“A Study of Learning Motivation for EFL Listening of University Students”

Co-presenting with Shin-Yu Yeh

Motivation has long been proven to be among the most determining factors in the learning achievements of SLA and can be divided into instrumental and integrative. The main purpose of the present study is to investigate how learning motivation influences Taiwanese university students' EFL listening. This study was conducted to address the following three research questions: (1) What are university students’ instrumental motivations for EFL listening? (2) What are university students’ integrative motivations for EFL listening? (3) How do university students perceive their learning motivations for EFL listening? A questionnaire adapted from the Attitude/Motivation Test Battery (AMTB) developed by Gardner (2004) was completed by 181 participants, followed by a semi-structured interview with 20 of them. A positive extent was found in both instrumental and integrative motivation. Concerning instrumental motivation, most participants considered job search, career development, and exam scores as the primary factors. As for integrative motivation, most participants were concerned about understanding English speakers and communicating with foreigners. Regarding the students’ perceptions, most interviewees had positive feelings about learning EFL listening, and they displayed both instrumental and integrative reasons. It is hoped that this study sheds light on SLA motivation for listening and that the findings may be useful for EFL educators and learners in Taiwan.