Validating a Motivation Theory Model among Iranian Kurdish and Azerbaijani EFL Learners Using Structural Equation Modeling Approach

Subject Areas : All areas of language and translation

Faran Rasoulian ¹ , Fazlollah Samimi ^{2 *} , Shahram Afraz ³

1 - Department of English Language, Qeshm Branch, Islamic Azad University, Qeshm, Iran
2 - Department of English, Bandar Abbas Branch, Islamic Azad University, Bandar Abbas, Iran
3 - Department of English Language, Qeshm Branch, Islamic Azad University, Qeshm, Iran

Received: 2021-12-14 Accepted : 2022-03-01 Published : 2024-01-01

Keywords: motivation, Validation, model, Azerbaijani EFL Learners, Kurdish EFL Learners,

Abstract :

This study intended to develop a model of motivating factors to learn English among Iranian Kurdish and Azerbaijani EFL learners. For this purpose, at first, an endeavor was made to discover motivation factors and validate a model. Therefore, in the qualitative phase, a semi-structured interview was done with 18 Azerbaijani interviewees (in the Azerbaijan University of Tabriz) and 18 Kurdish ones (in the Kurdistan University of Sanandaj) and 6 participants of focus group from each ethnic group to brainstorm their ideas. After discovering seven EFL motivating factors with 29 categories, a questionnaire was made which reflected the factors. In the quantitative phase, the 80-item questionnaire underwent an exploratory factor analysis to test validity, and after the confirmation of its validity and reliability through a pilot study with 234 participants, the questionnaire was distributed among 320 EFL participants. To corroborate the validity of the proposed model, Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) analysis was used with LISREL 8.8. Eventually, confirmatory factor analysis was run and the model of motivating factors was developed with three factors related more to Azerbaijani students leading to integrative motivation and four for Kurdish students making instrumental motivation. The emerged model is helpful for policymakers of education and teachers caring about better English instruction.

References:

