Department of English Language, School of Paramedical Sciences, Sara Kashefian-Naeeini, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
BMC Psychol. 2024 Oct 5;12(1):535. doi: 10.1186/s40359-024-02034-8.
Motivation is a driving force behind man's behavior which has led to many psychological studies throughout the world. Moreover, it is the fuel for successful learning. While intrinsic motives provide the internal rewards, extrinsic motivation supplies the required external rewards to keep the engine of learning running. Knowing the factors which impact intrinsic/extrinsic motivation helps educators target their efforts at a higher level and make more informed decisions.
This study intends to examine how intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivation may be influenced by demographics including learners' background factors of major, age, and occupation and to determine the relationships that may exist between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. To this end, an explanatory sequential mixed-methods research was conducted at one of the public universities in Shiraz on the majors of Elementary Education, Educational Affairs, Social Studies and Theology, and the Arabic language which were selected through cluster sampling. These students were having their English courses at the university. Based on Krejcie and Morgan's formula for sample size, a questionnaire was administered to 100 participants to collect quantitative data. Moreover, semi-structured interview sessions were conducted with one fourth of the participants.
Using Multiple Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) and Pearson correlation, we found that learners' background factors of age, field of study and professional status did not affect intrinsic nor extrinsic motivation. However, significant and positive relationships were found between intrinsic motivation and total motivation index, and between extrinsic motivation and total motivation index. Qualitative data obtained from the interviews were analyzed using a thematic analysis. The results of the interviews showed some new illuminating trends as revealed from the participants' responses and it was found that most interviewees followed intrinsic motives and considered motivation as a factor of great significance.
In the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) context in which our study was conducted, instructors can follow more similar classroom motivational techniques and strategies since neither type of motivation was influenced by the variables of different major, age and occupation. Though many studies have shown that EFL learners are more extrinsically motivated in comparison with ESL ones, our study revealed that participants were more intrinsically motivated. Thus, this study may be replicated in other educational contexts such as an ESL context. The study can also be repeated in some universities in which other educational systems such as coed education is used to see the possible similarities and differences. Motivation is the important stimulant to impel the learners to achieve their learning goals; thus, it should receive sufficient attention in various educational settings.
动机是人类行为的驱动力，这促使世界各地进行了许多心理学研究。此外，动机还是成功学习的燃料。内在动机提供内在奖励，外在动机提供必要的外在奖励，以保持学习的动力。了解影响内在/外在动机的因素可以帮助教育者更有针对性地努力，做出更明智的决策。
本研究旨在考察内在动机与外在动机如何受到学习者背景因素（专业、年龄和职业）的影响，并确定内在动机与外在动机之间可能存在的关系。为此，在设拉子的一所公立大学进行了一项解释性顺序混合方法研究，研究对象为小学教育、教育事务、社会研究和神学以及阿拉伯语专业的学生，这些学生通过聚类抽样选择，他们正在大学学习英语课程。根据 Krejcie 和 Morgan 的样本量公式，对 100 名参与者进行了问卷调查，以收集定量数据。此外，还对四分之一的参与者进行了半结构化访谈。
使用多元方差分析（MANOVA）和 Pearson 相关分析，我们发现学习者的年龄、学习领域和职业状况等背景因素既不会影响内在动机，也不会影响外在动机。然而，我们发现内在动机与总动机指数之间以及外在动机与总动机指数之间存在显著正相关关系。从访谈中获得的定性数据使用主题分析进行分析。访谈结果显示出一些新的启示性趋势，这是从参与者的回答中发现的，研究发现，大多数受访者遵循内在动机，并认为动机是一个非常重要的因素。
在我们进行研究的英语作为外语（EFL）环境中，教师可以采用更类似的课堂激励技巧和策略，因为两种动机都不受不同专业、年龄和职业变量的影响。尽管许多研究表明，与 ESL 学习者相比，EFL 学习者更受外在动机的影响，但我们的研究表明，参与者更受内在动机的影响。因此，本研究可以在其他教育环境中复制，例如 ESL 环境。还可以在其他使用男女同校教育等其他教育系统的一些大学中重复该研究，以观察可能存在的相似点和不同点。动机是激励学习者实现学习目标的重要刺激因素；因此，它应该在各种教育环境中得到足够的重视。
