Globalization and EFL Learning Motivation: A New Perspective on Integrative vs. Instrumental Motivation among Iranian Learners of English

doi:10.4236/ojml.2012.22006

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Open Journal of Modern Linguistics

2012. Vol.2, No.2, 43-50

Published Online June 2012 in SciRes (http://www.SciRP.org/journal/ojml) http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/ojml.2012.22006

Globalization and EFL Learning Motivation: A New Perspective

on Integrative vs. Instrumental Motivation among Iranian

Learners of English

Saeed Mehrpour1, Mehdi Vojdani2

1Department of Foreign Languages and Linguistics, Shi raz University, Shiraz, Ir a n

2Fakher Higher Education Collage, Shiraz, Iran

Email: [email protected] azu.ac.ir, mehdivojdani09@gmail. com

Received January 9th, 2012; re vised Ma rch 1st, 2012; accept e d March 8th, 2012

The present study had a globalization perspective on Iranian EFL learners’ motivation to learn the global

language, English. It investigated the effects of technological variables such as the Internet and satellite

television programs, and social issues like migration and willingness for education at universities abroad

on motivation for learning English as a foreign language among Iranian learners. In order to conduct the

study, 238 learners of English (107 females and 131 males) were randomly selected from four language

teaching institutes in Shiraz, Iran. A questionnaire was first developed based on the operationalization of

some aspects of globalization which were either related to instrumental motivation or integrative motiva-

tion. The data obtained from the administration of the questionnaire to the participants were later on ana-

lyzed and the results revealed that technological, sociological and scientific aspects created or intensified

through the process of globalization influenced Iranian EFL learners’ motivation to learn English and that

the participants were mainly instrumentally motivated.

Keywords: Globalization; Motivation; Instrumental; Integrative; Technological

Introduction

Nearly all human behaviors originate from certain kind of

“motivation”. Motivation is commonly considered to be an

inner drive, impulse, emotion or desire that moves one to a

particular action. It is a highly complex term, widely used not

only in everyday life but also in many areas of social sciences,

for example in various branches of psychology, educational

studies and in applied linguistics. Gardener (1972) defines mo-

tivation in his social-psychological model as a combination of

efforts plus desire to achieve the goal of learning the language

plus favorable attitudes towards learning the language. Arnold

and Brown (1999) define it as the learners’ reasons for at-

tempting to acquire the foreign language. Almost all applied

linguists are unanimous about the pivotal role of motivation in

L2 learning. That is why many different kinds of motivation

have been proposed so far. But the most widely known con-

cepts associated with Gardeners’ work in the field of second

language are two orientations labeled as “integrative” and “in-

strumental” motivations. Gardener and Lambert (1972) differ-

entiate between the two kinds of motivations. Integrative moti-

vation occurs when the learner wishes to learn more about the

cultural community because he or she is interested in it in an

open-mind way. In contrast, if the purpose of the language

learning reflects more utilitarian values of linguistic achieve-

ment such as getting ahead in one’s occupation, the motivation

is said to be instrumental. Gardener’s Socio-psychological

Model maintained that successful language learners must be

integratively motivated but the subsequent studies showed

something else. Lukmani (1972), Niitsuma (1991) and Agni-

hotri and Khanna’s (1998) findings showed that there is hardly

any integrativeness in Bambay, Japan and South Asia, respec-

tively. It probably shows that EFL learners seem to have been

more instrumenta lly motivated than their E SL peers. This utili-

tarian orientation to foreign language learning in EFL context

seems to have been accelerated by “globalization process” and

the development of global communication.

Globalization as Giddens (1990) refers to is “the phenome-

non of acceleration and intensification of world wide social

relation which links distant localities” (p. 64). It focuses on a

“borderless single society and culture” where all nationalities

with different languages coexist. This amount of interconnect-

edness and interdependencies requires a shared linguistic code,

or an international language such as English for modern social

life. Therefore, in our global era knowing English, as Kachru

(1986a) holds it, is “like possessing the fabled Aladdin’s lamp,

which permits one to open the linguistic gates to international

business, technology, science and travel” (p. 1). That is why De

Swaan (2001) argues that English is a ‘hypercollective good’:

The more speakers it has, the more people want to learn the

language and the higher the language’s communication value

for them. De Swaan looks at the concepts of economic theory

which offer the study of language in the age of globalization.

