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International Students’ Motivations in English Learning in the U.S.

Zhengyun Qian, Master student Michael Wei, Ph.D.

University of Missouri-Kansas City

Introduction

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• Motivation has a direct influence on the frequency that students use L2 learning strategies (Oxford & Shearin, 1994).

• Language related attitudes and motivated behaviors play a highly important role in second and foreign language learning (Csizér & Kormos, 2008).

Introduction

By 2008, there were173,122 international students studying in American institutions.

The quantity of international students keeps increasing from 1997 to 2008 and the rate of increase steadily goes from 5.1% up to 10.1% per year.

Introduction

• Academic development

• Advanced degrees

• Special care • Attention• International students

• Create good learning environment

• Help them learn better and survive here

• Motivation study is the key

Literature review

• Oxford & Shearin (1994) packed together the most prevalent theories in motivation need theories, the instrumentality theories, the equity theories, and the reinforcement theories. All these important theories illustrated the original motivation of L2 learners and they also constructed a system that analyze the motivations and needs, whether Physical or psychological.

• Tremblay & Gardner (1995) expanded the motivation construct in language learning. They set up a model to clarify the structure of motivation and all other variables. The results show that achievement is directly influenced by first language dominance and motivational behavior dominance.

Research Questions

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1.What motivated these international students to study in the U.S.?

How do these 5 international students think about their learning in the U.S.?

How do their goals influence their study in the U.S.?

Research methods

5 international students Questionnaire, interview, and observation

Midwestern Universities in the U.S.

Participants Application Place

Participants

Name Gender Country Major Degree ESL class

Erika Female Mexico Business Master 2 semesters

Pauline Female France Communication Undergraduate None

Sean Male Thailand Business Master 1 semester

Charles Male China Law Master None

Qays Male Iraq Geosciences PhD 3 semesters

Research Methods

Participant 1: Erika

• A native Spanish speaker comes from Mexico in Fall, 2008 as an enrolled ESL student at a public university. Then transferred to another college for MBA degree after ESL courses.

• Starts to learn English in her second year of high school, and from then on then she never stops learning.

• Before Erika came to the States, she worked for 5 different companies in the past 10 years and 3 of them were British, Canadian, or American companies. English was needed in her job sometimes but Spanish was still the dominant working language. A lot of working experiences helped Erika to enter a Business School and set up her career goal.

• Erika’s brother and fiancé both are working in the States and this motivated her to learn English fluently and settle down here with her family. She is struggling with professional academic class currently but still is confident to face all difficulties.

Research Methods

Participant 2: Pauline• An exchange student from France with the major in communication.

Pauline will stay in the U.S. for only 1 year and then will return to France to finish her degree.

• Pauline has an extremely strong passion in political science and planned to be a political news reporter or election campaign director in the future in France.

• She was exposed to English in France very little because French people are not so willing to learn foreign languages and cultures. There are no native speakers of English in class and it is not a mandatory course either, and not that many students are interested. However, Pauline resists this opposition to learning English.

• She received a summer internship in London, Britain being a French-English interpreter. English skills improved but the sense of loneliness frustrated her. Being an exchange student in the U.S. is much better and more fun because of many same age students all gather together which is helping her learn more than in Britain due to different identities.

Research Methods

Participant 3: Sean• Sean is from Bangkok, Thailand and is currently a graduate student at the

MBA program.

• Sean got his bachelor’s degree in an international university in Bangkok and some courses were taught by native English speakers. There were also many international students in his previous university.

• He used to study English for more than 10 years before coming to the U.S. However, when he just arrived, he found that his English was still not enough to handle everything in his daily life and in academic classes.

• Sean desires to find a job in the U.S. and wants to live here permanently after graduation. Actually, Sean didn’t like English when he first started to learn it in elementary school but later he found out that English played a really important role in his life, like when he applied to a nice university, or want to get a decent job--nothing can be achieved without being fluent English.

• He lived with an American roommate in a university dorm for a year and practiced English a lot. There is a rapid progress in his English skills.

Research Methods

Participant 4: Charles• Charles comes to study in the Law School in the U.S. right after getting his

bachelor’s degree in China.

• Without any working experience, he just keeps going straight on his academic path. English plays an important role in his life but it doesn’t become a problem which bothers him very much.

