Locating Motivation for English as a Foreign Language Over Time: The Influence of School Location and Type

Abstract

This article examines secondary school learners’ motivation to learn English as a foreign language (EFL) in relation to two contextual factors: school type and school location. Data were collected from 352 Polish learners who attended English instruction in general and technical secondary schools in a large city and a small town in western Poland. Learners’ motivation, conceptualized as a continuum from fully autonomous to fully controlled, was measured through a survey at two time points, 2 years apart, which provided an assessment of motivational change. The second measurement was followed by interviews with selected learners. Our results show that learners from general secondary schools in the two locations exhibited different motivational patterns, while those from technical schools were similarly motivated regardless of their schools’ locations. A decrease in extrinsic motivation over time was observed in both types of small-town schools. Based on these results, we discuss the implications for EFL pedagogy.