Relationship Between Intrinsic/Extrinsic Motivation and L2 Speaking Skill Among Iranian Male and Female EFL Learners

Abstract

This study investigated the relationship between intrinsic/extrinsic motivation and L2 (English) speaking skill between male and female high school students in Iranian EFL context. To this end, 249 male and female students' intrinsic and extrinsic motivation was measured with a questionnaire and their English speaking skill was assessed by a speaking rating scale. To triangulate the data, semistructured interviews with a sample of 25 EFL students were conducted. The results of descriptive statistics and correlation coefficients demonstrated that the females had a higher level of intrinsic motivation while the males had a higher level of extrinsic motivation. Besides, the degree of correlation between intrinsic motivation and attainment of L2 speaking skill was statistically higher among the females. Also, t-test results indicated a statistically significant difference in the intrinsic/extrinsic type of motivation between the male and female students. The findings highlight the role of gender in dealing with motivation in L2 classes.

Does Gender Matter? Motivation and Learning EFL:

“…Pragmatism mattered to everyone. This result contradicted Salehpour and Roohani's (2020) finding that men were more inclined to be extrinsically motivated to learn EFL than women.…”

“…Conversely, autonomy (self-regulation and self-determination) is a prerequisite for intrinsically regulated behavior like learning EFL (Dörnyei & Otto 1998). Salehpour and Roohani (2020) reported that female secondary school students in Iran were more intrinsically motivated to learn EFL than males who scored highest on extrinsic motivation. Girls studied EFL because it brought them joy, satisfaction, and happiness while boys intended to use English to get good jobs and pursue higher education.…”

Toward the Role of Language Teacher Confirmation and Stroke in EFL/ESL Students’ Motivation and Academic Engagement: A Theoretical Review

“…Previous empirical studies have examined the construct of student academic engagement from various angles, namely as a means of improving learning outcomes (Parsons et al, 2014;Wonglorsaichon et al, 2014;Virtanen et al, 2015), a way of minimizing school dropout (Janosz et al, 2008), and an indicator of student academic motivation (Akpan and Umobong, 2013;Wu, 2019;Ghanizadeh et al, 2020;Ghelichli et al, 2020;Muñoz-Restrepo et al, 2020).…”

Foreign student guest lecture and Indonesian EFL students' motivation in cross-culture understanding course

“…It is not surprising that the increase in students' intrinsic motivation was due to the Indonesian lecturer's encouragement at the beginning of the class (Salehpour & Roohani, 2020). Even though it is only 10 minutes time allocation, it provides schemata of the target culture and the importance of learning CCU for students' success.…”