Like Bourdieu (1991), he finds that linguistic behaviour is

profit-driven and thus concludes that, concerning English, peo-

ple seek to learn the language because it is perceived to be so-

cially and economically useful to them. Acquiring English is a

skill that is seen to lead to an increase of both “symbol capi-

tal”-prestige and honour—as well as “economic capital”—

material wealth (Bourdieu, 1991). Indeed, the more global the

use of English becomes, the greater the motivation becomes to

learn it. This ultrafunction of English as the language of the

S. MEHRPOUR, M. VOJDANI

world at large has had major consequences on L2 motivation

especially in EFL contexts. Block and Cameron (2002) have

noted that globalization changes the condition under which

language learning takes place. Some of the most significant

changes are economic. They believe that globalization has

made a condition under which people are learning languages

for more economic reasons. Some commentators like Heller

(1999a) have suggested that languages (and mainly English) are

treated more and more as economic commodities. This com-

modification of language affects both people’s motivations for

language learning and their choices about which language to

learn. Wee (2003) uses the term “linguistic instrumentalism” to

refer to this recent ideological change due to globalization and

capitalism. By the same token, Graddol (1997) predicts a fore-

casting model towards EFL demand around the world which

suggests that patterns of English language usage will be deter-

mined by economic and technological development rather than

cultural or political factors.

By and large, the world has greatly changed since Gardener

and Lambert first introduced the notion of integrative and in-

strumental motivation in the late 1950s. The last decade has

seen what Gardener himself has called a “motivational renais-

sance” (Gardener & Tremblay, 1994) with new concepts, new

needs and, consequently, new motivational attitudes toward

language learning. It is increasingly recognized that learner

attributes and activities are profoundly influenced by economic

environment emerging through globalization and technology

forces. In this situation, there seems to be some aspects of the

processes of globalization and modernism which have been

motivating language learners instrumentally in EFL contexts

such as Iran to learn the global language English at any cost.

Status of English in Asia and Iran: A Brief Overview

Kim (2002) describes the status of English in Asia as fol-

lows:

English as a world/global language has successfully made its

way to a central position in non-English speaking countries

such as Korea, Japan, and China as well as Southeast Asian

nations and countries in the Middle East where people believe

the economic power and prestige are connected to the language,

English. (p. 29)

With regard to the status of English in Iran, it can be stated

that the role of English in Iran is almost purely functional as

English is used as a language of international link. Unlike some

EFL contexts such as Singapore and Malaysia, English is not

used as an interpersonal and inter-institutional means of com-

munication and there is seemingly no possibility of English

becoming the lingua franca in Iran. But English has been used

for years and for different purposes in Iran and gradually it is

becoming part of the socio-cultural system. As the use of Eng-

lish is increasing day by day in different forms, there is signifi-

cant evidence of use of English along with Persian in the form

of code-mixing and code-switching (Monajemi, 2001; Vojdani,

2008). English is taught in Iran from Junior high school, but

recently, it has been tentatively included in course programs not

only in some elementary schools but also in some kindergartens

or pre-school centers under the supervision of the Ministry of

Education. But the language teaching institutes play the main

role in developing English language learning in Iran. In recent

years, the number of language institutes has considerably in-

creased. In a sample survey, Vojdani (2008) compared the

number of language institutes and EFL learners in Shiraz City.

He showed that in 1375 (1996) there existed around 207 Eng-

lish language institutes for about 36432 language learners

whereas in 1386 (2007) there were about 356 institutes for ap-

proximately 60797 learners in Shiraz. This clearly shows that

today more and more knowledge of English is needed in Iran

due to some globalization requirements and consequently new

forms of motivations might be identified.

