Root Cause Analysis of Demotivation in the EFL Classroom: The Role of Task Value in a Monolingual Culture

Abstract

While literature on factorizing demotivation in the EFL classroom is ample, little ground has been gained in understanding the root cause of demotivation. The purpose of the current study was to trace demotivation back to its origin by examining demotivator attribution differences between regular non-English major students and students who are enrolled in a dual degree English program. This study utilized the Learner Perceptions of Demotivators Scale (Xie et al., 2021) to gauge three demotivating factors including negative teacher behavior, loss of task value, and low expectancy for success. Data were collected from a sample of 320 undergraduate students in China. Among the three demotivating factors, the two student groups were only significantly different in terms of loss of task value even after controlling for gender, performance, and self-efficacy F(4,302) = 16.05, p < .001. The findings may shed light on the underlying reasons of demotivation in the EFL classroom. Practical implications and recommendations for future research are discussed.