This purpose of this study was to examine the motivation of first-year female Japanese university students towards university study in general and towards the study of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in particular. The study used Maehr’s multiple goal model of Personal Investment as its theoretical basis. Two forms of a bilingual Inventory of University Motivation (IUM) were created. One refers to university study in general, the IUM-Gen; the other refers specifically to the study of EFL, the IUM-Eng. The two forms of the IUM were adaptations of McInerney’s Inventory of School Motivation (ISM) and were also translated into Japanese and then back-translated. Data from these questionnaires were collected from 501 first year university students at a Japanese women’s university and analysed using four sets of exploratory Principal Components Analyses (PCA). These analyses produced clear scales with solid loadings, thus supporting the construct validity of the instrument. Each scale had strong reliability as measured by Cronbach’s alpha. Mean scales, based on the items loading on the derived factors, were used to develop an overall motivational profile of the students. Some features of this profile contradicted strongly held beliefs about Japanese university students’ lack of motivation, as well as about their supposed collectivist qualities. Other features provided support for the argument that the study of EFL is important to female Japanese university students, suggesting that English ability is perceived as a skill which can provide them with attractive personal and professional possibilities. Multiple regression analyses were performed using the resulting scales of the IUM-Gen and IUM-Eng separately against the above outcome measures. Significant relationships were found between some of the predictor variables, the scales of the two forms of the IUM, and some of the criterion variables, the outcome measures. The three IUM-Eng subscales of Sense of Competence in English, Competition in English, and Social Concern in English (negative), and the two IUM-Gen subscales of Affiliation at University and Self-esteem at University, were the predictor variables of most significance. The results of these analyses provide support for the applicability of the theoretical model and both forms of the measurement instrument in this socio-cultural context. They also show the instrument to be very useful at extracting important predictors of academic success at studying EFL at a Japanese university, and make some important contributions to the growing research agenda in motivation in EFL. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/181835 |
| Date | January 2006 |
| Creators | Da Silva, Dexter E., University of Western Sydney, College of Arts, School of Psychology |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
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