Instrumental reasons for studying in compulsory English courses: I didn't come to university to study English, so why should I?

Abstract

In numerous Asian-Pacific tertiary contexts – students' chosen department notwithstanding – second-language study is a requirement for both entry level and graduation. A practice by which Second Language motivation research could benefit from First Language procedures is to acknowledge instrumentality in such nonelective classes. Instrumental goals are central to the learning process and its outcomes; thus, students' lack of choice must be considered as a factor affecting both goal-setting and motivation. This study adapts Simons et al.'s inventory to a compulsory language-course context and then qualitatively validates it. First-year mixed major university students (n = 1071) taking compulsory English classes completed a 20-item inventory addressing instrumental reasons for studying within the university program. Exploratory factor analysis of the data (n = 535) suggested four clear factors: distal, social, proximal external, and personal. Confirmatory factor analysis (n = 536) replicated the four-factor solution well. Students' qualitative perceptions of the importance (r2=0.29) and utility (r2=0.16) of English each explained a meaningful amount of learners' quantitative distal goals. The strong relationship between distal goals and perceptions of the importance of English suggests that teachers might support students' instrumental motivation both by stressing the importance of English and aiding students' in developing distal goals for English.