A psycholinguistics case study: Sociodemographic variables on intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in EFL context

Abstract

There are lots of influences on learning English as a foreign language (EFL). Some of them are sociodemographic variables and students' motivation. In this paper, relationships between sociodemographic variables, motivation and subjective estimates of English knowledge and skills were examined. Both extrinsic and intrinsic motivations were taken into account. For their assessment, intrinsic and extrinsic motivation for the English learning scale (IEM-ELS) was used along with some sociodemographic questions. The sample consisted of 180 Turkish students who attended a private high school and a state university. The results showed a high negative correlation between extrinsic and intrinsic motivation. The participants' family incomes were positively related to intrinsic and negatively related to extrinsic motivation. Next, males' extrinsic motivation levels were higher than those of females. Similarly, university students' extrinsic motivation levels were higher than those of high school students. The results were discussed within the frame of educational psychology.