Literature Review

A significant amount of research has been conducted in the

study of motivation in foreign language learning ever since. But,

to the best of the researchers’ knowledge, very few studies have

ever dealt with the effects of globalization or technological

aspects on EFL learner’s motivation.

As the initial pieces of research on the relation between mo-

tivation and language learning, Gardener (1960) and Gardener

and Lambert (1959) investigated the relation between learners’

motivation and their linguistic performance. They identified

two kinds of motivation, namely instrumental and integrative.

Gardener and Lambert (1972) carried out an extensive study in

Quebec, Ontario, Hartford, Connecticut, Louisiana and Maine.

Their study showed that in all cases motivation is a leading

factor in students’ success and students with integrative orien-

tation are more successful as compared with those with instru-

mental motivation.

Another study was conducted by Gardener and his coworkers

in the Philippines. The result of the research showed that for an

EFL context such as the Philippines, learners seemed to be

more instrumentally motivated and they tried to learn English

for their better job positions. Since then, further researches

(such as Lukmani, 1972; Dornyei, 1990; Shaaban & Ghaith,

2000; Warden & Lin, 2000) have highlighted the significance

of instrumental or utilitarian dimension of L2 motivation which

belonged mostly to EFL contexts.

Raham (2005) analyzes the various socio-psychological ori-

entations of the undergraduate students of private universities

of Bangladesh towards learning English. His study focuses on

what are considered as the two most important social psycho-

logical variables: attitude and motivation. Domain use is also

investigated to determine the present linguistic reality of Bang-

ladesh and features important in describing the motivational

orientations of students. To achieve the goal, 94 students (56

male and 38 female) of 19 - 23 age group were randomly se-

lected from the American International University, Bangladesh

(AIUB) to give their ideas about their motivation for English

learning. The findings of the research finally shows that stu-

dents focus on English for its “functional role” (i.e. its utilitar-

ian value) in limited and discrete domain areas where knowl-

edge of English is required. Raham believes that the study does

not reject or undermine Gardner’s theory, rather it tries to find

out the reliability and applicably of such theory in a strong EFL

country like Bangladesh as it was investigated before in other

EFL contexts. This study also demonstrates that the learners

learn English for “instrumental” reasons as opposed to previous

research conducted in Bangladesh, which concluded that “inte-

grative motivation” functioned as the dominant motivational

orientation for the students to learn English. It seems that, as it

was previously mentioned, the more Bangladesh is globalised,

the more language learning is considered as a utilitarian value

than a cultural identity.

S. MEHRPOUR, M. VOJDANI

The volume, Motivation, Language Attitudes and Globali-

zation: A Hungarian Perspective, written by Dörnyei, Csizér,

and Németh (2006) contains the results of the largest ever-con-

ducted L2 motivation survey, involving over 13,000 language

learners on three successive occasions: in 1993, 1999 and 2004.

The survey took place in one particular country, Hungary, and

the sample represents young teenagers from the whole cross-

section of the nation. The examined period covers a particularly

prominent time in the country’s history, the transition from a

closed, Communist society to a Western-style democracy dur-

ing which the country finally became a member of the Euro-

pean Union in 2004. The book presents a good example of an

overall change in language learning motivation due to global-

ization process in an EFL context. It describes how sociopoliti-

cal changes and globalization process introducing English as

the global language has affected the various language attitudes

prevailing amongst Hungarians and their motivation to learn

five different target languages: English, German, French, Italian

and Russian. Their study, with respect to the third phase of the

data (gained in 2004), showed that Hungarians tend to take up

the study of English increasingly as a self-evident part of edu-

cation. Therefore, the global English is becoming increasingly

associated with a cosmopolitan and technologically advanced

“imagined community” and thus with the pathway to career

success among Hungarians.

