ayaka sato - robwaring.org web viewbandura and others have found that an individual’s...

What is the relationship between self-efficacy, motivation and re-motivation?

Graduation Thesis

Presented to

the Faculty of the Department of

English Language and Literature

Notre Dame Seishin University

In Partial Fulfillment

of the Requirement for the Degree

Bachelor of Arts

by

Ayaka Sato

2015

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Contents

Chapter 1: Introduction of motivation

1.1 Introduction

1.2 Motivation types

1.2.1 Intrinsic motivation and Extrinsic motivation

1.2.2 Demotivation

1.3 What is Self-efficacy?

1.3.1 The definition of self efficacy

1.3.2 Characteristic in level of self-efficacy

1.3.3 Source of self-efficacy

1.4 Relationship between motivation and self-efficacy

1.5 Research questions

1.6 Conclusion

Chapter 2: Data collection

2.1 Introduction

2.2 The questionnaire

2.2.1 Introduction

2.2.2 Method

2.2.3 Results

2.3 Summary

Chapter 3: The Discussion

3.2 Summary of the results

3.3 Answering the research questions

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3.4 Implications

3.5 Limitations of the thesis

3.6 Further research

3.7 Conclusion

References

Appendix

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Abstract

English is used all over the world, and many people study English for their own

reasons. Not everyone has succeeded in studying English. Some people can’t keep

their motivation for studying and they give up. Motivation is one of the most important

sources of success in second language learning. To keep motivation constantly is

difficult for learners, they have experienced their motivation going up and down. Self-

efficacy affects the amount of effort and persistence that a person devotes to a task, so

student's self-efficacy may play an important role in his or her academic achievement

and keeping motivation. This thesis focuses on the relationship between self-efficacy,

motivation and re-motivation.

In Chapter One, we discussed the definition of motivation generally, demotivation,

self-efficacy and relation between motivation and self-efficacy.

In Chapter Two, we look at the result of questionnaire from 55 subjects. The

questionnaire helped analyze the subject’s motivation map for learning English, level of

self-efficacy, and motivation changes and reason why.

In Chapter Three, we discussed the result of the questionnaire. The results showed

subjects have various type of motivation and various way to keep their motivation. We

found out intrinsic motivation is helpful to recover and keep motivation, and especially a

subject with a high level of self-efficacy will do at keeping high motivation.

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Chapter 1: Introduction to Motivation

1.1 Introduction

In recent years, second language learning, especially English, has become very

important in Japan. The number of people who are studying abroad in various countries

has been increasing, and we also see many foreigners everywhere. With the world

becoming more and more international, it is more essential for many people to learn

English. English is an official language in many countries in the world, not for only

students but also office workers and older people learn English for their own purpose.

For some people, learning English is a lot of fun and enjoyable. While, for others

learning English is just frustrating because they cannot find any interest in learning

English. These differences of opinion for learning English are often caused by the

different levels of motivation. If they have high motivation, they can learn English more

effectively and achieve their goal, but if they have low motivation, they may give up

learning. According to this theory, keeping high motivation is a key to successful

achievement.

This section outlines types of motivation, how to deal with demotivation and being

remotivated. We will look at self-efficacy theories (Bandura, 1977) to find some hint to

become re-motivated after we have looked at some types of motivation.

1.2 motivation types

1.2.1 Intrinsic motivation and Extrinsic motivation

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Motivation can be classified into two types which are intrinsic motivation and extrinsic

motivation. Gardner, Deri and Ryan (1985) asserted their motivation theories by saying

“Learners who are interested in learning tasks and outcomes for their own reasons

(intrinsic) rather than for rewards (extrinsic) are likely to become more effective

learners.”

(1) Intrinsic motivation

Intrinsic motivation is involved in an activity which is enjoyable and satisfying to do.

This type of motivation originates inside of the individual. For example, learners study

English, because they like it or because they want to speak English fluently. Nakamura

(1989) defines intrinsic motivation as "when the experience of doing something

generates interest and enjoyment and the reason for performing the activity lies within

the activity itself, then the motivation is likely to be intrinsic " (as cited in Williams &

Burden, 1999, p123).

(2) Extrinsic motivation

Extrinsic motivation is involved in behavior which is driven by external rewards such

as money, fame, grades. This type of motivation arises from outside the individual. For

example, learners study English to just pass the entrance exams or to get a good jobs

in the future. According to Nakamura (1989), "when the only reason for performing an

act is to gain something outside the activity itself, such as passing exam, or obtaining

financial rewards, the motivation is likely to be extrinsic" (as cited in Williams & Burden,

1999, p123).

