Abstract

The aim of this research is to explore Jordanian undergraduate students’ intrinsic and extrinsic motivations and instrumental and integrative orientations toward learning English, French, and German as foreign languages. The paper also reflects on how subtypes of intrinsic and extrinsic motivations relate to orientations and examines possible inter-relationships between these constructs and student achievement in English, French, and German classes. In the study, 166 students majoring in English, French, or German at Al-Hussein Bin Talal University completed a questionnaire (mainly adapted from Noels, Pelletier, Clement, & Vallerand, 2000) designed to investigate the abovementioned constructs. The results showed, contrary to expectations, no significant correlations among orientation, intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and achievement. These findings were not in line with previous research findings, which have shown a correlation between orientation and achievement (i.e., Gardner, 1985) and between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and achievement (i.e., Noels et al., 2000). In addition, significant differences were found among the three groups of students in terms of instrumental orientation, amotivation, and external regulation. Other interesting results were also found regarding the constructs. Possible implications and recommendations from these findings are discussed.

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