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139WHAMPOA - An Interdisciplinary Journal 54(2008) 139-146

A Study of ROCMA Freshmen Cadets Motivation on English

Learning

Wain-Chin Dana Chen

Department of Foreign Languages, ROC Military Academy

Abstract

It is believed that students with high motivation to learn a foreign language tend to

perform better than those with low motivation. This paper intends to investigate some

freshmen cadets orientations of motivation on English learning. The result showed that the

Linguistic self-confidence orientation got the highest score.Direct contact with L2 speakers

got the second highest score.Instrumentalorientation occupied the third place. Implications

for further research and teaching are also suggested.

Keywords: orientations of motivation, ROC military academy cadets

Introduction

The execution of English teaching in

Taiwan has been for a long period of time.

English is now one of the main and

compulsory subjects during the course

programs, starting from Grade 5 in the

elementary school and up to Freshmen

programs of college (some even with

prolonged English courses, for example, in

the ROC Military Academy). Many factors

affect students successful learning.Motivation is regarded as one of the most

important term to determine the successful

learning. It is believed that students with

higher motivation of learning foreign

languages tend to perform better than those

who have low motivation (Hsu & Chan

2005). Very few studies focused on the

orientations of motivation of militarystudents to learn English in Taiwan. This

study is going to investigate freshmen

cadets motivation towards English learning

in order to find out their main orientations of

motivation.

Literature Review

The first complete summary of L2

motivation research was first proposed by

Robert Gardner and Wallance Lambert in

1972. The most prominent part of Gardners

motivation theory is the integrative aspect,However, some researchers argued that

intergrativeness of Gardners theory might

be focused in Canadian context. The

integrative motivational orientation

discussed in this study refers to a positive

interpersonal/affective toward the L2 group

and the desire to interact with and even

become similar to valued members of thatL2 community (Drnyei 2003). Apart from

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140

Gardners theory, there are other

motivational orientations such as

self-determination theory (Deci and Ryan

1985, 2002), attribution theory (Weiner

1992), goal theories (Belmechri & Hummel

1998; McClelland 2000) and Schumanns

neuroresearch (Schumann 1998, 1999).

In this study, a broad societal

macro-perspective of Drnyei and Csizrs

research (2002) was adopted. There are 7

aspects of orientations of motivations. Those

orientations were illustrated as following

(Csizr and Drnyei 2005).Instrumentalityapplies to the beneficial

part of learning the second language. The

beneficial part may cover obtaining a better

job, or gaining more money from the

pragmatic benefits (Gardner 1985; Gardner

& MacIntyre 1991). In this part, the

researchers believe that instrumental

motivation can effectively motivatelanguage learners, especially when they

value the return on investment (Chen,

Warden and Chang 2005: 612).

Direct contact with L2 speakers

concerns attitudes of having direct contact

with L2 speakers and traveling to their

country.

Cultural interest (or indirect contact)

reflects appreciations of the cultural

products related to the particular L2 and

conveyed by the media such as TV programs,

films, pop music and magazines.

Vitality of L2 community concerns the

perceived importance and wealth of the L2

communities in question.

Milieurelates to the general perception

of the importance of foreign languages in

the learners immediate environment (e.g. in

the school context and in friends and

parents views).

Linguistic self-confidence reflects a

confident, anxiety-free belief that the

mastery of an L2 is well within the learners

means.

The following parts will cover the

research method, data collection and

analysis.

Method

In order to elicit cadets opinions, a

questionnaire was adopted for this purpose.It aims to find out the orientation of those

cadets motivation to learn English in

Taiwan. To obtain the data, this research

utilized statistical means of descriptive

statistics.

Subjects

The subjects joining this research camefrom ROC Military Academy and all

enrolled in the freshmen English course,

which is a compulsory course for cadets to

attend. In this study, there were 61 subjects

in total participating. Three classes consist

of 61 students. The teacher of the three

classes was the same one, who was also the

researcher herself.

Design of the study

This study aimed to find out the

orientations of those military cadets

motivation on the aspect of learning English.

The main instrument of this study was the

questionnaire adopted from Hsu and Chan

(2005). There were 21 statements in Hsu and

Chans study. Hsu and Chan modified the

original questionnaire of Drnyei and Csizr

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Wain-Chin Dana ChenA Study of ROCMA Freshmen Cadets Motivation on English Learning 141

(2002) and translated it in Chinese for better

comprehension. The writer of this study put

one more statement (statement 15) in so

there were 22 statements of the

questionnaire for this current study.