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Moreover, other researchers mention about intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.

Dickinson (1987) argues that “success increases motivation in people who are focused

on learning goals, that is, who are intrinsically motivated.” Koestner & McClelland

(1990) suggest that ”if external actions improve feeling of capability, as when someone is

told s/he has done a task excellent, intrinsic motivation is likely to increase. On other

hand, actions which lead to feeling of lack of ability are probably to weaken intrinsic

motivation.” However, Williams & Burden (1999) believe that “it is not easy to

distinguish between these two types of actions in learning as “many of our action are

probably promoted by a mixture of both extrinsic and intrinsic reasons" (p. 123.)

In other words, intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation effect one’s action and

need to succeed, increasing motivaion.

(3) Pink’s 3 factors

Daniel Pink (2009) suggests that intrinsic motivation is based on the three basic

sources, autonomy, mastery, and purpose. According to him, these intrinsic sources of

motivation are essential to maximizing performance.

1. Autonomy

Autonomy means giving people control over how they do tasks. That is what they

work on, when they work on it, how they perform the work and who they perform it with.

Pink (2009) said “Autonomy approaches assume people are active, looking for

interesting work and curious and self-engaging. Autonomous motivation has proven to

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promote greater conceptual understanding, result in better grades, enhance persistence

at school and in sporting activities, generate higher productivity, less burnout, and

greater levels of psychological well-being.” When people have autonomous motivation,

they do and keep good work.

2. Mastery

People have an innate drive to get better at things. Pink (2009) said “Mastery is the

desire to get better at what we do. First, mastery is a mindset, in that we either believe we

can get better or we don’t. Second, mastery is a pain, in that it involves not only working

harder but working longer at the same thing. Finally, mastery is an asymptote, or a

straight line that you may come close to but never reach.”

3. Purpose

Purpose gives people a reason to stretch, explore, and keep at it. It helps people to

figure out the high-level “why” question for the tasks like that what’s the point of doing

this task?, who does it affect?, why does it matter? It make a positive contribution to

others and progress every day.

1.2.2 Demotivation

Demotivation is one type of motivation. Generally speaking, a 'demotivated'

learner is someone who was once motivated but has lost his or her interest for some

reason. Because of some demotivational factors, the initial motivational levels of

learners gradually decrease. According to Dörnyei (2001), demotivation refers to

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“external forces that reduce or diminish the motivational basis of a behavioral intention

or an ongoing action." For instance,

1) the textbook lacks dynamic elements and variety,

2) class is at an inappropriate level or pace; too easy or too difficult, and

3) lack of clear explanations about what students should do or why.

However, Dörnyei describes three negative factors that are not instances of

demotivation.

1) “An attractive alternative action that serves as a powerful distraction.”

This is because they make people reduce motivation but do not carry a negative

value but present more attractive options. (e.g. watching TV instead of doing one’s

homework)

2) “The gradual loss of interest in a long-lasting, ongoing activity”

This is because it is only due to diminishing motivation, not something that is an

influence from others to lose one’s motivation.

3) “The sudden realization that the costs of pursuing a goal are too high”

This occurs because it is the result of an internal deliberation, but if it is caused by

the termination of action, that would be a case of demotivation.(e.g. the persuasion

of an influential friend)

From Dörnyei’s considerations, “demotivation concerns specific forces that reduce or

diminish the motivational basis of a behavioral intention or an ongoing action.”

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For example ...

1.3 What is Self-efficacy?

1.3.1 The definition of self-efficacy

Self-efficacy is a kind of personal expectation or judgment concerning one's

capability to accomplish some tasks. Schunk (1991) defines self-efficacy as "an

individual's judgments of his or her capabilities to perform given actions", Pintrich

(2003b, p. 107) defines it as "students beliefs about their ability to do the task." and

Bandura (1986) defines it as "people's judgments of their capabilities to organize and

execute courses of action required to attain designated types of performance" (p. 391)

Bandura also described “these beliefs as determinants of how people think, behave,

and feel (1994).”

