noels, K.A. (1994). Motivation, self-confidence, and group cohesion in the foreign language classroom. Language Learning, 44, 417-448.
6. Clément, R. & Gardner, R.C. (2001). Second language mastery. In H. Giles & W.P. Robinson (Eds.). The New Handbook of Language and Social Psychology, 2nd ed. (pp.489-504). London: Wiley.
7. Crookes, G., & Schmidt, R. W. (1991) Motivation: Reopening the research agenda.Language Learning, 41, 469-512.
8. Csizér, K. & Dörnyei, Z. (2005a). The internal structure of language learning motivation and its relationship with language choice and learning effort. Modern Language Journal, 89, 19-36.

9. Csizér, K. & Dörnyei, Z. (2005b). Language learners’ motivational profiles and their motivated learning behavior. Language Learning, 55, 613-659.
10. Dörnyei, Z. (1990). Conceptualizing motivation in foreign language learning.Language Learning, 40, 46-78.
11. Dörnyei, Z. (1994). Motivation and motivating in second and foreign language learning. Modern Language Journal, 78, 273-284.
12. Dörnyei, Z. (2001). Motivational Strategies in the Language Classroom. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
13. Dörnyei, Z. (2003). Attitudes, orientations, and motivations in language learning: Advances in theory, research, and applications. Language Learning, 53, 3-52.
14. Gardner, R.C. (1980). On the validity of affective variables in second language acquisition: Conceptual, contextual, and statistical considerations. Language Learning, 30, 255-270.
15. Gardner, R.C. (1983). Learning another language: A true social psychological experiment. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 2, 219-240.
16. Gardner, R.C. (1985). Social Psychology and Language Learning: The Role of Attitudes and Motivation. London: Edward Arnold.
17. Gardner, R.C. (1988). The socio-educational model of second-language learning: Assumptions, findings, and issues. Language Learning, 38, 101-126.
18. Gardner, R.C. & Lambert, W. E. (1959). Motivational variables in second language Acquisition: Canadian Journal of Psychology, 13, 266-272.
19. Gardner, R.C., Clément, R., Smythe, P.C., & Smythe, C. L. (1979). The Attitude/Motivation Test Battery – revised manual (Research Bulletin No. 15) London, Ontario: University of Western Ontario, Language Research Group.
20. Gardner, R.C., Day, J.B., & MacIntyre, P.D. (1992). Integrative motivation, induced anxiety, and language learning in a controlled environment. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 14, 197-214.
21. Horwitz, E.K., Horwitz, M. B., & Cope, J. (1986). Foreign language classroom anxiety. The Modern Language Journal, 70, 125-132.
22. Horwitz, E.K. (1988). The beliefs about language learning in beginning university foreign language students. Modern Language Journal,72, 283-294.
23. Lambert, W. E. (1967). A social psychology of bilingualism. Journal of Social Issues, 23, 91-109.
24. Lee, T. W., Locke, E. A., & Latham, G. P. (1989). Goal setting theory and job performance.
25. In A. Pervin (Ed.), Goal concepts in personality and social psychology (pp. 291-326).
26. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
27. MacIntyre, P.D. & Gardner, R.C. (1991). Language anxiety: Its relation to other anxieties and to processing in native and second languages. Language Learning, 41, 513-
28. Maehr, M. L. & Braskamp, L. A. (1986). The motivation factor: A theory of personal investment. Lexington, MA: Lexington Books.
29. Masgoret, A.-M., & Gardner, R. C. (2003).Attitudes, motivation, and second language learning: A meta-analysis of studies conducted by Gardner and associates.
30. Languag Learning, 53, 123-163.
31. McGroarty, M. (1988). University foreign language learning: What predicts success? Los Angeles, California: UCLA, Center for Language Education and Research.
32. Mori, Y. (1997). Epistemological beliefs and language learning beliefs: What do language learners believe about their learning? Department of East Asian Languages, Georgetown University, Washington, DC.
33. Noels, K. A. (2001). New orientations in language learning motivation: Towards a model of intrinsic, extrinsic, and integrative orientations and motivation. In Z. Dörnyei & R.
34. Schmidt (Eds.), Motivation and second language learning (pp. 43-68). Honolulu, HI: University of Hawaii Press.
35. Noels, K. A., Pelletier, L. C., Clement, R. & Vallerand, R. J. (2003). Why are you learning a second language ? Motivational Orientations and Self-Determination Theory Language Learning, 53, 33-63.
36. Oxford, R., & Shearin, J. (1994). Language learning motivation: Expanding the theoretical Framework. Modern Language Learning, 78, 12-28.
37. Sakui, K &d Gaies, S.J. (1999). Investigating Japanese learners' beliefs about language learning. System, 473-492.
38. Scovel, T. (1991). The effect of affect on foreign language learning: A review of the anxiety research. In E. K. Horwitz and D. J. Young, Language anxiety: From theory and research to classroom implications (p. 22). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
39. Tabachnick, B. G., & Fidell, L. S. (1989). Using Multivariate statistics. New York: Harper & Collins. Tremblay, P. F., & Gardner, R. (1995). Expanding the motivation construct in language learning. Modern Language Journal, 79, 505-518.
40. Vallerand, R. J., Pelletier, L.G., Blais, M.R., Brière, N.M., Senécal, C. & Vallières, E.F. (1993). On the assessment of intrinsic, extrinsic, and amotivation in education : Evidence on the concurrent and construct validity of the academic motivation scale. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 53, 159-172.
41. Weiner, B. (1992). Motivation. Encyclopedia of Educational Research (pp. 860- 865). 6th ed., vol.8. New York: Macmillan.
42. Wen, Q. & Johnson, R.K. (1997). L2 learner variables and English achievement: A study of tertiary-level English majors in China. Applied Linguistics, 18, 27-48.
43. Yang, N.D. (1992). Second language learners’ beliefs about language learning and their use of learning strategies: a study of college students of English in Taiwan. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. The University of Texas, Austin, TX.