A Longitudinal Comparative Study on the Changes of Motivational Constructs and English Proficiency between Engineering Majoring Grade 10-12 Students and High School Students

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This longitudinal study investigated the motivational constructs of a group of engineering majoring Grade 10-12 students (EMSs) and their motivational changes over time, based on the result of a 49-item questionnaire survey. It further explored the source of demotivation by using an open-ended question. The findings are: (1) the motivation declined more significantly than high school students between the 1st year and the 2nd year for the EMSs; (2) their awareness of the need for English, interests, and positive attitudes towards learning English showed negative interactions with each other; (3) a strong correlation was observed between lack of successful learning experiences and decline in interests/positive attitudes; (4) lack of successful learning experiences turned out to be the most demotivating factor.It is suggested that an instructional intervention be implemented to ensure that the students have opportunities to see themselves advance in an unthreatened learning environment.