1.3.2 Characteristic in level of self-efficacy

Bandura and others have found that an individual’s self-efficacy plays a major role in

how to approach in one’s goals, tasks and challenges. There are some examples about

characteristic between difference level of self-efficacy. People with a strong sense of

self-efficacy tend to be people who:

● View challenging problems as tasks to be masterd

● Develop deeper interest in the activities in which they participate

● Form a stronger sense of commitment to their interests and activities

● Recover quickly from setbacks and disappointments

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On the other hand, people with a weak sense of self-efficacy tend to be people who:

● Avoid challenging tasks

● Believe that difficult tasks and situations are beyond their capabilities

● Focus on personal failings and negative outcomes

● Quickly lose confidence in personal abilities

That is a reference to the end, but there are different reactions to the tasks in the level

of self-efficacy. So self-efficacy is related to how we feel, what we think, and what we

do.

1.3.3 Sources of self-efficacy

Bandura (1997) indentified four sources that affect self-efficacy: mastery

experiences, social experiences, social persuasion and phsysiological responses.

Mastery experience

Mastery experiences are our personal experience and the most influential source of

self-efficacy. Successful experiences, or efforts made to accomplish the tasks people

have performed in the past strengthen our sense of self-efficacy.

Vicarious experiences

This is other people’s experiences and another important source of self-efficacy. By

observing the success of others, people can predict as “I feel like I can do it." Through

social comparison, the abilities of others are recognized as own capabilities.(Bandura,

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1997).

Social persuasion

This is getting verbal encouragement from others about given tasks. Social

persuasion helps people overcome self-doubt and promote development of skills and

sense of personal efficacy and lead them to try hard enough to succeed. However, only

social persuasion is easy to decrease sense of self-efficacy.

Psychological responses

This is our own responses and emotional reactions to situations. Moods, emotional

states, physical reactions, and stress levels can impact how people feels about their

personal abilities in a particular situation. Negative moods or thoughts of previous

failures can disturb one’s capabilities and affect one’s self-efficacy. Otherwise positive

moods support positive memories and self-efficacy.

These four sources help develop seIf-efficacy, however, it is important to consider

that they may have negative influences on one's self-efficacy, too. For example

observing another person failing a task, may lead to the conclusion that also oneself

isn't capable to succed. Relating verbal persuasion, comments have to be made very

careful, as negative persuasions weaken self-beliefs. We need to make good use of

these four sources.

1.4 Relation between motivation and self-efficacy

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People have some goals they want to achieve and things they want to change,

however it’s not so quite simple to put these plans in to action. Acting for some goals

and sustaining the action is difficult, so we also need motivation to perform the tasks.

This is the same for several fields, of course, including language learning.

A student's self-efficacy may play an important role in their academic

achievement. Schunk (1991) claims that "there is evidence that self-efficacy predicts ...

academic achievement" (p. 207). According to Bandura (1977), “self-efficacy affects the

amount of effort and persistence that a person devotes to a task.”

1.5 Research Questions

We have looked at many types of motivation, demotivation, self-efficacy, relationship

between motivation and self-efficacy. When people learn language and get demotivated,

how do they keep learning? The following are three research questions.

1. Why do people get demotivated?

2. Is the locus of control internal, or external?

3. What can we do to help demotivated learners become re-motivated?

1.6 Conclusion

For learners motivation is very important. If learners a have high level of motivation,

they can learn English more effectively and achieve their goal, but if they have low level

of motivation, they may give up learning. In this chapter, we learned about the types of

motivation, intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, and Pink’s 3 factors of intrinsic

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motivation, autonomy, mastery and purpose. However, it is difficult to keep motivation

for some learners have experienced demotivate in studying. We also saw about

demotivaton and self-efficacy which had a relationship with keeping motivation.

In Chapter 2, we will look at the experiment that I asked about English motivation,

demotivation and self efficacy to 55 University students who major in English

department.

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Chapter 2: Data Collection

2.1 Introduction

In Chapter One, we looked at types of motivation, self-efficacy and relationship

between motivation and self-efficacy. In this chapter, we will look at the result of a

questionaire to investigate about student motivation for English learning as well as at

their self-efficacy.

2.2 The questionnaire

2.2.1 Introduction

In this chapter, we will examine the students’ motivation for English studying and

look at their motivation changes and their self efficacy. When their motivation goes up or

goes down, then what is the reason and what happened to them? What is the level of

student self-efficacy? To discover these, we made three types of questionnaire with 35

questions in total. Some were closed questions and others they had to write their

experiences or opinion and they had to make a graph.

2.2.2 Method

Aim

The first questionnaire aimed to find people who had become remotivated in their

English studying and examined what happened to them and then what they did to

remotivate themselves. Moreover, through their answers, we can also find some

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tendencies of people who motivate, demotivate and remotivate.

