Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate Turkish students’ (n=462) motivation and attitudes toward learning English as a foreign language at a state university in Turkey and the relation between their attitudes, motivation and the variables such as gender, parental involvement, their fields of study at university, and academic achievement. It was important to explore and comprehensively look at the issue through a range of variables because the findings of the previous studies have revealed inconsistent attitudinal profiles toward learning English language. The study adopted quantitative research paradigm and used a questionnaire for data collection. The results indicated that the participants’ instrumental and intrinsic motivation were at moderate level while the mean of parental involvement was at a high level. It was also shown that the learners’ attitude changed according to their gender, fields of study and academic achievement. Alternative solutions at individual and institutional levels have been proposed in order to develop motivation and more favourable attitudes toward learning English language, and to prevent the generalization of stereotypes, which may have great impact on the success of learning English language at tertiary level.

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