Motivations towards Learning English: The Case of Jordanian Gifted Students

The present study aimed at investigating the motivational orientations of Jordanian gifted school students in Ajloun governorate. For this purpose, 51 students from King Abdullah II in Ajloun governorate participated in this study. Data was collected through a questionnaire contained 20 items asking about the motivational level and orientation of learners. The questionnaire was adapted from Gardner’s (1985) AMTB (Attitude, Motivation Test Battery) questionnaire. The researchers used descriptive statistics for identifying the students’ level of motivation towards learning English. Independent samples T-test was used to investigate the differences in the level of motivation according to gender. The findings revealed that the students were highly motivated towards learning English language with higher scores reported for the sake of instrumental motivation. Female students reported higher level of motivation than male students with no statistically significant differences recorded concerning this. Based on the results, some of the implications were presented and discussed.  

The present study aimed at investigating the motivational orientations of Jordanian gifted school students in Ajloun governorate. For this purpose, 51 students from King Abdullah II in Ajloun governorate participated in this study. Data was collected through a questionnaire contained 20 items asking about the motivational level and orientation of learners. The questionnaire was adapted from Gardner’s (1985) AMTB (Attitude, Motivation Test Battery) questionnaire. The researchers used descriptive statistics for identifying the students’ level of motivation towards learning English. Independent samples T-test was used to investigate the differences in the level of motivation according to gender. The findings revealed that the students were highly motivated towards learning English language with higher scores reported for the sake of instrumental motivation. Female students reported higher level of motivation than male students with no statistically significant differences recorded concerning this. Based on the results, some of the implications were presented and discussed.