STUDENTS’ MOTIVATION IN GERMAN LANGUAGE LEARNING AT INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL OF TOURISM, SURATTHANI RAJABHAT UNIVERSITY

Abstract

The objectives of this research were to study the motivation in learning German language of students in International School of Tourism, Suratthani Rajabhat University, and to study the relationship of the students’ intrinsic motivation factors and extrinsic motivation factors. The target group was 54 students who enrolled in the German language courses in the second semester of 2018 academic year. This study was a quantitative research study using a questionnaire as the major research tool. Frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, and Pearson’s product moment correlation coefficient were used to analyze the data. The results found that the students’ motivation in learning German language was at a high level. Intrinsic motivation was positively correlated with extrinsic motivation. Furthermore, this study revealed that the students believed that German language is one of the most important foreign languages. However, they thought that it was difficult to learn German and to obtain a good grade. It was recommended that integrated learning in the classroom using a variety of methods and activities should be continuously organized in order to motivate and encourage the students’ participation, practice, assertiveness, and analytical thinking in class. Moreover, this could also help enhance their language skills.