Learning German in upper secondary school : A study investigating student's motivation to learn German

In the latest decade, the number of students learning German in Swedish upper secondary school has decreased. Thus, a quantitative study was conducted where German teachers as well as pupils learning German discussed the role of the German language in school and for future, professional prospects. This study investigates German learner’s general attitude towards the subject and discusses what kind of actions should be taken in order to attract and motivate more students to choose and to continue their German studies in school. Moreover, in order to answer my research questions, the reformation of the grade point enhancement “meritpoängssytemet” has been taken into account to investigate to what extent extrinsic motivation in the form of extra credits motivate students to take more advanced German classes offered in upper secondary schools. More information about the benefits with German knowledge was through this study identified as a possible action to motivate more students to learn German. Furthermore, the result of this study shows that the grade point enhancement is the most crucial factor to motivate students to take more advanced courses in German. Hence, the teachers encourage the idea of changing the system with extra credits to make more pupils interested in taking the German 5 class. However, the result shows that the group of students was equally extrinsically and intrinsically motivated to learn German 4. This indicates that besides reintroducing the grade point enhancement for German 5, the joy and pleasure in learning German should be stimulated as well in order to affirm the intrinisically motivated students