In another study, Lamb (2004) investigates the effects of

globalization and global forces on integrative motivation of

Indonesian children aged 11 - 12 years old, as they begin for-

mal English in an urban junior high school. His main idea re-

volves the notion of “integrativeness” which he believes to

have greatly changed since the emergence of globalization

process. He argues that as English loses its association with

particular Anglophone cultures and is instead identified with

the powerful forces of globalization, the desire to integrate

loses its explanatory power in many EFL contexts and therefore,

the individuals learn English to develop a bicultural identity of

their local culture and at the same time as a member of the

“global culture”. Knowing English gives Indonesian young

generation a sense of belonging to a worldwide culture and

awareness of information, style and events of that. It is specu-

lated that changes in individuals’ motivation to learn the lan-

guage may therefore be partly explained by reference to ongo-

ing processes of identification which, in turn, may change

through some social processes like globalization.

Al-Atemi & Shuib (2009) undertook a study on learners’

motivation and attitudes towards learning English in Yemen.

The study focused on three motivational constructs, i.e., in-

strumental motivation, integrative motivation, and personal

motivation. The results of the study revealed that both instru-

mental and personal reasons were important motives for learn-

ing English. However, integrative motivation had the least im-

pact on learners’ language learning.

Abdol Latif, et al. (2011) using a questionnaire conducted a

project to determine the link between attitude, motivation,

anxiety and instrumental orientation on performance of a group

of 757 learners of English in Open University Malaysia (OUM).

The regression analysis of the data revealed that all the vari-

ables except for personal motivation had a significant effect on

performance with anxiety having a negative impact while atti-

tude and instrume n t a l orien tation having positive impacts.

Alqahtani (2011) explored 35 Kuwaiti learners’ perceptions

of the relationship between English and globalization through

interviewing them. The findings indicated that despite recog-

nizing and appreciating the establishment and identity of Eng-

lish as a global language, learners did not seem to have a clear

and complete understanding of the “essence” of this global era.

As far as the situation of learning English in Iran is con-

cerned, some studies have been conducted on motivational

variables among Iranian language learners during the last dec-

ade.

Roohani (2001) studied the motivational variables (integra-

tive and instrumental) towards learning English as a foreign

language among senior students at two state-run and private

universities. The results indicated that the students at the

state-run university were more integratively motivated as com-

pared with their peers at the private university.

Vaezi (2008) conducted a study to describe and examine a

group of Iranian’s undergraduate students’ integrative and in-

strumental motivation toward learning English as a foreign

language. The results of the study revealed that the participants

had very high motivation and positive attitudes towards learn-

ing English and were more inst rumentally motivated.

As the literature review shows, most of the previous studies

conducted in Iran have dealt with the classic concepts of inte-

grative and instrumental motivation and no study has ever been

focused on the effects of globalization and 21st century issues

on EFL learners’ motivation in the country.

Objectives of the Study

For many EFL learners in our globalizing world, knowledge

of English seems to be utilized more as a tool to address their

needs, in terms of dealing with modern technology or some

social issues like migration to Europe or North America to have

better job positions and life style. The current study had a glob-

alization perspective on Iranian EFL learners’ motivation to

learn the global language, English and it was meant to investi-

gate the effects of technological variables such as the Internet

and satellite television programs; social issues like migration

and high tendencies to education at overseas’ universities on

motivation for learning English among Iranian learners. Con-

sidering the purpose of the study and the studies reviewed, the

researchers addressed the following research questions:

1) Has globalization and its technological and social aspects

affected Iranian EFL learners’ type of motivation toward learn-

ing English?

2) If so, how has it been effective? In other words, has it

made learners more instrumentally or integratively motivated?

Method

Participants

To conduct the study, 238 English language learners (107

female and 131 male) from four language teaching institutes

were randomly selected. The participants were of different

socio-economic backgrounds and different levels of proficiency,

that is, beginner, intermediate and advance levels. To minimize

the effects of age on the study, the range of 17 to 27 was chosen

which also accounts for the largest number of learners of Eng-

lish in Iran.

