University foundation students' motivational reasons for English language mastery

Abstract

Most institutions of higher learning in South Africa particularly universities use English as a medium of instruction. In addition students use English as a language of communication while going about their university business. Consequently, the University Management Sciences Foundation students are required to be proficient in the English language so that they complete their programme and subsequently proceed with their degree studies. Therefore, these students should somehow have a certain type of motivation either instrumental or integrative and/or both in order to have positive attitude towards successful English language learning. The paper aims to investigate the students’ motivational reasons for their mastery of the English language at this level. For that reason, a sample of 30 students was selected from a population of 106. A quantitative research design was employed and the students completed a questionnaire with questions based on the motivational reasons for English language proficiency. The findings revealed that the majority of the students were instrumentally motivated because they desperately wanted to complete their Management Sciences qualifications and finally get employment. Thus, the lecturers should encourage students not to focus on instrumental motivation only, but also take integrative motivation seriously as South Africa is a multilingual country.

Keywords: medium of instruction, language of communication, instrumental motivation, integrative motivation