Why do first-year students of German lose motivation during their first year at university?

Abstract

This article explores motivational changes of first-year students enrolled on German degree courses at two major UK universities. It reports on the qualitative data obtained by a longitudinal mixed-methods study, and focuses on the interplay between students' motivation and the higher education learning environment. In particular, the article aims to shed light on the significant decrease in intrinsic motivation experienced by students over the course of the first year. The qualitative data illustrate the importance of the right level of challenge for maintaining students' intrinsic motivation. It is suggested that there are three areas in which the level of challenge in the respective German degree courses may not be geared to students' needs: reading German literature, writing essays in German and grammar tuition. The article explores the reasons why students are struggling in these areas, and concludes by outlining pedagogical suggestions for how to counteract decreasing motivation during the first year at university.

Factors Affecting Student Engagement: A Case Study Examining Two Cohorts of Students Attending a Post-1992 University in the United Kingdom

“…Specifically these data agree with chosen indicators by revealing that feelings of academic competence were particularly important. With this in mind we would support the proposal of Fazey and Fazey (2001), and Busse (2013) that degree students should be given the opportunity to increase their perceived competence in academic tasks at the earliest possible opportunity.…”

“…Indeed, Conceptual Organiser suggests that the most engaged students will be intrinsically motivated. SDT has been well supported by large-scale empirical studies and it has been suggested that it is well suited to explaining the motivation surrounding student engagement (Busse, 2013;Wang & Eccles, 2013;. Moreover, and drawing further on SDT, it suggests students are more likely to be intrinsically motivated if they can develop a sense of belonging within their institution (Russell & Slater, 2011;; if feelings of autonomy can be encouraged (Russell & Slater, 2011;; and if they can develop a sense of competence within their studies (Llorens, Schaufeli, Bakker, & Salanova, 2007;Regaldo, 2003;Russell & Slater, 2011;Yorke & Knight, 2004;Xuereb, 2013;.…”

“…Issues relating to student retention and student engagement remain high on the agendas for higher education (HE) institutions worldwide (Busse, 2013;Zepke, Leach, & Butler, 2010). According to the way in which students engage with their studies and what they, their institutions, and their educators can do to improve this engagement has been a well-researched area since the 1990's.…”

Students’ and Instructors’ Perceived Value of Language and Content Curricular Goals

“…Researchers have used the tenets of self‐determination theory to gain a deeper understanding of the relationship among language learning, learner autonomy, and motivation (Benson, ; Ushioda, ). Busse (), in particular, conducted a longitudinal study that explored the motivational changes of first‐year German students who were enrolled in universities in the United Kingdom and found that students’ intrinsic motivation to learn German was connected to the type of classroom tasks, the accompanying student engagement, and the level of challenge associated with these tasks. The study concluded that the appropriate level of intellectual challenge and genuine engagement with learning tasks was the “lynchpin of intrinsic motivation” (Busse, , p. 965) and that language programs should accommodate student choice and agency so as to encourage persistence and uptake in language learning.…”

How do learning environment experiences relate to personal worldviews among the students of theology?

“…(e.g. Busse 2013;Brahm, Jenert, and Wagner 2017) or performance vs. mastery orientation (e.g. Pintrich 2000).…”