Acat, M. B., & Demiral, S. (2002). Sources of motivation in learning a foreign language in Turkey. Kuram ve Uygu-lamada Egitim Yonetimi, 3, 312-329.
Afshari, A., Tajeddin, Z., & Abbasian, R. G. (2019). Sources of de-motivation among English language learners: novice & experienced teachers’ be-liefs. Journal of Modern Research in English Language Studies, 6(4), 59-81.
Ager, D. (2001). Motivation in language planning and language policy. Cleve-don: Multilingual Matters. Caulder-wood, K. (2015, May 19).
Aliakbari, M., & Hemmatizad, M. (2015). On Students’ De-Motivation, Gender, Major, and Educational Level in Ira-nian EFL Context. English Language Teaching, 8(4), 106-116.
Alibakhshi, G., Nezakatgoo, B., & Popescu, M. (2019). Construction and valida-tion of Iranian EFL teachers’ teaching motivation scale. Cogent Education, 6(1), 1585311.
Alipour, A .(2016). Effectiveness of Moti-vational Interviewing on physical and Mental Indicators in patients with es-sential hypertension . RPH. 2017; 10 (4):10-18.
Amirian,M. R., & Adel, S.M. R. (2018). From the state of motivated to demo-tivated: Iranian military EFL learners’ motivation change. Journal of Asia TEFL,15(1), 32–50.
Bhutta, M. F. (2011). Widening access to medical school. Could proficiency in English be a factor? BMJ, 342, d1942. doi:10.1136/bmj.d1942.
Brown, H. D. (2000). Principles of language learning and teaching. New Jersey, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Çankaya, P. (2018). De-motivation factors in foreign language learning. Journal of Foreign Language Education and Technology, 3(1), 1-17.
Choubsaz, Y., & Choubsaz Y. (2014). Mo-tivational Orientation and EFL Learn-ing: A Study of Iranian Undergradu-ate Students. Procedia-Social and Be-havioral Sciences, 98, 392-397.
Clément, R. (1980), Ethnicity, contact and communicative competence in a sec-ond language. In H. Giles, W. P. Rob-inson, & P. M. Smith (eds.), Lan-guage: Social Psychological Perspec-tives. Oxford: Pergamon, pp. 147–154.
Corbin, J., & Strauss, A. (2015). Basics of Qualitative Research. Thousand Oaks CA: Sage.
Covington, M. V. (2000). Goal theory, mo-tivation, and school achievement: An integrative review. Annual Review of Psychology, 51, 171–200.
Dornyei, Z. (1990). Conceptualizing Moti-vation in Foreign-Language Learning. Language Learning, 40, 45-78.
Dörnyei, Z. (2009). The L2 motivational self system. In Z. Dörnyei & E. Ush-ioda (Eds.), Motivation, language identity and the L2 self (pp. 9-42). Bristol: Multilingual Matters.
Dornyei, Z. (1994). Motivation and Moti-vating in the Foreign Language Class-room. The Modern Language Journal, 78, 273-284.
Dornyei, Z., & Ushioda, E. (2011). Teach-ing and researching motivation (2nd ed). Harlow: Longman.
Dörnyei, Z. (2001). Teaching and research-ing motivation. Harlow, UK: Long-man.
Edwards, J. (2009). Language and identity: An introduction. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
Falout, J., & Maruyama, M. (2004). A Comparative Study of Proficiency and Learner De-motivation. TheLan-guage Teacher, 28(8), 3-9.
Fathi, J., Torabi, S. & Arashpour, K. (2019). A Qualitative Exploration of Demoti-vating Factors in English Language Learning among Iranian EFL Learn-ers. International Journal of English Language & Translation Studies, 7(2). 01-11.
Fredy, F., Luz, M., & Angela, V. (2019). Motivation and E-Learning English as a foreign language: A qualitative study. Journal of Heliyon, 5(9), 11-25.
Gardner, R. C. (2000). Correlation, Causa-tion, Motivation and Second Lan-guage Acquisition. Canadian Psy-chology, 41, 10-24.
Gardner, R. C., & Lambert, W. E. (1972). Attitudes and motivation in second language learning. Rowley, Mass: Newbury House.
Gardner, R. C., & Tremblay, P. F. (1994). On motivation, research agendas and theoretical frameworks. Modern Lan-guage Journal, 78, 359-368.
Gholami, R. (2012), Social Context as an Indirect Trigger in EFL Contexts: Is-sues and Solutions. Published by Ca-nadian Center of Science and Educa-tion, Vol. 5, No. 3. Retrieved on March 2012, from: www.ccsenet.org/elt, January 2013.
Han, T., Takkac-Tulgar, A., & Aybirdi, N. (2019). Factors causing de-motivation in EFL learning process and the strategies used by Turkish EFL learners. Advances in language and Litereracy Studies, 10(2), 56-65
Harmer, J. (2007). The practice of English language teaching. Harlow, England: Pearson Longman.
Hosseini, A., & Shokrpour, N. (2019). Ex-ploring motivating factors Iranian among medical and nursing ESP learners. Cogent Arts & Humanities, 6(1), 1634324
Huang, L. M. (2019). Perceptions of college students with disabilities. Journal of Postsecondary Education and Disabil-ity, 32(1), 21–33.
Hussin, S., Maarof, N., & D’Cruz, J. (2001). Sustaining an interest in learn-ing English and increasing the motiva-tion to learn English: an enrichment program. The Internet TESL Jour-nal,7(5). http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Hussin-Motivation/ [retrieved 15-09-2014]
Kavianpanah, S., & Ghasemi, Z. (2011). An investigation into sources of de-motivation in second language learn-ing. Iranian Journal of Applied Lin-guistics (IJAL), 1(2), 89-110.
Kazantseva E.S, (2016). Estimation of the ontogeny stage durations for herba-ceous plants, specifically Anthyllis vulneraria L. The North Caucasus Ecological Herald. 2016, Vol. 12, N1. pp. 4-9.
