Abstract
The purpose of this study was to develop a new measure of motivation for Arabic learning, called the Arabic Learning Motivation Questionnaire (ALMQ), based on the self-determination theory. The ALMQ was constructed based on the Academic Motivation Questionnaire, which is a measure of academic motivation in Japanese university students, and has 15 items. The reliability and construct validity of the ALMQ were examined in a sample of 448 Japanese university students, who learn Arabic, but are not Arabic majors. Both exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses of the items fully supported the five subscale structure corresponding to the different forms of motivation that were proposed by self-determination theory: amotivation, external regulation, introjected regulation, identified regulation, and intrinsic motivation. Internal consistency reliabilities of the subscales were excellent (αs = 0.86 to 0.90). The test-retest reliability over four weeks was also adequate for a sub-sample of 214 participants (rs = 0.69 to 0.79). The construct validity for the ALMQ was supported by relationships to subjective learning outcomes and the Simplex structure between the ALMQ subscales. As expected, the relationships with subjective learning outcomes and forms of motivation varied depending on the degree of self-determination. In addition, correlational patterns between the subscale scores showed the theoretically expected simplex structure. The ALMQ is expected to be utilized as a suitable measure for understanding the motivations of Japanese learners of Arabic.
Highlights
The purpose of this study was to develop a new measure of motivation for Arabic learning, called the Arabic Learning Motivation Questionnaire (ALMQ), based on the self-determination theory
The ALMQ was constructed based on the Academic Motivation Questionnaire, which is a measure of academic motivation in Japanese university students, and has 15 items
Arabic Learning Motivation Questionnaire The ALMQ contains 15 items (e.g., “I like studying Arabic” in Japanese), which were constructed by modifying items from the Academic Motivation Questionnaire (AMQ) to measure motivation for Arabic learning
Summary
In Japan, the main learners of Arabic include workers learning Arabic for work (Suzuki, 2006) and university students studying Arabic: The latter is chief among Japanese learners of Arabic (Sumi & Sumi, 2016b, 2018). One of the most spoken languages in the world, has been taught in formal education in Japan for more than 90 years. It is estimated that recently Arabic classes are given at about 50 Japanese universities. More than 3000 university students take the classes to learn Arabic as a foreign language every year (Sumi & Sumi, 2016b, 2018). Many Japanese people learn Arabic, only limited attempts have been made so far to understand their characteristics. Little is known about their psychological characteristics, such as needs, goals, interest, and expectations concerning Arabic learning (Sumi & Sumi, 2016b, 2018), in spite of this information begin necessary to improve teaching and learning Arabic
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