Instrument

In order to examine and investigate the possible effects of

S. MEHRPOUR, M. VOJDANI

globalization on English learners’ motivation, a questionnaire

was designed based on the operationalization of some aspects

of globalization which were either related to instrumental or

integrative motivation. The questionnaire included two types of

items: 1) some items addressed technological advances such as

computer, the Internet and satellite TV programs; sociological

issues like migration, and scientific issues which all have been

intensified through process of globalization and seem to have

instrumentally motivated Iranian English learners to learn the

global language with much greater interest. 2) Some other items

had an integrative orientation and were basically designed by

Laine (1982). These were added to a few other items to see if

the students were highly influenced and motivated by English

language culture .

The questionnaire was first pilot tested. Some items were

omitted and finally 23 items were kept. The questionnaire fol-

lowed a five-level Likert scale format and therefore offered five

choices for each item ranging from strongly agree to strongly

disagree. To find out about the reliability of the questionnaire,

Cronbach’s alpha was calculated. The index was found to be

0.80 which is indicative of a highly acceptable level of reliabil-

ity.

Since this questionnaire was newly developed, in order to see

if it was a valid and appropriate measure to tap the variables of

the study, its construct validity was determined through the

application of factor analysis procedure. A factor analysis of the

dat a re vea led t hat t he questionna ire enjoyed construct validity to

a great extent and its items loaded on the different aspects of the

two factors of instrumental and integrative motivation (Table 1).

Data Analysis

The data gathered by the administration of the questionnaire

were analyzed by means of the SPSS program, version 11.5. In

the analysis of the data the choices made by the language

learners were given numerical values. The numerical value 1

was assigned to strongly agree, 2 to agree, 3 to no idea, 4 to

disagree, and 5 to strongly disagree. After computing the means

of the two motivational variables—instrumental and integra-

tive—for each questionnaire, a paired t-test was run to compare

the two means. The results appear in Table 2 below.

The results of this analysis clearly show that regarding the

first research question globalization and its different techno-

logical and sociological aspects have affected English learners

motivation either integratively or instrumentally. Based on the

mean of the two variables, we can safely conclude that the Eng-

lish learners participating in the survey have clear inclination

toward instrumental orientation created under the influence of

the globalization factors such as technology. Tables 3 and 4

illustrate the classification of instrumental and integrative mo-

tivation variables introduced in this study and surveyed in the

questionnaire along with the frequency distribution and their

respective means.

Results and Discussion

The analysis of the data, as shown above, reveals that some

EFL learners are either integratively or instrumentally moti-

vated to learn English. This finding is in line with the studies

Table 1.

Paired sample statistics for th e two variables integrative & instrumental motivation.

Mean N Std. Deviati on Std. Error of Mean

Integrative 2.1870 238 .66168 .04289

Pair 1 Instrumental 1.8013 238 .39280 .02546

Table 2.

Paired sample T-test between the two variables integrative & i nstrumental motivation.

Paired differences

Mean Std. Deviation Std. Error of Measurement t Df Sig (2-tailed)

Pair 1 Integrative & Ins trumental .3857 .61897 .04012 9.613 238 .000

Table 3.

Instrumental motivation (frequency distri but ion and mean scores) .

G1: to learn

English to use

computers better

G2: to watch

satellite

TV programs

G3: to use

world Net

G4: to prepare for

migration to English

speaking coun t ries

G5: to participate

in English

International Exams

G6: to prepare

for scientific

purposes

*Frequency of responde n ts

out of 238 vote on each item 187 181 149 166 198 202

% 78.6 76.1 62.6 69.7 83.2 84.9

#Mean 1.70 1.74 1.90 1.99 1.67 1.66

Total mean 1.80

*This is the frequency of respondents who strongly agree or disagree on each item. The rest of the respondents either had no idea or were against the information conveyed

by the specific item. #Mean scores closer to the range 1 - 2 show greater degrees of agreement of the respondents on instrumentally-oriented items (see section 5.3 data

analysis).

S. MEHRPOUR, M. VOJDANI

Table 4.

Integrative motivation (frequency distribution and mean scores).

