South Korean Elementary School Students’ English Learning Resilience, Motivation, and Demotivation

Abstract

This study adopted the psychological concept of resilience to discover how English learning resilience is related to motivation and demotivation. English learning resilience is the internal power to overcome difficulties in adverse English learning situations. Although the concept of resilience is important in English learning situations where students’ motivation declines as time passes, only a few studies examining this topic have been conducted. The purpose of this study is to discover how English learning resilience is related to motivation and demotivation. A set of questionnaires containing 20 items on English learning resilience, 18 items on motivation, and 25 items on demotivation was provided to 187 grade 6 elementary school students in a city in South Korea. According to the results of descriptive statistics of each construct, optimism was the most salient factor in resilience, and extrinsic motivation and ideal second language (L2) self were the most salient factors in motivation. Additionally, negative attitude toward the L2 learning assessments ranked high among the demotivation factors. Regarding the structural relationship among the three constructs, a confirmatory factor analysis indicated that the constructs were independent. Finally, according to the results of an analysis of the three constructs conducted using the structural equation model, resilience showed a positive impact on intrinsic motivation and ideal L2 self but a negative impact on demotivation. This implies that, in order to increase learners’ motivation and reduce their demotivation with the passage of time in English education, it is necessary to make an effort to enhance the level of L2 learners’ English learning resilience. (Chung-Ang University)