English language students and their motivation to learn the language

Abstract

pThe present study was carried out to know about students’ perceptions in relation to their motivation inside the classroom in order to determine what motivates and what hinders them to learn English. To achieve this purpose one hundred students from two public high schools located in the city of Alamor were surveyed. The participants were from five different classrooms which included basic education (ninth and tenth year) and secondary education (first, second and third year). The students were surveyed on their motivation towards English learning as a foreign language, their different feelings and opinions in regards to teachers, their teachers’ roles in the classroom, and some aspects that hinder their English language learning. Likewise, one English class of each teacher was observed to contrast the data provided by the students. The gathered results were presented in statistical charts and analyzed through quantitative and qualitative methods. The obtained results allowed us to know that the majority of students are definitely motivated to learn English, but one of the aspects that hinder their learning is the complexity of the topics