Saudi Student Motivation Essay

An examination of Saudi students’ motivation to learn English and its relationship with their performance.

By

Reem Rashed Alharby

A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of a master in TESOL

UNIVERSITY OF LEICESTER

SCHOOL OF EDUCATION Table of Content:

1. Introduction:

1.1. Context of the study.

1.2. Statement of the problem.

1.3. Research Questions.

1.4. Limitation of the study.

1.5. Organization of the study.

2. Literature Review:

2.1. Language learning motivation theories:

2.1.1. Gardner's socioeducational model .

2.1.2. The cognitive psychological theories:

a. The Self Determination Theory

b. the attribution theory

a. the goal theory

2.2. Previous studies on Second Language Learning Motivation in Saudi Context.

3. Research

Furthermore, positivism is connected with naturalism, or the appropriateness of applying the natural sciences methods to the study of individuals and society (Blaikie, 1993). Consistent with this method, the same method or logic of explanation can be used despite the differences between the subject matter of the natural and social sciences (Popper, 1961).

In contrast, interpretivism, also can be termed as social constructivism and phenomenological, sees reality as individual and manifold (Creswell, 1994). This paradigm is connected with the supposition that “reality is socially constructed” (Mertens, 2005, p. 12), that is, “Individuals develop subjective meanings of their experiences” (Creswell, 2009, p. 8). Hence, the researcher creates various and multiple meanings are created as he interacts with the world.

From the two philosophical paradigms, two research methodologies prevails: quantitative and qualitative research methods. Quantitative research methodology is “a research strategy that emphasises quantification in the collection and analysis of data” (Bryman, 2008, p. 22). This approach define concepts and variables then measure them using instruments to generate numerical data that is then analysed by applying statistical

Then, the translated questionnaire was reviewed by an assistant professor in Linguistics at the department of European languages at King Abdulaziz university.

3.6.The study sample

A sample is “a portion or subset of a larger group called a population” (Fink, 2003, p. 1). The population is the larger group. The sample is a fraction of that larger group. The sample for this study consists of students from the faculty of mass communication at king Abdul-Aziz university for the academic year 2015, summer term. The sample consisted of 84 students. Of those students, 32 were female students and 52 were male students.

3.7. Ethical issues

It is important to ensure the study ethics especially when the respondents are humans. To ensure the ethicality of the current study, an approval to conduct the study was sought from the researcher institution (the University of Leicester) and from King Abdul Aziz University (as the study will be conducted there). Moreover, the questionnaire contained a cover letter that provided a description of the study. Further, the students were informed of their right to participate or not in the study. They were also ensured of the confidentiality of their identities and any information they