University of Puerto Rico in Humacao

Teacher’s Education Unit

English Department

Motivation: The Effect it has on ESL

Learning at the Secondary Level
 
Joseph Román
University of Puerto Rico in Humacao
English Department
Abstract
 This research is guided to learn if the students of the Isidro Sánchez
High School in Luquillo, Puerto Rico are getting the correct
motivation to learn English as a second language (ESL). The
literature review reveals that there is three types of motivation. This
three types are the intrinsic, extrinsic and amotivation. Experts
debate on the fact that family is one of the things that affect the
motivation of students the most. I created a survey using the AMS
as a sample with a total of 9 items addressing the 3 types of
motivation. The results revealed that 100% of the students were
affected by extrinsic motivation.

 The survey also revealed that even though is not the 100%, 57 out of
the 63 answers about intrinsic motivation were positive. I conclude
that there is not a “correct” type of motivation to learn ESL. Also I
learn that amotivation is a negative type of motivation and should
never be used. Extrinsic or intrinsic motivation is going to be good
motivation as long as the impact is a positive one. I recommend
teachers to use positive extrinsic motivation and foment the use of
intrinsic motivation in students to achieve their ESL learning goals.


Motivation Types
Deci & Ryan ( 1990 - 2002 )
 Intrinsic:deals with the self-
motivation the person has on
achieving his goal .

 Extrinsic: deals with the motivation
received from external variables
such as grades, recognition or
appraising.

 Amotivation: This is characterized
by a person that isn’t motivated
Literature Review

Literary Review\Students' perceptions of family influences on their

acadamic motivation A qualitive Literary Review\References.docx
analysis.pdf
Methodology


 Inorder to certainly know what type of

motivation the students at the high
school level are getting I’m going to
conduct a survey. The survey will be
given to random students of the Isidro
Sánchez High School in Luquillo,
Puerto Rico.
 Survey.pdf
Findings
Findings
Recomendations
 This research could be a tool to help teachers fulfill
their student’s motivation and achieve ESL
learning. A student varies one from another and
also will their learning styles. This means that
motivation will help the teacher make the student
interested in learning regarding of their learning
style. I think that in this century student’s are
affected by so many different things that is
difficult for the teacher to try to understand and
fulfill all his/her student needs. I recommend
teachers to use positive extrinsic motivation and
foment the use of intrinsic motivation in students
to achieve their ESL learning goals. The
information recollected from this research will
serve the teacher as a stepping stone in the way
to success!
