Police officers’ motives to learn foreign languages

Previous studies in foreign language contexts concluded that motivation contributes to successful foreign language learning. The paper overviews the most relevant foreign language motivation theories. This study gives a survey of students‘ motivation for learning foreign languages. It generalines the results of the research made at Mykolas Romeris university Public Security faculty. Questionnaires were distributed to 158 students of extra-mural study programme who worked as police officers and represented different security sectors and ranks. The results show that Lithuanian police officers are both instrumentally and integratively motivated to learn foreign languages. Both motives are closely related and supplement each other. The officers‘ motivation to learn foreign languages depends on their needs and interests. However, there are some significant effects for ranks and security sectors on the officers‘ motivation towards foreign language learning.The study results show that police officers with a higher service rank are more integratively motivated to learn foreign languages, while officers with a lower rank are more practical. They learn foreign languages to perform their jobs efficiently and their instrumental motives towards foreign language learning are obvious. The analysis of the effect of Lithuanian police officers security sectors on their motivation towards the learning of foreign languages shows that police officers in the Public Police Patrol Team and Traffic police officers are more instrumentally motivated to learn foreign languages than their counterparts working in other sectors. Police officers working in the Criminal police and Special Escort Group are distinguished for their integrative motivation.Straipsnyje analizuojama policijos pareigūnų užsienio kalbos mokymosi instrumentinė ir integracinė motyvacija, kuri yra būtina, tobulinant dalyko programą, gerinant specialistų žinių, mokėjimų ir įgūdžių kokybę. Tyrime dalyvavo policijos pareigūnai, studijuojantys pagal ištęstinių studijų programą. Jie atstovavo įvairioms darbo sritims ir turėjo skirtingus tarnybinius laipsnius. Tyrimo rezultatai parodė, kad besimokantieji turi ir instrumentinių, ir integracinių motyvų. Pareigūnai, turintys aukštesnį tarnybinį laipsnį turi didesnę integracinę motyvaciją mokytis užsienio kalbų. Lyginant pagal darbo sritis paaiškėjo, kad Kelių policijos ir Viešosios policijos patrulių rinktinės pareigūnai yra labiau instrumentiškai motyvuoti