Motivation and attitudes towards L2: Some effects of age and instruction

This paper analyses the answers to a questionnaire in which learners of different age-groups and different proficiency levels were asked about their attitudes and types of motivation towards the L2 (EFL). First, motivation is seen to increase with school experience. Second, the younger learners show more intrinsic types of motivation, while the older groups show more extrinsic types and a preference for an instrumental type of motivation. That is, while the younger students do not, as a group, present higher motivation than the older students, they have a qualitatively different type of motivation. Third, significant statistical relations are shown between attitude towards language learning and achievement in some language tests, but not all. Significant relations are also found between achievement at the first measurement time and attitudes at the second in those students who were traced longitudinally, raising the issue of the directionality of the relation between motivation and second language achievement.