English language students and their motivation to learn the language.

Abstract

The study, English language students and their motivation to learn the language has as purpose to learn about students’ perceptions in relation to their motivation to learn English inside the classroom. This research was conducted in one Catholic high school in the city of Macas, province of Morona Santiago. The sample was twenty students from five different courses which made a total of 100 participants. To gather the data the participants were given questionnaires to answer eight different questions. Furthermore, five different lessons were observed. All participants accumulate five hours, forty minutes each during the week and used the English textbooks given by the Ministry of Education of Ecuador adopted and guided by the common European framework of reference for languages. Both the questionnaires and the observation sheets were the research instruments chosen. As a result of this investigation it can be concluded that the aspects that motivates students to learn English in class the most are to improve their English level and the teachers’ attitude. Contrarily, the main aspect that hinders their motivation is the type of the textbook used.