1) Subjects

The subjects were 41 Notre Dame Seishin University students, who were members

of the English department and 16 Okayama University students, who were members of

the education department and were English majors. Six of them are female and 10

male. All of those subjects are majoring in English in university because this study is

about motivation for English, we focused on people continuing to study English. We

didn’t care about their English levels because this study is to find any types of motivated

people.

2) Test design

The questionnaire had three types.

Type 1 was writing the subject’s motivation map. The first section was a motivation

question and asked whether or not the subject had been lost their motivation and the

reason why they dropped their motivation. The second section was about changing the

subjects’ motivation and which was done by drawing a motivation map. The reason why

this questionnaire was designed this way to research to find out some types of English,

the learner’s motivation and changes about their motivation.

Type 2 had 16 closed questions about subjects’ self-efficacy. The aim was to

research their levels of self-efficacy subjects. The Japanese version is in the appendix.

Self-efficacy Questionnaire

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Gender

● Male

● Female

1. At work (or part-time job), you have a confidence in what you do?

● Yes

● Maybe

● No

2. You often feel down when you recall your failures or bad experiences in

the past.

● Yes

● No

3. You have better ability than your friend.

● Yes

● No

4. After finishing the work, you often feel you didn't do well.

● Yes

● No

5. You worry more than other people.

● Yes

● No

6. When you decide something, you aren't irresolute.

● Yes

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● No

7. When doing something, you often worry abou bad outcomes.

● Yes

● No

8. You think you are shy.

● Yes

● No

9. You have superior to memory.

● Yes

● No

10. You tackle the tasks positively which is unclear the outlook of result.

● Yes

● No

11. you often can't start the tasks because you can't determine how to do.

● Yes

● No

12. You have a particularly good knowledge as a field than friends.

● Yes

● No

13. You do any things aggressively.

● Yes

● No

14. You worry about than people even if it's a small failure.

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● Yes

● No

15. You are not good at acting positively.

● Yes

● No

16. You have ability to contribute to the world.

● Yes

● No

Type 3 had 15 marked questions and 4 free-writing questions about their motivation

for learning English. They asked about the reason why the subjects are study English

and about their motivational experiences and opinions through their learning English

life. The aim was to find some clues to find how to recover as well as keeping their

motivation. The Japanese version of the questionnaire is in the Appendix. the English

version is below.

Background

What is your English level?

1 2 3 4 5

High Low

I like studying English.

● Exactly True

● Moderately True

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● Hardly True

● Not At All True

I’m interested in foreign language.

● Exactly True

● Moderately True

● Hardly True

● Not At All True

I like English teacher.

● Exactly True

● Moderately True

● Hardly True

● Not At All True

I enjoyed speaking with native people.

● Exactly True

● Moderately True

● Hardly True

● Not At All True

I want to communicate in English fluently.

● Exactly True

● Moderately True

● Hardly True

● Not At All True

I want to make foreign friends.

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● Exactly True

● Moderately True

● Hardly True

● Not At All True

I want to improve my English ability.

● Exactly True

● Moderately True

● Hardly True

● Not At All True

I want to understand foreign movies and books in English.

● Exactly True

● Moderately True

● Hardly True

● Not At All True

I belong to the English department at my university.

● Exactly True

● Moderately True

● Hardly True

● Not At All True

I have to good grade and want to graduate.

● Exactly True

● Moderately True

● Hardly True

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● Not At All True

It is worth to get English skill.

● Exactly True

● Moderately True

● Hardly True

● Not At All True

I use English in business in the future.

● Exactly True

● Moderately True

● Hardly True

● Not At All True

I would like to travel abroad.

● Exactly True

● Moderately True

● Hardly True

● Not At All True

Other people respect me more if I have knowledge of a foreign language.

● Exactly True

● Moderately True

● Hardly True

● Not At All True

It’s cool to speak in English.

● Exactly True

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● Moderately True

● Hardly True

● Not At All True

1, What happened to lower your motivation and what was your reaction to

it?

2, How did this experience change you?

3, For those who were demotivated in the past, how did you revive or

remotivate yourself?

4, Is there anything you do to keep motivated in your English study?

3) Procedure

The questionnaire Type 1 was printed and handed out to the participants. The

researcher collected as many questionnaires as possible and got 55 papers. The data

of motivation map was converted into numerals.

