Factors that influence Ecuadorian university students’ motivation towards English learning: An exploratory research study

Abstract

Although learning English as a foreign language has commonly been associated with special cognitive abilities or learners’ aptitude, it has also been found that motivation plays a key role. Thus, this exploratory research study aimed to determine what factors motivate Ecuadorian university students to learn English, so a survey was administered to 422 students in different undergraduate programs from three public universities. The questions focused on learning about and determining the level of agreement the study participants had with statements related to integrative and instrumental motivation. Additionally, an open-ended question was formulated to find out the most important reasons behind their learning of English. The findings showed that a large number of study participants feel motivated to learn the language in order to achieve short-term goals such as traveling and being able to communicate in the target language, as well as long-term goals that include earning academic degrees and obtaining better job opportunities. It was concluded that the role of the teacher and an effective language teaching methodology are key components of students’ motivation and attitudes towards successful foreign language learning.