Khudgir Agha, T. H. A. (2015). Ethnic Identity and Culture in Foreign Lan-guage Motivation: EFL forKurdish and Arabic Students in Iraqi Higher Education. Københavns Universitet, Det Humanistiske Fakultet.
Kikuchi, K. (2009). Listening to our learn-ers’ voices: What demotivates EFL high school students? Language Teaching Research, 13(4).
Lamb, M. (2009). Situating the L2 self: Two Indonesian school learners of English. In Z. Dörnyei, & E. Ushioda (Eds), Motivation, language identity, and the L2 self (pp.229-247). Bristol: Muliti-lingual Matters.
Lee, L. (2011). Blogging: Promoting learner autonomy and intercultural compe-tence through study abroad. Language Learning & Technology, 15(3), 87–109. Retrieved from: http://llt.msu.edu/issues/october2011/lee.pdf
Majid,F. (2012). A study on the on-line lan-guage learning anxiety among adult learner Int. J. e-Educ., e-Bus., e- Manag. and e-Learn., 2 (3) (2012), pp. 187-192
May, S. (2008). Language and minority rights: Ethnicity, nationalism and the politics of language. New York, NY: Routledge.
Muhonen, J. (2004). Second language de-motivation: factors that discourage pupils from learning the English lan-guage (Unpublished pro gradu thesis). University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland.
Mun, Wong Yin. 2011. A Study of Instru-mental and Integrative Motivation as Factors Influencing UTAR Third-Year Chinese Undergraduates in Learning ESL. A Research Project. Faculty of Arts and Social Science. Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, Malaysia.
Oxford, R., & Shearin, J. (1994). Language Learning Motivation: Expanding The Theoretical Framework. The Modern Language Journal, 78, 12-27.
Phinney, J. S., Horenczyk, G., Liebkind, K., & Vedder, P. (2001). Ethnic identity, immigration, and well-being: An in-teractional perspective. Journal of So-cial Issues, 57(3), 493–510.
Pishghadam, R. (2011). Attributional pat-terns with respect to major and at-tendance in private language schools: A case of EFL context. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 1(7), 888-894.
Rakes, G.C. & Dunn, K.E. (2010). The Im-pact of Online Graduate Students’ Motivation and Self-Regulation on Academic Procrastination. Journal of Interactive Online Learning, 9(1), 78- 93. Retrieved from: https://www.learntechlib.org/p/109409/.
Ritlyova, A. (2009). Cultural Studies in Language Teaching. Milan Ferencik, Juraj Horvath (eds.) Paper presented at the Language, Literature and Cul-ture in a Changing Transatlantic World International Conference. Weiner, B. (1985). An attribution the-ory of achievement motivation and emotion. Psychological Review, 92, 548-573.
Sadeghi, K, & Richards, J. (2015). “Teach-ing Spoken English in Iran’s Private Language Schools: Issues and Op-tions.” English Teaching: Practice and Critique. doi: pdfplus/10.1108/ETPC-03-2015-0019
Sakai, H., & Kikuchi, k. (2009). An analy-sis of demotivators in the EFL class-room. System, 37(1), 57–69.
Sahragard, R., & Alimorad, Z. (2013). De-motivating factors affecting Iranian high school students’ English learn-ing. In: Cultures of learning (pp. 245-260). New York: McMillan.
Schiefele, U. (2017). Classroom manage-ment and mastery-oriented instruction as mediators of the effects of teacher motivation on student motivation. Teaching and Teacher Education, 64, 115-126. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2017.02.004
Seligman, M. (1975). Helplessness: On de-pression, development, and death. San Francisco, CA: Freeman.
Sharifzadeh, M., & Heisey, D. R. (2010). A Case Study in Using Imagination to Teach English in Iranian Public Schools. Retrieved from: http://www.michaelprosser.com/2011/06/a-case-study-in-using-imagination-to-teach-english-in- iranian-public-schools-manssourethsharifzadeh-and-d-ray-heisey-ph-d/
Soodbakhsh, N. (2009). An investigation into the nature of oral communication strategies used by Iranian EFL learn-ers: The effects of level of oral profi-ciency, motivation, and attitude. Un-published M.A. thesis, International Division of Shiraz University, Iran.
Spolsky, B. (1989). Conditions for second language learning. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Smith, T. B., and Silva, L. (2011). Ethnic identity and personal well-being of people of color: A meta- analysis. J. Couns. Psychol. 58, 42–60. doi: 10.1037/a0021528
Sun, J. (2018). An analysis of English learn-ing de-motivation factors of minority high-school students in Western Chi-na: A case study of a county high school in Qiannan autonomous pre-fecture Guizhou Province. Advances in Higher Education, 2(2), 1-7.
Tabatabaei, O., & Molavi, A. (2012). De-motivating factors affecting EFL learning of Iranian seminary students. International Education Studies, 5, 181-190.
Williams, M., & Burden, R. (1997). Psy-chology for language teachers. Cam-bridge: Cambridge University Press.
Zamani, M., & Sadeghi, B. (2020). Investi-gating demotivating factors in foreign language learners: The case of non-Iranian Persian language learners. Co-gent Education, 7(1), 1690232.
Zanghar, A. (2012). Instrumental and Inte-grative Motivation Among Under-graduate Libyan Students OfEnglish As A Foreign Language (M.A.). COLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY.