Preparatory School Students' English Language Learning Motivation: A Sample from Turkey

Motivation is one of the most crucial factors in language learning achievement and it should be taken into account for a good language education program. However, research has shown that language teachers often do not have enough knowledge about students' specific motivations for studying second language. Hence, the main goal of this study is to explore Turkish EFL learners' motivation in studying a second language. Also, the relationships between learners' motivation and different variables such as gender, interest in continuing English language learning and achievement scores were investigated. A total of 105 voluntary English learners enrolled in a preparatory school participated in this study. Wen's [1] motivation questionnaire was adopted in order to investigate the motivation of English language learners. With regard to gender differences in language learning motivation, this study found no significant difference between female and male students in their English learning motivation. Secondly, the findings revealed that it is highly possible for learners who possess positive attitudes towards L2 culture, appreciate their learning context, and follow the cultural media to continue their language learning in their lives. Lastly, positive learning attitudes/experience and intended efforts were found to have the greatest influence on participants' latest English midterm scores.


Introduction
The demand for higher education in Turkey has rapidly increased because of the growth of young population and the development of national economy.As a result of this demand, many new universities are being established, and providing a good language education for university students in Turkey is one of the major goals of the National Education System.Because of this reason, most of the universities as well as Usak University have one-year preparatory schools.During this one year, students study only English and the number of students in preparatory schools grow tremendously every year.Thus, it is getting much more important to understand preparatory school students' motives for learning English which would help improving the quality of language education and providing effective language education.
Motivation can be considered as one of the most important factors in language learning achievement, and it should be taken into consideration for good language education programs [2].However, research has shown that language teachers often do not have enough knowledge about students' specific motivations for studying second language and they do not take into consideration learners' motivation while designing their courses [3].Thus, one of the aims of this study is to explore learners' motivations in studying a second language and to find out motivational differences in groups of students.Also, in order to sustain students' motivation levels to continue learning English and increase their English scores, identifying the motives related to the desire to continue learning English and their English scores is necessary.Thus, another purpose of this study is to find out what specific motivations would predict preparatory school students' interest in continuing foreign language learning and their latest English scores.

L2 Motivation
L2 motivation has been a significant area of research for more than four decades.The original impetus in L2 motivation research results from Gardner's work in this area [4].Gardner's [4] socioeducational model proposes that L2 learners' desire to learn the L2, motivational intensity, and the attitudes toward L2 learning are main determinants of motivation.The main idea behind the socioeducational model is that languages are different from other subjects taught in the school because language learners need to acquire a set of abilities and behavioral skills which belong to another cultural community [4].
According to Gardner [4], two basic concepts behind the idea of motivation are attitudes toward other ethnic groups and language learning situation.The socio-educational model proposes that motivation is influenced by two constructs: (a) integrativeness (b) attitudes toward the learning situation.Integrativeness implies that desire to integrate into the target language community is the main impetus for learning the second language.At one level, this can be understood as an openness to different cultural contexts and different lifestyles.In the extreme, complete identification with the community can be targetted as well.The second construct, attitudes toward the learning situation compose of attitudes toward learning environment.In a school environment, these attitudes could be related to teacher, classmates, materials, and so fort.So, the effectiveness of the teacher and the course is observed in the individuals' attitudes toward the learning situation.
The socioeducational model has developed over the years [5,6].Gardner and Clement [5] included personality variables into socioeducational model.Gardner and MacIntyre [7] put special emphasis on cognitive factors.Due to the shortcomings of linear approaches to L2 motivation, Ushioda [8] suggested a relational approach that takes into consideration the evolving interactions among motivation, self and context.To be able to synthesize several significant theories of L2 motivation in an organized manner, the "L2 Motivational Self System", which centered around the learner's self-concept, was proposed by Dörnyei [2].Based on possible selves theory [9] and self-discrepancy theory [10] from social psychology, Dörnyei suggested that the concept of Gardner's concept of "integrativeness" could be transformed into a broader possible-self dimension, the Ideal L2 Self, which is defined as the self-image that one would like to become in the future.In the light of this proposal, Dörnyei [2] puts forward L2 Motivational Self System.It consists of three parts: Ideal L2 Self, Ought-to L2 Self, and L2 Learning Experience.
During the past decade, The L2 Motivational Self-System has been investigated in various L2 contexts [11,12,13,14].Emprical evidence shows that future self-images and the the ideal L2 self especially function as powerful motivators for L2 learners in different learning contexts.This has been verified regardless of the age group (from adolescence upwards) or their learning situation (e.g., secondary, university) [15].
Thus, this study will be based on both Gardner's [4] Socioeducational Model and Dörnyei's [2] L2 Motivational Self-System which will provide a comprehensive picture for the interpretation of the results.

