خلاصة:
The importance of demotivation in language learning has been overshadowed in the commonplace research on language learning motivation and even in mainstream psychology (Dörnyei, 2005). The purpose behind conducting this study was to investigate the relationship between students’ demotives for studying in general and English language in particular. Besides, the importance of educational context was investigated through explaining the changes in students’ responses based on the type of university and gender. In Iran, university education is highly important for youngsters and the type of university with their various contexts is determining for their future. There are popular state universities among which one technical university as well as its satellite campus were selected. Besides, a distance-education and a unisexual university were represented in the present sample, overall comprising 194 bachelor students of different majors. Consequently, the factors considered as demotives are ranked, elaborated on and analyzed in order to shed light on the educational context-specific demotives and the pros and cons of current practices of EFL instruction in the universities.
ملخص الجهاز:
Groham and Christophel (1992 & 1995) surveyed a group of college students about: “What things decrease your motivation to try hard to do your best in that class?” The three main groups of demotives found related to: (1) context, (2) structure/format of the class and (3) teacher behavior.
Dörnyei (1998) also interviewed a group of learners whom he identified as demotivated or those who had experienced demotivation and found 9 major categories of demotives as: the teacher, school facilities, students’ self- confidence, attitude toward L2, compulsory L2 studying, interference of another foreign language being learnt, attitude toward L2 community, group members, the course book.
More recently, in Iran, and also in the university context, Hassaskhah, MahdaviZafarghandi and Fazeli (2014) classified the demotives of English major bachelor students into factors related to (1) institution, (2) significant others, and (3) self.
They found the factors of contents and materials, teacher’ s competence and method, school facilities, lack of intrinsic motivation and test score as the most important demotives among high school and university students.
As for the second part, question one asked about what students perceive as the most important factors negatively influencing their motivation for learning English, and question two inquired the factors decreasing the students’ motivation for studying in general for their courses, at their particular universities.
How do university types and gender affect what students perceive as demotives for English language learning?
How do university types and gender affect what students perceive as demotives for English language learning?