Investigating the correlation between EFL students’ mindsets and their L2 motivation
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Date
2021
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Publisher
Université Oum El Bouaghi
Abstract
The significant role played by motivation in shaping students' academic achievement made it a subject of interest for several researchers. More precisely, associating L2 learning motivation with a certain stimulus has long been an issue of concern in academic contexts. In essence, the present study aims to investigate the correlation between EFL students' Mindset type and their second language learning motivation. In pursuance of this aim, third year LMD students at Larbi Ben M'Hidi University were selected as the target population of the study. A correlational research was conducted, whereby two questionnaires were administered to the informants in presence of the researchers. An 8-Items version of Mindset Scale, mainly developed by Carol Dweck (2000) which was used to determine to what type of Mindset, fixed or the growth, the participants lean to, along with an L2 Motivational Self-System scale developed by Taguchi (2009) which is predicated on Dornyei's work that attempted to examine the informants' motivational profile. The results obtained from the quantitative examination of the gathered data revealed that the massive majority of participants are endorsed in a Growth Mindset charging their motivation from their linguistic self-confidence. Further, the most striking result affirmed that there is a weakly positive correlation between students' Mindset type, more specifically Growth Mindset, and their motivation to learn the second language. On account of these findings, some pedagogical implications are suggested to teachers and course designers to consider the cultivation of Growth Mindset in the teaching-learning contexts and, by extension, to boast students' motivation to learn English as a foreign language.
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Keywords
Growth mindset, Fixed mindset