Factors that influence students to choose Spanish and that motivatethem to continue their Spanish studies in high school

Since the introduction of the Spanish language in elementary school in Sweden in 1994, this language has become larger than other traditional modern languages such as German and French. As Spanish increases in popularity, the number of students who discontinue their Spanish studies also increases. In this study, forty-five students who take Spanish at the high school level were asked why they had chosen this language and how motivated they feel now after studying it for a minimum of three and up to five years. Factors such as the influence of friends while choosing the language, the information that the school provided before the language choice, the interest in Spanish speaking countries’ culture and the use of Spanish in free time, among others, were investigated in the survey. The results revealed that most of the students chose Spanish because it seems amusing and easier than French and German and because they are interested in traveling to Spanish speaking countries. This study also showed that most of the students do not feel motivated to continue studying Spanish but they do it in order to earn merit points that will increase their chances to get accepted in college. The results were compared with previous research studies and analyzed with help of the concepts intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and integrative and instrumental motivations