Here you should put an example of a Motivation map

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Figure 1: A sample motivation map

The motivation map has two arrows. A vertical line was the level of motivation and was

classified 1 to 10. The horizontal line was time (e.g. Elementary year 6 (E6), JH1, SH2,

Un3 etc.), the beginning of the line is the time when participants begin to study English

and the end of the line is now. Time was classified into ten sections, 0~E3, E4~E6,

JH1.2, JH3, SH1, SH2, SH3, Un1, Un2 Un3.4.(E=elementary school, JH=junior high

school, Un=university) When analyzed it, some points were identified (Big change to up,

Big change to down, Fluctuation, Motivating, Demotivating and Remotivating) was

checked whether participants have or not. In addition, we made a graph of motivation

Mean, standard deviation(s.d.) and Coefficient of variation (Mean/s.d.).

On the basis of this, the questionnaire Type 2 and Type 3 were sent to 40 subjects

who were allowed to do the second questionnaires only by e-mail and LINE. The data

were analyzed by putting it in graphs or tables, categorized their answer’s pattern and

were compared.

2.2.3 Results

Type 1 motivation map

In first section, for the question “Have has your motivation ever dropped for English

learning?” 48 of 57 subjects answered “Yes”, 85% of them have experienced their

motivation drop. For the next question “why did you drop your motivation then?” there

are many reasons presented in Figure 2 below

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Many subjects answered the biggest reason at 20% was “to have a bad record on

their test and a poor English ability” and “because they can’t understand the grammar

and difficult sentences." The next, at 13% was “being disappointed in themselves’

English ability and lose their confidence” and “to lose their goal and purpose to study."

11% was “because it is not interesting to study English ” 9% is “because they put the

focus on other things except English." The others 14% were “because I think that I have

a good English ability”, “because they don’t like a teacher”, “because there are bright

students around me”, “to be lack of need for English” and “because if I study English, I

have no opportunity to use the knowledge."

Figure 2: The reasons why the subjects’ motivation dropped

Second section is a motivation map. Learners wrote their motivation map from the

beginning of their English learning to now.

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Table 1: Changes in motivation over time

Big change↑

Big change↓

Fluctuation Motivate Demotivate Remotivate

o 31 (56.4%) 25 (45.5%) 14 (25.5%) 52 (94.5%) 46 (83.6%) 38 (69.1%)

x 24 (43.6%) 30 (54.5%) 41 (74.5%) 3 (5.5%) 9 (16.4%) 17 (30.9%)

Total 55 55 55 55 55 55

From Table 1 we can see that 56.4% of the participants had a big change to move

up their motivation. 45.5% of the participants had a big change to move down their

motivation. A big change is a rapid change whether the change is good or bad. 25.5%

of the participants showed a fluctuation which is a repetition of up and down motivation.

94.5% of the participants were motivated, 83.6% of them have been demotivated and

69.1% of them have re-motivated thmselves in their English learning life. Most of people

have experienced motivation going up and down.

Table 2: The motivation rating for each subject over time

～E3

～E6 JH1.2

JH3 SH1

SH2

SH3 Un1 Un2 Un3.4

Mean s.d. s.d/mean

8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 0 0%

8 8 9 9 9 8 8 8 8.375 0.518 6%

7 9 8 9 8 8 9 8 10 8.444 0.882 10%

8 7 9 10 10 9 8 9 8.75 1.035 12%

6 7 7 9 8 7 9 8 7.625 1.061 14%

5 6 8 7 7 7 8 8 7 6 6.9 0.994 14%

8 7 8 9 7 6 7 8 9 10 7.9 1.197 15%

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5 8 6 7 8 7 6 6 6 7 6.6 0.966 15%

6 7 8 7 8 9 10 8 9 10 8.2 1.317 16%

5 7 8 9 9 8 7 8 7.625 1.302 17%

6 7 7 8 6 4 6 6 6 6 6.2 1.033 17%

7 8 9 9 9 5 7 8 7 6 7.5 1.354 18%

7 6 8 7 9 10 10 10 8.375 1.598 19%

6 6 6 7 7 7 8 9 10 7.333 1.414 19%

8 9 6 6 6 6 7 9 7.125 1.356 19%

5 7 6 5 7 8 8 5 6.375 1.302 20%

4 6 7 8 7 6 5 7 8 6.444 1.333 21%

4 5 6 7 7 7 7 7 8 9 6.7 1.418 21%

6 4 4 5 6 7 7 7 7 8 6.1 1.37 22%

6 6 6 6 8 8 9 10 7.375 1.598 22%

8 8 8 7 6 4 5 8 8 6.889 1.537 22%

4 9 8 7 6 6 6 6 6.5 1.512 23%

3 5 6 7 7 7 7 7 6.125 1.458 24%

5 6 6 7 8 9 4 7 6.5 1.604 25%

5 4 8 8 8 9 9 6 7.125 1.885 26%

7 3 5 7 5 4 6 6 7 5.556 1.424 26%

6 6 5 4 5 6 8 9 6.125 1.642 27%

6 6 7 7 8 4 4 9 6.375 1.768 28%

4 8 6 4 10 9 9 9 9 9 7.7 2.214 29%

4 5 7 6 7 8 9 10 10 10 7.6 2.171 29%

8 5 4 4 5 7 8 5.857 1.773 30%

5 6 7 7 8 5 4 3 5.625 1.685 30%

3 3 5 6 6 5 7 7 8 5.556 1.74 31%

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8 10 10 5 6 7 4 5 6 6.778 2.167 32%

5 8 10 7 4 4 6 8 6.5 2.138 33%

5 6 6 9 9 9 10 5 3 6 6.8 2.3 34%

6 2 8 8 7 4 7 8 9 6.556 2.242 34%

5 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 5.875 2.031 35%

6 3 7 2 4 5 6 6 4.875 1.727 35%

4 4 4 5 7 8 9 9 6.25 2.252 36%

5 5 9 9 9 9 5 3 6.75 2.493 37%

3 8 6 4 9 8 4 9 6.375 2.446 38%

5 7 8 9 9 9 5 2 6.75 2.55 38%

5 9 9 9 9 9 5 2 7.125 2.748 39%

7 8 9 9 8 9 7 6 3 1 6.7 2.71 40%

9 9 9 2 7 8 3 6 6.625 2.774 42%

5 5 4 2 3 5 7 9 5 2.204 44%

0 6 7 7 6 5 4 7 5.25 2.375 45%

0 8 4 6 6 5 6 7 5.25 2.435 46%

7 3 2 2 6 6 7 8 5.125 2.416 47%

2 2 3 4 5 7 8 9 5 2.726 55%

9 9 8 8 5 3 2 1 5.625 3.292 59%

1 2 9 9 8 9 9 4 3 3 5.7 3.368 59%

1 3 5 9 2 3 5 9 4.625 3.021 65%

1 2 5 9 9 5 1 10 5.25 3.732 71%

From Table 2 we can see there are many type of motivation map. A subject who has

0% of s.d/mean ratio has no changes of their motivation, while a subject who has 71%

of s.d/ mean ratio has many rapid changes in their motivation . Thus we can see there

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are a wide variety of motivation types and this is shown in Table 3.

Table 3: The average ratings for motivation over time

～E3 ～E6 JH1.2 JH3 SH1 SH2 SH3 Un1 Un2 Un3.4 Average

5.357 6 5.764 6.564 6.855 6.655 6.982 6.8 6.564 7.283 6.587

We calculated the average of motivation each of classified times and from the beginning

of the English studying to the present time. This table shows that student’s motivation

average is gradually increasing towards the present time.

Type 2 self-efficacy

Type 2 has 16 marked question to measure personal self-efficacy level. The

measure of self-efficacy referred to General Self-Efficacy Scale (GSES).

Figure 3: The data for self-efficacy

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62% of the subjects have high self-efficacy, and 18% of students have low self-

efficacy. More than half of them have high self-efficacy.

Type 3 Motivation Questions

This had 15 marked questions and 4 free-writing questions. Figure 4 shows data

from 15 marked questions and Figure 4 to Figure 6 shows the data from free-writing.

We categorized their opinion into sections.

Figure 4: The data for motivation for agreeing with the reasons for learning English

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These answers are the reason why students study English. 29 of 40 subjects

answered strongly agree "I want to communicate with foreign people." It's almost 75%

of the subjects. Next higher reason is “I want to improve my English ability.” and “I want

to understand foreign movies and books in English.” To see the higher rank, subject’s

motivation come from interest in foreign language, English.

Figure 5 shows the reason why subjects demotivated, many of them got bad

score or bad result, and they feel that English class was not interesting and difficult. For

example, ”I could’t get a high score on the test.” , or “class was a too specialized subject

of study and high level for me." There bad experiences for learning English caused

students demotivate.

Figure 5: The data for the number of subjects who stated the reason why subjects are

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demotivated

Figure 6: The data for how to re-motivate students from being demotivated

There are various way to recover from demotivation, especially, 21% of the subjects

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watched English drama and listening foreign music to arouse the interest for English.

While, some of them answered they take a moment or do nothing. There are two types,

people who maintain the actual condition and just keep going, and people who change

the way to study or the thinking for study.

Figure 7: The data for how to keep motivation for learning English

There are also various way to keep their motivation as well as Figure 6. In this

section, it is difficult to categorize their opinions because each subject keeps their

motivation in many ways. For one example, a subject kept her motivation to ”watch an

English movie in English”, “communicate with foreign peple”, “Set a goal”, “take a

TOEIC test” and “dream of traveling abroad”. So we can see they try to do it their own

way.

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2.3 Summary

In this chapter we found out variety of motivation each subject has. Most of them

experience motivation changes which is going up and going down. When and why they

change their motivation are different from each subjects. From Figure 2, many students

who major in English have high self-efficacy. Subjects have interested in English and

the interest is based on their motivation for learning English. Most of subjects felt their

motivation going down, when they had bad experiences: getting not good score on test

or English class was difficult and not interesting. When students recover from

demotivation and keep their motivation, they try to do with several own ways. We can

see the variety of learning styles. In the next chapter we will discuss the results and

analyze it more deeply.

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Chapter 3 The Discussion

3.1 Introduction

In Chapter One, we look at the definitions of motivation, demotivation and self-

efficacy. In Chapter Two, we saw the data of the questionnaire about student motivation

and self-efficacy. In this chapter, we are going to discuss the results of the

questionnaire and see more detail the data.

3.2 Summary of the results

In Chapter Two, we looked at the data of the questionnaires. Type 1 and Type 3 were

designed to see the subjects’ motivation changes, when and why the changes

happened and how to keep and recover the motivation. The data shows many types of

motivation. Some subject’s motivation was always going, or some are keeping high

level motivation and others are repeating up and down fluctuations. We found many

people get demotivated because of bad experiences of English learning.

Questionnaire type 2 was designed to find out about the self-efficacy levels.

3.3 Answering the research questions

This section will look at the answers to the research questions

Research Question 1: Why do people get demotivated?

There is no clear answer to this question because there are several reasons subjects

get demotivated and it is different for each learner. Many of them mentioned the reason

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for demotivation were because a) they couldn’t understand and it was difficult, and b)

because they had a bad score on their test and poor English ability and because they

lost their goal and purpose to study. For these negative reason, students lost their

interest and enjoyment for English learning. In other words, their intrinsic motivation for

English learning is weakened by a feeling of a lack of ability.

Research Question 2: Is the locus of control internal, or external?

When subjects are demotivated for their English learning, they think the reason or

the cause as a external things. For example, I get demotivated because the English

class isn’t interesting or because I can’t understand the class as it’s too difficult. Thus

their locus of control is external. On the other hand, when they recover from

demotivation, they try to motivate themselves internally. For example, they change the

way to study to be more interesting, or imagine themselves as someone who they want

to be after their success. At that time, their locus of control is internal. We can see the

changes the locus of control from external to internal. It is important for success to move

the locus of control internally.

Research Question 3: What can we do to help demotivated learners become re-

motivated?

The subjects who were demotivated but are being re-motivated have various way to

recover their motivation. When they overcame the demotivation, some of them used

internal factors and motivated themselves. For example, I imagine myself as if I can

speak English very well and I set this as a goal. Moreover, some of them use external

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factors to keep their motivation. For example, I use English in daily life or watch English

drama, listening foreign music and set a goal like TOEIC test. Re-motivated learners

use both motivation intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, and they put them together

effectively. In particular, when we focus on high level of self-efficacy students, many of

them set a goal to recover and keep motivation. They do well to set a goal by

themselves clearly. It is also effective way to decide goals themselves and act by

themselves with interest and enjoyment.

3.4 Implications

Many learners experience their motivation going up and down. The reason or the

cause may be different for each person, and the way to recover may also be different

for each. When we are demotivated for learning, it is important to think the problem

yourself and set some goals to do with your interest and enjoyable.

3.5. Limitations of the thesis

We collected data from university students who major in English. Most of them

are female, the number of male subjects was only 18%. If I had collected the same

amount of data from male as same as female, I would get different results and we could

have more deep discussions about gender differences.

In Questionnaire Type 2 self-efficacy, we used a general self-efficacy scale, but

we found it's not especially good for language learning. If it has been more specialized

about language learning self-efficacy, the relationship would have been clearer.

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3.6. Further research

If we had a chance to do further research, we would research about self-efficacy

changes. I would like to know if we can change from low self-efficacy to high self-

efficacy or not. If it possible, we would reach to success for language learning.

3.7. Conclusion

In this thesis, we examined motivation, demotivation and self-efficacy in language

learning. We saw students change their motivation going up and going down, the

reasons are different for each. How to recover and how to keep their motivation are also

individual. However, there are some common points. When people re-motivate

themselves after being demotivated, they find the reason to recover from their internal

motivation, interest and enjoyment. If they do something without these, they would not

continue and give up. Besides, setting a goal is also good for recovering and keeping

motivation. If we can see the clear goal, our self-efficacy is easy to grow and we

motivate. When people keep high motivation, we could success to a lot of things not

only language learning.

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References

Bekleyen, Nilüfer Demotivating Factors in the EFL Environment

http://www.academia.edu/1254196/Demotivating_Factors_in_the_EFL_Environment

Maeda, M (2014) Changing motivation of second language acquisition

NDSU university graduation thesis

Mayer, R.E. Motivation Based on Self-Efficacy retrieved 2008 from

http://www.education.com/reference/article/motivation-based-self-efficacy/

Pink. D. Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us. Riverhead Books, 2009.

(242 pages)

http://vialogue.wordpress.com/2010/05/20/drive-notes-review/

自信とは

http://www.chs.nihon-u.ac.jp/pe_dpt/mizuochi/sposin-e/kojin/shin/toppage.html

35


This is a mess and you omitted many, please add them.

Appendix

Self-efficacy in Japanese

お名前 _____________

性別

● 男性

● 女性

1. 何か仕事をするときは、自信を持ってやるほうである。

● Yes

● No

2. 過去に犯した失敗や嫌な経験を思い出して、暗い気持ちになることがよくある

● Yes

● No

3. 友人よりすぐれた能力がある

● Yes

● No

4. 仕事を終えた後、失敗したと感じることの方が多い

● Yes

● No

5. 人と比べて心配性な方である

● Yes

● No

6. 何かを決めるとき、迷わず決定する方である

36

● Yes

● No

7. 何かをするとき、うまくいかないのではないかと不安になることが多い

● Yes

● No

８. 引っ込み思案な方だと思う

● Yes

● No

9. 人より記憶力が良い方である

● Yes

● No

10. 結果の見通しがつかない仕事でも、積極的に取り組んでいく方だと思う

● Yes

● No

11. どうやったらよいか決心がつかずに仕事にとりかかれないことがある

● Yes

● No

12. 友人よりも特にすぐれた知識を持っている分野がある

● Yes

● No

13. どんなことでも積極的にこなす方である

● Yes

● No

14. 小さな失敗でも人よりずっと気にするほうである

● Yes

● No

15. 積極的に活動するのは苦手な方である

● Yes

37

● No

16. 世の中に貢献できる力があると思う

● Yes

● No

Motivation questionnaire in Japanese

名前 ________________

Background

あなたの英語のレベルはどれくらいですか？

1 2 3 4 5

高い低い

英語を勉強するのが楽しいから

● 大変そう思う

● どちらかというとそう思う

● どちらかというとそう思わない

● 全くそう思わない

外国語に興味があるから




38


英語の先生が好きだから





ネイティブの人たちと話すのが楽しいから





流暢な英語で外国人とコミュニケーションを図りたいから





外国人の友達がほしいから





英語力を磨きたいから





英語で外国の映画や本を理解したいから


39




大学で英語を専攻しているから





いい成績を取って卒業したいから





英語力をつけることに価値があるから





将来、仕事で英語を使いたいから





海外旅行がしたいから





40

外国語ができることで他人に尊敬してもらえるから





英語はかっこいいから





1, 何が理由であなたのモチベーションが下がったのですか？またそのことに対してあなたはどのよ

うな態度をとりましたか？

2, その経験はあなたをどのように変えましたか？

3, 過去にモチベーションが下がったとき、あなたはどのように克服したのですか？

4, 英語学習のモチベーションを保つためにあなたがしていることはなんですか？

41

ayaka sato - robwaring.org web viewbandura and others have found that an individual’s...

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