A Correlational – Comparative Study of Motivation and Perceived Parental Encouragement for Learning English as a Foreign Language of Grades 10 and 11 Students at Maija Yang High School, Kachin State, Myanmar

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between Grades 10 and 11 students’ motivation and their perception of parental encouragement for learning English as a foreign language and to compare each variable in each grade level at Maija Yang High School, Kachin State, Myanmar. The participants of this study were 265 students from Grades 10 and 11 at Maija Yang High School, Kachin State, Myanmar. This study was designed as a quantitative correlational-comparative study and an adapted version of Gardner’s (2004) Attitude/Motivation Test Battery (AMTB) was used to collect data from 120 Grade 10 students and 145 Grade 11 students during the 2018-2019 academic year. Descriptive statistics means, standard deviations, and correlational analysis (Pearson’s product-moment correlation coefficient) and an independent samples t-test (2-tailed) were used to analyze the data. The study found that Grades 10 and 11 students’ motivation for learning English as a foreign language at Maija Yang High School was moderately low and their perceptions of parental encouragement for learning English as a foreign language was slightly low. Also, a significant positive relationship between motivation and perception of parental encouragement for learning English as a foreign language was found for each grade levels. Furthermore, the findings also indicated that there was no significant difference between Grades 10 and 11 students’ motivation for learning English as a foreign language, and no significant difference between their perceptions of parental encouragement for learning English as a foreign language as well. Recommendations for school, teachers, students, parents and future researchers are provided.