Motivation: A Driveway to Learning English as a Foreign Language

The term 'Motivation' refers to an inner urge, drive, impulse, emotion, feeling or desire that stimulates one to do an action. Learning a foreign language is an intellectual task and is influenced by different types of motivations such as ? instrumental, integrative, intrinsic and extrinsic. In this study, analytical and descriptive methods of quantitative research were used to assess the impact of motivation on the performance of Saudi EFL learners, who were observed to be lacking motivation in learning English. The sample constituted 100 undergraduate female students of the Department of English, Samtah University College, Jazan University. The questionnaire, constructed to identify the reasons that affect students? motivation for learning English as a foreign language, consisted of 20 question items related to extrinsic, instrumental, intrinsic and integrative motivations on a 3-point scale. An analysis of the responses in the questionnaire showed that the learners possessed extrinsic, instrumental, intrinsic and integrative motivations, resulting in an impact on their GPA, which was evident from the correlation values between extrinsic, instrumental, intrinsic and integrative motivations and their corresponding GPAs. It is concluded from the findings of the study that EFL learners, who were highly motivated secured high GPA, moderately motivated secured moderate GPA, less motivated secured low GPA and who were not motivated secured very low GPA. It is recommended that EFL teachers should pay attention to learners? motivational practices, inculcate intrinsic and integrative motivations to sustain their motivational levels and eventually make them autonomous learners. Key Words: Motivation, types, English as a Foreign Language (EFL) Teachers& Learners, motivational strategies.