The relationship between Zonguldak Karaelmas University Alaplı Vocational College students' motivational beliefs and their use of motivational self-regulation strategies

Abstract

Research on motivation in language learning has identified classroom motivation, student motivation, and teacher motivation as influential components of learning in English as Foreign Language classroom settings. The focus of this study is student motivation, in particular, roles of students’ motivational beliefs and motivational self-regulation strategies. The value students attach to English tasks, students’ perceived self-efficacy, and the goals students set for learning constitute students’ motivational beliefs. Learners employ cognitive, meta-cognitive, and motivational strategies to regulate their learning processes, thereby taking responsibility for their learning; to take control over one’s learning is called self-regulation. The level of student motivation does not remain stable; demotivating factors cause decreases in students’ levels of motivation. The strategies students use to counter demotivating factors are labeled as motivational self-regulation strategies. These strategies help learners regulate their motivation, avoid states of demotivation; thereby, helping them persist in academic tasks. This study investigated the relation between students’ motivational beliefs and their use of motivational self-regulation strategies. Data were gathered through a questionnaire, with 36 items related to motivational beliefs and motivational self-regulation strategies. The questionnaire was administered to 414 students of Zonguldak Karaelmas University Alaplı Vocational College. The data were analyzed through frequency tests, Pearson product-moment correlation analyses, and a series of multivariate regressions. The findings suggest that there is positive correlation between students’ motivational beliefs and their use of motivational self-regulation strategies. Moreover, students’ motivational beliefs can be used to explain their use of motivational self-regulation strategies.