Iranian Students' De-motivation Factors in EFL Learning

Abstract

De-motivation is a comparatively recent dimension in motivation research which has received little attention in Iran. To fill such a gap, the present study investigated the possible sources of Iranian students' de-motivation in EFL learning. To find the possible de-motivating factors, a questionnaire developed by [1] consisting of 35 Likert type items and one overall question in relation to students' motivation in learning English was completed by 485 Iranian secondary high school and university students at Ilam city. Based on the result of component analysis with Oblimin rotation, five de-motivation factors of Learning Contents and Materials, Teachers' Competence and Teaching Styles, Inadequate School Facilities, Lack of Intrinsic Motivation, and Test Scores were identified. Descriptive statistics, Mann-Whitney U, Kruskal-Wallis, and Friedman Test were employed to analyze the collected data. The results indicated that Inadequate School and University Facilities were the main sources of de-motivation for all learners and Lack of Intrinsic Motivation was the main de-motivating factor for less motivated ones.