Control concentrado

As mentioned earlier, motivation is often seen along two continuums, one intrinsic and one extrinsic (see 3.1.2). Of the two, intrinsic motivation has been found to correlate positively both with behaviours that facilitate achievement, and with achievement per se (Gottfried, 1985:642). In order to see if there was a difference between the two groups, a comparison of their reported intrinsic

motivation was made. As in the case of self-efficacy, it was possible to create an index variable that measured intrinsic motivation. It comprised four questions, all in the second part of the questionnaire. Three of them concerned foreign languages in general, namely no. 33, to what extent the students enjoyed learning languages, no. 34, to what extent they found it stimulating to use foreign languages and no. 35, to what extent they enjoyed perceiving increasing mastery of foreign languages. The fourth question (no. 36, part 2) was about how much the students enjoyed learning English.

9.2.1 Overall comparison between NP and IB

The results of the index variable reveal a difference between the two groups, with a significantly higher intrinsic value reported for the IB group than for the NP group (2.79 as compared with 2.24, max 3, χ2_{=13.926, df=2, p=0.001).}

However, two additional questions in the questionnaire could also be used to estimate intrinsic motivation. One of them concerned the degree to which the students came into contact with English in their spare time. Here, two kinds of extramural exposure were compared, namely reading English books and magazines (question no. 19, part 1) and playing computer games in English (question no. 21, part 1), both of which have been shown to correlate positively with vocabulary acquisition (Sylvén, 2004:226). When it comes to the present study, there were clear differences between the two groups. Spare time reading in English was significantly more frequent among the IB students than the NP students (NP: 2.72, IB: 3.19, max 4; p=0.004). The NP students, on the other hand, reported that they played computer games in English significantly more often than the IB students (NP: 2.79, IB: 2.12, max 4; p=0.004). Possibly, the IB students’ lower interest in computer games might have to do with the fact that male students were underrepresented in the IB group and that computer games tend to be male activities (Sylvén, 2004:226; Sundqvist, forthcoming).

Another question which also taps into intrinsic motivation is whether the students believed they might later study English at university (no. 37). According to their answers, the IB students were significantly more inclined to do so (NP: 4.60, IB: 5.33, max 6; p=0.005). In sum, most of the measurements of intrinsic motivation point to there being a higher degree of intrinsic motivation among the IB students than the NP students. Therefore, differences in intrinsic motivation might be a motivational factor that could help explain the differences found in the students’ proficiency as measured in this study.

9.2.2 Comparison of the subgroups

Next, the intrinsic value of the subgroups was compared, again using the index variable based on questions 33-36. Interestingly, it turned out that only two of the three subgroups followed the overall pattern of higher degrees of intrinsic motivation among the IB students, namely subgroups II (NP: 19.42, IB: 21.92, max 24) and III (NP: 18.54, IB: 22.31, max 24). Unfortunately, as in the case of self-efficacy, the number of students in each subgroup was too small to test statistical significance. Nevertheless, it is in an interesting finding, since it was in subgroups II and, above all, III that the NP and IB results diverged the most over time, with progression in the IB group and cases of regression in the NP group. In subgroup I, on the other hand, the intrinsic motivation of the two groups differed much less (NP: 21.11, IB: 21.94, max 24). Interestingly, in this subgroup the NP and IB students’ results on proficiency, as it is measured here, did not diverge over time.

As regards extramural exposure, the subgroups deviated from the pattern revealed by the index variable used to measure intrinsic motivation. When it comes to how often the students read in English in their spare time, the NP students’ results were in fact similar in all three subgroups. The IB students reported on more frequent spare time reading, but only in subgroups I and II, where the differences between the groups were statistically significant (p=0.041; p=0.020). In subgroup III, on the other hand, the IB and NP students reported that they devoted roughly the same amount of spare time to reading in English. In fact, the IB students in subgroup III reported that they read books in English in their spare time to a significantly lesser degree than the IB students in subgroup I (p=0.004). As regards playing computer games in English, the figures for the NP students were higher in all three subgroups, but it is only in subgroup III that the difference between NP and IB results was statistically significant (p=0.009).

The results for the third variable to measure intrinsic motivation, namely the students’ inclination towards studying English at university, suggest that there is a correlation between intrinsic motivation and proficiency. While the NP and IB students’ responses were similar in subgroup I, in subgroups II and III the IB students were significantly more positive towards studying English at university level than the NP students’ (p=0.041; p=0.012).