Motivation and Korean Learners

With the growing popularity of learning English as a foreign language in Korea, there appears to be a substantial degree of social and peer pressure for adults to learn or improve their language skills. However, there also appears to be indications that many learners do not seem to have any clear aims or goals in language learning, other than to perhaps, socialize and make new social connections. This study examines this phenomenon by focusing on the affects of attitude and motivation among learners in a monolingual EFL classroom. Research in this area has burgeoned over recent decades, although little attention has been paid to the notion of studying English for no specified, or obvious reasons. This study attempts to redress that balance by examining a group of learners who appear to exhibit these learning idiosyncrasies, by focusing on socio-psychological factors, motivational orientations, and the evidence for the apparent lack of learner goals and ambiguous learning. Results of the study indicate that although many of the participants do reveal a lack of easily identifiable aims and goals, other considerations such as local social integrative factors, self-efficacy, and personal feelings of security, are important considerations in a language learning context. These factors may foster or hinder a positive learning attitude. However, there were no conclusive indications that a positive attitude necessarily signifies a higher degree of learner motivation. The findings imply that personal and social needs, as well as multi-faceted variables in relation to aims and goals, are important affective aspects of how language learning is perceived and managed by the learner