L2 Motivation and Learner Variables
This study investigated whether there were differences in motivation of learners based on their gender.The current literature indicates that male and female learners are different from each other in terms of their motivation levels for learning a language.Various studies reported higher levels of motivation for females than males for learning a second language [16,17,18,19].On the other hand, Yeung et al. [20] expalin that these differences may result from gender-role stereotype.It is reported that male learners display more motivation in science and math compared to girls, although their achievement scores may not be higher than the girls in the same class.Similarly, it is reported that girls are found to have more self-competence than boys in verbal skills [21].On the contrary, Al-Bustan and Al-Bustan's [22] study indicated higher motivation of males over females in a Kuwaiti language learning context.On the other hand, Sung and Tsai's [23] study in the US dispalyed that whether a participant was female or male had little or no influence on their motivation.In the Japanese context, Mori and Gobel [24] also investigated the possibility of gender difference in English learners' motivation with 453 university level students.The results of the study revealed that male and female students differ significantly in only one aspect of motivation, which is integrativeness.Female learners showed a greater interest in the cultures and people of the target language community, a greater desire to make friends with those people, and were found to be more interested in travelling abroad.The situation was also similar in Korean context where boys were found to less motivated to learn English compared to girls [25,26].Kim and Kim [27] also found out that Korean female learners reported higher scores on ideal L2 self and were found to be more motivated.On the other hand, the results of the studies were different in the Pakistani EFL context.Rahman, Jumani and Basit [28] investigated the relationship between second language learning motivation and gender differences in Pakistan and found out that boys' scores on motivation scale were higher than girls' scores.Similarly, Shahbaz, Islam and Malik [29] also looked into the gender-specific differences in L2 learning motivation in Pakistan and they found that boys showed more positive attitudes towards L2 community and had a strong culture interest.These different results in various learning contexts reveal that second language learning motivation is a complex phenomenon and gender differences can arise based on different socio-cultural settings.In the Turkish context, there are only two studies which investigated the gender difference in learners' language learning motivation.Mendi [30] investigated the effect of gender on learners' integrative and instrumental motivation in learning a language.The results revealed that female learners have more integrative and instrumental motivation than male learners.Mendi claimed that Turkish female learners have higher instrumental motivation for learning a foriegn language because Turkish society is male-dominated and their chance to have more prestigious jobs in the society is higher.Thus, Turkish women are ware of the fact that they need to increase their academic success to change their status in the society, which, in turn, increases their motivation levels.In addition to instrumental motivation, Turkish female learners were found to have higher level of integrative motivation compared to male learners.Females showed a greater interest in the cultures and more willingness to travel overseas.On the other hand, Ozturk and Gurbuz [31] found that Turkish female learners had a higher level of integrative motivation whereas no significant difference was found between male and female learners with regard to instrumental motivation.Ozturk and Gurbuz claimed that both male and female learners had a high level of instrumental motivation because theare aware of the importance of learning a foreign language for a qualified job and better life standards.Considering all these different findings in different learning contexts, it is important to deeply understand the difference in language learning motivation of male and female learners and the real reason of this difference.So, this study will contribute to literature in this area by providing a current situation of Turkish EFL learners' motivation based on gender differences.
Secondly, different motivational factors which influence learners' intention to continue language learning were dealt with in the study.Most of the studies which investigated the factors which might affect learners' interest in pursuing language learning were all carried out with learners who learn different foreign languages such as Chinese, Spanish, French rather than learners who learn English as a foreign language.Csizer and Dörnyei [32] explain that motivational factors greatly contribute to learners' interest in continuing future language study, which, in turn, influences the overall language achievement of learners.Wen's [1] study is important in terms of investigating attitudes and motivation that affect heritage and non-heritage students' learning of Chinese as a second language.A total of 317 students learning Chinese at three different universities in the U.S. participated in the study.Positive learning attitudes and experience was found to be the most important predictor of pursuing language learning in future.Instrumentality, on the other hand, was the second important predictor for continuation of the language study in future.Based on the results of the study, it was emphasized that positive learning attitudes and interactive learning processes should be given enough attention in formal learning settings.On the other hand, Sung and Tsai [23] investigated different factors which influence learners' persistence in foreign language study with 130 language