Learning English at High School: an Italian Study on motivation

Abstract

The research started in February 2013, during a period working as a tutor for High school students. Using a questionnaire I collected data to investigate students motivation in relation to the study of English as a foreign language. The participants were a hundred and two (102) Italian students attending different High Schools all around the province of Treviso. They were aged between 14 to 19 years of age therefore they were attending different classes. They were all Italian mother tongue speakers, thus all the questions were written in Italian. Students were asked to visit a blog and to answer the questionnaire they found there. The study examined different areas: first of all I wanted to discover the kind of orientation students have in relation to English. Secondly I have investigated their attitude and their motivation towards English Thirdly I concentrated on anxiety and on how students feel when they are in class and when they have to use the language. At the end, the questionnaire focused on teachers and the judgements students give them and to lessons proposed at school. Moreover I explored the reasons why students chose the school to attend with the purpose to find out whether the choice has made looking at a desired future job or simply regarding favourite subjects. The results demonstrated that the majority of students choose the school in which they can study the subject they like most. Moreover data show that the motivation of High School students is effected expectably by the kind of lessons they attend. Monotonous lessons or the lack of variation are causes of a decrease of motivation.