Data Collection and Analysis

The main instrument of this study was

the questionnaire. The questionnaire covers

freshmen cadets background information

and there were 22 statements in the

questionnaire (see the appendix). In this

study, cadets background information willnot be discussed. The questionnaires were

filled in class by the subjects themselves.

The students English teacher was present at

the administration (also the writer herself).

She offered explanation and assistance if

students had any enquiry about the

questionnaire. It took students about 15

minutes to finish their questionnaire.

Results and Discussion

In the questionnaires, there were 7

kinds of orientations of motivation

(integrativeness, instrumentality, direct

contact with L2 speakers, Cultural interest,

Vitality of L2 community, Milieu and

Linguistic Self-confidence). Each statement

has 4 options (strongly agree, agree,

disagree, and strongly disagree). If students

choose strongly agree, they got 4 points in

each statement. If students choose agree,

they got 3 points. The item of disagree

would be given 2 points and strongly

disagree option would be given 1 point.

The reliability of the questionnaire is

0.8848.

The researcher employed descriptive

statistics to analyze the data of the 7

orientations of motivation. The descriptive

statistics result was listed in Table 1.

Table 1: Descriptive Statistics of

Motivation

Orientati

on of

Motivati

on

N Minimu

m

Maxim

um

Mean Std.

Deviati

on

Integrati

veness

61 1.50 4.00 2.9375 0.5808

Instrume

ntality

61 2.20 4.00 2.9875 0.3532

Direct

contact

with L2

speakers

61 2.00 4.00 3.0000 0.5616

Cultural

interest

61 1.00 4.00 2.8942 0.6359

Vitality

of L2

commun

ity

61 1.00 4.00 2.8148 0.5735

Milieu 61 1.00 4.00 2.6296 0.5683

Linguisti

c

Self-conf

idence

61 2.0075 4.00 3.0430 0.5548

From Table 1, the orientation oflinguistic self-confidence got the highest

score. The motivation of direct contact with

L2 speakers got the second highest score.

The third highest score was

instrumentality. The fourth was

integrativeness motivation. The fifth one

was cultural interest. The sixth was the

vitality of L2 community motivation and

the last was milieu.

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From the result, it is unexpected that

students score the highest on linguistic

self-confidence comparing to Hsu and

Chans study that instrumentality was the

first. This reflects that those cadets hold a

confident, anxiety-free belief that they can

master English well within their own means.

They also recognize the importance of

acquiring English proficiency. Moreover,

they would spend more time on learning

English if they got more free time. This

reflects that students might need to search

out some time from their tight daily schoolschedule for their own English learning.

Especially in the military learning

environment, this may sound difficult.

The second highest score was direct

contact with L2 speakers. This means that

the subjects were fond of meeting L2

speakers, being friends with L2 natives andtraveling to L2 countries.

The third highest score of those cadets

was on instrumental factor. In other words,

they acknowledge the benefits of obtaining

English proficiency. The recent applications

of promotion in the military units indicate

officers could get sooner promotion if they

pass the GEPT inter-mediate test or acquire

higher scores on related English proficiency

tests. In addition, higher English proficiency

also guarantees of getting easier access to

the chances of further trainings in the US,

which might relate to the second highest

score of direct contact with L2 speakers.

The fourth highest place was

integrativeness. That means those cadets

would take a general positive attitude toward

English (as a L2) and its culture. Moreover

they would like to communicate with and

might even want to become similar to the L2

speakers (Csizr and Drnyei 2005).

Cultural interest and Vitality of L2

community were rather similar on mean

score. The last one was milieu that cadets

did not show much agreement on statements

17-19.

Conclusion

In whole, the findings of this study

show a homogeneous aspect that thosefreshmen cadets hold a positive and

confident attitude toward learning English.

They believe they can learn English well in

their own way. It is also suggested with

higher input of direct contacts with L2

speakers and cultural aspects which can

attract higher motivation on learning English.

Therefore, some practical actions can bedone: for example, hiring more native

speakers of English teachers for the English

teaching environment or providing cadets

some traveling opportunities to L2 countries

during the winter/summer breaks. Those

might be urgently considered in the ROC

military academy.

Meanwhile, instrumental motivation

was highly valued. Those cadets understood

having a better English proficiency could

bring more pragmatic benefits for the future

life. However, the English learning

environment milieu was not so

emphasized by them. More research could

be done within this perspective. For now,

English teachers could encourage students to

learn English verbally or in a more practical

way. For example, if students pass English

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proficiency tests, they could have a

early-day off under the approval.

