A Study of the ESL Students’ Motivational Orientations: A Case of Public and Private Schools

Abstract

The current study aims at finding out the motivational orientations of the ESL students for studying English at public and private schools in Lahore city of Pakistan. Moreover, it also shows how these ESL students are distinguished on the grounds of their motivational orientations for learning English language. This study uses quantitative method for the collection and analysis of the data. The sample of the study is composed of 320 randomly selected ESL students studying at six different public and private schools in Lahore, Pakistan. The data are analyzed using SPSS version (19.0). The findings of this study show that promotion instrumentality is the most influential. Moreover, the motivational orientation of the ESL students studying at public school is promotion instrumentality and preventive instrumentality as they learn English for passing the exams or getting a job or getting higher education or avoiding negative outcomes. The private school ESL students have intrinsic and integrative motivation as they learn English for their positive attitude to the target community or the general interest in its culture or a wish to affiliate with the natives. This study implies that the difference in their motivational orientations is developed from the difference in education systems.