learners enrolled in various language courses such as Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Japanese at a state university in the U.S. Two motivational factors, learners' interest in culture, travel, and people, and positive learning attitudes/experiences were found to be the most important predictors of learners' intention to continue language learning.Namely, the possibility of continuing learning a language is high for learners who have positive attitudes towards L2 community and enjoy the language learning context.With respect to these findings, Sung and Tsai [23] suggest that language teachers not only need to introduce the culture of the target language in order to foster integrative motivation of learners, but they also provide their learners with an authentic and meaningful learning context by means of interactive and suitable activities and tasks.Similarly, MacIntyre and Blackie's study [33] with 117 high school French-as-a-second-language students revealed that positive attitudes toward learning the language is the main estimator for intention to continue French studies.Ramage [34] investigated to what extent motivational and attitudinal factors predict the continuation of foreign language study with three classes of French and three classes of Spanish high-school students.The results of the study revealed that interest in culture and in learning the language thoroughly were main determinants of the intention to continue language learning.Matsumoto and Obana [35] dealt with different features of motivation which encourage learners to continue language learning through the participation of university students learning Japanese in Australia.It was found that continuing students had higher degrees of commitment than discontinuing students and continuing students displayed more interest in language and culture.Continuing students can adopt many factors for learning persistence, but they are mainly aware of the fundamental nature of language learning; that is, ultimately turning into another social person.Due to this reason, academic achievement is not of primary importance to these students.They are interested in different socio-cultural dimensions of language learning and communicating with native speakers of Japanese.As a result, although they cannot find a chance to integrate with the community of the target language, those who have learning persistence eventually develop integrative motives.On the other hand, discontinuing students are too worried about academic success that they cannot adopt another socio-cultural and socio-psychological identity.As can be seen above, most of the studies investigating factors for pursuing language learning were conducted in the U.S. and the participants consisted of learners who learn various languages other than English.Literature is limited in EFL (English as a foreign language) contexts.Thus, this study tried to shed more light on this issue by examining what motivational factors predict Turkish EFL learners' interest in continuing English language learning.
Thirdly, the influence of various motivational factors on learners' foreign language achievement was investigated in the study.In Iran, Dashtizadeh and Farvardin [36] examined the relationship between language learning motivation and foreign language achievement through the participation of 400 eleventh grade high school students.The results of the study revealed that there was a moderately positive correlation between these two variables, which indicated that the learners who had higher level of language motivation were likely to have higher level of language achievement.The results of Fatehi and Akbari's [37] study were found to be in line with the findings of Dashtizadeh and Farvardin's study [36].In their study, they empowered language teachers with new and modern strategies in order to foster learners' motivation for language learning.The results showed that motivated learners received higher scores, which indicates that there is a positive correlation between motivation and language achievement.Tsai et al. [38] investigated whether learning motivation is a good estimator for learning achievement after conducting a 8-week mobile game-based English learning intervention.38 Taiwanese vocational high school students participated in the study.Firstly, the learning motivation and achievement of the students siginificantly increased through game-based English learning.Also, the resut of the study indicated that motivation had significantly predictive power for English posttest scores.These findings implied that a good learning environment has significant effect on learners' motivation, which, in turn, increases learners' test scores.Rahman and Deviyanti [39] also investigated the correlation between students' motivation and their English speaking ability.Most of the students were found to have good motivation and English speaking test scores showed that the students had good ability in speaking English.With regard to the relationship between these two variables, it was found that motivation as a psychological factor has a positive correlation with English speaking ability.Motivated students did more efforts and showed more determination to reach their goals, which directly increased their speaking scores, whereas the students who had low level of motivation did not show the same performance.Considering that test scores have important roles in terms of reflecting the effectiveness of classroom teaching, it is important to investigate different factors which could influence language learners' achievement scores.The studies mentioned above displayed the motivational factors which could infuence learners' achievement scores.However, this relationship was not investigated in a Turkish English as a foreign language context.Thus, another aim of this is to contribute to literature by investigating the motivational factors which could affect Turkish EFL learners' achievement scores.

Materials and Methods
Within the framework of the literature about motivation and its interaction with different learner variables, this study will focus on the following research questions: 1. Do motivations of learners in preparatory school differ based on gender? 2. What motivational factors predict learners' interest in continuing English language learning?3. What motivational factors predict learners' latest English midterm scores?

Setting and Participants
This study was conducted at Usak University, School of Foreign Languages in May 2015.The medium of instruction at Usak University is Turkish, so preparatory school is not obligatory for all students.At the beginning of the academic year 2014/2015, about 150 students were registered for preparatory school.At the beginning of the school year, all the students were given placement tests and all of them were placed in A1 classrooms.Students' proficiency level is expected to increase from A1 to B1 during one academic year.They follow the book "Cambridge Interchange" and each proficiency level takes almost 3 months to be completed.The questionnaire was administrated at the end of the spring semester.So, the level of the participants was B1 when this study was done.Students' yearly achievements are assessed by 4 mid-terms, 8 quizzes and 2 finals and all four skills (listening, writing, speaking and grammar) are assessed in each test.
The participants of this study consisted of 105 voluntary English learners enrolled in the preparatory school of Usak University, Turkey.With regard to the background information of the sample, there were 55 males and 50 females in this study, ranking in age from 18 to 23 (M= 19, SD= 1.03).The distribution of the participants according to gender is given in Table 1.

Instrument
Wen's [1] motivation questionnaire was used for this study.This questionnaire was utilized in this study because it has a high internal consistency of .87 and it also embraces all motivation constructs suggested by Gardner's [4] and Dörnyei's [2] motivation frameworks.Minor revisions were made to Wen's [1] questionnaire in order to fit the backgrounds of the participants.The questionnaire is divided into two sections.The first section intended to gather participants' demographic information, their level of interest in continuing to learn English language and their latest English scores.The second section contains 6 Factors and 24 items measuring the participants' motivations to learn English language.Factor 1, which included nine motivational items, was loaded on positive learning attitudes/experience and intended efforts.Factor 2, learners' interest in culture, travel, and people, consisted of four items associated with attitudes towards having direct contact with L2 speakers, travelling to their countries, and appreciating their culture.The three items in Factor 3, interest in contemporary cultural media, represented the appreciation of cultural products through media in L2, such as TV programs, films, and pop music.Factor 4, milieu, had three items referring to the influence of family and peers of learners.Factor 5, instrumentality, included three items related to perceived usefulness and importance of L2 in learners' careers.Lastly, two items loaded in Factor 6, language requirement, addressed motivation to fulfill the academic degree requirement.The three items in the first section regarding participants' interests in continuing English language learning and the 24 motivation items in the second section were placed on a five-point Likert scale from "1" being "Strongly Disagree", to "5" being "Strongly Agree".

Reliability of the Instrument
An analysis of internal reliability of the questionnaire items showed that the Cronbach's alpha coefficient was .86 which shows good internal consistency reliability for the scale used in the study.On the other hand, the internal consistency estimate of reliability for the 6 subscales of the instrument was also calculated.The Cronbach' alpha coefficient in each factor ranges from 0.76 to 0.89 indicating fair to reliable degree of reliability.The Cronbach' alpha coefficient for Factor 1, positive learning attitudes/experience and intended efforts, was .89,for Factor 2, learners' interest in culture, travel, and people, was .79,for Factor 3, interest in contemporary cultural media, was .88,for Factor 4, milieu, was .81,for Factor 5, instrumentality, was .79 and for Factor 6, language requirement, was .76.

Data Collection Procedure
Data was collected in regular prep-classes from Usak University.Before the questionnaire was given, participants were informed about the aims and purposes of the study.They were told that the data collected through the questionnaire will be used only for research purposes and students were not asked to write their names on forms to decrease their anxiety level.Questionnaire was checked with three prep-students to see their level of understanding of English items in the questionnaire.Students did not have difficulty understanding the questionnaire items because the Basic English sentences were used.So, the questionnaire was administrated in English and it took the participants approximately 10 to 15 minutes to complete it during regular class hours.

Data Analysis
The quantitative data received from participants were put into the Statistical Package of Social Sciences (SPSS) version 16 for statistical analysis of the information.For the first research question, ' Do motivations of learners in preparatory school differ based on gender?' MANOVA was run due to its ability to reduce Type I error.To answer the second and the third research questions; what motivational factors predict learners' interest in continuing English language learning and what motivational factors predict learners' latest English midterm scores, multiple regression tests were run.The criterion variables were learners' interest in continuing English language learning and latest English midterm scores while the predictor variables were the motivational factors found in the factor analysis test.Their latest English midterm scores reflect their language achievement in the topics covered in the classroom.

Do Motivations of Learners in Preparatory School
Differ Based on Gender?
A one-way between-groups multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was performed to investigate gender differences in motivation.Six dependent variables were used: positive learning attitudes/experience, interest in culture, travel and people, interest in contemporary cultural media, milieu, instrumentality, language requirement.The independent variable was gender.Preliminary assumption testing was carried out to check for normality and multivariate outliers.The analyses showed no serious violations.Outliers were also checked due to the fact that results can easily be affected by outliers [28].The results showed that the maximum value for Mahalanobis distance (20.38) was less than the critical value (22.46) which shows no important multivariate outliers.
The results of the MANOVA test indicated no significant difference between female and male students in their English learning motivation (F(6,98)= 1.96, p= .077;Wilks' Lambda= .077;partial eta squared= .108).In other words, whether a participant was female or male had no influence on their motivational construct for learning English.

What Motivational Factors Predict Learners' Interest in Continuing Foreign Language Learning?
As shown in table 4, multiple regression analysis was conducted to identify the motivational factors that predict learners' interest in continuing foreign language learning.Preliminary analyses were conducted to ensure no violation of the assumptions of normality.The multiple regression result showed a significant moderate positive relationship between the predictor and criterion variables.The R-square value indicated that 66.2 per cent of the variance in learners' interest in continuing English language learning was explained by Factors 1, 2 and 3.
The β values indicated that Factor 2, learners' interest in culture, travel, and people (β= .34)has the greatest influence on whether or not participants decided to continue English language learning, followed by Factor 1, positive learning attitudes/experience and intended efforts (β= .27).On the other hand, Factor 3, interest in contemporary cultural media (β=.20) has the least influence on whether or not participants decided to continue English language learning.

What Motivational Factors Predict Learners'
Latest Midterm Scores?
As shown in table 5, multiple regression analysis was conducted to identify the motivational factors that predict learners' latest midterm scores.There was no violation of the assumptions of normality the multiple regression result showed that although the relationship between the predictor and criterion variables was significant and positive, it was not strong.The R-square value indicated that only 22.7 per cent of the variance in learners' latest English midterm scores was explained by Factors 1, 2 and 6.
The β values indicated that Factor 1, positive learning attitudes/experience and intended efforts (β= .38)has the greatest influence on participants' latest English midterm scores, followed by Factor 2, interest in culture, travel, and people (β= .29).On the other hand, Factor 6, language requirement (β= .27)has the least influence on participants' latest English midterm scores.

