A Mixed-methods Approach to Investigating Iranian EFL Learners’ Attitudes towards Academic Motivation in Learning Vocabulary

Subject Areas : All areas of language and translation

Nassim Golaghaei ¹ , Hengameh Arefinezhad ²

1 - ELT Department, Roudehen Branch, Islamic Azad University, Roudehen, Iran
2 - ELT Department, Roudehen Branch, Islamic Azad University, Roudehen, Iran

Received: 2015-01-25 Accepted : 2015-08-20 Published : 2015-11-01

Keywords: vocabulary learning, Academic motivation, Motivation for vocabulary questionnaire (MVQ), Qualitative data, Quantitative data,

Abstract :

Abstract The present study aims at analyzing EFL learners’ attitudes towards motivating factors in learning vocab-ulary. A mixed-methods approach was used to conduct the study. In the qualitative analysis, Iranian EFL learners’ attitudes towards learning vocabulary were investigated through a semi-structured interview en-compassing 36 participants. Subsequently, a 56-item ‘motivation for vocabulary questionnaire’ (MVQ) was devised by the researchers and administered to 70 language learners in the pilot study. However, the number of participants in the main study was 315. A factor analysis through the quantitative analysis ex-tracted three motivating factors as learners’ expectations factors, internal conditions of the learners’ fac-tors, and learners’ satisfaction factors. The results also indicated that, opportunities to use English, new technology, classroom activities, and teaching method were considered as the most significant motivating factors among Iranian EFL learners in learning vocabulary.