G1: to learn

English to become familiar with Anglophone culture a n d t r adition G2:

to be interested in learning English per se

*Frequenc y of respondents out

of 238 vote on each item 93 159

% 39.1

66.8

Mean 2.27

2.20

Total mean 2.18

conducted by Abdol Latif, et al. (2011), Al-Atemi & Shuib

(2009), Gardner & Lambert (1959, 1972), Roohani (2001), and

Vaezi (2008). All these studies, like the present study, show

that there is a positive relationship between either instrumental

motivation or integrative motivation or both and language

learning.

With respect to the relationship between globalization and

motivation for learning English, the results of the present study

are in agreement with those conducted by Dornyei, et al. (2006),

Lamb (2004), and Raham (2005) which show that the process

of globalization has had an impact on motivation to learn Eng-

lish.

In what follows, globalization aspects which seem to have

recently influenced Iranian EFL learners’ motivation to learn

the global language and which have been identified in the re-

search questions of the study will be discussed.

Technological Issues

Computer Technology

Not long ago, the eight-year-old son of the Kyrgyzstan

president informed his father: “I have to learn English.” In a

central Asian country where Western tongues are rarely spoken,

President Askar Akayev wanted to know why. The reply: “Be-

cause, father, the computer speaks English.” (Erickson, 1998: p.

15).

Globalization has undoubtedly fostered the ubiquity and

domination of English through the technological development

of the recent decades (such as computer industry, IT, the Inter-

net and Satellite TV channels) all over the EFL countries and

has urged the people in these countries to learn English as a

gateway to modernity. The result of the present survey shows

that 78% of our Iranian learners studied English in order to

operate computers better, understand the errors and warnings

given by the computers and be able to work with different

software related to their field of study or interests. Gaining a

good knowledge of English and computer literacy seem to have

gone together in recent years in Iran and many parents urge

their teenagers to participate in both English and computer

courses. This has naturally been intensified by the prevalence of

computer games among young adults. On the other hand, using

hardware and software reflected the need for knowing English

among computer users and experts. Although numerous soft-

ware companies in Iran have been designing Persian versions of

software compatible with Iranian PC systems, so many others

still have either no Persian version or are not fully compatible

with our writing system and therefore make the users turn to the

English version.

The Internet

In the developed world of information technology and glob-

alization, using the Internet, as an essential feature of modern

life, strongly motivates students to learn and use English effec-

tively if they want to deal properly with the huge amount of

information appearing on it. The Internet has by far created

high levels of motivation among the EFL learners to study Eng-

lish in our globalizing era. Two hundred and seventeen respon-

dents (about 91.2% of the participants) agreed on the first item

of the questionnaire which dealt with studying English in order

to have the linguistic ability to use the global Net. By and large,

77.68% of them believe that they learn English to have access

to some materials in their fields of study or interest on the net,

read online magazines, have access to the breaking news,

communicate and exchange ideas with foreign people from

different countries through chatrooms or emails, participate in

Net Work Marketing or E-business and have the ability to

search in English. Table 5 shows that the internet-related issues

motivated Iranian learners to study English. The respective

means and the frequency of respondents agreeing on each item

are also given in this table.

Although the presence of other languages such as Persian

and Arabic have been greatly increasing in EFL contexts in

recent years, according to Crystal (2004), more than 50% of

web pages are still in English. The majority of Iranians first go

into the cyber cafe s or buy a cheap Internet card to ha ve access

Table 5.

Internet-related issues motivating learners to learn English.

I learn English language to… Mean Percentage

Use the global Net 1.64 91.2

Understand and use electronically

stored information on the Net 1.78 84.9

Make friends and exchange ideas with

foreigners through ch at rooms 2.04 68.5

Make friends and exchange ideas with

foreigners t hrough emails 2.08 68.5

Be able to search different subjects on

the Net 1.67 89.1

Read and use online journals and

magazines 1.86 80.7

Have linguistic ability to take part in

E-business and Netw or k marketing 2.21 60.9

Total 1.75 77.68

S. MEHRPOUR, M. VOJDANI

to the Internet since they see it as a trendy and useful tool ena-

bling them to establish relationship with the outside world. But

as they go a bit further to take more advantage of it, they find

out that there is only one real way to do it, that is, learning Eng-

lish. A widely reported statistic is that about 80 per cent of

electronically stored information is currently in English (Crys-

tal, 2003). Today learning English language for graduate and

Ph.D. students in Iran is a must if they want to take full advan-

tage of internet sources, E-journals, and E-books which are

steadily increasing in number. Furthermore, as Vojdani (2008)