Discussion and Conclusions
The main goal of this study was to investigate second language learners' motivation in studying a second language and also to understand motivational differences in groups of students, which could greatly affect language teachers' decision making process in their courses.Also, specific motivations which were directly related to the desire to pursue learning English and learners' English scores were identified.In the long run, English teachers would greatly benefit these findings in the way of fostering their learners' motivation for continuing language learning and increasing their exam scores.
With regard to gender differences in language learning motivation, this study found no significant difference between female and male students in their English learning motivation, which conformed to other findings in the literature showing no difference between motivation levels of males and females [23].However, this finding contradicts with the results of other studies which reported higher levels of motivation for females than males for learning a second language [18,19].In the Turkish context, Ozturk and Gurbuz [31] also found no significant difference between male and female learners with regard to instrumental motivation although Turkish female learners reported a higher level of integrative motivation.The current finding of this study in the Turkish setting also implies that both female and male learners are aware of the importance of learning English in order to have a qualified job and better life standards.
The other key finding of this study was that three motivational constructs, learners' interest in culture, travel, and people, positive learning attitudes/experience, and interest in contemporary cultural media, estimated learners' interest in pursuing foreign language learning.Namely, it is highly possible for learners who possess positive attitudes towards L2 culture, appreciate their learning context, and follow the cultural media to continue their language learning in their lives.Especially, learners' interest in culture, travel, and people has the greatest influence on learners' decision about continuing English language learning.These findings also supported the view in the literature.Similarly, Sung and Tsai [23] also found that learners' interest in culture, travel, people, and positive learning attitudes/experience are two important predictors of future foreign language learning.In the same line, Wen's [1] study also displayed the fact that positive learning attitudes/experience is a strong predictor of learners' desire to continue foreign language learning.In the literature, Gardner [4] also puts special emphasis on these two constructs in his motivation model.Integrativeness and attitudes toward the learning situation are the main components of the socio-educational model.Based on integrativeness, it is implied that to what extent a learner is willing to integrate into the target language community is the main motivator for learning the second language.The second construct, attitudes toward the learning situation refer to learners' attitudes toward learning environment which are related to teacher, classmates, and materials in a classroom setting.So, the effectiveness of the teacher and the course greatly influences the individuals' attitudes toward the learning situation [4].Within the framework of L2 Motivational Self System, Dörnyei [2] also suggests L2 Learning Experience as an important estimator of learners' overall language motivation.L2 Learning Experience is interested in the learners' present experience and it concerns situation-specific motives which are related to immediate learning environment and experience (e.g. the impact of the teacher, the curriculum, the peer groups or the experience of success) [2].The findings of the study were supported by both Gardner [4] and Dörnyei [2].
Considering the importance of learners' interest in culture, travel, and people, positive learning attitudes/experience, and interest in contemporary cultural media as strong predictors of future language learning, language teachers should introduce L2 culture to their learners, provide a meaningful learning context in which learners can get engaged in authentic tasks such as the latest media materials from L2 culture in order to foster their learners' interest in continuing language learning.In order to encourage learners' positive attitudes/experience, language teachers could implement game-based learning in their classrooms.Tsai et al. [38] found out that the learning motivation and achievement of the students siginificantly increased through a 8-week mobile game-based English learning in the Taiwanese learning environment.Hence, selecting the suitable materials, interesting themes, and topics designed for a specific group of learners has crucial impact on learners' decision to pursue L2 learning in their lives.It is very important for language teachers to pay attention to these findings while designing their curriculum for their language classrooms.Similar to continuing English language learning, learners' latest English midterm scores was predicted by positive learning attitudes/experience and interest in culture, travel, and people.On the other hand, language requirement was found to have the least influence on participants' latest English midterm scores.Considering learners' midterm scores are important in terms of reflecting to what extent the learning process is effective, it is important to know different factors which greatly affect these scores.In this case, positive learning attitudes/experience has the greatest influence on learners' latest English midterm supporting the claims of Gardner [4].According to him, attitudes toward the learning situation compose of attitudes toward learning environment which is related to teacher, classmates, materials, and so fort.So, the effectiveness of the teacher and the course is observed in the individuals' attitudes toward the learning situation.Thus, considering the Preparatory School Students' English Language Learning Motivation: A Sample from Turkey findings of this study which show that learners' midterm scores are directly related with their positive attitudes, teachers should be careful about the different components of their learning context and also make sure that they have a positive classroom atmosphere, which will in turn affect their learners' success rates in their course.As well as positive learning attitudes/experience, interest in culture, travel, and people is another crucial factor which directly influences learners' midterm scores.Thus, teachers should be careful about integrating different aspects of the target language community (e.g.culture, people, lifestyles) into their language courses which could arise learners' interest in language learning.Although the the effect of language requirement is not as strong as other two variables, it is still important for language teachers to emphasize the necessity of learning a language for their academic and professional life, which could foster learners' motivation to some extent.

Table 1 .
Distribution of Participants by Gender

Table 2 .
Means and standard deviations of males and females' motivation

Table 3 .
Multivariate Tests Results

Table 4 .
Regression analysis of the motivational scales with interest in continuing foreign language learning

Table 5 .
Regression analysis of the motivational scales with the latest midterm scores as the dependent variable