The importance of motivation in the EFL learning process in Secondary Education

Abstract

A considerable amount of research has been devoted to the investigation of the influence that motivation has on learners when acquiring a FL (Foreign Language) throughout the last two decades. Apart from the role that cognitive capacity plays in the learning process, motivation has also been widely considered as a major contributor to FL achievement, since ‘‘without the desire to learn, it is very difficult for learners to gain effective learning’’ (Alizadeh, 2016, p. 11). Being focused on the importance of motivation in the EFL (English as a Foreign Language) learning process in Secondary Education, the present study analyses a group of unmotivated fourth-grade students who, after filling out a pre-motivation questionnaire based on Gardner’s AMTB (Attitude/Motivation Test Battery) and being then exposed to a motivational teaching unit dealing with the study of modal verbs, were tested on the subject area studied and asked to fill out a post-motivation questionnaire in order to compare both their marks and their levels of motivation before and after having been exposed to such motivating lesson plan. In this way, we will be able to check whether the implementation of the appropriate motivational teaching strategies have had a positive effect on students’ levels of motivation and hence on their marks.