A comparative-correlational study of years 4 to 6 and years 7 to 9 non-Thai students' motivation and orientation of motivation toward learning Thai at an international school in Bangkok, Thailand

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine if there was a significant difference between Years 4 to 6 and Years 7 to 9 non-Thai students’ level of motivation toward learning Thai, and to determine if there was a significant association between Years 4 to 6 and Years 7 to 9 non-Thai students’ orientation of motivation toward learning Thai at an international school in Bangkok, Thailand. An adapted version of Gardner’s Attitude/Motivation Test Battery (AMTB) was used to collect data from 29 non-Thai students in Years 4 to 6 and 44 non-Thai students in Years 7 to 9 during the second semester of academic Years 2017 – 2018. Descriptive statistics – means, standard deviations, as well as a t-Test, and Pearson’s chisquared test were used to analyze the data. The findings indicated that both Years 4 to 6 and Years 7 to 9 non-Thai students at the target school had slightly low levels of motivation toward learning Thai and both Years 4 to 6 and Years 7 to 9 non-Thai students’ orientation of motivation was instrumental. Motivation for learning Thai between Years 4 to 6 and Years 7 to 9 non-Thai students was not significantly different, while Years 4 to 6 and Years 7 to 9 non-Thai students’ orientation of motivation was found to be significantly associated. Recommendations for school administrators, teachers, and future researchers are provided.