Motivation and attitude of language learning among students (Case study: Mashhad University of Medical Sciences and Ferdowsi University)

Introduction:

English is an international language among the countries of the world. Today's world is the world of communication and dialogue; however, knowing the language that is shared between a non-native speaker and listener is very important. English is a language through which many scholars and scientists share their knowledge, therefore knowing English by students and researchers is important so that they can access to the latest sciences in the world (1). The importance of learning English to access and use the world's scientific resources is clear to everyone, but despite the high importance of this skill, many students and even professors are reluctant to learn English and only they use Persian resources. Many students learn English during or before post-graduate school; however, only a limited number can use this skill to improve their academic level (2). Despite teaching English in high schools and universities, spending a lot of time and money on teaching English, has, unfortunately, no acceptable results, and sometimes the frustration arising in the educated person will make learning English difficult in next years (3). Having the right notion and attitude towards language learning is important for teachers and learners. In addition, it has a great impact on the final result of education (4). According to previous studies, it can be said that almost all over the world, people have fixed views and mental schemas about language learning, which are mostly related to views on the origin of the language, the effect of age on learning, and innate talents in language learning (5). Other studies also showed that the psychological, educational, geographical location of the place of residence, attitude, and support of parents directly affect persons’ attitude to learn and determine their desire to learn (6). Regardless of the intrinsic characteristics and the place in where people live, one of the most important reasons for not paying attention to learning English is lack of motivation and sufficient knowledge, as well as lack of a proper perspective for language learning (2,7).

In examining the lack of students’ motivation to learn English, emotional and personality traits were examined by many researchers (8), but since the early 1990s, Gardner and Lambert have conducted extensive research on the socio-psychological factors influencing language learning. Special attention was paid to two factors: motivation and attitude. According to some studies, the motivation variable is one of the most important factors for success in one's educational path. There is no united definition for motivation, but according to researchers, the motivation is a set of intentions that are used to achieve a certain goal according to the degree of attractiveness and importance of that goal for the individual (9). Therefore, motivation should be considered and examined as a social and psychological factor that has a tremendous impact on people's willingness to learn. In recent decades, many studies have been conducted to examine the motivation of individuals in the field of learning, especially language learning (10).

With a deeper look at the behavior of some students towards language learning, it is sometimes perceived that people have biased and stubborn behaviors towards learning a second language. This perception is usually concluded from the level of acceptance and participation of students in the English language and free speech classes (11). According to previous studies, students are most motivated to learn a second language so that they may become successful in their future job and they may find friends from foreign countries. Of course, there are other factors that have little to do with these two motivational factors, i.e., challenging their abilities, complacency, getting acquainted with the culture and customs of other nations, etc. (12). Due to the facilities that are available for learning today (such as various educational videos, online classes, internet, books, audio files, etc.), people cannot complain about the lack of facilities and cannot consider it as the reason for the negligence of students and generations (13, 14).

Most students make a great effort to learn English before entering the university in order to get better positions, majors, and even the extra marks; however, by entering the university, most of them consider their job done and try not anymore. As a result, universities become larger schools in which the goal of the students is only to get better marks or pass exams(8). Such students do not try to challenge themselves with more and newer science and sometimes they are discouraged by their professors to use newer sources for their research studies (15).

According to studies, it is not possible to set a specific age for learning a second language, but most researchers believe that with age, the ability to learn and memorize decreases compared to adolescence and youth; however, this period (which is associated with the student period) is the best time for learning a second language (16).

The study of Ayati et al.(2) showed that the inclusion of general English language lessons had no effect on students' motivation and attitude towards English language. According to Malek Mohammadi (17), there is no significant relationship between gender and language learning motivation, while a statistical relationship has been observed between the major and learning motivation. Chen Jing Yu conducted a study on the motivation of learning English on 10,000 high school and college students. He stated that students' motivation and attitude toward English learning in order to better communicate with the learning environment was higher than college students (18).

In a study conducted by Dennis McInnerny et al. about student learning strategies on 8,000 samples, it was found that students with stronger motivation for learning and self-concept scored better in English and math (19).

Given the high importance of learning English and its role in promoting the scientific and professional level of people, it is necessary to conduct research in the field of motivation, attitude, behavior, and biology about learning a second language to explain the reasons for people's willingness or unwillingness to learn a second language (20). In previous studies on English language learning by students, it was believed that students at the University of Medical Sciences should be more motivated to learn a second language due to higher-level courses or relatively better grades in university entrance exams (9, 21). But so far, no study has sought to compare the two universities of medical sciences and basic sciences in Iran. As a result, the present study tries to compare the motivation and attitude of learning English in the students of these two universities.

Methods:

This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in Mashhad University of medical sciences and Ferdowsi University, as the reference universities in Eastern Iran, in the academic year of 2018-2019. The sampling method was stratified cluster. Each university was considered as a class and each faculty as a cluster. The faculties of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences (including health, nursing, and midwifery, paramedical, medicine, dentistry, and pharmacy) and Ferdowsi University faculties (including agriculture, geology, veterinary, and biology) were selected by simple random sampling. A number of classes were selected from each faculty according to its population and then the eligible samples were identified. The sample size was estimated to be 500 based on similar studies through the population ratio estimation formula. Before completing the questionnaires, the correct way of completing the questionnaire and the purpose of the research project were explained to the students. The inclusion criteria for undergraduate and postgraduate studies were the completion of the second semester, and the exclusion criteria were the study at Ph.D. and Professional Doctorate.

The questionnaire used in this study is Gardner's attitude and motivation test questionnaire, which its validity and reliability have been measured on 245 samples in the study conducted by Ghorban Dordinejad (22). This questionnaire is an integrated socio-educational model which is measured by integration through the dimensions of "attitude to the importance of language learning", "parents' motivation for children’s English learning", "motivation to learn the language", and "Attitudes toward the origin of the language in question”.

Dimensions 2 and 3 measure the axis of motivation, and dimensions 1 and 4 measure the axis of attitude. Out of 37 known questions of the questionnaire, 14 questions were related to the “attitude of the importance of learning a foreign language”; 7 questions were related to the “parent’s motivation for children’s English learning”; 6 questions were related to the motivational inclination to learn a foreign language, and 5 questions were related to the comprehensive attitude to learning a foreign language.

For statistical data analysis, SPSS software version 18 with a significance level of 0.05 was used. Mean and standard deviation were used for descriptive analysis. Kolmogorov-Smirnov test (P = 0.119) was used to determine the distribution of quantitative variables and data analysis. The Independent T-test was used to compare the means between the two groups and the Chi-square test was used to compare the qualitative variables.

Results:

In this study, 607 students of Mashhad University were surveyed in terms of motivation and attitude towards English learning. The age of participants was 18 to 47 years, and the mean age was 21.33±3.22. 90.8% of students were studying in undergraduate and medical courses (pharmacy, dentistry, and medicine), and 8.2% were studying for a master's degree. 34.3% of the participants in the study were male, and 81.4% of the students were single (Table 1).

Table 1. Frequency distribution of demographic variables

The mean total score of motivation and attitude in Ferdowsi University was 109.29±16.04, and in University of Medical Sciences was 17.39±108.91. The lowest and highest scores that could be obtained were 37 and 148, and the range of scores obtained between the subjects was 39 to 144 respectively (Table 2). As it is obvious, there is no significant difference between the scores of students of the two universities.

Table 2. Score of motivation attitude

The results of the Independent Sample T-test showed that there is no statistically significant difference between the mean scores of attitude and motivation with the type of university.

Table 3. Average indicators of students' motivation and attitudes by university

In the relevant questionnaire, 13 questions focus on motivation (Table 3), and 24 questions focus on attitude (Table 4) towards language learning in students.

Table 4. Frequency distribution of students' responses to motivation questions

Table 5. Frequency distribution of students' responses to questions in the field of attitude

There was a significant relationship between students' motivation and attitude and their educational levels (P= 0.001) so that students in higher educational levels had more motivation to learn English. There was a statistically significant relationship between motivation and attitude towards language learning and the intention to continue education to higher levels (P= 0.000) so that people who wanted to continue their education had a higher score than others. There was a significant relationship between motivation and attitude score with language learning history in institutions (P=0.000) so that people who had not participated in language training courses in the past had better motivation and attitude than the other group. There was a significant relationship between motivation and attitude score with language learning in institutions at present (P= 0.000) so that people who were currently attending language learning courses in institutions had better motivation and attitude towards the group compared to another group. There was no significant difference between the motivations of the students of the two universities. There was no significant relationship between motivation and attitude with major, native status, age, and gender (P>0.05).

Table 6. Relationship between motivation scores obtained by students of two universities with demographic characteristics

Discussion

According to studies, the most important factors in learning a second language are motivation and attitude. The results of the study showed that the students of the two universities had a good attitude towards language learning without significant differences. However, the motivation score was not at the desired level. 69.02% of the study participants were interested in attending English language classes, and 97.03% considered learning English important for more communication with people around the world (Tables 5 and 6). These results were consistent with the findings of the studies conducted in Iran, Switzerland, and Turkey (7, 23, 24). However, the Benson (25) reported contradictory results, so that he stated that students considered the English learning important for a number of specific actions and did not consider other environmental applications for it other than that.

According to the results of the response to the questions related to the "attitude towards the origin of the language", it can be found that 35-40% of students have a negative attitude towards the origin of the English language, and this point may be one of the barriers to learning English among students, which is consistent with a similar study conducted in Jordan (26). There was a statistically significant relationship between motivation and attitude scores with students’ educational level. However, according to the results of ANOVA statistical test, there was no relationship between faculty and major with students' motivation and attitude; these results are inconsistent with the study conducted by Gömleksiz (27) in which the engineering students and students with a background in mathematics and humanities have been investigated.

According to the present study, the level of parental encouragement in language learning has a positive effect on students' motivation and attitude, and 79.4% of subjects considered their family members as motives in language learning. This result is consistent with the study conducted by Gardner's study (28).

Koizumi’s study (29) in Japan and Clement’ study (30) in France showed that gender was effective in the motivation level to learn English. However, in the results of the present study, no significant difference was observed between motivation and gender.

The existence of a statistical relationship between motivation and attitude score with the educational level and the intention to continue education at higher levels may be due to the need for a Language proficiency certificate to participate in doctoral exams. It should be noted that in the present study, there were limitations such as accessing to students of different faculties and coordination with the education unit of the faculties (according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria).

Considering the results of this study, students generally showed a positive attitude towards learning English, but they did not have enough motivation to learn the language. Not using main books and references of the language, inappropriate employment or lack of employment, economic problems, etc. can be motivational barriers to language learning. It is suggested to pay more attention to find the cause of the lack of sufficient motivation to learn the language in future studies.

Coordination with faculty education as well as access to students of different faculties have been the limitations of this study. It is hoped that with further cooperation of the relevant authorities in future studies, these limitations be reduced.

Ethical considerations:

Ethical issues (including plagiarism, informed consent, misconduct, data creation or forgery, duplication or submission, redundancy, etc.) have been fully respected by the authors.

Acknowledgments: The authors consider it necessary to express their gratitude to those who benefited them from their valuable opinions in different stages of this research. This project has been done with the financial and moral support of the Student Research Committee of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences. The authors hereby thank the financial support of this organization.

Financial support: The present study was conducted with the financial support of the Research Council of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences with a code number of 961244 and ethics ID of IR.MUMS.REC.1397.200.

Conflict of interest: it is not declared.