points out, some problems with respect to the compatibility of

English software with Iranian PC systems and Persian script

system in searching process has limited the internet users in

Iran and increased their motivation to learn English to make use

of global technology.

EFL learners’ motivation to learn English just because it is

the unique language of computer and the internet is sometimes

so instrumental that one would think that everybody would

learn Chinese if Bill Gates had been born in China.

Satellite TV Channels

The third millennium is truly known as “the era of satellites”

which have accelerated broadcasting of foreign media espe-

cially Western television and radio programs and which have

motivated people all over the world, especially in Asia, to lean

English in order to take full advantage of their amusing pro-

grams including both world news and exciting movies. The

result of the survey run by Vojdani (2008) showed that 91.6%

of his respondents confirmed the idea that Iranians are increas-

ingly using non-Persian satellite TV programs at the present.

According to a survey, many Iranians believed that the low

quality of national and local television programs and lack of

amusing programs are among the main reasons moti v a ti n g them

to watch satellite TV channels (Monajemi, 2004). Table 6 be-

low illustrates that the participants were instrumentally moti-

vated through watching satellite TV programs to study English.

The use of satellite TV channels and radio programs has re-

cently multiplied in Iran. According to statistics released by

Iranian officials’, currently one third of Iranian families are

receiving different TV channels (an interview with Aliahmadi,

Minister of Education, cited in Zamaneh, 2008, online at:

http://zamaaneh.com/news/2008/04/_30_2.html) among which

MBC has a widespread popularity due to its fascinating movies

and attractive TV shows which are all in English and seem to

be a strong motivator for interested viewers in Iran to attend

English courses.

Sociological Issues

Migration

In our globalizing world, more people than ever before think

of migration especially in developing countries in EFL contexts.

Having a modern lifestyle and better job positions are the main

incentives among many Iranians who wish to migrate to

English-speaking countries such as Australia or Canada. Today,

around 200 million migrants are seeking better life in one of the

more developed countries while about 12% of these are Iranian

migrants (cited in Sarmayeh online Newspaper on 29.4.06).

The rate of migration has sharply increased in Iran so far as it is

the second country to send emigrants in Asian and Oceanic

Area (cited in Tadbir Monthly, Ordibehesht 1384, 2005) and

how to pass the IELTS exam has turned out to be one of the

Table 6.

Instrumental motivation for learning English through watching satellite

TV programs.

I learn English language t o… MeanPercentage

Watch English movies broadc ast on

satellite TV channels 1.55 89.1

Be able to listen to and unders t and English

programs broadcast over sa t ellite radio channels 1.97 72.3

Be able to listen to and unders tand world

news in BBC and CNN 1.71 82.1

Total 1.74 81.16

main preoccupations for most Iranian learners of English when

they start learning the language. According to the result of the

present study, about 70% of the learners are learning English

for migration purposes and 83.2% claimed that they learn

English in order to take part in the international exams such as

IELTS. In spite of the difficult conditions of taking IELTS

exam in Iran and its high level of difficulty, IELTS courses are

very widespread nowadays and many language institutes have

paid special attention to such courses.

Scientific Issues

Globalization has undeniably created a condition in which

English has proved to be the first and the main language in

scientific domains. The high-pace scientific development of

English-speaking countries such as the United States, the UK

and (recently) Canada has been among the major factors for

English ubiquity. As it was mentioned before, learning English

has turned out to be a must-learn for graduate and post graduate

students in Iran and the use of English has become more and

more of a necessity, at least for publishing articles in English

journals or participating in international academic conferences.