The limit of this research is that the

study was conducted at a military academy

in southern Taiwan. The finding will not be

applicable to the orientations of other

students motivation on learning English in

Taiwan. However, this study provides a

general perspective towards the orientations

of some freshman cadets motivation on

English learning. Furthermore, In order to

enhance teaching and students motivation

on English learning, it is suggested thatmore research on different grades of cadets

or cadets with different levels of English

proficiency would be beneficial. For the

in-depth discussion, further interviews with

cadets or even with teachers toward the

motivational aspect of students English

learning will be recommended.

References

[1]Belmechri, F. & Hummel, K. (1998)

Orientations and Motivation in the

Acquisition of English as a Second

Language among High School Students

in Quebec City. Language Learning 48:

219-244.

[2]Chen, J. F., Warden, C. A. and Chang, H.

(2005) Motivators that Do not Motivate:

The Case of Chinese EFL Learners and

the Influence of Culture on Motivation.

TESOL Quarterly 39(4): 609-633.

[3]Csizr, K. and Drnyei, Z. (2005)

Language Learners Motivational

Profiles and Their Motivated Learning

Behavior Language Learning 55(4):

613-659.

[4]Deci, E. L. & Ryan, R. M. (1985)

Intrinsic Motivation and

Self-determination in Human Behavior.

New York: Plenum.

[5]Deci, E. L. & Ryan, R. M. (eds.) (2002)

Handbook of Self-determination.

Rochester, NY: University of Rochester

Press.

[6]Drnyei, Z. and Csizr, K. (2002) Some

Dynamics of Language Attitudes and

Motivation: Results of a Longitudinal

Nationwide Survey. Applied

Linguistics 23(4): 421-462.

[7]Drnyei, Z. (2003) Attitudes,Orientations, and Motivations in

Language Learning: Advances in Theory,

Research, and Applications. Language

Learning 53 Supplement 1: 3-32.

[8] Gardner, R. C. (1985) Social Psychology

and Second Language Learning: the

Role of Attitudes and Motivation.

London: Arnold.[9] Gardner, R. C. & Lambert, W. (1972)

Attitudes and Motivation in Second

Language Learning. Rowley, MA:

Newbury House.

[10] Gardner, R. C. & MacIntyre, P. D.

(1991) An Instrumental Motivation in

Language Study: Who Says It Isnt

Effective? Studies in Second Language

Acquisition 13:57-72.

[11] Hsu, H. and Chan, Y. (2005) A Study

of 5th Graders Motivation to Learn

English. The 14th International

Symposium on English Teaching, pp.

360-368.

[12]McClelland, N. (2000) Goal

Orientations in Japanese College

Students Learning EFL. In Cornwell S.

& Robinson P. (eds.) Individual

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Differences in Foreign Language

Learning: Effects of Aptitude,

Intelligence, and Motivation. Tokyo:

Japanese Association for Language

Teaching. pp. 99-115.

[13]Schumann, J. H. (1998) The

Neurobiology of Affect in Language.

Oxford, England: Backwell.

[14]Schumann, J. H. (1999) A

Neurobiological Perspective on Affect

and methodology in Second Language

Learning. In Arnold, J. (ed.) Affect in

Language Learning. Cambridge,England: Cambridge University Press.

pp. 28-42.

Appendix:

1. I want to learn English because I likeforeign culture.

2. I want to learn English because I want tospeak English fluently.

3. I want to learn English because I mayneed it in later job.

4. I want to learn English because Englishis a kind of tool to make living.

5. I want to learn English because it is asubject of exam.

6. I want to learn English because it is partof being educated.

7. I want to learn English because I canmake friends with foreigners.

8. I want to learn English because I cancommunicate with foreigners.

9. I want to learn English because it will behelpful when traveling.

10.I want to learn English because Englishclass is interesting.

11.I want to learn English because I amcurious about English.

12.I want to learn English because I like towatch foreign movies, comics, or listen

to foreign music.

13.I want to learn English because manyproducts labels in English.

14.I want to learn English because I canpractice speaking English with friends.

15.I want to learn English because I want togo abroad for further studying.

16.I want to learn English because it is aninternational language.

17.I want to learn English because myfriends learn English, too.

18.I want to learn English because myparents wish me to learn.

19.I want to learn English because teachersencourage me to learn.

20.I want to learn English because I amconfident of learning English well.

21.I want to learn English because I think itis important to learn English.

22.If I have more time, I would like tospend more time learning English.

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80

80 linguistic self-confidence ()

instrumentality()

:

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