• He has been a top student from elementary school to the university and foreign language is one of his interest. Besides classroom learning, Charles found a lot of outside resources to enrich his English skills such as watching movies, listening to American radio stations, or reading western magazines…

• He started to learn French at the university and was sent to study in France for a year as an exchange student.

• Charles plans to go back to China to be a successful lawyer after the LLM program in the U.S., so that he will be capable to deal with both domestic and international cases in China. Getting an advanced degree in the U.S. almost equals a bright future in his perspective.

Research Methods

Participant 5: Qays

• Qays came to study in the U.S. with the funding from Iraq government. According to the contract he signed with the government, he has to accomplish his PhD degree within 3 years.

• The life in the U.S. is not so satisfying for him. High academic pressure, little cohort communication, being far away from family, and not having so many real friends here. In addition, because of the war between Iraq and the U.S., his visa is a serious issue which doesn’t allow him to go back to visit his family during his study in the U.S.

• A different cultural background, language, and living habits, even the religion hinders his relation with native English speakers here. Stereotypes, misunderstandings, and indifference still exist which hurts him sometimes.

• No matter how hard the situation is, he is still positive towards his study and life here because he made this decision to come and he knows getting the degree here will make him more valuable in his own country.

Research results

Common

01.All participants in this study are

positive learners.

02.English listening and speaking skills

get great improvement in the

States

03.They learned “deaf-dumb English” before in their own country.

Decision was made by themselves without any outsider push.

English skills got great improvement day by day in this

immersion environment

They focused too much on reading and writing before, almost

no communicative language learning.

Research results

• Research question 1: What motivated these international students choose to come to study in the U.S.?

The U.S. is a leading country in the world, whether it is the economy, technology, or education. Getting an advanced degree here can honor these participants and their families in their home country. Family and friends are proud of them. This is one of the biggest benefits which attracts them to the States according to these 5 participants. Getting an advanced degree here almost means a promising bright future to their career and self development. Some of the participants are planning to find a job and stay in the U.S. permanently because the life is easier in the U.S. for them. While Qays has to go back to his own country because of his contract with the government and Charles dreams to be a great lawyer who can deal with both domestic and international cases in China because there’s a great potential market in China. In a nutshell, careers and self development are the main goals which motivated them to come to study in the U.S.

Research results

• Research question 2: How do these 5 international students think about their learning in the U.S.?

Most participants are satisfied with their life and their learning in the U.S., except for the student who comes from Iraq. From the data analysis, the researcher found out that age is also an important factor which influences students’ learning performance and survival process. According to these 5 participants in this study, the younger students can adjust their life here better, the older students usually are more sensitive and not easy to make new friends especially for Asian students who are still shy and a bit conservative from their cultural sealing. Participant Sean said he was content with his life here but most of the time he still stays by himself or spends time with people who are from the same country as him. Participant Erika has her boyfriend, brother, cousins and other relatives in the U.S. which makes her life much easier than others. Stepping out of one’s own comfort zone is still the most challengeable thing for almost all international students in this study.

Research results

• Research question 3: How do their goals influence their study in the U.S.?

From the interview and questionnaire, we can get the conclusion that the students who have a strong desire to achieve something, with the result still yet unknown are intrinsically motivated. Such as Erika and Pauline, one wants to work in a big company in the U.S. permanently and the other wants to fulfill her career goal in French political community. They try very hard to make new friends, be more social, and build their social network. Students who come here with a mission such as accomplishing their degrees and then return back to their old positions in their home countries are usually less inspired to try every means to be sociable and to learn English better. When students know what they will get after getting the degree for sure, the motivation usually shrinks. When students have a goal, but they are not sure whether they can achieve it or not they doubt in themselves, and their motivation usually fluctuates in learning English and making friends here. They are a bit unstable in their behavior sometimes, in general, and they don’t show a strong passion about what they are doing. They also may make backup plan for their future unconsciously in the heart if they cannot achieve their goals.

Discussion

Adult students’ motivations in learning English are usually based on if their physical need is satisfied or if they can regress in their needs, motivation, and performance, or if their requirements for psychological security are not met.

In the U.S., English became a part of their life, they have to learn and speak it well in order to survive. This is an important advantage that the educators can use to motivate students.

Discussion

Class observation plan was failed

Intrinsic motivation comes from the desire of bright future

Participant sample can be enlarged

Practical purpose is a great motivation for learning English

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