Apart from International Journals, scientific publishers in many

countries have shifted from publishing in their national lan-

guage to publishing in English and this has irresistibly urged

university students in Iran to learn English to make use of them

in writing academic research papers (Grrodal, 1997). Today a

huge number of university students in Iran prefer to continue

their graduate studies overseas, mainly in English-speaking

countries. And this leaves no choice for them except to learn

English. The results of the present study showed that 83.6% of

English learners learn the language to be able to continue their

study overseas. Moreover, 83.2% of them have claimed that

they learn English to take part in the TOEFL exam. For some of

them learning English is so important that they devote most of

their daily time to attending intensive courses four or five days

a week. One might think of these learners to have a hy-

per-motivation for learning English.

Conclusion

The findings of the study present a consistent picture which

establishes the idea that new waves of motivational variables

have emerged among Iranian EFL learners. Like almost every-

thing, language and language learning motivation have been

affected by the increasing connectedness of today’s world due

to globalization and its technological advances. Based on offi-

cial statistics, in Iran as an EFL context where English is just an

international language, today, more than ever before people

S. MEHRPOUR, M. VOJDANI

from different scientific and social backgrounds are motivated

to learn English. Huge expansion of technological devices for

scientific and entertainment purposes such as computer soft-

wares and games, the internet and cyber communication, satel-

lite TV channels, and acceleration of migration tendencies to

English-speaking countries due to competitive standards of

lifestyle all seem to have brought about tempting instrumental

motivations for Iranians, especially the young generation, to

learn English.

The results of the survey showed that technological, socio-

logical and scientific aspects created or intensified through the

process of globalization have affected Iranian EFL learners’

motivation to learn English and have made them more instru-

mentally motivated. The results also confirm the idea of Block

and Cameron (2002) who constantly insist that language learn-

ing and communication skills demanded by globalization and

new technologies affect learners’ motivation toward more in-

strumental orientations and turns language into a marketable

commodity rather than a cultural identity. It seems that nowa-

days many individuals in Iran learn English not because they

wish to become bilinguals or have a love of the language, but

rather because they want to have access to such things as scien-

tific and technological information, global economics, and

higher education. In fact, knowing English makes such access

possible.

As for implications of the study, it can be stated that though

technology has greatly advanced throughout the world and

technological devices are used for language teaching purposes

worldwide, unfortunately little use is made of such facilities in

our educational system, as far as teaching English is concerned.

In fact, in some junior and senior high schools in Iran old

methods of language teaching such as the grammar translation

method and the audio-lingual method are still in vogue and if

this trend continues, the status of teaching and learning English

in Iran might become worse than what it is now. This requires

immediate attention on the part of curriculum designers and

material developers in the Ministry of Education and those in

charge of educational boards of language teaching institutes

throughout the country. One way of addressing this problem is

to equip schools with technological facilities for teaching Eng-

lish so that students become more interested in learning the

language. Another alternative is preparing materials or using

materials which are developed according to advances in tech-

nology and use of technology for language learning and teach-

ing purposes. For instance, use can be made of series such as

Top Notch in which text messages are used as examples of

every day conversations and the content of sample e-mails are

used as reading passages. Utilizing such materials can function

as a great source of motivation for language learners to help

them improve their English and the actual use of such materials

has, in fact, proved successful in language teaching institutes in

Iran. With respect to the sociological aspects of globalization,

students in our educational system should be made aware of the

utmost importance of the issue and its great effect on every

individual member of the society. This being so, they will get a

better understanding of the role of English as medium of glob-

alization so that they will not fall behind others in this

fast-paced competition. One last point which can be added

concerns the importance of scientific issues and its relationship

with globalization. Since globalization is a multi-faceted enter-

prise, gaining a footing in the process and stabilizing the stance

requires great scientific background. Considering the fact that

much of scientific publications appear in English both tradi-

tionally and in the form of electronic materials such as e-books

and e-journals, one can conclude that gaining a good knowl-

edge of English is a must for those who want to get involved in

the process of globalization

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